QUEST BEYOND TIME

Australia, 1985, 50 minutes, Colour.
Daniel Cordeaux, Roger Ward, Rebecca Rigg, Tim Elliott.
Directed by Stephen Wallace.

Quest Beyond Time is one of the Winners series, produced for children’s television in 1985, supervised by Patricia Edgar (pictured above). This film was written by the prolific writer of films and television series, Tony Morphett. Director is Stephen Wallace, whose films include Stir and Turtle Beach.

This film focuses on a young boy, skilled at hang-gliding. One day he experiences a wind and crash-lands – and finds himself in the future, five hundred years hence. The people, who are poor and in rags, see him as a kind of saviour from the sky, hoping that he can cure the sickness that plagues this civilisation. The film is interesting in its portrayal of the character of the boy, coming to terms with the future, his response to helping people in a post-nuclear Holocaust situation.

1. The Winners series? The appeal for children? Adults?

2. The opening in the modern era, moving to the 25th century? The locations, the strange people, the clan? The forest, the boats, the convent? The special effects and stunts? The score?

3. Audience delight in stories of time travel? The credibility of time travel?

4. The post-nuclear situation, the consequences of nuclear war? The civilisation? The health issues, violence, the religious issues?

5. Mike and his ability to hang-glide, flying, the experience? Katrin? Disbelief, his story, the escape and the horseman, his mission? The cannibals and the trackers? The dwarves? The Vikings and the boat, the sharks? The convent, the superior? Katrin and her attitudes, bossy, Mike helping her to fly? Survival, the return? The film as a story of rites of passage for a young boy? Coming home – to what?

6. Katrin, tough, ill, home, going into action, relationship with Mike, flying, cured?

7. The father and his leadership, Fergus and his illness?

8. The strange people, the dwarves? Life, style, the meal? Pretending and surviving?

9. Mother Teresa, the convent, community?

10. Themes of civilisation and religion? The paganism? Nature religion? Christianity and the hanged God?

11. An enjoyable story of a young boy, in a strange situation, becoming a winner?