[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ocean_girl.jpg]]

''Ocean Girl'' was an Australian children's show that ran from 1994 to 1998. In the United Kingdom it was called ''Ocean Odyssey''. Created by Creator/JonathanMShiff, and set in the near future, it focuses on an unusual girl named Neri who lives alone on an island, and the friendships she develops with the inhabitants of an underwater research facility called ORCA (Oceanic Research Centre of Australia).
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!!Tropes:
* AdultsAreUseless: The good ones, anyway. Even the ones who know about Neri are generally not in the loop about her 'missions' and when they are they rarely get get to do anything apart from plan.
* [[AgentMulder Agents Mulder]] [[AgentScully and Scully]]: Season 4 introduces Agents Elly Hauser and Jake Shelby, who bear a remarkable resemblance to the famous duo from ''The X-Files'' and even work for a paranormal investigation agency.
* AlienInvasion: [[spoiler:The expedition that stranded Neri, Mera, their father, and Kal on Earth was to assess the planet for possible colonisation as their own planet was slowly dying. The plan was for them to take over the oceans, as they are adapted for life underwater, which would minimise their interactions with humans. Neri's rival in Season 4 had other ideas, but luckily it turned out to be unnecessary.]]
* AliensSpeakingEnglish: [[spoiler:Neri speaks pretty broken English and remembers only a few words of her own language. Kal, when released from stasis, speaks perfect if slightly stilted English. All other members of their race speak English. Justified for Neri and Kal, who were on a journey to assess Earth for possible colonisation, and for Mera, raised by foster families in Australia.]]
* AllLovingHero: Neri has an almost instinctive sense of compassion [[FriendToAllLivingThings for everything and everyone]]. For a strong example of this, she first meets Dr. Hellegren when she finds him set adrift in the ocean. She wakes him up and offers him water. [[UngratefulBastard He returns her kindness by holding her captive.]]
* AnimatedAdaptation: ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfOceanGirl'', a ContinuityReboot.
* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Brett to Jason, originally. He grows out of it. Cass to Morgan, until Morgan [[PutOnABus vanishes without trace]].
* AsYouKnow: Neri had a habit of repeating several times whatever the current mission was. Possibly justified, as her English wasn't very good.
* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: [[spoiler:At the end of Season 4, which also turned out to be the end of the series, Neri is proclaimed Crown Princess and heir to her mother's throne. Mera, who has actually been attempting to rule the planet as regent, gets a little tiara thing.]]
* TheBet: "The Institute" has a variant of the prom type, with a [[SubvertedTrope subversion]]: A bunch of kids make a bet to see who can bring the ugliest, nerdiest date. [[{{Jerkass}} Mick]] charms Vanessa into going with him, but he doesn't develop any true feelings for her. [[spoiler:At least not at the time.]]
* BlackAndNerdy - Froggy, also the resident kid genius.
* TheBully: Vanessa, to start with. She's overcompensating because she's tall and smart so people often make fun of her. Later, Mick. He's just a jerk, but as the son of the base commander he can get away with it [[spoiler:(it's also implied that his behaviour is hiding his learning disability)]]. Both have {{heel face turn}}s when faced with Neri.
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: None of the secondary kids on ORCA survive more than two series. The first couple of times, it's handwaved by having someone say they've been reassigned, but after that it passes without notice.
* CoolTeacher: Dave, in Season 3.
* DisappearedDad: Jason and Brett's parents divorced just before the first series. Brett is fairly sanguine about this. Jason, not so much.[[spoiler: The dad returns in Season 4, this time as his ex-wife's boss to boot.]]
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Shersheba, the villain of Season 4, may have been planning to invade Earth, but she considered the deadly virus created by her servant, Malakat, to be "monstrous." May also go to a point with the big bad in Season 3, who aims to take over the world, but stops short when he realises that he'd also be killing his daughter.
%%* FriendToAllLivingThings: Neri
* FunWithAcronyms: The HeroesRUs is called ORCA, for crying out loud!
%%* GreenAesop
* HumanAlien: [[spoiler:Neri (and all others of her race) look completely human. Neri's sister, Mera, spent years in the Australian foster system without anyone realising she wasn't human.]]
* IChooseToStay: [[spoiler:At the end of Season 2, Neri and Mera are offered the chance to return to their own planet. Mera takes it. Neri is going to, but at the last moment changes her mind.]]
* LiteralMinded: Neri has a bit of trouble with idioms, due to having grown up without learning much English. For example, in "The Institute", Dr. Bates talks about "killing two birds with one stone" and [[FriendToAllLivingThings Neri objects to the killing of birds.]]
* LittleMissSnarker: Cass, Brett's friend in Seasons 3 and 4, is this.
* MadScientistsBeautifulDaughter: Dr. Hellegren happens to have a daughter named Lena, who you would not pick as being related to him until she mentions it.
* MeaningfulName: Neri sounds like a short verion of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nereid Nereid]], an ancient Greek sea nymph.
* TheMenInBlack: The main antagonists for Season 4 are PRAXIS, a whole organization of [=MIBs=].
* MrFanservice: Kal
* {{Mooks}}: UBRI keeps their mooks in blindingly white lifeguard swimsuits and jumpsuits. PRAXIS is a whole organisation of [=MIBs=].
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: SubvertedTrope: despite a name like ''Hellegren'', he is by and large a HarmlessVillain.
* NatureHero: Neri lives on a deserted island and talks to whales. Well, whale. [[spoiler:Mera lives with her for a while and also talks to Charley, but because she was raised in foster care she's used to more 'civilised' surroundings.]]
* NobodyCanDie: Bad guys either do a HeelFaceTurn or are captured and put in prison. Good guys might be injured, but the closest anyone has come to dying is [[spoiler:Kal - he absorbed harmful energy and was put in stasis for the trip back to his planet, where he would be healed. Also Neri in Season 4, for an episode or two.]]
* NoNameGiven: Charley isn't actually his formal name. Neri calls him "Jali" because it's her planet's word for "whale." Jason and Brett mishear it as "Charley" and the name soon sticks.
* OceanPunk: The titular character has the ability to breathe underwater, coming from another planet where everybody can. Many (if not all) villainous plots happen to occur in or pretty close to the Australian coast, or in the aforementioned planet. The HeroesRUs has an UnderwaterBase.
* ParentalAbandonment:
** Unintentional for the most part. [[spoiler:Neri and Mera's father dies shortly after reaching Earth, and their mother is presumed-dead back on their own planet. She reappears at the very end of the show. Until then Jason's mother steps in.]]
** Jason and Brett's father is completely absent until Season 4 - they occasionally mention the divorce, but he himself only appears in Season 4.
** Lena also abandons her father about halfway through Season 3 after she's found to have gone against his wishes.
* PrefersGoingBarefoot: Neri, Mera and Kal all go barefoot. The first few times Neri went to ORCA the kids made her wear shoes, which she hated. By season four she was barefoot even when horse riding. Mera was happy enough in shoes, being raised in the Australian foster care system, but generally went barefoot on the island. Kal never wore shoes.
* PrincessProtagonist: [[spoiler:It turns out that Neri and Mera are the daughters of their planet's rulers. In Season 4 their mother is referred to as 'queen' and they are called 'princess' several times. There's also a rival princess.]]
* QuicksandSucks: Brett gets caught in some in a very early episode.
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: [[spoiler:Neri's father is royal only by marriage, but he leads the expedition to Earth. When it's reported missing, her mother prepares to go after them, but her Chancellor betrays and overthrows her. Neri herself probably counts, having saved the world twice over.]]
* SapientCetaceans
* SeaStories: Each season had a little time on land, usually in pursuit of the season's MacGuffin, but the majority of time was spent either on Neri's island or on the ORCA station.
* SheCleansUpNicely: Neri is invited to a dance on ORCA. Jason is astonished that she actually looks pretty.
* SpiritualSuccessor: ''Series/H2OJustAddWater'' and its own SequelSeries ''Series/MakoMermaidsAnH2OAdventure'', both created by Creator/JonathanMShiff.
* WhatTheHellIsThatAccent: Neri's actress was born in Poland and moved to Australia at the age of four. Neri's accent was - definitely ''not'' Australian. Kal also had an odd accent. [[spoiler:Later immigrants from Neri's planet mostly sounded American.]] According to the commentary by Neri's actress, they deliberately did this to avoid making her sound like one particular nationality. Kal's actor is also of mixed heritage.
* WhiteAndGreyMorality: No truly evil characters, just ones with differing ideas of what is right.
* WildChild: Neri's father died when she was still very young, and she mostly raised herself. Her whale friend, Charley, helped a bit.
* YouNoTakeCandle: Neri spoke like this when Jason and Brett first met her, as she'd grown to her teens without actually meeting anyone who spoke English. She learned as the series went on and by Season 4 this was barely in evidence at all.
* {{Zeerust}}: The first series mentions "Laserblades" and "vid-discs" as well as "Credits" as a form of currency. The third season has a couple of these mentions but drops them otherwise.
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