The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • Page 51

THE GUIDE Yoeel love to tore iris into science science sexy? The CSIRO certainly hopes so, because it was its idea to approach the Australian Children's Television Foundation (ACTF) to make a series that would A CSIRO-inspired TV series aims to make science attractive to girls. It serves up straight science but with a soapy coating. JAMES COCKINGTON writes. 1 fag JR? '(j5f ''V, j' 'SW Si hi XW i If 1 Vat) i it Mff I rut iMfcfcw s. if script ideas.

Ted Ankrum; the man in charge of NASA's operations in Australia, also acted as a consultant Kruszelnicki, who prefers not to use his "doctor" prefix, is perhaps best known to Sydney people for his perceptive replies to impossible questions on radio station Triple rtWift-ttinittirriftfuj I -5jE 1 inspire girls to seek a career in science. The result is Sky Trackers, which the ACTF is hoping will do for astrophysics what Models Inc has done for the superbimbo business. In one sense, Sky Trackers is already a winner. The series has been sold to 23 countries, and, in another example of local jet lag, it appears that kids in Brunei and Cyprus will see it before we will. As with another highly successful ACTF export, Lift Off.

the hard educational core of Sky Trackers is wrapped in a layer that makes it easier for the target audience to swallow. In this case there is a soapie content acted out by two attractive teenagers, Mike (Zbych Trofimiuk) and Nikki (Petra Jared). According to the brief, it is Nikki, 1 3, who is the science freak, with ambitions to be the first woman on Mars, while Mike, 14, is going through the "wanna be a guitar legend" phase. They are going through the traumas of young love while living with their families on an isolated Outback space tracking station. This mix of science and sassiness is a tricky one to balance.

While researching the program, ACTF director, Dr Patricia Edgar, hired Karl Kruszelnicki, the pop guru of the science industry, to cast a professional yet fanciful eye over the "In this show we tried to be factual, although there is one episode that deals with some sort of UFO experience. All that that signifies is that science doesn't have all the answers yet." It was Kruszelnicki who, in one episode where Mike decided to transmit a guitar solo to deep space via the satellite dish, told the producers how, in theory, this could be achieved. In another episode where the kids decided to set off their own experimental rocket, he suggested that the children be filmed standing a lot further back than originally planned. "They had the kids standing right next to the rocket," he laughs. "I said, 'What if it explodes? They'd all be wiped out by shrapnel'." One of the challenges of the series was to keep it contemporary when science itself changes on a daily basis.

Although it is about two years since the series went into production, Karl Kruszelnicki says the only thing that has changed is that as of last month female astronauts are now a reality. Not that this surprises Generation X. "When I told my kids," he recalls, "they said, 'Yeah, so what, tell me the amazing bit'." Sky Trackers premieres on Seven on Sunday at 8.30 am. children's tv iV, talkback, although his latest gig involves stepping into the late great Professor Julius Sumner Miller's shoes at Sydney University. He is also noted for his excellent selection of socks: for the launch of the series he chose a white pair featuring Pepe Le Pew.

He says his job as Sky Tracker's science facts man does not conflict with his lifelong love of science fiction, the style of science that television traditionally serves up. vf. riarTrri in Nikki (Petra Jared) and Mike (Zbych Trofimiuk) She's the science freak. 2 1 Whether you're into music or the latest videos in Surround Sound, with an award winning Yamaha Active Servo Technology Subwoofer you'll discover bass you probably didn't even know was there. "Qur favourite loudspeakers sing when used with Yamaha Active Subwoofers." Mr Bill McLean, Rill McLeans Hi Fi.

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