Flight 29 Down
Flight 29 Down | |
---|---|
Created by | Stan Rogow D.J. MacHale |
Starring | Allen Alvarado Corbin Bleu Hallee Hirsh Jeremy Kissner Johnny Pacar Lauren Storm Kristy Wu |
Country of origin | United States |
No. of episodes | 26 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Running time | 24 minutes |
Original release | |
Network | Discovery Kids |
Release | October 1, 2005 – March 10, 2007 as of Season 2 |
Flight 29 Down is a children's television series about a group of mostly teenagers who are stranded on an island. It is produced by the Discovery Kids Channel. The show was created by Stan Rogow (Lizzie McGuire, Darcy's Wild Life) and D.J. MacHale (Are You Afraid of the Dark?, The Pendragon Book series). It is Executive Produced by Stan Rogow, D.J. MacHale, Shauna Shapiro Jackson, Gina Watumull & Rann Watumull. The first two seasons aired on Discovery Kids. A "third season", which started filming February 5, 2007,[1] is being produced in a "movie of the week" format, instead of the episodic format of the first two seasons. [2] A commercial debuted for the Flight 29 Down: The Movie during the second season's season finale.[citation needed]
The show is filmed in O'ahu, Hawaii.
Synopsis
Template:Spoiler The show follows a group of kids stranded on a South Pacific island after the crash of a small plane while flying to an eco-adventure camping trip in Micronesia. A plot device of a video diary powered by a solar battery charger allows the kids to talk to the camera about their everyday struggles they deal with the island and with each other.
Arguably, the show is much like the ABC drama Lost, as it is even filmed on a set near the beach on O'ahu that Lost is filmed on. However, the show was developed before Lost aired. Moreover, the show is targeted towards kids, featuring teenage stereotypes and focusing heavily on social order and teamwork. In this way, the show most resembles the New Zealand kids show The Tribe which is set in a world where all adults have died and children are left to survive on their own and also heavily focuses on social order and teamwork. It may also be based on the book by william Golding called Lord of the Flies. in which British teens must keep society on their marooned island.
It can also be thought of as a scripted version of Endurance, another Discovery Kids program. Another program featuring a group of young people stranded on a Pacific island as a result of an airplane crash was the 1969 45-minute long prime time ABC drama, The New People. Template:Endspoiler
Cast
Main Cast
- Allen Alvarado as Lex Marin
- Corbin Bleu as Nathan McHugh
- Hallee Hirsh as Daley Marin
- Jeremy Kissner as Eric McGorrill
- Johnny Pacar as Cody "Jackson"
- Lauren Storm as Taylor Hagan
- Kristy Wu as Melissa Wu
Recurring Cast
- Tani Lynn Fujimoto as Abby Fujimoto
- B.K. Cannon as Jory Twist
- Blade Rogers as Ian Milbaurn
- John Kapelos as Captain Russell
Characters
Main Characters
Daley Marin
The recently elected class president of Hartwell High School. She is a hard worker who is fiercely competitive and a bit of a perfectionist. She can seem pushy and sometimes bossy, especially with Nathan. Daley is Lex's stepsister, though this is never elaborated upon. Daley has developed a crush on Nathan, who likes her as well.She however is much more secritive about this confiding about it only to Melissa. Daley tells Nathan that she doesn't like him, because she is afraid of what the others will think. Daley is the leader of the group and wants to do things in a civilized manner. Altough, she loves cats!Italic textThe Watcher
Eric McGorrill
One of the more rude students at Hartwell, Eric is a bit of a flirt with the girls and is trying to hook up with Taylor. He is more of a slacker and a comedian than anything else. He also tends to manipulate people to get out of various responsibilities. He hates lugging water, and caused the lighter to break because of it. However, he later fixed it.
Cody "Jackson"
A quiet, intimidating guy who always keeps to himself (as he was the new kid at Hartwell High). On the island, Jackson brings order to the group when it is needed. As a result, he is elected the leader of the stranded and continues to keep the peace. In the second season he passed the responsibilities of the leader position to Daley because of all the drama. It is not known for sure whether he has a crush on Melissa or Taylor, but it seems in the second season a lot of his flirtations are directed at Taylor, while he is Melissa's "secret admirer". He thinks Hartwell High is full of spoiled, little rich kids. In the second season, he becomes briefly sick with Girardia which makes him throw up and makes him weak. Melissa shows her loyalty by sticking by him. Melissa, Taylor and Lex are his better friends on the island, though in the series it reveals that everyone looks to him with appreciation. He surprises everyone in Chilloween by playing a song, I Won't Stand Alone, on a guitar.In one of the last episodes he admits to Melissa that he likes her but still wants to wait until they get home.
Lex Marin
The youngest of the group and Daley's younger step-brother who is intelligent and very observant, although the group constantly ignores him. He always comes up with the best ideas on how to adapt to the island and make use of its resources. He seems to be the motivation of the group. Whenever everyone else feels like quitting or giving up, Lex comes up with a brilliant idea to help everyone feel better. In the episode "Maze-a-thon", he notices everyone at the group is depressed and creates an obstacle course. For Chilloween, he makes a shower that has warm water to make the island more like home. As shown in several episodes, he misses the others and wants Abby to find them.
Melissa Wu
An optmistic person who wants everyone to get along. She is a member of every major club at school. She has her loyalties torn between Nathan and Daley. Sometimes Melissa feels very meek and pushed around but at times has shown her own sense of leadership in major emergencies. Since being on the island, she has developed a crush on Jackson. Mel is very quiet most of the time, but has her own brilliance, which is only shown when it is really needed. Along with Lex she keeps the group going when everyone else feels like giving up. And also not to mention she is a very good friend as you can see when she tries to care for Nathan when he gets hurt. She is also a fun loving teen and is probably the most sensible person in the group, along with Jackson and Lex, who she gets along with very well. Toward the middle of the second season she feels disturbed as there might be something going on between Jackson and Taylor and is heart broken when Taylor tells her she doesn't know if something is going on (thus puzzling Taylor) and feels at the end of the second series she cannot trust Taylor because she got close to Jackson knowing how Melissa feels in which Taylor replies "I didn't try".
Nathan McHugh
Nathan makes quick decisions- though they're not always the greatest ones. In one episode, Nathan climbs a tree to attempt to get fruit for the group when there is actually a big bunch of fruit near the base of the tree. Nathan has a crush on Daley that Daley returns. Nathan always tries to fix anything wrong with the group but sometimes goes overboard. He is a mentor and as well as a leader in the group.
Minor Characters
Captain Russell
The pilot of Flight 29 and the only adult on the island, he seems clueless and unresourceful. He led a group of kids into the island in search for help but has not returned since.
The Others
Consists of the three other students on the plane Abby Fujimoto, Jory Twist, and Ian Milbaurn. They were mostly quiet and hung around each other forming their own separate family from the main characters. They joined Captain Russell in searching for help. About a week after leaving, Abby was found alone and unconscious in the jungle and brought back to camp. It is revealed that she got separated from them during a big storm. After spending a day in the camp Abby went back into the jungle to look for her friends and Captain Russell. She is seen again towards the end of the second season and she has no luck finding the group so she decides to go to the west part of the island to search and Eric, Jackson, and Melissa to accompany her as they each expressed interest in going to the west side of the island in the past.
Episodes
Book releases
Continuity Errors
- In episode eight ("Survival of the Fittest"), Melissa says she only has four pieces of clothing but you can see throughout the first and second season she has more than four. Though she may have worn Daley's or Taylor's clothing, this seems unlikely since the clothing she wears aren't shown as being worn by Taylor or Daley, unless they have decided to let her keep the clothes.
- In the book Ten Rules, Ian Milbaurn's name was Ian Milbauer.
- In "Home Sweet Home", Daley says that there's a few things missing from the first aid kit, and when Jackson asks her who used it last, she says that no one's used it. That's not true, because when Eric had an allergic reaction to the oysters in "The Cry of the Wolf", they used it to save him.
Broadcasting
Flight 29 Down debuted on NBC as part of Discovery Kids on NBC on October 1, 2005 and was also broadcast on the Discovery Kids cable television channel the following Monday. Originally airing weekly from Noon-12:30 p.m. (ET)/11 a.m.-11:30 a.m. (CT) on NBC when not preempted by local stations and shown the following Monday on Discovery Kids on Mondays and Fridays at 8 p.m. (ET) and 11 p.m. (ET). it now airs every weekday at 8:00 & 11:00 PM, also on Saturdays at 10:30 AM and 8:00 pm and 11:00 pm
The show is aired on SVT (Sweden) during the Summer 2006, as a part of the breakfast show Hej Hej sommar (Hello, Hello Summer). It is also played in Finland (season 1 and season 2) during the Summer 2006 as a part of the breakfast show Summeri.
The show will premier in Latin America, March 10, at 21:00 on Boomerang Latin America