Line #68 Series/Silversun


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/silversun_earthrise.jpg]]
2	->''Star Runner leaves on its ninety year journey to the new world. On board, an elite young crew, and 550 settlers frozen in suspended animation.''
3
4	Silversun is a 2004 children/teenage sci-fi program produced for the Creator/AustralianBroadcastingCorporation. It depicts an "elite young crew" who are travelling on a [[InterplanetaryVoyage 90-year journey to a habitable planet]] referred to as Silversun or "the new world."
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6	[[ShortRunners It was cancelled]] after the [[LeftHanging cliffhanger final episode of its second season]].
7	------------------
8	!!Tropes:
9	* AbsentAliens: Initially, subverted in Episode 12 when [[spoiler:they discover an alien after leaving the wormhole]] and briefly prior to that with Leonella's statement that they've found some primitive strands of DNA.
10	* TheAce: Tane thinks he's this. See SmallNameBigEgo.
11	* AcePilot: Tane, by the standards of the cadets (despite the above) - he excels in many high-stress situations and is often commended by higher-ranking members of the crew, although he still fluffs up a (thankfully simulated) docking manoeuvre due to having his mind on Leonella, and overdoes at least one other routine manoeuvre, requiring a deliberate corrective move to fix it.
12	* AnotherDimension: Accessed through the wormhole/s. Also the {{Technobabble}} explanation for the [[spoiler: JustOneSecondOutOfSync effect which affects Cinnamon and Mara.]]
13	* AerithAndBob: The adults all have very standard English names (Aaron, Lillian, Steve and Karen). The kids' names vary from the slightly unusual but certainly heard of (Mara, Leonella) to variants of more common names (Zandie, presumably a form of Sandy) to the... odd (Pancha, Degenhart).
14	* ArtificialLimbs: Pancha's implant not only replaces the damage done to her brain in an accident - to the point that she's still a candidate for a space mission - but allows her to communicate directly with the computer, [[spoiler:saving the mission on numerous occasions]].
15	* BettyAndVeronica: Degenhart with Mara (Betty) and Zandie (Veronica). Though it's worth noting Deegs is friends with Zandie first and has more in common with her, whereas his relationship with Mara is a case of OppositesAttract.
16	* BookDumb: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] with Zandie. See HiddenDepths below.
17	* BrainwashedAndCrazy: The result of the MindVirus mentioned below.
18	* TheCaptain[=/=]BigGood: [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] with Commander Cyriax. While he is a ReasonableAuthorityFigure and has his moments of making judgement calls, leading/guiding everyone in[[note]]what the show believes to be[[/note]] the right direction, and subtly teaching lessons to and aiding in the growth of the crew, he's not the focus of the show as TheLeader and is given roughly the same amount of focus as the other characters, [[spoiler: besides the story arcs which revolve around his exposure to the alien and ensuing [[MindVirus condition]]]]. Most major problems are also solved by the characters working together, and multiple-part solutions contributed by multiple characters, with Cyriax coordinating and making final calls at best. Similarly, he's also portrayed as a flawed human, admitting to fear at one point, having a few casual moments, and occasionally responding to insubordination, other out-of-order behaviour, or other mission difficulties with a brief flare of temper[[note]]even when he's in his right mind outside of the alien virus arc[[/note]] before cooling down and reverting to a more reasoned response and mindset.
19	* ClonesArePeopleToo: The position advocated by [[spoiler: Zandie, and eventually agreed upon to varying extents by the other members of the crew. Unfortunately, said clone's neurodegenerative disorder coupled with other crises leads to him taking one of several [[BittersweetEnding bittersweet at best]] options, although he is left with a remote chance of seeing the Earth.]]
20	* CoolStarship: ''Star Runner'' is pretty freaking cool, inside and out.
21	* ConflictBall: Having NoAntagonist leads to a lot of this. Zandie is a chronic possessor, but Deegs, Mara, Tane and Steve are also all pretty inclined to hold it.
22	* DoAndroidsDream: Explored briefly through Pancha and her implant. Like many plot points and themes, the exploration of this is mainly confined to a dedicated episode, but Pancha's ambiguous emotions (and penchant for extreme rationality) are a recurring reminder.
23	* DeflectorShields: ''Star Runner'' is equipped with these, which are mentioned several times and are finally seen saving it from [[spoiler: at least one meteor impact in the Sargasso Disc.]]
24	* DrowningMySorrows: Zandi with a bottle of champagne Cinnamon stole from her parents for her. It doesn't go very well.
25	* EscapePod: The ''Star Runner'' is equipped with a few, which are mentioned several times and put to several different uses in the series.
26	** They house the flight simulators, which can be used to train for piloting the ''Star Runner'', or the escape modules themselves... or to play combat sims for entertainment.
27	** Lillian considers sending [[spoiler: an ill Cyriax]] back to Earth in one. [[spoiler: A ThirdOption is ultimately revealed and taken.]]
28	** One is used as a tug in an attempt to push the ''Star Runner'' away from a [[spoiler: jammed-on fuel barge]]. [[spoiler: [[ClonesArePeopleToo Will Power]] successfully completes this manoeuvre later, after circumstances become more urgent, then hijacks this life pod to attempt to return to Earth.]]
29	** The plotline of an episode involves crossing the Andromeda Line, which marks the outer radius of the escape pods' range - returning to Earth in one is explicitly no longer possible past this point (although it is still possible to turn ''Star Runner'' itself around).
30	** Cinnamon and Tycho accidentally launch one while fighting over the aforementioned simulator. They are thankfully promptly recovered as soon as the unauthorized launch is noted.
31	** An Escape Pod is used to ferry personnel to [[spoiler: the ''Infinity'' while attempting rescue and repair operations]].
32	* FirstNameBasis: Everyone except Commander Cyriax. Some characters' surnames [[AllThereInTheManual are only available on]] [[http://www.abc.net.au/silversun the official ABC website.]]
33	* {{Foil}}: [[spoiler: ''Infinity'' and Commander Darius]] to [[spoiler: ''Star Runner'' and Commander Cyriax]]. While [[spoiler: the ''Star Runner'']] handled [[spoiler: a mutiny/protest]] well overall, with [[spoiler: the crew putting it aside and returning to action in a crisis involving a wormhole]], it is implied [[spoiler: ''Infinity'']] did not, with [[spoiler: poorly handled discontent among the crew]] mentioned followed by [[spoiler: a seemingly preventable or even ''deliberately caused'' asteroid impact]] leading to [[spoiler: it being unable to escape its own wormhole encounter without crippling damage]], ''and'' [[spoiler: only actually getting back thanks to Strega's insubordination (see JerkassHasAPoint on YMMV)]].
34	* {{Foreshadowing}}:
35	** Leonella mentioning [[spoiler: the aforementioned "few strands of primitive DNA"]] indicates that [[spoiler: it's possible for alien life to exist on the other side of the wormhole]], and thus foreshadows [[spoiler: the alien being which mentally influences the Commander]].
36	** Another version, through {{Irony}}, which also doubles as a RewatchBonus: When Tane [[spoiler: makes fun of Tycho for seeing the alien on the hull, when no-one else believes him, everything Tane says about the alien's nature ''is actually true'' (besides it eating little kids) - it ''is'' unfriendly, ''can'' speak to humans - infected ones, at least - and ''does'' want to take over the ship ([[AlternateCharacterInterpretation if only so it can return home]])]].
37	* FutureFoodIsArtificial: The D-Room food.
38	* GeniusBruiser: [[spoiler: Hard Targets]] were deliberately selected and trained to be this. [[spoiler: Zandie]] certainly follows through, kicking [[spoiler: Leonella's]] ass in a sparring match and often being seen practicing (and generally winning). She's also, unfortunately for Cyriax, one of the most mutinous and challenging members of the crew, [[spoiler: leading an actual mutiny]] at one point. Fortunately, she's also decisive in a crisis and saves the mission at least twice, often with [[HiddenDepths knowledge and trivia you wouldn't expect her to have (or have retained)]] from her pre-mission emergency contingency training, as well as having the skills to take over for [[spoiler: Pancha]] as [[spoiler: computer officer]].
39	* HiddenDepths: Zandie. You might expect someone of her personality (and vaguely implied background) to be BookDumb, but her tidbits of knowledge become important at several key moments[[note]]such as when she knows an emergency manoeuvre the ''Star Runner'' can perform in order to prevent an [[TotalPartyKill impending crash]] - one which no-one on the usual bridge crew, not even [[AcePilot Tane]], [[TheSmartGuy Pancha]], or [[TheCaptain Cyriax]], seems to think of[[/note]], and she is even capable of [[spoiler: [[TenMinuteRetirement taking over]] from ''[[TheSmartGuy Pancha]]'' as the Computer Officer]] when it becomes necessary[[note]]and performing at levels which aren't just adequate, but impress the other bridge crew enough to accept her as a permanent replacement, at least until [[TenMinuteRetirement Pancha]] [[StatusQuoIsGod decides to come back]][[/note]].
40	* {{Hologram}}: The holophone room, which features all the signs of this trope: opacity, emitter, and frequent clipping (presumably to remind the young audience of who is real and who is a hologram).
41	* ImpossiblyMundaneExplanation: The eponymous alien of "Alien Presence" turns out to be [[spoiler: Squirt, a cat that Tycho smuggled onboard]].
42	* InItForLife: Part of the drama and premise of the show, since the mission/journey to the New World is 90 years long, and [[RuleOfDrama if everything goes as planned]], there's no reasonable way off or back[[note]]especially after crossing the Andromeda Line, the point past which an EscapePod would not be able to make it back to Earth[[/note]]. Especially when [[spoiler: it seems two crew members will have to return to Earth with a critically ill Commander Cyriax.]]
43	* InvisibleMainCharacter: The [[JustOneSecondOutOfSync "out of phase"]] version of this is caused by [[spoiler: an interaction between dark matter gravity waves and the ship's grav-lifts]], temporarily rendering [[spoiler: Cinnamon and Mara (plus a plate of biscuits and two waterbottles)]] thus.
44	* KiddyCoveralls: Crewmembers aboard the Silversun are require to wear uniforms when on duty, in colors corresponding to their gender (red for females, green for males). This includes siblings Cinnamon & Tycho, who unlike their teen crewmates who wear blazers, their uniforms consists of overalls with a zippered-bib. This indicate their TagalongKid status among the crew, as they are no yet mature enough to carry on more difficult tasks like their crewmates. It also been shown [[SpacePeople how living in space since they could barely remember Earth]], they have mature into KiddieKid due to not having other children their own age to interact with
45	* LateArrivalSpoiler: Zandie being reanimated and joining the crew of ''Star Runner''.
46	* LeftHanging: As the second series ended on a major cliffhanger and there wasn't a third series.
47	* MeaningfulName: Pancha, which is [[BilingualBonus a Spanish colloquialism]] for "calm", "unworried", or "unruffled", befitting Pancha's role as TheSpock.
48	* TheMole: [[spoiler: Tane Wilson]] for [[spoiler: Strega]], late in the series.
49	* MindVirus: [[spoiler: Cyriax]] is infected with one which tries to make him [[spoiler: return the ''Star Runner'' to the wormhole.]]
50	* NoLovesIntersect: Almost. Apart from the Zandie/Degenhart/Mara LoveTriangle, the cast pairs up remarkably neatly: [[OfficialCouple Tane and Leonella]], [[WillTheyOrWontThey Sheng and Pancha]], [[HappilyMarried Steve and Karen.]] The exception is Lillian and Cyriax, but they share a reasonable amount of ShipTease and [[spoiler:one kiss]].[[note]]There's some FridgeBrilliance to the Zandie/Degenhart/Mara exception - if not for Zandie's presence, the crew would pair off perfectly, showing how she was originally not meant to be there and her continuing isolation from the crew.[[/note]]
51	* NoAntagonist: Most of the time. Conflicts are generated either from space phenomena they encounter, or interpersonal conflict within the crew, but there's no set antagonist and everyone generally gets SympatheticPOV. The only are exceptions are Cyriax in the arc where [[spoiler:he's possessed by an alien virus]] and Julian Strega in the last few episodes.
52	* NoNewFashionsInTheFuture: Downplayed, as they're in uniform most of the time anyway, but what we see of the kids' casual clothes is pretty rooted in mid-2000's aesthetics. If nothing else, Sheng's hair probably dates the series pretty precisely.
53	* NoSeatbelts: The second time they [[spoiler:go through the wormhole]], with full knowledge of the level of turbulence that occured the first time, the characters not actually flying the ship are either standing around consoles on the bridge or sitting in random areas of the floor hugging each other. Worse, they sleep in bunks with no side rails. In the middle of a room. [[InSpace On a spaceship.]]
54	* NotHimself: Cyriax, courtesy of [[spoiler: the [[MindVirus alien virus.]]]]
55	* OurDarkMatterIsMysterious: It's actually pretty realistically portrayed at first, as a gravitic force and very large mass which threatens ''Star Runner'' via collision and is only detectable via its gravity and radiation (which causes unusual sounds in the ASCO). [[spoiler: Things get a bit weirder when an interaction between its gravity field and the ship's grav-lifts causes a JustOneSecondOutOfSync effect.]] Visually, it's shown as large [[PurpleIsTheNewBlack purple]] crystals the ''Star Runner'' weaves between, but it's made fairly clear via the dialogue that the crew of the ''Star Runner'' cannot see it, and that this is a visual representation.
56	* OvenLogic: While neither incident involves an oven, Tycho (and Cinnamon in the second case) apply this a couple of times, with adverse results every time:
57	** Giving plants three times the recommended quantity of fertilizer almost killed them, requiring some quick thinking from Sheng to save the harvest.
58	** While running the ultrasonic uniform cleaner on its highest possible setting DID clean the clothes faster, it also charged them with static electricity, resulting in some {{Slapstick}} and a dressing-down from their parents.
59	* ParentWithNewParamour: Played with. Leonella thinks this is is going on with Lillian and Cyriax in one episode. But it isn't. [[ShipTease Allegedly.]]
60	* PlotHole:
61	** Late in the series, a [[spoiler: computer virus]] is found to have affected the [[spoiler: ship's navigation]], and it is determined that it [[spoiler: must have been written using someone's PID[[note]]small personal microcomputers each member of the crew carries[[/note]], then uploaded]]. Which is all well and good... except that the reason they come to this conclusion is Pancha's statement that when she's on the bridge, she has no time to do anything else. Never mind that she's been seen using bridge time to discuss personal relationships, use the bridge computer to calculate personal relationships, use the bridge computer to create what was essentially a VirtualPaperDoll... there are plenty of moments when the only crew member(s) on the bridge aren't doing anything related to their jobs (besides keeping lookout) and the ship still runs fine. Going by these observations, it would have been easily possible for [[spoiler: either Tane or Zandie]] to have [[spoiler: coded the virus]] while working on the bridge.
62	** On a vaguely related matter, in an earlier episode, Sheng cites a protocol stating that there must be two people on the bridge at all times, in case of emergency. However, this never seems to be a problem at any other time, including one moment when [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Commander Cyriax himself]] offers to dismiss the only other crew member on the bridge, then leaves himself - explicitly for the purposes of recreation - when they state they'd be happy to remain.[[note]]In the case when Sheng brings it up, however, there is about to be a lockdown involving the rest of the crew being explicitly unable to access the bridge, so the protocol may actually be "during a lockdown where crew may be unable to readily access the bridge, there must always be two crew members on the bridge".[[/note]]
63	--->'''Cyriax''': In that case, a spot of fishing.
64	* ReversePolarity: Channelling the ''Star Runner'''s [[spoiler: neutrino]] scanners allows Zandie to [[spoiler: ''shoot down an entire pulsar'']] to [[spoiler: save Pancha's life]].
65	* SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: Fluctuates - on one hand, the journey to the Silversun is 90 years long. However, they're "halfway across" the Milky Way after two years and must therefore be exceeding the speed of light, but they frequently count down distance to incoming objects, for example, in tens or hundreds of kilometres, which would pass in an instant at this speed.
66	* SixthRanger: Zandie, who is reanimated from cryonic suspension a couple of episodes into the series, and has trouble integrating with the rest of the crew.
67	* SmallNameBigEgo: Downplayed with Tane. He really is an excellent pilot, by the standards of the crew, and can be decisive, but isn't the shoo-in candidate for leadership and one-man mission-saving show he thinks he is.
68	* SpaceCadet: All the crew except for the adults. They seem to have remarkably little contact with their families.
69	* SpaceIsMagic: Not only do aliens and wormholes exist, the crew are remarkably willing to fly through unknown phenomena such as a "solar fog", even when Cyriax openly admits that they're going [[Franchise/StarTrek where no man has gone before]].
70	* SpacePeople: Cinnamon and Tycho fit this trope to some extent - unlike the other crew who were handpicked for their skills, they're only onboard because their parents are both part of the mission. They were presumably about eight and six years old respectively at the start of the mission and tend to have fewer cravings for Earth compared to the rest of the crew.
71	* SuddenlyAlwaysKnewThat: Zandie. Knowing basic engineering is certainly reasonable and sensible, and the sort of thing to-be settlers would be taught. But while it's the sort of thing ''Zandie'' would learn, would ''new settlers really'' be ''taught'' [[spoiler: last-resort ''starship'' manoeuvres]]?[[note]]Unless they WERE in fact intended to plausibly be reanimated in the event of an onboard emergency, and/or were trained as cadets/given basic Space Force training BEFORE being chosen as settlers...[[/note]] Zandie learning [[spoiler: ballroom dancing]] from her gran is also something of an eyebrow-raiser, although it's certainly plausible her personality was different back then, and/or she loved and respected her gran enough to do it anyway. Last but certainly not least, knowing enough to [[spoiler: take over for the computer officer ''designated by Earth command'' (and presumably specially trained before the mission)]]?
72	* TagalongKid: Cinnamon & Tycho
73	* TenMinuteRetirement: [[spoiler: Pancha]], when she comes to believe she's missing out on life while devoting all her energy and attention [[spoiler: and headspace (in more ways than one)]] to [[spoiler: being the Computer Officer]]. She [[EurekaMoment eventually realizes]] she does in fact enjoy and fit well in the role.
74	* TimeStandsStill: When entering the wormhole, though oddly only the clocks and computer freeze.
75	* {{Transhuman}}: Pancha.
76	* VirusVictimSymptoms: Cyriax when he gets [[spoiler:bitten by the alien]].
77	* WalkingTransplant: [[spoiler: C2 is a rather realistically handled variant - he is a full-body clone of Commander Cyriax, but had never been awoken[[note]]or, indeed, experienced any brain activity at all, not even dreaming[[/note]] prior to Zandie's intervention and was never intended to be.]]
78	* WaveMotionGun: Despite being completely unarmed and purely defensive, ''Star Runner'' manages to [[spoiler: shoot down a pulsar]] this way by [[spoiler: combining the power of its neutrino-based scanners]], although it's implied that [[spoiler: pulsars are especially weak to such an attack]] and it wouldn't do much to other targets.
79	* WhatYouAreInTheDark: Mara saving Zandie from heatstroke in a broken lift, despite spending the whole episode furious at her, since [[spoiler:Deegs left her for Zandie the previous episode.]]
80	* {{Zeerust}}: Avoided to a remarkable degree (as of 2012). For example, the computer is described as having "billions of gigabytes" of data, in a context (2004) where the general public wasn't really familiar with the idea of a "gigabyte".
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Context Series / Silversun