The Secret World of Alex Mack
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| The Secret World of Alex Mack | |
|---|---|
 The opening title screen for the series. |
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| Format | Science fiction Fantasy Teen drama Comedy |
| Created by | Ken Lipman Thomas W. Lynch |
| Starring | Larisa Oleynik Darris Love Meredith Bishop Michael Blakley Dorian Lopinto Louan Gideon John Marzilli Natanya Ross Alexis Fields Will Estes Josh Keaton Benjamin Smith |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of seasons | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 78 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
David Brookwell Sean McNamara Matt Dearborn Gary L. Stephenson |
| Running time | 22 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Nickelodeon |
| Original run | October 8, 1994 – January 15, 1998 |
| External links | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
The Secret World of Alex Mack was an American television series that ran on Nickelodeon from October 8, 1994 to January 15, 1998, replacing Clarissa Explains It All on the SNICK line-up. Repeats of the series aired in 2003 on The N, but it was soon replaced there. The show is currently not on the air in the U.S. The series was one of the first series to be produced by Brookwell McNamara Entertainment.
Contents |
[edit] Premise
The show focuses on a teenage girl, Alexandra "Alex" Mack, who becomes accidentally contaminated with an experimental chemical substance called GC-161. This results in certain powers, such as the ability to "zap" people and objects with an electrical charge, move objects by telekinesis, and morph her shape into a silvery liquid. Throughout the series, the owners of the chemical plant which had been researching GC-161 continuously search for the local kid who was contaminated in order to conduct experiments, although their attempts are futile. Alex's best friend Ray, and her sister Annie, help her conceal the accident and her powers from her parents and others.
[edit] Main characters
- Alexandra "Alex" Mack (Larisa Oleynik) – The titular star of the show. Having developed superpowers in a freak chemical spill accident, Alex is hardly what one would call an "average" girl. Generally caring and friendly, although somewhat naïve at times, Alex struggles to get through life in the only way she can.
- Raymond "Ray" Alvarado (Darris Love) – Alex's closest friend. Ray is someone that Alex can trust with any sort of secret, even the knowledge of her powers. Although he can be a bit troublesome at times, Ray means well, and is willing to help Alex in any way he can.
- Anne "Annie" Mack (Meredith Bishop) – Alex's older sister, and a scientific genius in her own right. Annie is aware of Alex's powers, and often looks out for her sister's well-being. Annie can sometimes get too absorbed in her research on Alex's powers for her own good, and she and Alex do get into disputes over it, but she does care for Alex regardless.
- George Mack (Michael Blakley) and Barbara Mack (Dorian Lopinto) – Alex's parents, who are definitely not aware of their younger daughter's deepest secret. Out of fear for her parents turning her in to the Plant (which George, a brilliant chemist, works for), or worse, being tortured into surrendering to Danielle Atron, Alex has decided to keep her parents in the dark about her powers.
- Robyn Russo (Natanya Ross) – One of Alex's neighborhood friends. Not exactly the most optimistic person, Robyn can somehow see the bad part of any situation.
- Nicole Wilson (Alexis Fields) – Another of Alex's friends. Nicole can be something of an opposite personality to Robyn, with a take-charge attitude and strong-willed demeanor.
- Louis Driscoll (Benjamin Smith) – First appearing in Season 2, Louis' personality can best be described as bold. If there is ever a hair-brained idea that needs to be done, you can bet that Louis will be involved somehow.
- Danielle Atron (Louan Gideon) – The corrupt owner/CEO of the Paradise Valley Chemical Plant, and Alex's most dangerous nemesis. Danielle is the woman responsible for providing Paradise Valley with much of its income, and the entire town wouldn't hesitate to expose Alex as the accident victim if it meant keeping on her good side. Danielle has plans to utilize GC-161 as a weight-loss aid, and she can't afford the secrecy of her project to be compromised. To that extent, she is determined to identify Alex.
- David Watt (John Nielson) – The dim-witted truck driver who was driving the truck that crashed, which, in turn, dumped a drum of GC-161 on Alex. Despite being the only witness to the incident, Dave's poor memory has kept him from exposing Alex (although he does eventually remember, and decides to keep quiet about it). Having been partnered with Vince in his attempts to expose Alex, Dave's slow-mindedness usually causes more trouble for Vince than it does for Alex. Despite his job in the Plant, Dave is actually a pretty nice guy, and can't help but feel sorry for himself when talked into doing various dirty deeds for the Plant.
- Vince Carter (John Marzilli) – Whereas Danielle is the brains of the Plant's control, Vince, Chief of Plant Security, is the muscle. Vince is usually the one who Danielle sends to capture "the kid" (Alex), but his plans never seem to work out, mainly due to Alex's quick wit and Dave's lack of it. A former Navy SEAL, Vince has all the skill and gadgetry he needs to do his job, and is relentless in his pursuit of Alex. Even when he eventually gets fired from the Plant, he still continues to try and identify Alex, making him all the more dangerous.
- Lars Frederickson (Kevin Quigley) – A skilled chemist hailing from the Plant's foreign branch in Vienna. After Vince gets fired, Lars takes over his position as Danielle Atron's closest associate. He is just as much greedy to profit from the Plant's GC-161 research as Danielle, and also wants to identify Alex for the glory of his boss.
- Kelly Phillips (Hilary Salvatore) – First appears in Season 2. Kelly is Alex's school rival and deviously discredits Alex at every given turn, much to Alex's dismay. Although unaware of her powers, Kelly has suspected something unusual about Alex, and has often tried to find out exactly what it is.
- Hunter Reeves (Will Estes) – Appearing in the show's fourth season, Hunter moves into Paradise Valley with his mother and soon learns of Alex and her powers. His visit, however, has an ulterior motive. Hunter is determined to learn the truth about the murder of his father from years ago, and he believes that Danielle Atron may have had a hand in it.
[edit] Notable actors
Several well-known actors and actresses made some of their earliest appearances in this show.
- Jessica Alba appeared in the pilot episode and two other episodes as a character named Jessica. (Perhaps coincidentally, Jessica Alba later went on to star in her own 2000 television series Dark Angel, which shared some parallels with The Secret World of Alex Mack.)
- Will Estes, whose character of Hunter became a series regular starting with the episode, "The Return," has enjoyed great success with work in film, television and music videos. He most notably went on to co-star in the television series American Dreams.
- Joshua Keaton, who played the character of Bryce, later became an actor specializing in voicework for video games, such as the character Revolver Ocelot in the video games Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops.
- Hanna Mahuta, who played the role of Hilary, is an American real estate heiress and socialite, and made her first film appearance in Backdraft. She is currently a student at Duke University. She has since gone on to appear in music videos and film, most notably Never Been Kissed, John Q, and What Women Want.
- Night at the Museum and Cheaper By The Dozen director Shawn Levy got his start directing some episodes of the series.
- Scarlett Pomers, who portrayed Kelly's bratty kid sister in the episode Suspect, went on to portray Kyra Hart on the hit sitcom Reba for six seasons.
[edit] Episodes
[edit] DVD releases
The show's first season (consisting of 13 episodes on two discs) was released by Genius Entertainment (also known as Genius Products; a subsidiary of RHI Entertainment) in the DVD format on October 2, 2007.[1] Currently, this DVD set can be purchased through Amazon.com.
[edit] Book series
A book series aimed at young readers was released along with the series. The first and last books of the series were novelizations of the first and last episodes, respectively. The rest of the series consisted of completely original stories, tied into the main series through the mentioning of various plot points from the TV episodes.
[edit] References
- ^ The Secret World of Alex Mack DVD. TVShowsOnDVD. Retrieved on 2007-08-20.
[edit] External links
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