Mysterious Island (1995)
Mysterious Island
1995Mysterious Island is a Canadian television series based on Jules Verne's novel L'Île mystérieuse. It ran for one season in 1995. The beginning of the series is much as in the novel. A group of refugees attempting to escape the American Civil War in a balloon wind up stranded on a remote Pacific island, where they are able to improvise a comfortable living for themselves while they wait for a passing ship. As time passes, they become suspicious that some unseen force is watching and directing their movements. The main difference between the protagonists of the series and those of the novel is the addition of a female character, the wife of Pencroft. The unseen watcher, Captain Nemo, is more active and less benevolent than in the novel. Able to monitor the island through steampunk-style closed-circuit television and other advanced devices, he treats the castaways as human laboratory specimens, influencing their environment to test their behaviour under stressful conditions. As the series progresses, his tests become more extreme as their continued co-operation threatens his preferred thesis that all humans are, at base, selfish and untrustworthy. In the series finale, Nemo apparently succeeds in breaking up the group; this proves to be a ruse by the protagonists, who are now certain of Nemo's existence. After they penetrate his hideaway, Nemo admits that the 'experiment' is ruined, and offers to return the castaways to civilisation in his submarine. In a final twist, he puts out to sea without them, apparently leaving them alone on the island, without his influence for good or ill.
Seasons & Episode
While the castaways grieve for Neb, Nemo revives him and puts him into suspended animation storage. Pencroft's jealousy leads him to hunt down Ayrton. Harding soon realizes the phantom presence on the island is causing the castaways to turn against one another.
Pirate Captain Cutler and three of his crew come to the island to collect their buried treasure and seek revenge on Ayrton, whose dark past is revealed.
Joanna stumbles into an underwater trap set by Nemo and the others race to free her. Shortly thereafter, Captain Cutler, sole survivor of his ship's destruction, makes his presence known on the island and leaves a violent wake as he seeks revenge on the castaways.
Harding dives into Nemo's lair beneath the lake and is trapped in a chamber. Gideon is awakened by an intruder.
A tribe of native Islanders arrive on the island in search of Nui, a young native girl they believe has special significance.
Nemo observes Harding's feelings about Joanna, manifested in romantic dreams, as part of his research into the workings of the human mind. Meanwhile, Joanna is trapped by an earthquake while Herbert discovers a cryptic note from Ayrton.
Nemo intercepts a canoe and brings a wise old native woman to the island as a culture clash experience, but finds himself face to face with a superior power. Joanna's stand for women's rights has unexpected consequences.
Nemo fulfills a promise to Katira to bring the rest of her people to the island, then watches with glee as the natives take over Granite House and send the castaways into exile.
A tattooed native man arrives on the island telling the castaways that he is on a spiritual quest. Nemo is delighted when his presence has a disruptive influence on the group.
Herbert realizes that it is his birthday, but decides to keep it a secret. He is angry because he thinks Joanna has forgotten, and while she prepares a surprise gift for him, he decides to find a way to leave the island.
When pirates bring two women to the island, Nemo uses the situation to study human mating habits. The women, meanwhile, set their sights on Gideon and Herbert, which encourages the men into a near fatal show of male bravado.
Joanna argues with Herbert after a dream about a baby, and leaves the Granite House, headed for Ayrton's cabin. She has an accident on the way there, and is rescued by Nemo, who drugs her and questions her, learning she is pregnant with Jack's baby, but is afraid of childbirth.
Nemo's hidden camera in Granite House breaks down, so he disguises himself as a shipwrecked Englishman in order to gain admittance into the house to fix the equipment.
A series of accidents leads Harding to come face to face with the mysterious phantom, and he struggles with how to share the shocking truth.
The castaways share their experiences with the phantom and realize he may be their only hope of escaping the island.
Nemo reveals to Harding that his need to complete his experiment is greater than his desire to help the castaways off the island, and Harding is forced to cut a deal.
Harding carries out his part of the deal with Nemo, and the other castaways are enraged, moving from the Granite House into a makeshift hut on the beach, and prompting Nemo to announce his experiment is complete.
Mysterious Island is a Canadian television series based on Jules Verne's novel L'Île mystérieuse. It ran for one season in 1995. The beginning of the series is much as in the novel. A group of refugees attempting to escape the American Civil War in a balloon wind up stranded on a remote Pacific island, where they are able to improvise a comfortable living for themselves while they wait for a passing ship. As time passes, they become suspicious that some unseen force is watching and directing their movements. The main difference between the protagonists of the series and those of the novel is the addition of a female character, the wife of Pencroft. The unseen watcher, Captain Nemo, is more active and less benevolent than in the novel. Able to monitor the island through steampunk-style closed-circuit television and other advanced devices, he treats the castaways as human laboratory specimens, influencing their environment to test their behaviour under stressful conditions. As the series progresses, his tests become more extreme as their continued co-operation threatens his preferred thesis that all humans are, at base, selfish and untrustworthy. In the series finale, Nemo apparently succeeds in breaking up the group; this proves to be a ruse by the protagonists, who are now certain of Nemo's existence. After they penetrate his hideaway, Nemo admits that the 'experiment' is ruined, and offers to return the castaways to civilisation in his submarine. In a final twist, he puts out to sea without them, apparently leaving them alone on the island, without his influence for good or ill.