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* CaliforniaDoubling: New Zealand doubling for Thailand, Singapore, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Spain, no less.
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Dewicked trope
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* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: An ''Underbelly'' staple makes it across the Tasman. Only the major characters get their names shown on screen.
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* DrugsAreBad: Played straight. Characters are either dead because of drug overdose or, indirectly, because of backstabbing and greed involved in the drug trade. Some are even murdered because they got high off their own supply.
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* DrugsAreBad: Played straight. Characters are either dead because of drug overdose or, indirectly, because of backstabbing and greed involved in the drug trade. Some are even murdered because they got [[GettingHighOnTheirOwnSupply high off their own supply.supply]].
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Unlike most ''{{Underbelly}}'' shows, ''Land of the Long Green Cloud'' featured only six episodes instead of the usual thirteen, possibly because other parts of the story had been already told in ''A Tale of Two Cities''. The series aired between August and September 2011 on New Zealand's [=TV3=]. The cast consisted mainly of local Kiwi actors and was filmed entirely around UsefulNotes/{{Auckland}}.
to:
Unlike most ''{{Underbelly}}'' ''Series/{{Underbelly}}'' shows, ''Land of the Long Green Cloud'' featured only six episodes instead of the usual thirteen, possibly because other parts of the story had been already told in ''A Tale of Two Cities''. The series aired between August and September 2011 on New Zealand's [=TV3=]. The cast consisted mainly of local Kiwi actors and was filmed entirely around UsefulNotes/{{Auckland}}.
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''Underbelly NZ: Land of the Long Green Cloud'' is a New Zealand spinoff of the Australian ''Series/{{Underbelly}}'' series based on the "Mr. Asia" syndicate led by Christopher Martin "Marty" Johnstone, based on events which took place in UsefulNotes/NewZealand, Australia, Singapore, Thailand, and the United Kingdom, between 1972 and 1980.
to:
''Underbelly NZ: Land of the Long Green Cloud'' is a New Zealand UsefulNotes/NewZealand spinoff of the Australian ''Series/{{Underbelly}}'' series based on the "Mr. Asia" syndicate led by Christopher Martin "Marty" Johnstone, based on events which took place in UsefulNotes/NewZealand, Australia, Singapore, Thailand, and the United Kingdom, between 1972 and 1980.
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Unlike most ''{{Underbelly}}'' shows, ''Land of the Long Green Cloud'' featured only six episodes instead of the usual thirteen, possibly because other parts of the story had been already told in ''A Tale of Two Cities''. The series aired between August and September 2011 on New Zealand's [=TV3=]. The cast consisted mainly of local Kiwi actors and was filmed entirely around Auckland.
to:
Unlike most ''{{Underbelly}}'' shows, ''Land of the Long Green Cloud'' featured only six episodes instead of the usual thirteen, possibly because other parts of the story had been already told in ''A Tale of Two Cities''. The series aired between August and September 2011 on New Zealand's [=TV3=]. The cast consisted mainly of local Kiwi actors and was filmed entirely around Auckland.
UsefulNotes/{{Auckland}}.
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''Underbelly NZ: Land of the Long Green Cloud'' is a New Zealand spinoff of the Australian ''Series/{{Underbelly}}'' series based on the "Mr. Asia" syndicate led by Christopher Martin "Marty" Johnstone, based on events which took place in New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Thailand, and the United Kingdom, between 1972 and 1980.
to:
''Underbelly NZ: Land of the Long Green Cloud'' is a New Zealand spinoff of the Australian ''Series/{{Underbelly}}'' series based on the "Mr. Asia" syndicate led by Christopher Martin "Marty" Johnstone, based on events which took place in New Zealand, UsefulNotes/NewZealand, Australia, Singapore, Thailand, and the United Kingdom, between 1972 and 1980.
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* TheOtherDarrin: Merrick Watts, Damon Gameau and Matthew Newton do not reprise their roles from ''A Tale of Two Cities''.
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* FakeNationality:
** Piak, a Thai drug supplier, who is played by Grant [=McFarland=], who looks Asian.
** FakeBrit: Andy Maher, Deb Masters, Julie Hue, and Jimmy Smith, who are all played by Kiwi actors who must fake Scottish accents.
** Piak, a Thai drug supplier, who is played by Grant [=McFarland=], who looks Asian.
** FakeBrit: Andy Maher, Deb Masters, Julie Hue, and Jimmy Smith, who are all played by Kiwi actors who must fake Scottish accents.
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[[quoteright:315:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Underbelly-Long-Green-Cloud_258.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:315:Didn't we already do this story?]]
[[caption-width-right:315:Didn't we already do this story?]]
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[[caption-width-right:315:Didn't
[[caption-width-right:350:Didn't we already do this story?]]
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[[quoteright:315:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Underbelly-Long-Green-Cloud_258.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:315:Didn't we already do this story?]]
->''"I'm Marty--rhymes with party."''
''Underbelly NZ: Land of the Long Green Cloud'' is a New Zealand spinoff of the Australian ''Series/{{Underbelly}}'' series based on the "Mr. Asia" syndicate led by Christopher Martin "Marty" Johnstone, based on events which took place in New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Thailand, and the United Kingdom, between 1972 and 1980.
Analogous to the Australian series ''Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities'', this Kiwi spinoff focuses on the story of Marty Johnstone (played by Dan Musgrove) and his rise from petty thief to drug lord, and his eventual demise--along with that of the drug syndicate he helped create. Marty, along with HeterosexualLifePartner Andy Maher (played by Thijs Morris), with the help of "Chinese Jack", begin importing Thai Buddha sticks into New Zealand, setting up their initial success. They then take Terry Clark (played by Erroll Shand) under their wing; however, Clark has an agenda of his own.
The show also shines a spotlight on the changes forced upon the New Zealand Police which, up until then, had been completely incompetent to deal with the influx of weed and heroin brought into Aotearoa. Only through the efforts of Detective Constables [[TheHero Ben Charlton]] (Jamie Irvine) and Carole Derwent (Holly Shanahan), along with a team of plucky ''Auckland Star'' reporters led by Pat Booth (Jason Hoyte), does the Police have a chance at stopping the trade.
Unlike most ''{{Underbelly}}'' shows, ''Land of the Long Green Cloud'' featured only six episodes instead of the usual thirteen, possibly because other parts of the story had been already told in ''A Tale of Two Cities''. The series aired between August and September 2011 on New Zealand's [=TV3=]. The cast consisted mainly of local Kiwi actors and was filmed entirely around Auckland.
----
!!Tropes Associated With ''Underbelly NZ: Land of the Long Green Cloud'':
* ActionMom: Carole. She's in a relationship and has two children.
* AffablyEvil: Marty. His name "rhymes with party."
* AnyoneCanDie: Played straight with both minor and major characters on the show.
* BasedOnATrueStory: Like all ''Underbelly'' shows.
* BriefcaseFullOfMoney: Seen several times throughout the show.
* CaliforniaDoubling: New Zealand doubling for Thailand, Singapore, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Spain, no less.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Given that so many Syndicate members were jockeying for top spots, this was inevitable. It comes to a head when Terry Clark takes over [[spoiler:after Marty is murdered]].
* ClusterFBomb: Andy Maher is fond of this trope. So is Jimmy Smith in the finale.
* CompositeCharacter: Ben and Carole, and perhaps several of their colleagues, are composite characters based on real-life New Zealand Police detectives working on the Mr. Asia case. The character of Gary Majors is based on Peter Fulcher, a real-life Mr. Asia syndicate member that was alive during production of the show. He later died of emphysema at age 71.
* CrapsackWorld: Although Marty and his mates are seen enjoying their success in the drug trade, lives begin falling apart. People begin dying of heroin overdose; syndicate members are often scrutinized by leadership; and bodies begin to pile up when they've failed or for breaking off from the main group. Worse yet, the police are often powerless to do anything about it, and those who they do arrest are often quickly released.
* DeadpanSnarker: Ben in spades. Detectives "Goose" Gosling and "Ding" Bell also fit this at times.
* DisproportionateRetribution: Failure within the Syndicate is rewarded with beatings and sometimes death.
* DrugsAreBad: Played straight. Characters are either dead because of drug overdose or, indirectly, because of backstabbing and greed involved in the drug trade. Some are even murdered because they got high off their own supply.
* EtTuBrute: Andy [[spoiler:betrays Marty by killing him on the way to Glasgow on the pretense of a major drug deal.]]
* FakeNationality:
** Piak, a Thai drug supplier, who is played by Grant [=McFarland=], who looks Asian.
** FakeBrit: Andy Maher, Deb Masters, Julie Hue, and Jimmy Smith, who are all played by Kiwi actors who must fake Scottish accents.
* ForegoneConclusion: Given that the series was based on actual events, it's clear that Marty ends up broke, disgraced, and later dead [[spoiler:at the hands of his best friend and business partner Andy]].
* {{Foreshadowing}}: After Marty tells Andy that he's his "best mate" in the pilot, he replies that this is where Marty goes down and that "there's no such thing as mates" in crime. [[spoiler:Turns out, he's right. In fact, he kills Marty in the finale.]]
* HeterosexualLifePartners: Marty and Andy, until [[spoiler:Andy killed him]].
* HurricaneOfPuns: Oh, so many, especially in the earlier episodes. But it got better.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: An ''Underbelly'' staple makes it across the Tasman. Only the major characters get their names shown on screen.
* TheNarrator: Ben.
* TheNicknamer: Pat Booth. Due to legal reasons, he could not print Marty Johnstone's name in ''The Auckland Star'', so he coined the nickname "Mr. Asia" instead. Of course, Marty knew that it applied to him.
* OfficialCouple: Doug & Isabel Wilson. Marty and Bonnie Marie Jones were this for a while.
* OhAndXDies: Done with Greg Ollard, Julie Theilman, Doug & Isabel Wilson, and "Pommy" Harry Lewis--all who were [[spoiler:murdered either directly or indirectly by Terry Clark, an associate of Marty's]].
* OohMeAccentsSlipping: During the last two episodes, it becomes quite evident as to who can hold down a passable Scottish accent, and who, well, can't.
* OneSteveLimit: Averted. There are two female characters named Julie: Julie Theilman (played by Creator/OliviaTennet), who is a courier working for Terry Clark and a drug addict, and Julie Hue (played by Sophia Huybens), a Scottish friend of Andy's who becomes Marty's girlfriend after he broke up with Bonnie Marie Jones.
* TheOtherDarrin: Merrick Watts, Damon Gameau and Matthew Newton do not reprise their roles from ''A Tale of Two Cities''.
* PoliceAreUseless: And ''how''. New Zealand Police had many restrictions in what they could do to bring criminals like Marty to justice. Syndicate members are often arrested, only to be released days later. The escalating drug trade eventually led to increased police powers by the time the Syndicate was dissolved.
* RichInDollarsPoorInSense: Marty, who often spends money on the finest luxury goods, even as he fails to meet his own financial obligations to his associates. Coupled with his newfound love for cocaine, this is seen as the beginning of his downfall.
* ShipTease: Ben and Carole, though Ben had a brief relationship with another female officer, and Carole had already been in a relationship and was a mother of two.
* TheStarscream: Terry Clark. He went from setting up his own heroin operation (with Marty's knowledge) to eventually taking over the syndicate in Australia, and even [[spoiler:setting up Marty's murder]].
* StockFootage: Archived footage is sometimes used in between live shots.
* TheSyndicate: Well, duh. In fact, the "Mr. Asia" Syndicate was the first of its kind in New Zealand and had international reach as far out as the United Kingdom.
* WhatTheHellHero: Ben confronts a fellow New Zealand Police detective after he found out he had been sabotaging police operations while working undercover within the Syndicate, even getting high off some supplies.
----
[[caption-width-right:315:Didn't we already do this story?]]
->''"I'm Marty--rhymes with party."''
''Underbelly NZ: Land of the Long Green Cloud'' is a New Zealand spinoff of the Australian ''Series/{{Underbelly}}'' series based on the "Mr. Asia" syndicate led by Christopher Martin "Marty" Johnstone, based on events which took place in New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Thailand, and the United Kingdom, between 1972 and 1980.
Analogous to the Australian series ''Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities'', this Kiwi spinoff focuses on the story of Marty Johnstone (played by Dan Musgrove) and his rise from petty thief to drug lord, and his eventual demise--along with that of the drug syndicate he helped create. Marty, along with HeterosexualLifePartner Andy Maher (played by Thijs Morris), with the help of "Chinese Jack", begin importing Thai Buddha sticks into New Zealand, setting up their initial success. They then take Terry Clark (played by Erroll Shand) under their wing; however, Clark has an agenda of his own.
The show also shines a spotlight on the changes forced upon the New Zealand Police which, up until then, had been completely incompetent to deal with the influx of weed and heroin brought into Aotearoa. Only through the efforts of Detective Constables [[TheHero Ben Charlton]] (Jamie Irvine) and Carole Derwent (Holly Shanahan), along with a team of plucky ''Auckland Star'' reporters led by Pat Booth (Jason Hoyte), does the Police have a chance at stopping the trade.
Unlike most ''{{Underbelly}}'' shows, ''Land of the Long Green Cloud'' featured only six episodes instead of the usual thirteen, possibly because other parts of the story had been already told in ''A Tale of Two Cities''. The series aired between August and September 2011 on New Zealand's [=TV3=]. The cast consisted mainly of local Kiwi actors and was filmed entirely around Auckland.
----
!!Tropes Associated With ''Underbelly NZ: Land of the Long Green Cloud'':
* ActionMom: Carole. She's in a relationship and has two children.
* AffablyEvil: Marty. His name "rhymes with party."
* AnyoneCanDie: Played straight with both minor and major characters on the show.
* BasedOnATrueStory: Like all ''Underbelly'' shows.
* BriefcaseFullOfMoney: Seen several times throughout the show.
* CaliforniaDoubling: New Zealand doubling for Thailand, Singapore, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Spain, no less.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Given that so many Syndicate members were jockeying for top spots, this was inevitable. It comes to a head when Terry Clark takes over [[spoiler:after Marty is murdered]].
* ClusterFBomb: Andy Maher is fond of this trope. So is Jimmy Smith in the finale.
* CompositeCharacter: Ben and Carole, and perhaps several of their colleagues, are composite characters based on real-life New Zealand Police detectives working on the Mr. Asia case. The character of Gary Majors is based on Peter Fulcher, a real-life Mr. Asia syndicate member that was alive during production of the show. He later died of emphysema at age 71.
* CrapsackWorld: Although Marty and his mates are seen enjoying their success in the drug trade, lives begin falling apart. People begin dying of heroin overdose; syndicate members are often scrutinized by leadership; and bodies begin to pile up when they've failed or for breaking off from the main group. Worse yet, the police are often powerless to do anything about it, and those who they do arrest are often quickly released.
* DeadpanSnarker: Ben in spades. Detectives "Goose" Gosling and "Ding" Bell also fit this at times.
* DisproportionateRetribution: Failure within the Syndicate is rewarded with beatings and sometimes death.
* DrugsAreBad: Played straight. Characters are either dead because of drug overdose or, indirectly, because of backstabbing and greed involved in the drug trade. Some are even murdered because they got high off their own supply.
* EtTuBrute: Andy [[spoiler:betrays Marty by killing him on the way to Glasgow on the pretense of a major drug deal.]]
* FakeNationality:
** Piak, a Thai drug supplier, who is played by Grant [=McFarland=], who looks Asian.
** FakeBrit: Andy Maher, Deb Masters, Julie Hue, and Jimmy Smith, who are all played by Kiwi actors who must fake Scottish accents.
* ForegoneConclusion: Given that the series was based on actual events, it's clear that Marty ends up broke, disgraced, and later dead [[spoiler:at the hands of his best friend and business partner Andy]].
* {{Foreshadowing}}: After Marty tells Andy that he's his "best mate" in the pilot, he replies that this is where Marty goes down and that "there's no such thing as mates" in crime. [[spoiler:Turns out, he's right. In fact, he kills Marty in the finale.]]
* HeterosexualLifePartners: Marty and Andy, until [[spoiler:Andy killed him]].
* HurricaneOfPuns: Oh, so many, especially in the earlier episodes. But it got better.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: An ''Underbelly'' staple makes it across the Tasman. Only the major characters get their names shown on screen.
* TheNarrator: Ben.
* TheNicknamer: Pat Booth. Due to legal reasons, he could not print Marty Johnstone's name in ''The Auckland Star'', so he coined the nickname "Mr. Asia" instead. Of course, Marty knew that it applied to him.
* OfficialCouple: Doug & Isabel Wilson. Marty and Bonnie Marie Jones were this for a while.
* OhAndXDies: Done with Greg Ollard, Julie Theilman, Doug & Isabel Wilson, and "Pommy" Harry Lewis--all who were [[spoiler:murdered either directly or indirectly by Terry Clark, an associate of Marty's]].
* OohMeAccentsSlipping: During the last two episodes, it becomes quite evident as to who can hold down a passable Scottish accent, and who, well, can't.
* OneSteveLimit: Averted. There are two female characters named Julie: Julie Theilman (played by Creator/OliviaTennet), who is a courier working for Terry Clark and a drug addict, and Julie Hue (played by Sophia Huybens), a Scottish friend of Andy's who becomes Marty's girlfriend after he broke up with Bonnie Marie Jones.
* TheOtherDarrin: Merrick Watts, Damon Gameau and Matthew Newton do not reprise their roles from ''A Tale of Two Cities''.
* PoliceAreUseless: And ''how''. New Zealand Police had many restrictions in what they could do to bring criminals like Marty to justice. Syndicate members are often arrested, only to be released days later. The escalating drug trade eventually led to increased police powers by the time the Syndicate was dissolved.
* RichInDollarsPoorInSense: Marty, who often spends money on the finest luxury goods, even as he fails to meet his own financial obligations to his associates. Coupled with his newfound love for cocaine, this is seen as the beginning of his downfall.
* ShipTease: Ben and Carole, though Ben had a brief relationship with another female officer, and Carole had already been in a relationship and was a mother of two.
* TheStarscream: Terry Clark. He went from setting up his own heroin operation (with Marty's knowledge) to eventually taking over the syndicate in Australia, and even [[spoiler:setting up Marty's murder]].
* StockFootage: Archived footage is sometimes used in between live shots.
* TheSyndicate: Well, duh. In fact, the "Mr. Asia" Syndicate was the first of its kind in New Zealand and had international reach as far out as the United Kingdom.
* WhatTheHellHero: Ben confronts a fellow New Zealand Police detective after he found out he had been sabotaging police operations while working undercover within the Syndicate, even getting high off some supplies.
----
