Our third installment of The Third Eye series takes a look
at Under the Mountain, an eight-part television series based on the novel of
the same name written by Maurice Gee that first aired in 1981 and was produced
by Television New Zealand.
When twins Rachel and Theo Matheson first meet the
mysterious Mr. Jones when they are young children lost in the woods near their
home. Eight years later they meet Mr. Jones again in Auckland while they are
spending their summer holidays with their aunt, uncle and cousin. It is during
this time they learn that Mr. Jones is an alien, sent from another world in a
battle against another race of slimy, slug-like beasts / monsters / aliens who
strip a planet until it is barren then move on to the next to do the same.
While in their human form these creatures are known as the
evil Mr. Wilberforce family who, despite their slug-like form have a keen sense
of sight and smell as they spy on Rachel and Theo from across the lake.
Mr. Jones begins training the twins as they learn of their
emerging psychic abilities and how to use them to defeat the Wilberforces. To
aid in their training he give each of them a white stone that changes colors as
they twins grow in power. As the series progresses their psychic abilities grow
in effectiveness as the twins grow in trust and acceptance of their abilities
but it is not without it’s own challenges. Rachel, the more sensitive of the
two, accepts the truth of their abilities and is able to grow in power more
quickly than her brother Theo who is naturally more of a cynic and often
challenged Mr. Jones.
At this point I will post the character descriptions,
episode guide, cast list and availability straight from Wikipedia). I’m sorry
that it is very long however I do not feel that I can improve on their
descriptions.
Characters Based
on the original novel by Maurice Gee:
Rachel and Theo Matheson
Two
seemingly ordinary fraternal twins who lived in a rural New Zealand town. One
day when they were three years old, they had wandered away from their home.
While a search party tried to find them, they were met by the enigmatic Mr.
Jones who telekinetically kept them warm through the cold evening until they
were found. Over the years to follow, they had found that they shared a
telepathic link and could read each other's thoughts. Upon meeting Mr. Jones
again, eight years later, he reveals the reason for his interest in the twins
and their important role in his plan for saving the world from the Wilberforces.
Mr. Jones
The
last surviving member of a benevolent alien race. His true form is essentially
a living flame: warm, brilliant and without a definite shape. On Earth,
however, he takes the form of a kindly old man. As he explains to Rachel and
Theo, his race was known as "The People Who Understand" and had
developed technology based on their powerful telepathic abilities. Mr. Jones
has the ability to teleport, communicate telepathically and project powerful
beams of light from his physical self. He had journeyed to Earth with another
member of his race with the intention of finding and stopping the Wilberforces.
The other member was older and had succumbed to old age before the Wilberforces
could be found. Mr. Jones has since searched for twins whose minds are
telepathically linked in order to complete the work, which he and his older
counterpart had started.
The Wilberforces
A race of symbiotic organisms consisting of a slug-like
brain (roughly twice the mass of an adult) and a large worm like body (about
the size of a battleship). According to the account given to the twins by Mr.
Jones, the Wilberforces originated millions of years ago on a world consisting
of seas of mud, which nourished the worm organisms. Threatened with extinction,
the Wilberforces resolved themselves to conquering other worlds, using their
technology to reform other planet's surfaces into mud in order to thrive and
breed. When they had finished using a planet's resources, no life remained on
that world. By the time Mr. Jones' world had been visited by them several
thousand years ago, the Wilberforces had overtaken one complete spiral arm of
the galaxy. Mr. Jones' race succeeded in permanently incapacitating every
Wilberforce on every planet they could be found on, including Earth. However,
the Wilberforces on Earth had learned to slowly counteract the telepathic
weapons of The People Who Understand before being rendered dormant. By the time
Rachel and Theo are discovered by Mr. Jones, the Wilberforces have nearly
completely awakened.
Screenings – 1981 miniseries
Episode Guide
Maar
Volcano of the Bleeding Skies
Red Force, Blue Force
The Alien World Below
Weapons of the Mind
Any Shape, Any Form
Assault
The Gift of Oblivion
Cast
Kirsty Wilkinson as Rachel Matheson
Lance Warren as Theo Matheson
Roy Leywood as Mr Jones
Bill Johnson as Mr Wilberforce
Bill Ewens as Ricky
Crew
Directed by: Chris Bailey
Produced by: Tom Finlayson
Written by: Maurice Gee
Screenplay by: Ken Catran
Music by: Bernie Allen
International
Distribution
In the United States, Under the Mountain was shown on
Nickelodeon as part of The Third Eye. The other series included were Into the
Labyrinth, Children of the Stones, The Haunting of Cassie Palmer. In Dutch the
title is Moddermonsters (Mud Monsters) but also known as De Monsterplaneet (The
Monster Planet).
DVD
All eight episodes have been released on one dual-layer
region-free (region 0) DVD in New Zealand. For some reason the video format
chosen for the DVD was NTSC, while the original production material would have
been produced for PAL transmission as that is the standard in use throughout
New Zealand and Australia. This makes the DVD unplayable for people with
certain older TV sets unable to display NTSC. Picture quality is described on
the DVD cover as "subject to quality of dated production source."
Audio is mono, but is of an acceptable quality.
2009 movie ‘Under the Mountain' has been adapted into a New
Zealand 2009 feature film directed by Jonathan King best known for Black Sheep.
2009 Film Cast
Sam Neill – Mr. Jones
Oliver Driver – Mr. Wilberforce
Tom Cameron – Theo Matheson
Sophie McBride – Rachel Matheson
Jon Cummings – Wilberforce Drone # 3
Matthew Chamberlain – Uncle Cliff
Matt Gillanders – Wilberforce Drone # 6
Wayne Gordon – Wilberforce Drone # 4
Bruce Hopkins – Richard Matheson
Toi Iti – Country Policeman
Bill Johnson – Mr.
Carpenter (cameo)
Miriama Kamo – News Reader
Reuben King – Johan / Lenart Double
Nathaniel Lees - Detective Gray
Chelsea McEwan Millar – Clementine
Nathan Meister – Johan / Lenart
Colin Moy – Constable
Green
Gareth Reeves – Wilberforce Drone # 2
Micheala Rooney – Aunty Kay
Madeleine Sami – Constable Wood
Allan Smith – Wilberforce Drone # 5
Matt Sunderland – Wilberforce Drone # 1
Leon Wadham – Ricky
David Weatherly – Desk Sergeant
Kirsty Wilkinson – Mr. Jones’ Neighbor (cameo)
Cameos
Kirsty Wilkinson, who portrayed Rachel Matheson from the original "Under the Mountain" on television, made a cameo appearance in the film as Mr. Jones' Neighbor. Bill Johnson, who portrayed Mr. Wilberforce from the original "Under the Mountain" on television, also made a cameo appearance in the film as Mr. Carpenter.
The film was shot in locations around Auckland in 2008 and has the approval of author Maurice Gee
Release
Lionsgate Home Entertainment set the release for the 10
August 2010 in the United States.
