'', also known as ''Black Hole High'', is a
Canadian Science Fiction Television Program which first aired in
North America in October
2002 on
NBC . It is set at the fictional
Boarding School of the title, where a Science Club of five students and their teacher investigate mysterious phenomena, most of which is centred around a
Wormhole located on the school grounds. Spanning four seasons, the series developed into a success, and has been sold to various networks around the globe.
Created by '', as well as feature films such as ''
Donnie Darko ''. In addition to its consistent popularity among children, it has been recognised by adults as strong family entertainment. Forty-two episodes of the series, each roughly twenty-five minutes in length, have been produced, the final three of which aired for the first time in January 25,2006.Those three final episodes that aired were combined into a movie called Strange Days Conclusions.
The show revolves around a group of five friends and their favorite teacher (who together form the Science Club) who live at Blake Holsey High, a boarding school located in southern Ontario. Blake Holsey High, however, is not your average boarding school. There really are some strange things going on, and the Science Club is out to discover just what is going on. What do a
Wormhole , a floating chi gong ball, and Pearadyne Industries - a lab that was destroyed years ago right next to the school - all have to do with the mystery? Nobody knows, but they're out to find out!
,
Shadia Simmons ,
Robert Clark ,
Emma Taylor-Isherwood ,
Valerie Boyle ,
Michael Seater (below left) and
Noah Reid (below right).]]
- Emma Taylor-Isherwood as Josie Trent . Josie is the show's main protagonist, and her voice is heard over the opening credits. She transferred to Blake Holsey High at the beginning of the series, and was the one who discovered the wormhole first. She's curious and headstrong, and is the one who most wants to know what is going on. "Has the hots for Vaughn."
- Shadia Simmons as Corrine Baxter . Josie's best friend and roommate, Corrine is the so-called "brains" (with a self-claimed IQ of 172) in the Science Club. Comparable to Hermione Granger in ''Harry Potter'', she's the one with the school-smarts but often has problems with street-smarts. Has "a thing" for Marshall.
- Michael Seater as Lucas Randall . Lucas is a conspiracy theorist, convinced that aliens do exist. He comes up with unorthodox theories that often end up saving the day. He seems to have a romantic interest in Josie.
- Noah Reid as Marshall Wheeler . Lucas and Marshall are best friends and roommates. Marshall is more social and funloving than Lucas, and helps to keep him down to earth in this way. Marshall performs in a band (Magnet 360) with other Blake Holsey students.
- Robert Clark as Vaughn Pearson . Vaughn is the fifth student in the science club. His father is Victor Pearson, who was the owner and founder of Pearadyne Industries. Vaughn lived at home with his father for a time, as their house is practically next door to the school. When he does live at Blake Holsey High, he lives alone. Has a thing for Josie--they are an on again/off again couple.
- Jeff Douglas as Professor Noel Zachary . Zachary, or "Z", is the presiding teacher of the Science Club. Like Josie, he is very curious to find out what is going on at Blake Holsey High. He was able to go to school to become a teacher thanks to a scholarship from Pearadyne Industries, and is the only adult that the Science Club fully trusts.
- Valerie Boyle as Principal Amanda Durst. The disagreeable Prinicipal Durst is a looming presence over the Science Club, and differs with Professor Zachary's easygoing ways.
- Lawrence Bayne as Victor Pearson . Victor Pearson is a benefactor of the school and a constant antagonist to the Science Club's investigations. Thought Victor Pearson was tagged as the villain of the show, in fact he was the good guy. In conclusions it was explained that much of Victor's actions that seemed villainous, but was, in fact, to protect his son. It was a promise that he made for his wife. Victor's main goal in life was to rescue his wife who was lost in time during the Peradyne accident. However he lacked the power to fuel his machines. The answer to his problems was the enigmatic Chi Ball which contained unlimited energy. The destiny of Victor explained in Conclusions was that he was to create time travel technology that would fuel the creation of wonderful future which was based on his original time travel technologies.
- Tony Munch as The Janitor . The Janitor is an enigmatic character that seems to understand the mysteries at Blake Holsey High, but reveals little. It was revealed in Conclusions that the janitor was an observer of observer time travelers. The clone josie best describe the janitor's origins is that he is from so far into the future, that it is almost unimaginable.
- Jenny Levine as . She is Vaughn's mother, who supposedly died many years ago from a Peardyne Industries accident. There is a possibility that she is somehow still alive and in another dimension. It is revealed in the finale of the series that Sarah had, in fact, survived the accident and is reunited with her husband and son. Sarah Lynch Pearson was an observer time traveler who was sent back in time to observe Victor.
- Emma Taylor-Isherwood as . She is a clone accidentally created from Josie's DNA in a piece of chewing gum, by using energy from the wormhole. The clone has average human intelligence with an enlightened personality. Unlike the original Josie, she likes to keep things neat. She met the Janitor, who took her to a wormhole in the basement to be taken to the future. A year later, when Josie managed to control time with her stopwatch and was able to steal the Chi Ball away from Victor Pearson, the Clone intervened and took it back. She knows how the past and the future are supposed to happen, and, like the Janitor, she hangs around to make sure nothing disrupts the future. The Clone reminded Victor that he has the Chi Ball for a reason. She returned when Tyler Jessop went through the wormhole, and when Vaughn found out about Sarah and Victor. The Clone and The Janitor are able to exist outside of time, for when reality changes, they retain their memories of the event; however, they might not be able to return to the future from which they came. It was revealed in conclusions that she was taken to the future to be trained as observer time traveler. Whose mission was to stop other time travelers from messing around with past events for their own gain. In the end of conclusions the clone Josie was trapped in a parallel timeline. She traded places with the original Josie, so that the original Josie could fullfill her destiney. However, the writers of the show left some hope for rescuing the clone Josie.
- Steve Jackson as Professor Middleton. Middleton was a previous science teacher at Blake Holsey, but disappeared into the black hole, which was located in his office, in the first episode. He seems to know much more of what is to happen around Blake Holsey, and tries to warn future Lucas about the Pearsons and the agents of the future.
- Christopher Tai as Tyler Jessop. Tyler is a bully at Blake Holsey High. However, rather than using physical force like Stew, Tyler uses his influence among the seniors and presence to get his own way. Tyler had learned about the wormhole in the Science Office and gains the ability of camouflauge. He entered into the wormhole, and has more information about certain time periods than he is letting on. He goes out into the forest, speaking to voices in the sky (possibly aliens) and gets transferred to the Avenir Institute, but knows that he will be back. He seems to be an enemy of the Science Club and The Janitor and Josie's Clone.
- Lori Hallier as Kelly Trent. Kelly is Josie's mother, whose motives are as ambiguous as Victor Pearson's. She is an engineer is usually either working with or against Victor, though it is difficult to discern if she is friend or enemy.
- Talia Schlanger as Madison. Madison is a stuck-up cheerleader and student at Blake Holsey High. She has been known to be very mean and snobby toward Josie.
- Dru Viergever as Stew Kubiak. A star athlete, usually referred to simply as "Kubiak". Not so smart, but will sometimes surprise the science class with unexpected knowledge. On one such occasion, he revealed an understanding of why chameleons change colors, explaining that, "I had a pet chameleon once. His name was Rainbow."
- Liam Titcomb as Will. Plays in Magnet 360, Marshall Wheeler's band.
- Marc Devlin as Jarrod. Plays in Magnet 360.
- Aaron Poole as Grant Wheeler. The most popular brother of Marshall Wheeler and student at Blake Holsey High. Grant had later worked for Victor Pearson, for Pearadyne II.
- Rothaford Gray as Coach Kennedy.
- John Ralston as Mr. Avenir. Mr. Andreas Jack Avenir is the mysterious benefactor, in both eras in Blake Holsey High history, as the builder and conspirator for having information about Josie Trent and the Wormhole. He was the one who manipulated the student, Blake Holsey, into becoming headmaster of the school of his own "explicit" design. Avenir created an institute where Tyler Jessop would attend after coming from the wormhole. It is revealed in that he is Josie's biological father.
- Qigong Ball/Chi Ball/Floating Ball: Once a normal ball used to handle stress and concentration, but became a source of unlimited potential. Josie had used these balls for concentration during Science Club, but one was taken from her by Professor Zachary. The other one was affected by the energy of the wormhole, which made gravity-less. It defied the laws of physics, which was why Victor (Vic) Pearson stole it from her years ago when he was in Blake Holsey High. Presenting it to Sarah Lynch, they started their plan to create Pearadyne which later caused an explosion at Pearadyne Industries, form a wormhole in Blake Holsey and strange occurrences. Victor used this ball to power their the lab, but it later caused its destruction, along with Sarah's disappearance. Josie found the ball and assumed that Vaughn and Victor had plotted to use it. She stole it from them, but was later stolen back by Josie's Clone from the future. Returned to Victor, he plans to keep it in safe keeping this time.
- Wormhole: A powerful vortex that can lead to either the future or the past that can be found in the office of the Science Teacher (Zachary or Middleton). Many agents have used this to cover the knowledge of the wormhole a secret from everyone, however energy from the wormhole has released and affected the students and the school due to their emotions and conditions.
- Pearadyne Industries/Labs: A laboratory created by Victor Pearson and Sarah Lynch. It was used to create inventions and master quantum physics. Pearadyne was destroyed in an explosion that covered the disapperance of many workers, especially Sarah Lynch.
''Strange Days at Blake Holsey High'' began airing in Canada on
Global and on NBC, as well as
VRAK.TV in
Quebec . In the
United States , meanwhile, it aired on
Discovery Kids and
NBC . In late March
2003 , almost six months after its North American debut, the series was sold to several international markets at the annual
MipTV , which was held at
Cannes ,
France . The
United Kingdom broadcasting network
ITV acquired the
Terrestrial Television right to the series, while the
Pay Television rights were sold to
Fox Kids (which became
Jetix in
2005 ) in Europe and Latin America, who showed the series in countries including the UK,
Brazil ,
Venezuela ,
Chile ,
Panama and
Argentina . Fox Kids Europe has a partnership deal with the
Disney Channel , which enabled the show to be broadcast in
Australia ,
New Zealand , and
France . In
Russia (
Tomsk ), the series airs on
CTC . In
Denmark , it airs on
TV Denmark . It also airs in other European countries such as
Norway (and other
Scandinavia n nations), the
Netherlands ,
Portugal ,
Israel ,
Poland , and
Italy , as well as
Colombia in South America.
[http://watchfireworks.com/html/newsapril03_03b.html [http://strangedays.proboards22.com/index.cgi?board=BHH&action=display&thread=1092012360]
As Of 2005 , no episode or season of ''Strange Days at Blake Holsey High'' has been legally released to
DVD in any country. In 2004, it was announced that a DVD box set of Season 1 was to be released in the United Kingdom on
July 26 ,
2004 , and websites such as
Amazon.com put up the DVD for pre-order. The release was later pulled without explanation.
''Strange Days at Blake Holsey High'' has been nominated for several awards, but won none. Writers
Jeff King ,
Jeff Schechter and
Thérèse Beaupré were nominated for episodes broadcast in the year 2003 at the
31st Daytime Emmy Awards in
2004 , in the category Outstanding Writing in a Children's Series. Emma Taylor-Isherwood, Shadia Simmons and Robert Clark were each given
Young Artist Award nominations in early 2003, although Isherwood was placed in the supporting category, Simmons was elevated to lead, and Clark was considered a "guest actor". Simmons received a second nomination the following year, alongside Talia Schlanger (Madison). The
Academy Of Canadian Cinema And Television nominated creative team
Tony Thatcher ,
Adam Haight ,
Jeff King and
Kevin May for Best Children's or Youth Fiction Program or Series at the annual
Gemini Award s in late 2004, and the
Directors Guild Of Canada also recognised the show in areas such as
Sound Editing , team achievement, and the product as a whole in 2003 and 2004.
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This year (2006) Strange Days is nominated for 2 Emmys (for outstanding children's series and outstanding writing).
Fireworks Entertanment, the company behind ''Strange Days at Blake Holsey High'', closed down after the production of Season 3. There are, however, three additional episodes of the series, which aired as a finale movie event on January 28, 2006 on the Discovery Kids channel, as "Strange Days Conclusions."
