Aquila (TV series)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Aquila | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Children's television series |
| Creator(s) | Andrew Norriss |
| Starring | Ben Brooks Craig Vye |
| Country of origin |  England |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 13 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 20 – 25 mins |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | BBC |
| Original run | 2 December 1997 – 2 December 1997 |
| Links | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
Aquila was a British children's television show which aired on the BBC from 1997 to 1998. An episode was aired once a week, and was based on the story of two boys, Tom Baxter and Geoff Reynolds, who find a spacecraft when digging in a field. It was based on a book by British author Andrew Norriss and set in Bristol.
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
The two boys are on a weekend away with their mums where they do some digging for treasure at a local moor. As Geoff is digging, he falls into an underground cavern followed cautiously by Tom. It is there they find the skeleton of a Roman Centurion, standing beside a large red object which looks like a giant boulder. One of the boys notices a hollowed out area in this "boulder" which turns out to be a two-seat cockpit. The craft, which is called Aquila, soon turns out to be something more advanced than Roman technology, and by pressing the numerous coloured buttons in the cockpit the boys learn more about this strange craft and take off upwards into the sky.
The story becomes more tense and yet humorous as the boys (who are not particularly intelligent) try to think of ways to hide their amazing discovery, prevent doing damage with it, and communicating with it. Eventually, the boys manage to find a way of communicating with Aquila, but even then the show managed to end each week with a dramatic cliff-hanger as a new problem arose.
The last ever line in Aquila came as the characters discover the source of Aquila, and the camera pans into outer space to see a massive abandoned spaceship orbiting the sun. They realise the significance of this and exclaim "A battle cruiser! You could have some serious fun with a battle cruiser!".
[edit] Episode listing
| Series 1 | |
|---|---|
| Episode 1 | "The Eagle Has Landed" |
| Episode 2 | "Homeward Bound" |
| Episode 3 | "Losing Sight" |
| Episode 4 | "Manual Control" |
| Episode 5 | "Energy Levels" |
| Episode 6 | "Comprehension Exercise" |
| Episode 7 | "The Eagle's Eyrie" |
| Series 2 | |
|---|---|
| Episode 1 | "The Birthday Surprise" |
| Episode 2 | "Battling Bobby" |
| Episode 3 | "An Elephant Surrounded By Blind Men" |
| Episode 4 | "The Gooseberry" |
| Episode 5 | "End of an Eyrie" |
| Episode 6 | "On Second Thoughts, Let's Panic" |
[edit] Discrepancies with the novel
- In the television adaptation, Tom and Geoff do not find the ship on a school trip, but on holiday in the moors. Also, they are digging for 'treasure' in a field when Tom falls into a hole as opposed to visiting an archaeological dig.
- The power source of the ship is stated as water which was used in one of the episodes of the t.v programme. In the series, it is cleaning out the air vents which enables Aquila to function normally again.
- The archaeologist who helps them is Dr. Warner in the book, a young woman. In the TV program, her role is replaced by a male Professor.
- Mrs. Baxter's agoraphobia is written out of the series all together. Geoff's mother does not run a newsagents as in the book, and his father is away for months at a time instead of running the newsagents with her.
- Deputy Headmistress Miss Taylor is replaced in the TV series by a Headmaster. There are also differences to the school staff.
- A new storyline is written into the series involving Aquila giving Tom green skin and supernatural strength for a day
[edit] Trivia
- Aquila is a liferaft from a larger ship, built by the Yrrillians from the planet Deneb.
- The ship can fly an almost infinite distance, and can fly in space without the need for crew spacesuits, but the air inside the ship would only last for 6 hours which was featured in one of the episodes of the television series.
- Some other abilities of the ship include invisibility, a form of verbal remote control, lasers and a holographic interface.
- The craft also contains a lie detector which can be used to target an individual from a long distance. It was used in one of the episodes to determine whether or not an archaeologist who was excavating the site where the boys found the craft, was lying about his discovery of a broken handle of Aquila's two handled flight control joystick. Naturally, he was in denial about the find. Using this feature in Aquila, the boys were able to obtain the rest of the joystick handle from the archaeologist by theft, and restore it to the craft.
- Aquila can be programmed to execute basic manoeuvres from the detection of certain signals. This feature was used (unintentionally) when the boys program it to travel to the location of an inaudible dog whistle. The problem arose when a dog owner blew his own whistle when the craft was in invisible mode in a large park. This rendered the craft missing and a lengthy operation by the boys was needed to recover it.
- Aquila has the ability to demolish objects by flying directly through them. This ability was used by the boys when they flew it through a brick wall while discovering some of Aquila's capabilities. After inspection by the boys, the craft was found completely unharmed.
- In the episode "Energy Levels" the craft starts to drain of power. The boys do some investigating and discover that the craft is powered by water. They leave a hose pipe running over the craft to restore the power, not air as is usually thought.
- Aquila stores everything it sees on egg shaped objects which can be played back on the holographic screen. It records approximately 1600 years of data. If the eggs are not replaced, then the ship starts recording over the start of the 'footage' - this occurs in an episode of the television series.
- Aquila is the Latin translation of the word eagle. The words inscribed inside the ship, "Licat volare si super tergum aquila volat," translate as "A man can fly where he will, if he rides on the back of an eagle." This proverb was derived from an ancient Greek story, where one day, the gods decided to elect the noblest bird of all by having them race to the top of Mount Olympus. The eagle appeared to be winning, but the tiny sparrow had been resting on the eagle's back for the entire race, and at the last moment leapt up and won the race.
[edit] External links
TV series
- Series 1, Episode 1, - "The Eagle Has Landed"
- Series 1, Episode 2, - "Homeward Bound"
- Series 1, Episode 4, - "Manual Control"
- Series 1, Episode 5, - "Energy Levels"
- Series 1, Episode 6, - "Comprehension Exercise"
- Series 1, Episode 7, - "The Eagle's Eyrie"
- Series 2, Episode 1, - "The Birthday Surprise"
- Series 2, Episode 2, - "Battling Bobby"
- Series 2, Episode 3, - "An Elephant Surrounded By Blind Men"
- Series 2, Episode 4, - "The Gooseberry"
- Series 2, Episode 5, - "End of an Eyrie"
- Series 2, Episode 6, - "On Second Thoughts, Let's Panic"
- Fan-maintained website
The Book
- [1] - Information available at the Puffin Books website.
