The Gazette from Montreal, Quebec, Canada • 175

New school year has already started for the kids of Degrassi High School 4lA 4 jiwmmMwmm Kaaaaai sagas KsaBa The gang at Degrassi High has just wrapped up filming next season's first show. Degrassi Junior High is no more. The old school, like the popular Canadian series of the same name, is officially finished. History. You saw the last of it go up in flames in the season's final episode.

Goodbye, Degrassi Junior High. Hello, Degrassi High. The first episode of the new series, an hour-long special that will premiere on CBC next November, has just wrapped up its filming and it's looking good. Like its Junior predecessor. Why change a proven success? The simple logistics of group dynamics.

To keep the entire cast, younger and older, on the show, the producers graduated the first group from junior into genuine high school and then, along with them, moved the younger kids displaced by the fire. Thus, Degrassi High. And although the producers have promised to hang on to the same winning formula that gave them three successful seasons a magic formula called honesty the new series will be slightly different. For one thing, says Degrassi writer Kathryn Ellis, the influx of older teenagers not all of whom are so nice will give the show a slightly harder-edged feel. For another, there'll be some new issues explored.

Problem areas looked at during the upcoming season include things like date abuse, abortion and parents divorcing. Even "swarming." Always ready to take on current issues, the people at Degrassi have created one storyline centred on the recent disturbing phenomenon of youth gangs who surround, then rob or assault, their victims. Ellis, the writer for this particular episode, has been conducting much of her research at Toronto police headquarters, to get the details down pat. But life at Degrassi High, like life in the real world, won't be all violence and emotional disturbance. There'll be all kinds of silver linings and a few healthy doses of good-humored fun.

On the positive side, for instance, the new school has a daycare centre which is comforting news for Spike it's the 1975 mysieiy-taiilasy Escape to Witch Mountain; on Thursday, it's the delightful 1955 tale of the young Mexican lad known as The Littlest Outlaw. In family drama, ETV's Wonderworks presentation at noon on Tuesday repeats an Australian drama called Quest Beyond Time. This is a fairly bleak but intelligent look into the postnuclear future a millennium from now. Still on ETV, history buffs might want to check out Wednesday night's Timeline (8:30 p.m.). In this episode, the ambitious show with the newsmagazine-style approach to history turns the spotlight on Vikings.

Of the various nature programs on throughout the week, two are worth special mention. CTV's award-winning Last Frontier (Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.) repeats Wolves of the Sea, an unusual portrait of sharks. And Friday on Discovery (TVOntario-24 at 7 p.m.), it's Birds of Paradox a look at the phenomenon of flightless birds. Finally, if you've always wanted to catch the Mounties' marvellous Musical Ride, tune in TVOntario's old OWLTV. It's on at 1 1 a.m.

Sunday. (Amanda Stepto). And viewers with sturdy constitutions can look for more (including a video!) from the cacophonous Zit Remedy, the wanna-be rock group of Joey, Wheels and Snake. Over the past three seasons, Degrassi Junior High has won countless international awards, including an Emmy, for its artistic quality. Despite the cosmetic changes, Degrassi High promises more of the same.

And that's good news. Also good though hardly news are some of the weekend's movies. Saturday at 1 p.m., CFCF-12 has scheduled an unassuming little Canadian production that's worth a look. It's called West Winds Trilogy. On Sunday, there's a nice choice: at 2 p.m.

on WPTZ-5, the story of Running Brave; at 6:30 p.m. on CBC, the adventure of Treasure of Matecumbe; and at 8:30 p.m. on ABC, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. During the week at 10 a.m., Ver-mont-ETV has a pair of Disney films that are worth watching. On Tuesday, 7.