Children of the Dog Star
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Children of the Dog Star was a science fiction television program for children produced in New Zealand in 1984. It was based on a script written by Marie Stuttard and directed by Chris Bailey.
It won the Golden Globe Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival that year.
Book "Blurb"
Twelve-year-old Gretchen has a passion for science and a talent for all things mechanical, which is why the strange old brass "weathervane" on her uncle's farm fascinates her. But the brass daisy rod has a complex and terrifying significance, and Gretchen and her new friend Ronny discover its links with the far distant Sirius, the Dog Star.
Synopsis
On holiday at her uncle's farm in New Zealand, Gretchen befriends Ronny, a Maori boy with a troubled city past, and Bevis the birdwatching son of a loathed developer. Tension is already high as the developer wants to buy and drain a local swamp for a housing estate, but Ronny's uncle is the guardian of a tradditional Maori tapu (taboo/curse) upon the swamp. The swamp must not be touched - something sleeps there that must not be woken. Something unnatural.
Gradually, the children discover the pieces of an ancient alien space probe named Kolob. During the series they assemble the missing parts and strange things start to happen. The probe was one of three sent to earth to educate the human race in science. In the end a communication link is set up with the star Sirius, from where the probe came, and the aliens tell them they should not have interfered.
The storyline has similarities with Stephen Kings The Tommyknockers.