australian television information archive

Captured

The five children wake up on the wrecked ship. The ship is near an island. They search the island and when they return to the ship they find out that someone has taken all their equipment. They fall asleep on the island. While they're asleep, they are captured by three bearded men. They wake up in a cave. They meet Jeremiah Quizzel, who tells them that they are on the island of "Tambu", ruled by 'he who lives forever'—the "Q". He also tells them that they were taken by the evil Prime Minister, Rufus Quad. As it turns out, the last names of all the people on the island starts with the letter 'Q'. The Prime Minister and his two assistants (Quig and Quell) visit them, and tell them they must die. A girl brings them a knife that leads them to freedom.

The Snake Pit

The children follow the girl to a tree house, where they find the ship and most of their stuff. The girl tells them her name—Helen. She tells them that the people on the island live in a valley, that they must remain in. Only she and her brother know the way to the tree house. The people came on a convict ship headed 190 years ago from Portsmouth harbour to New Holland. There was a mutiny and during a storm the ship got to Tambu. The leader is the 'Q' who is more than 200 years old. Today it's tax day and the 'Q' comes to the valley. They hide in the bushes and see the tax collectors at work. Later Helen tells them that her brother, Jason, didn't pay his taxes and is about to be sent to Malo the second island from which no one returns alive. They again meet Jeremiah who tells them that he is the personal servant of the 'Q'.

The Treasure of Tambu

The children listen to a radio they found on the ship, and hear that the search for them had stopped. They plan the rescue of Jason. David suggests that Jeremiah will bring one of the robes of the 'Q' and they will act as the 'Q' and order the guards to let Jason go away. When time comes the plan almost works but one of the guards find who they are. They have to use a gun and sounds from the radio to frighten the guards and escape. Jason escapes as well.

The Volcano's Secret

Jason is hiding in the caves that are near the volcano, Aaron runs away to meet him and Jeremiah goes after him. The children follow them. Aaron meets a hermit who asks him if he is the son of Adam Quinn. Aaron finds Jason. Jeremiah and the children find them to. In this episode we meet Schoolmaster Quilter and Elizabeth Quinn, Helen, Jason and Aaron's mother.

The Winds of Chance

The barometer shows that a storm is coming, the radio confirms it, but Tony is the only one in the tree house. David and Su Ying are with Jason, Mark and Anna went fishing, so they don't know anything about the storm. Tony tells Jeremiah about it, but Jeremiah tells him that there are no storms in this season of the year. Jeremiah tells all the people in the valley about the storm and they don't believe him. The prime minister locks Jeremiah in the jail, so he won't be able to spread rumours about the storm. When the storm comes the prime minister wants to hang Jeremiah because Jeremiah will not tell him how he knew about the storm so Jeremiah says that the 'Q' told him about it and the prime minister lets him go. Meanwhile the children survive the hurricane at sea and in the cave. David and Su Ying notice the hermit again.
We finally hear the one and only—The Q.

Malo

Tony breaks his leg while escaping from the guards, David and mark go to the cave where Jason hides to look for some tar for their raft. Jason tells them that the hermit attacked him. They stop the hermit and he tells them that he is a prisoner who escaped from Malo. He and Adam Quinn (Jason's father) had a plan. The hermit was supposed to come back and get Adam Quinn, but he stayed in the cave for two years. Since Adam Quinn was taken to Malo three years ago, it means that he may be alive. They decide to go to malo and save him. They go at night, meanwhile the school headmaster, Mr. Quilter comes to see Mrs. Quinn because Aaron had skipped school again. They realise that Aaron is missing. He is on the raft with Jason, Mark and David. When they get to Malo they go to sleep. When they get up they notice that Jason is gone, Mark goes to look for him. Jason comes back and says that he toured the island and saw his father's name on a list where the prisoners live. They go looking for Mark.

Doomed

On Tambu Quell tells the prime minister that they have one of the children in prison, it turns out to be Mark. On Malo the prisoners dive for blue weeds that keep the 'Q' immortal. Jason identifies his father among the prisoners. Sue Ying helps a man who fell into the swamp. The man is Thomas Quick, who's about to become a guard of the prime minister. He becomes her friend. On Malo David and Jason see the prime minister with Mark, and understand that he is a prisoner. They go to the beach and David uses a mirror to signal Tony on Tambu that the guards have taken Mark. Adam Quinn goes to the bushes where Jason and David meet him and take him to the raft. The prime minister thinks that Adam Quinn is dead. On Tambu Mark gives Tony and Su Ying away. The guards take them, but in the jungle Thomas Quick comes from behind and rescues them.

The Treasure Map

Tony and Anna go to the cave of the 'Q' where they find a treasure map. The Prime Minister and then the 'Q' himself almost find them there. In both times Jeremiah helps them escape. Tony wants to show the map to the others, but Greta (the goat) eats it.

The Mysterious Stranger

Aaron sees a plane crash. During school he goes to the woods and finds the pilot, who was able to abandon the plain, in critical condition. Helen brings the children to him, they tell him that they are from the "United World" and he says that everybody think they're dead and searches have stopped. The children visit Adam Quinn and tell him about the world. He does not want his children to hear about it and forbids Jason, Helen and Aaron from meeting the five children. When his children want to meet the five, he goes to give himself to the prime minister and to tell him where the five are. At the last minute Jason brings him to the wounded pilot. When Adam comes out of the cave he admits that he was wrong, and that learning from other people is good. Jimmy the pilot is dead.

Skullduggery

Tony and David follow Quig and Quell and the guards to a cave. Inside they find the sails from the "United World" and barrels of gun powder. Back at the tree house Mark finds a Walkie-Talkie from the ship, They plan how to get to the new cave. Tony and Mark go there. In the cave they hear the sound of Quig and Quell and hide, but Tony drops the map. Quig and Quell bring it to the prime minister. Tony goes to the Quinn family with one walkie-talkie to seek help. The prime minister thinks that the map shows the area of the holly swamp, and sends Quig and Quell to search the area. The entrance to the swamp is marked by a skull. Mark hides the second walkie-talkie near the skull and when Quig & Quell get there, Jeremiah with the other walkie-talkie frightens them and they run away.

The Great Escape

David is planning their escape. He thinks that they can use some gun powder to blow a hole in the reef that surrounds the islands and escape with the ship. Aaron does not want them to leave so he tells Mark about a gold mine. When they are ready to leave Aaron and Mark are missing. Aaron leads Mark in the jungle but to nowhere. When Mark understands that Aaron fools him he returns. They use horses to pull the ship to the sea. When they reach the reef, David throws the bomb. The explosion wakes up the whole valley but the hole in the reef is not big enough. The prime minister with Quig, Quell and the guards come to the beach. The children use a smoke bomb they have to create a smoke screen and run to the jungle without being caught.

Jeremiah and the Widow

Mr. Quilter bugs Aaron again. Helen tells the children that Mr. Quilter's only interest is the rich widow Quack, who has a lot of land and is interested in agriculture. Tony suggests teaching Jeremiah agriculture and that Jeremiah will teach Quilter. He teaches him to build a windmill. Jeremiah and Quilter go to the widow, but Quilter hides and she thinks that Jeremiah is after her. She asks Jeremiah out to a picnic. During the picnic the children hide nearby and help Jeremiah explain her about the windmill. Quilter also hides and he comes out and calls Jeremiah a snake because he thinks Jeremiah wants the widow to himself. They declare a dual. The prime minister wouldn't stop the dual and at dawn they get ready. When the prime minister tells them to start Jeremiah says that this is a mistake, and that Quilter is the agriculture genius who's after the widow. He says that quilter can build a windmill. Tony builds the windmill and they show it to the prime minister as the work of Quilter. It works fine and the prime minister is satisfied.

The Thieves of Tambu

Thomas Quick stills a medicine book in Latin from the 'Q' and brings it to the children, because he can't read Latin. The only one who knows is David but he is away. Thomas Quick also stole medicine to help his sick girl in the valley. Anna and Su Ying dress as village girls and go to help the girl with some of their medicine. The 'Q' orders the prime minister to search every house to find the thief. When the guards reach the house of Emmett Quire, father of the sick girl, he goes out and tells them that he knows nothing about it, and saves Anna and Su Ying. The guards can't find the thief, so the prime minister issues a warning: If the thief won't give himself in, six man will die. The medicine Anna and Su Ying gave the girl saved her life. The children hide the medicine in the jungle and send a note to the prime minister, telling him where he can find it.

The Deadly Bargain

The guards capture Mark and bring him to the 'Q'. The 'Q' tells Mark that he needs their help and lets Mark go back to the tree house. Nothing can convince Mark that this is a trap so Tony and David go back with him to the 'Q'. The 'Q' wants them to build him the A-bomb, but Tony says they don't know how to do it. To save time David says he can build an "Ultra Sonic Laser Ray". The guards take them to a cave to build it. David and Tony build something that looks like a cannon and they also build a small bomb, which they bring to Jason. When time comes to show it to the 'Q' they pretend that they shoot with it and Jason, behind the bushes, operate the bomb so the 'Q' thinks it works. The 'Q' orders their arrest so David threatens him with the 'cannon' and the guards let them go. When they run away Quell tries to shoot them with the 'cannon' but they escape.

Hanging Five

Tony goes surfing every morning. At the beach he meets a girl, who's not afraid to go out of the valley. He does not tell the other four about her. Su Ying and Mark follow him and see her. They go to the village where Mrs. Quinn tells them that the girl, Bess, does whatever she wants because the 'Q' is her guardian. Aaron goes to the beach and watches Tony surf. He tells the teachers pet about it, and he tells the prime minister. The guards go to the beach and think they can't do anything to Tony because of Bess. They decide to stop Bess next morning and get Tony. Next morning they go into the sea far away from the beach where Tony is surfing. They want to come behind him and surprise him. When they come behind him Tony tries to escape. With the help of the waves and his surfboard he escapes.

The Sea Dragon

A small boat is coming to the island. The children go to the beach to hide the man who's on it before the prime minister and his guards get there. They manage to bring him to the jungle. His name is Christian, he is a German teacher who wanted to explore the ocean and got to the island because of a storm. They help him fix the boat, but before he returns he wants to see the village. When they bring him to the village he gives himself in to the prime minister, who convinces Christian that he has nothing against the children. When the prime minister goes away Anna and Jeremiah come to the prison and convince Christian that he is in prison. The children help him escape. At night Christian disappears and they think he left without saying goodbye.

Return to Malo

It turns out that Christian didn't escape, he just went to hide his boat. Christian, Anna, Tony and David go to Malo to let Christian see it before he leaves. Anna eats one of the blue weeds and loses consciousness. Christian takes her to the prime minister, who locks them. Christian calls him ignorant so he challenges Christian to a game of chess in exchange for their life. Christian wins but the prime minister does not let them go away. Tony and David steal blue weeds to make the prime minister free Anna and Christian. Christian sails back home.

Ye Confounded Wheels

The children find a skateboard, a thing that Aaron has never seen before. He wants one so David makes him one from natural material. All the children in the valley start surfing a skateboard, which causes the prime minister to brake a leg. He in return wants all the skateboards banned. The children of the valley sign a petition that brings the skateboards back.

The Angry Mountain

The volcano is about to erupt. Helen tells the children that it happen's every year, and that the people of the valley bring the prime minister gifts to calm the mountain. They follow the prime minister and see that he hides all the gifts in a cave in order to be rich and overthrow the 'Q'. He is trapped in the cave so the children try to save him.

The Great Horse Race

A horse arrives from Malo. It's Aaron's 10th birthday and he wants the horse. The prime minister also wants the horse, so Jeremiah brings the matter to the 'Q' who decides to conduct a race between this horse (which Aaron calls Quip) and the prime ministers horse, Quaga. The prime minister is sure that one of the children is riding Quip, so when quip wins he orders the arrest of the rider who turns out that the rider is Helen.

Birdman of Tambu

Jeremiah tells the children that the prime minister wishes to be a bird, so David builds a glider and they invite the prime minister to watch him fly. The prime minister arrests Tony and David and invites the valley elders to watch him fly. He starts to fly' but then everybody watch him fall into the sea.

The Magic Box

The hermit in the cave finds the children in their hiding place. He is sick. They take care of him. When he finds a music box he takes it and runs to the valley, where he becomes prisoner of the prime minister. The prime minister tells him that the children took the music box and when the hermit goes back to find them, the prime minister follows. Naturally they can't find the children.

The Wizard of Tambu

David is sick so Helen takes him to Quadricorn the magician who lives outside the village. He lives there with his animals (Quaglino the parrot and Quinny the monkey) because he had a fight with the prime minister. He gives David medicine and the children help him build an audio visual & fireworks display to impress the people and the prime minister. Incidentally he is called Quadricorn because of his 4 corners hat.

The Slave Horse

The 'Q' goes to Malo for ten days. While he is gone, the prime minister wants to take Aaron's horse, Quip, and make him a slave horse. In the last minute the 'Q' returns early and gives Aaron the horse back.

The Monster of Tambu

The children find an amphibian automobile and they paint it like a monster to frighten the 'Q'. The prime minister and his guards try to find the monster. When they reach the sea they see the children on it and understand who is in charge.

Return of the Monster

Aaron tells the boy of the guard Martin Quiddity about the five children. The boy tells his father who tells the prime minister. The prime minister arrests the family, and brings them to the 'Q'. They are sentenced to die. Jason suggests a revolution, and the children help him with the 'monster'. Jeremiah gathers the people of the valley. At dawn the children come to the valley with the monster and the prime minister with Quell and Quig escape to the cave of the 'Q' who can't help. He tells them to wait with him and plan a new revolution. Meanwhile, in the valley, the children and the people of the valley celebrate their victory. They choose Jeremiah as the new prime minister.