Earth Warp
Encyclopedia
Earth Warp is a story produced by the BBC
as part of their Look and Read
programme. It originally aired between January and March in 1994. The story was 10 episodes long and focused heavily on pollution. It was shown again in its entirety in late 2009.
. The purpose of this probe was to monitor the pollution
levels of the Earth.
One day the probe surfaces and detects a high pollution level and signals the aliens. A plump little alien, called Ollie, comes to investigate the town of Southbeach because of the probe. The town is also suffering from a mysterious illness found in the children, apparently due to pollutants being pumped into the sea by a local factory. The local children befriend Ollie, who informs them that the pollution in Earth's atmosphere is causing things created by his species - like the probe - to malfunction. He also informs them that the malfunctioning probe is going to blow up and the explosion would start a chain reaction and destroy Southbeach.
A plump little alien from the planet Gia, who comes to Earth to investigate after receiving a signal from the probe, (Charlie), his species sent. He has the ability to turn invisible and shrink. He possesses a mysterious ball which can be used to fix brocken and/or damaged objects and cure the illness, he also can summon his hidden spaceship by whistling, prolonged exposure to Earth's atmosphere makes him uncoordinated and will gradually weaken him.
One of the three friends who are amongst the first to encounter Ollie. His mother owns a hotel which is doing badly due to the mysterious illness. He also has Asma, although it is unclear whether Ollies mysterious ball cures him along with those infected with the mysterious virus. During the series he briefly betrays Ollie to try to save the hotel, although he later pretends to be Ollie to draw the resulting officials away.
One of the three friends who are amongst the first to encounter Ollie. She greatly cares for the environment and wishes that all people could be bothered to care as well, she is also headstrong and takes the role as leader of the group. It is revealed that Ollie chose to reveal himself to her because he could sense her caring nature and thought she could help him. In the series to cover for Olle's increasing hunger and clumsyness, she pretents that she can do magic, which gets the attention of the press. During their investigation into the pollution, she gets sick. This is cured by Ollie using his mysterious ball, which Ollie later gives to her before his departure.
One of the three friends who are amongst the first to encounter Ollie; she is interested in journalism
, spending most of the series making notes of their experiences. She also cares deeply for Martin and persuades Anita and Ollie that he is a good person, her judgement seems to be misplaced briefly when Martin betrays Ollie to Lowin, but soon after her beliefs are confirmed when Martin draws the authorities away from Ollie.
Martin's mother, manager of The Burlington Hotel where the children conceal Ollie, throughout the series she constantly tries to keep from selling the hotel to Mr. Belcher, almost doing so in one episode. At the end of the series the events of the series cause mass bookings and make the hotel a success again.
A reporter investigating the mysterious illness. He is the one who persuades Martin to betray Ollie. He has a desire to make it big and get a big story for his paper "The Daily News", he dislikes other reporters, which is shown in the way he speaks to Sarah, at the end of the series when the children give their story to Sarah first he quits the reporting business. Although in the educational section of the programe, (which takes place a year later), he is referred to by Chris and Sarah as though he's become a member of staff of the Gasset.
A factory owner dumping dangerous waste into the sea, and attempting to conceal this activity. He repeatedly attempts to buy the hotel from Martin's mother, he nearly succeeds at one point, although he later comes to realise the danger of his actions when his daughter Clare, becomes sick from the illness. He is arrested and fined at the end of the series after the authorities find out about his illegal activities.
A reporter from "The Southbeach Gasset" as well as the narrator of the story and one of the 3 characters in the education section of the episodes, she is Jenny's role model and an Eco Warrior. Throughout the series, she tries to find the cause of the illness, she even takes an interest when Anita starts doing magic.
One of the staff working at the hotel, He seems to be fond of Mrs. Rowlands and his constant jokes are a sourse of annoyance to Martin. On a walk near the river he starts whistling, Ollie's ship herars him and thinking Ollie is summoning it, rises to find him, seeing that it isn't Ollie it utters a low growling apologie and returns to the depths, after the experience the Chef tries to forget about it, but has a hard time, with everything else going on.
He works in Mr. Belcher's factory, he refuses to do the jobs harmful to the environment and when Anita falls ill he quits, even though Belcher claims to have fired him first. At the end of the series, he gets his job back, under a new and eco-friendly boss.
Mr. Belcher's daughter, she spends most of the series in her father's car and in silence, when Anita falls ill she rushes to help, ignoring her father's orders to return to the car, in helping the kids however, she gets infected, seeing her in this state, her father begins to see the error of his ways, but it isn't until she stops him from turning in Ollie that he truly see's what he did wrong, so although not the most important character, she is somewhat the most powerful character.
A language probe, who resides in Sarah's computer, one of the 3 characters in the education section of the episodes, in this series he replaces the character of "Wordy" as the 'animated' educator of the show. His name apparently stands for "Zero in On Target", he can either be summoned by either Sarah or Chris tapping the space bar three times or can summon himself into egsistance, he has stores of information on language and whenever he accesses one of them he shouts "Zot", beaming the information onto the computer, he introduces many different characters including, News Hound, Bill the Brickie, Ellie (Ollie's Sister), Gussy Gunge, Lazer Larry and the Magic E Magician.
A work experience student, Sarah expexted a girl but she left school and when Chris joined the school he was chosen to replace her, not the brightest of people, he and Zot have their heated moments, but he learns keenly and quickly, he even attempts to copy Zot by summoning Bill The Brickie, but fails. At the end of the series his story makes the front page of the Gasset.
The sister of Ollie. She is shown in the educational section of the show and features in a few songs, one of which is entitled "I'm Ellie the sister of Ollie."
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
as part of their Look and Read
Look and Read
Look and Read is a BBC television programme for primary schools, aimed at improving children's literacy skills. The programme presents fictional stories in a serial format, the first of which was broadcast in 1967 and the most recent in 2004, making it the longest running nationally broadcast...
programme. It originally aired between January and March in 1994. The story was 10 episodes long and focused heavily on pollution. It was shown again in its entirety in late 2009.
Story
One hundred years ago, Aliens sent a probe to EarthEarth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
. The purpose of this probe was to monitor the pollution
Pollution
Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into a natural environment that causes instability, disorder, harm or discomfort to the ecosystem i.e. physical systems or living organisms. Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, heat or light...
levels of the Earth.
One day the probe surfaces and detects a high pollution level and signals the aliens. A plump little alien, called Ollie, comes to investigate the town of Southbeach because of the probe. The town is also suffering from a mysterious illness found in the children, apparently due to pollutants being pumped into the sea by a local factory. The local children befriend Ollie, who informs them that the pollution in Earth's atmosphere is causing things created by his species - like the probe - to malfunction. He also informs them that the malfunctioning probe is going to blow up and the explosion would start a chain reaction and destroy Southbeach.
Characters
- Ollie
A plump little alien from the planet Gia, who comes to Earth to investigate after receiving a signal from the probe, (Charlie), his species sent. He has the ability to turn invisible and shrink. He possesses a mysterious ball which can be used to fix brocken and/or damaged objects and cure the illness, he also can summon his hidden spaceship by whistling, prolonged exposure to Earth's atmosphere makes him uncoordinated and will gradually weaken him.
- Martin
One of the three friends who are amongst the first to encounter Ollie. His mother owns a hotel which is doing badly due to the mysterious illness. He also has Asma, although it is unclear whether Ollies mysterious ball cures him along with those infected with the mysterious virus. During the series he briefly betrays Ollie to try to save the hotel, although he later pretends to be Ollie to draw the resulting officials away.
- Amina
One of the three friends who are amongst the first to encounter Ollie. She greatly cares for the environment and wishes that all people could be bothered to care as well, she is also headstrong and takes the role as leader of the group. It is revealed that Ollie chose to reveal himself to her because he could sense her caring nature and thought she could help him. In the series to cover for Olle's increasing hunger and clumsyness, she pretents that she can do magic, which gets the attention of the press. During their investigation into the pollution, she gets sick. This is cured by Ollie using his mysterious ball, which Ollie later gives to her before his departure.
- Jenny
One of the three friends who are amongst the first to encounter Ollie; she is interested in journalism
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
, spending most of the series making notes of their experiences. She also cares deeply for Martin and persuades Anita and Ollie that he is a good person, her judgement seems to be misplaced briefly when Martin betrays Ollie to Lowin, but soon after her beliefs are confirmed when Martin draws the authorities away from Ollie.
- Mrs. Rowlands
Martin's mother, manager of The Burlington Hotel where the children conceal Ollie, throughout the series she constantly tries to keep from selling the hotel to Mr. Belcher, almost doing so in one episode. At the end of the series the events of the series cause mass bookings and make the hotel a success again.
- Joe Lowin
A reporter investigating the mysterious illness. He is the one who persuades Martin to betray Ollie. He has a desire to make it big and get a big story for his paper "The Daily News", he dislikes other reporters, which is shown in the way he speaks to Sarah, at the end of the series when the children give their story to Sarah first he quits the reporting business. Although in the educational section of the programe, (which takes place a year later), he is referred to by Chris and Sarah as though he's become a member of staff of the Gasset.
- Mr. Belcher
A factory owner dumping dangerous waste into the sea, and attempting to conceal this activity. He repeatedly attempts to buy the hotel from Martin's mother, he nearly succeeds at one point, although he later comes to realise the danger of his actions when his daughter Clare, becomes sick from the illness. He is arrested and fined at the end of the series after the authorities find out about his illegal activities.
- Sarah Brightly
A reporter from "The Southbeach Gasset" as well as the narrator of the story and one of the 3 characters in the education section of the episodes, she is Jenny's role model and an Eco Warrior. Throughout the series, she tries to find the cause of the illness, she even takes an interest when Anita starts doing magic.
- Chef played by Mark Benton
One of the staff working at the hotel, He seems to be fond of Mrs. Rowlands and his constant jokes are a sourse of annoyance to Martin. On a walk near the river he starts whistling, Ollie's ship herars him and thinking Ollie is summoning it, rises to find him, seeing that it isn't Ollie it utters a low growling apologie and returns to the depths, after the experience the Chef tries to forget about it, but has a hard time, with everything else going on.
- Jenny's Dad
He works in Mr. Belcher's factory, he refuses to do the jobs harmful to the environment and when Anita falls ill he quits, even though Belcher claims to have fired him first. At the end of the series, he gets his job back, under a new and eco-friendly boss.
- Clare
Mr. Belcher's daughter, she spends most of the series in her father's car and in silence, when Anita falls ill she rushes to help, ignoring her father's orders to return to the car, in helping the kids however, she gets infected, seeing her in this state, her father begins to see the error of his ways, but it isn't until she stops him from turning in Ollie that he truly see's what he did wrong, so although not the most important character, she is somewhat the most powerful character.
- Z.o.t.
A language probe, who resides in Sarah's computer, one of the 3 characters in the education section of the episodes, in this series he replaces the character of "Wordy" as the 'animated' educator of the show. His name apparently stands for "Zero in On Target", he can either be summoned by either Sarah or Chris tapping the space bar three times or can summon himself into egsistance, he has stores of information on language and whenever he accesses one of them he shouts "Zot", beaming the information onto the computer, he introduces many different characters including, News Hound, Bill the Brickie, Ellie (Ollie's Sister), Gussy Gunge, Lazer Larry and the Magic E Magician.
- Chris
A work experience student, Sarah expexted a girl but she left school and when Chris joined the school he was chosen to replace her, not the brightest of people, he and Zot have their heated moments, but he learns keenly and quickly, he even attempts to copy Zot by summoning Bill The Brickie, but fails. At the end of the series his story makes the front page of the Gasset.
- Ellie
The sister of Ollie. She is shown in the educational section of the show and features in a few songs, one of which is entitled "I'm Ellie the sister of Ollie."