THE WIZARD OF OZ

A TEACHER IS ACTUALLY AN ALIEN VISITOR IN THE STRANGER, AUSTRALIA’S FIRST SCIENCE FICTION TV SERIES, WHICH HAS NOW BEEN UNEARTHED FROM THE ARCHIVES

- JONATHAN BLUM

A THUNDERSTORM LASHES A DARK street in ’60s Sydney. A man’s hand reaches out, lingering, letting the rain fall on him… Slowly his finger caresses the droplets, just savouring the feel of the water. Then he walks up to a house, lies down, and carefully arranges himself as if he’s collapsed. Wild-eyed and haunted, he knocks on the door, then closes his eyes… and smiles slightly to himself.

So begins The Stranger, the first science fiction TV series ever produced in Australia, which has just been unearthed from the archives by ABC-TV’s RetroFocus web team, and uploaded on YouTube and iView (ABC’s equivalent to iPlayer) for worldwide viewing. While it starts out as basically “the Famous Five find a flying saucer”, it grows steadily more sophisticated and ambitious, until it becomes a first-contact thriller and junior version of the BBC’s pioneering Quatermass serials.

Within minutes of being discovered, the man – who claims to be an amnesiac, and adopts the name “Adam Suisse” – has inveigled himself into the home of the local school headmaster, and then into a substitute teaching gig. But the headmaster’s children are curious about the oddly persuasive foreigner, and discover that he’s not your typical swarthy enemy agent; he’s an advance scout from the world of Soshunis, searching for a place his people to settle.