About Spellbinder: Marooned in a parallel world

Spellbinder is a science fiction (SF) fantasy television series about a urban teenager, Paul Reynolds, who finds himself accidentally stranded in a world parallel to his own. It's a world where the industrial revolution never happened and people live simple lives, in rustic villages with no tools. They are ruled by the Spellbinders, people with seemingly magical powers who control the populace by manipulating their fear and ignorance. New ideas are not allowed.

For Paul, a knowledgeable science student, the dangers are immediate. He is recognized as an outsider and accused of being an enemy of the Spellbinders. Paul is saved by a courageous girl, Riana, who gives him refuge in her village. When Paul discovers that the Spellbinders use science and not magic, he realizes that they are his only hope of getting home. But Ashka, a ruthless Spellbinder, wants to use his knowledge to gain control of her world.

Paul befriends Correon, an old Spellbinder, who understands the threat that Paul's scientific knowledge presents. Using Riana's physical skill and Paul's modern know-how, the three outwit Ashka and Paul finds his way home. In order to save Riana's life, Paul has to drag her into his world. Now Riana, who grew up in a closed rustic community, must contend with the chaos and complexity of our modern world. Her confrontations with technology are both amusing and frightening. To make matters worse, the evil but charming Spellbinder Aska also finds a way into our world and Paul and Riana must use their wits to prevent her gaining access to technology which would have unimaginable consequences in her world. The challenge of defeating Ashka requires all of Paul and Riana's courage and ingenuity.

The Spellbinders' powers (which seem like magic) come from their ability to control electromagnetism, knowledge they have decided to control because their world was almost destroyed hundreds of years ago by massive experiments with electromagnetism. This is like the dangers we face today in our world with nuclear power. While the Spellbinders may have some altruistic reasons for controlling this knowledge by trying to ensure the danger will not happen again, it also gives them privilege and power over others; and power and privilege are hard to give up.

SF and Fantasy are popular genres with vast audiences across television, film and literature. In SF and Fantasy the only limitation is that of the viewer’s imagination; and they allow us to become a part of stories and adventures in areas and places that we may only dream of. SF and fantasy offer an exciting and rich range of genre conventions for exploration in the classroom and Spellbinder is a strong example of both genres. Written by John Thompson and Mark Shirrefs, the series was filmed in Australia and also in Poland with its spectacular castles and forests, creating an exotic medieval location.

This award winning innovative 26 half-hour episode series was produced by Film Australia.