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Mr Tesslar (Robert van Mackelenberg) introduces his science class to his newest piece of equipment, the MFE machine. Garth (Brook Sykes), the school bully, is totally bored by the whole thing until new girl Dina (Saskia Burmeister) upsets Elizabeth (Bridget Neval) by sitting next to Toby (André de Vanny). Elizabeth has to sit with her only friend, Verity (Emma Leonard). Toby and Russ (Ben Schmideg) get detention.
Curator’s notes
This scene is important because we see the 'teacher’s pet’ Elizabeth before her transformation into the evil ‘ice queen’. The two main events underpinning the whole story are established in this clip – the antagonism and competition between the single-minded but dorky Elizabeth and feisty, very confident Dina, along with the set-up for the critical zapping incident.
The role of the malevolent Elizabeth would have been terrific fun for actor Bridget Neval. Also, although she only has a cameo appearance in this clip, Elizabeth’s pathetically daggy and not always loyal sidekick Verity is also a great character, played beautifully by Emma Leonard.
The scientific information about rocks in the script is a good example of how real science was built into the series. CSIRO advice to the series was crucial to the validity of the science underpinning each of the episodes.
