Wizards vs Aliens
| Wizards vs Aliens | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Format |
Science fantasy Teen drama |
| Created by |
Russell T Davies Phil Ford |
| Starring |
Scott Haran Percelle Ascott Gwendoline Christie Jefferson Hall Voice of Brian Blessed Annette Badland Michael Higgs Dan Starkey Tom Bell |
| Composer(s) | Sam Watts |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 26 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
Russell T Davies Bethan Hunt |
| Producer(s) |
Brian Minchin (series 1) Peter Bennett (series 2) |
| Editor(s) |
Will Oswald Tim Hodges |
| Running time | 28 minutes approx. |
| Production company(s) |
BBC Cymru Wales FremantleMedia Enterprises |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | CBBC |
| Original run | 29 October 2012 – ongoing |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | The Sarah Jane Adventures |
| External links | |
| Official website | |
Wizards vs Aliens is a British science fantasy television series, produced by BBC Cymru Wales and FremantleMedia Enterprises for CBBC and created by Russell T Davies and Phil Ford.
The series focuses on the adventures of 16-year-old wizard Tom Clarke (played by Scott Haran) and his scientifically-gifted best friend Benny Sherwood (played by Percelle Ascott) as they battle against an alien species called the Nekross, who have arrived on Earth with the intention of consuming all of wizardkind and feasting on their magic.[1]
Production-wise, Wizards vs Aliens was created to fill the schedule gap left by the Doctor Who spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures after its lead actress Elisabeth Sladen died on 19 April 2011.[2]
Two series were commissioned by the BBC in late 2011 for broadcast in 2012 and 2013 respectively. Series one premiered 29 October 2012 and concluded 4 December containing twelve episodes (six two-part stories). The second series began airing from 28 October 2013, this time containing fourteen episodes (seven two-part stories), and concluding the following 10 December. Co-creator and executive producer Russell T Davies however stated that the show could "easily run for ten years".[3]
Premise
Tom Clarke is a seemingly ordinary boy who loves football. He lives with his "unenchanted" father Michael Clarke and "enchanted" grandmother Ursula of the Magical Line of Crowe in an ordinary house in an ordinary street – but there’s something different about Tom. He has an astonishing secret....his family are Wizards! When an alien race known as the Nekross arrive on Earth hungry for magic, there’s big, big trouble in store for all wizardkind.
Varg and Lexi, the two main Nekross antagonists, are the same size as humans, with yellow skin covered in spikes and a tentacle on each side of their heads. The right tentacle has an eye and the left one a mouth. They both wear blue armour. They occasionally use Nekross technology to appear to be human when on Earth. Their father is a large yellow face encased in the wall of the spaceship. It is unclear how much of his body is behind the wall. Other Nekross are Technician Jathro 17, who is red, Chancellor Kooth, who is white, and various guards and other crewmembers, who do not remove their helmets.
The Nekross are immune to wizard magic, as they consume it. They have a machine on their spaceship that can drain all the magic from a captured wizard, which also makes the wizard instantly become very old. After a wizard is drained, he or she is returned to Earth.
With the help of his friend and science super-brain Benny, Tom must stop them – but will these two unlikely heroes succeed, or will the Nekross devour all the magic on Earth with disastrous results for the whole planet?
Characters
Wizards / Unenchanted
- Tom Clarke (Scott Haran) - A 16-year-old wizard who defends wizardkind and Earth against the Nekross.
- Benny Sherwood (Percelle Ascott) - Tom's unenchanted best friend who's extended knowledge of science finds its use in battle against the Nekross.
- Ursula Crowe (Annette Badland) - Tom's happy-go-lucky grandmother and Michael's mother-in-law, a wizard who is a descendant of the Magical Line of Crowe.
- Michael Clarke (Michael Higgs) - Tom's widowed father and Ursula's son-in-law, also an unenchanted.
- Randal Moon (Dan Starkey) - A hobgoblin who lives in the Chamber of Crowe and aids Tom and Benny in their fight against the Nekross.
Nekross
- The Nekross King (voiced by Brian Blessed) - King of the Nekross' home planet Nekron and father of Varg and Lexi, in charge of their mission to find and consume all known magic on Earth. Due to his obese size, he is immobile on the Nekross starship Zarantulus.
- Varg (Jefferson Hall) - Prince of Nekron; son of the Nekross King and Lexi's older brother, who fights the Wizards with brute strength.
- Lexi (Gwendoline Christie) - Princess of Nekron; daughter of the Nekross King and Varg's younger sister, whose strategy skills and in-depth research into Earth's culture helps the Nekross in their battle against the Wizards. Later forms an on-again-off-again relationship with Tom.
- Technician Jathro 15 (Tom Bell) - A Nekross of the Zarantulus technician class, who assists Varg and Lexi in numerous schemes against the Wizards.
Recurring
- Katie Lord (Manpreet Bambra) - Tom and Benny's classmate and Tom's love interest.
- Quinn Christopher (Connor Scarlett) - Another of Tom and Benny's classmates, who occasionally teases Benny.
Episodes
Series 1 (2012)
| Story No. | Episode | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Production code |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1a | 1 | "Dawn of the Nekross (Part 1)" | Daniel O'Hara | Phil Ford | 29 October 2012 | 1.1 |
| Aliens arrive on Earth and start kidnapping wizards draining them of their magical powers. A young wizard named Tom Clarke and a science student named Benny Sherwood attract the attention of the Nekross. After a battle Tom and his grandmother are captured and taken to the Nekross's ship. | ||||||
| 1b | 2 | "Dawn of the Nekross (Part 2)" | Daniel O'Hara | Phil Ford | 30 October 2012 | 1.2 |
| Tom escapes from the Nekross, although his grandmother remains captured. Tom and Benny attempt to return to the spacecraft to rescue her, but are unsuccessful until Tom, Benny, and Tom's father Michael are captured. There, they successfully organize an escape, taking with them Ursula and two previously captured wizards. | ||||||
| 2a | 3 | "Grazlax Attacks (Part 1)" | Daniel O'Hara | Phil Ford | 5 November 2012 | 1.3 |
| Tom spends the day at Benny's house. While there, the Nekross send a Grazlax to hunt them down and the two must defeat it while hiding the presence of the aliens from Benny's parents. After repeated unsuccessful attempts, they are finally able to lock the alien in Benny's bathroom. | ||||||
| 2b | 4 | "Grazlax Attacks (Part 2)" | Daniel O'Hara | Phil Ford | 6 November 2012 | 1.4 |
| The Grazlax is multiplying out of control forcing the Nekross to plan to destroy Tom's house in order to save the population of Earth before all the magic is gone. Tom and Benny fight to stop the Grazlax before they run out of time while hiding their secret from others. | ||||||
| 3a | 5 | "Rebel Magic (Part 1)" | Griff Rowland | Joseph Lidster | 12 November 2012 | 1.5 |
| After being attacked by a group of thugs, Tom meets Jackson Hawke, a fellow wizard who unlike Tom is able to affect the Nekross with his magic. Jackson lacks Tom's reluctance to take advantage of others using magic and leads Tom astray. | ||||||
| 3b | 6 | "Rebel Magic (Part 2)" | Griff Rowland | Joseph Lidster | 13 November 2012 | 1.6 |
| Benny becomes worried about Tom's changes under Jackson's influence and contacts Ursula who reveals that Jackson is using unsafe "grim" magic. Tom and Jackson plan to take on the Nekross and they along with Benny are captured. There, Tom convinced Jackson to use his magic to save all three. On returning home, Jackson is offered a place with Tom's family, but decides to set out in search of his own parents instead. | ||||||
| 4a | 7 | "Friend or Foe (Part 1)" | Griff Rowland | Clayton Hickman | 19 November 2012 | 1.7 |
| One of the Nekross named Lexi disguises herself as a human and travels to Earth. Lexi and Tom are captured by Stephanie Gaunt. To free them, an alliance is formed between the Nekross and Tom's family. | ||||||
| 4b | 8 | "Friend or Foe (Part 2)" | Griff Rowland | Clayton Hickman | 20 November 2012 | 1.8 |
| In attempting to free Tom and Lexi, Ursula, Benny, Michael and Lexi's brother Varg are captured. Working together they escape and Varg attempts to renege on their deal only to be prevented from doing so by Lexi. | ||||||
| 5a | 9 | "Fall of the Nekross (Part 1)" | Joss Agnew | Gareth Roberts | 26 November 2012 | 1.9 |
| Benny works out a plan to stop the Nekross. But when the plan is implemented, the plan stops all life support on the Nekross's ship. In desperation, Lexi contacts Tom to ask for help. | ||||||
| 5b | 10 | "Fall of the Nekross (Part 2)" | Joss Agnew | Gareth Roberts | 27 November 2012 | 1.10 |
| Benny regrets his actions feeling compassion for the Nekross, but Ursula and Michael are willing to let the Nekross die. To save them, Tom teleports Benny to the Nekross's ship. Benny succeeds in his mission, but the Nekross attack forcing Benny to teleport quickly back to Earth. | ||||||
| 6a | 11 | "The Last Day (Part 1)" | Joss Agnew | Phil Ford | 3 December 2012 | 1.11 |
| Tom experiences nightmares of his late mother Helen who was killed trying to protect him. Inexplicably, Tom sees Helen, but when he finally is able to talk to her, she seems to have no recollection of who she was. They travel to a warehouse where the find that the Nekross have been making clones of Helen. | ||||||
| 6b | 12 | "The Last Day (Part 2)" | Joss Agnew | Phil Ford | 4 December 2012 | 1.12 |
| Helen helps them escape, and they plan an attack on the Nekross successfully destroying the cloning factories. Unable to stay with her family, Helen finally departs. | ||||||
Series 2 (2013)
| Story No. | Episode | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Production code |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7a | 1 | "100 Wizards (Part 1)" | Beryl Richards | Phil Ford | 28 October 2013 | 2.1 |
| 7b | 2 | "100 Wizards (Part 2)" | Beryl Richards | Phil Ford | 29 October 2013 | 2.2 |
| 8a | 3 | "Vice Versa (Part 1)" | Beryl Richards | Clayton Hickman | 4 November 2013 | 2.3 |
| 8b | 4 | "Vice Versa (Part 2)" | Beryl Richards | Clayton Hickman | 5 November 2013 | 2.4 |
| 9a | 5 | "The Cave of Menla-Gto (Part 1)" | Mark Everest | Joseph Lidster | 11 November 2013 | 2.5 |
| 9b | 6 | "The Cave of Menla-Gto (Part 2)" | Mark Everest | Joseph Lidster | 12 November 2013 | 2.6 |
| 10a | 7 | "The Curse of Crowe (Part 1)" | Mark Everest | Gareth Roberts | 18 November 2013 | 2.7 |
| 10b | 8 | "The Curse of Crowe (Part 2)" | Mark Everest | Gareth Roberts | 19 November 2013 | 2.8 |
| 11a | 9 | "The Thirteenth Floor (Part 1)" | Paul Murphy | Phil Ford | 25 November 2013 | 2.9 |
| 11b | 10 | "The Thirteenth Floor (Part 2)" | Paul Murphy | Phil Ford | 26 November 2013 | 2.10 |
| 12a | 11 | "Endless Night (Part 1)" | Joss Agnew | Phil Ford | 2 December 2013 | 2.11 |
| 12b | 12 | "Endless Night (Part 2)" | Joss Agnew | Phil Ford | 3 December 2013 | 2.12 |
| 13a | 13 | "All Out War! (Part 1)" | Joss Agnew | Russell T Davies | 9 December 2013 | 2.13 |
| 13b | 14 | "All Out War! (Part 2)" | Joss Agnew | Russell T Davies | 10 December 2013 | 2.14 |
International broadcasts and releases
Wizards vs Aliens made its American debut in on the cable channel Hub Network on 1 June 2013, but only ran for four episodes due to poor ratings.
In Australia, the show aired on ABC 3 weekly between 25 April-11 July 2013.
DVD and Blu-ray releases
Series one of Wizards vs Aliens featuring all twelve episodes was released onto DVD and Blu-ray as a two-disc set on 31 December 2012 in Region 2[4] and 17 July 2013 in Region 4.[5] BBC Shop have however stated that they have no plans as of yet to stock a DVD/Blu-ray release of Series 2.
Television ratings
Series 1
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Series 2
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References
- ↑ Connelly, Brendan (28 April 2012). "Official Blurb And First Look At Wizards Vs. Aliens From Doctor Who’s Russell T Davies". Bleeding Cool. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
- ↑ "What we know about Russell T Davies' and Phil Ford’s Aliens Vs Wizards". Den of Geek. 2012-03-05.
- ↑ "Russell T Davies SFX Interview".
- ↑ http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wizards-Aliens-Series-Scott-Haran/dp/B0097FMDIQ
- ↑ https://shop.abc.net.au/products/wizards-vs-aliens-2dvd-s1
- ↑ "Weekly Top 10 Programmes on CBBC". BARB. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
- ↑ http://www.barb.co.uk/viewing/weekly-top-10?_s=4
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