1 9 9 4 – 1 9 9 7 (Australia)
78 x 25 minute episodes
This Australian children’s TV series told the story of Neri (Marzena Godecki), a young girl discovered swimming on the Great Barrier reef with a humpback whale. Neri has super-human lung capacity which enables her to swim long distances.
She lives alone on an otherwise deserted island, although she befriends two Australian brothers, Jason (David Hoflin) and Brett (Jeffrey Walker) who live in an elaborate underwater research and environmental protection facility called ORCA (the Oceanic Research Center of Australia).
Their mother, Dr Dianne Bates (Liz Burch) has been assigned to ORCA to study whale song in the hopes of facilitating cross-species communication.
Ocean Girl was filmed in and around Port Douglas, including the Daintree rainforest. The underwater sets (the habitat for the whale) were done in Melbourne. A 700-kilogram fibreglass and aluminium prop was used for close-ups of Charley, Neri’s humpback whale friend.
The series was shot on 16mm but post-produced on C Pal 1-inch videotape.
Neri
Marzena Godecki
Jason Bates
David Hoflin
Brett Bates
Jeffrey Walker
Dr Winston Seth
Alex Pinder
H.E.L.E.N
Nina Landis
Dr Dianne Bates
Liz Burch
Cassandra ‘Cass’ Clayborn
Brooke Anderson
Dr Hellegren
Nicholas Bell
Dave Hartley
Tony Briggs
