WRITER-producer Sascha Paladino has built a formidable career with kids’ shows. With Miles from Tomorrow, he went that extra mile; bearing in mind research and authenticity are crucial components of any show.
And with kids being techno-savvy beyond their years, Paladino had to raised the bar with this animation and did so by enlisting the services of a Nasa consultant.
He shared: “We have a consultant from Nasa who looks at every script. His name is Randii Wessen and he’s a rocket scientist. He gives us feedback on everything and helps to make sure that there is one science fact in every episode. We don’t see the show as some-thing that is didactic, but we do want kids to be inspired by the science that is in there.”
“Randii comes in for some brainstorming sessions, which often inspires amazing story ideas. He corrects the wording in our scripts, too. For example, the mother might say: ‘We need to fly to this planet’. Randii will tell us: ‘You can’t fly in outer space. There is no atmosphere, so you can’t use the word ‘fly’. You have to say ‘move’,” Paladino added.
The show centres on Miles and his family. They are humans sent into outer space on a mission from the Tomorrowland Transit Authority. Phoebe is the mother and captain of the ship. Father Leo is the pilot and inventor. Miles’s sister, Loretta, is a computer coder. And Merc, a robo-ostrich, is Miles’s best friend-cum-bodyguard.
The animation features high-tech gadgets, myriad alien creatures and different galaxies.
Interestingly, concerns about fatherhood were the catalyst behind this show.
He revealed: “I started to think about what the greatest adventure would be with my family and realised it would be an adventure in space. As a kid, I wanted to be an astronaut, so I thought about creating a show based on a great family adventure in outer space.”
On them orbiting around fact and fiction in the storyline, Paladino noted: “In our show, we have a wonderful mix of the real and the imaginary. We might have one episode that is based in Mars and another that is based around a completely fictitious planet made entirely from sand.”
The aliens are more of an inspired mash-up borne from the team’s visits to the zoo and them watching an array of sci-fi movies.
And they have Oliva Munn (The News-room) voicing the mother and Tom Kenny (SpongeBob SquarePants) voicing the dad. Cullen McCarthy (Mr Peabody & Sherman) does the voiceover for Miles. They’ve even roped in Bill Nye the Science Guy.
On the villains in the show, the creator noted: “The villains turn up later in the season but, since this is a pre-school show, the villains are never threatening to the kids or the family. Their motivations run counter to the family’s, which causes the conflict. There’s plenty of action, but no fighting or guns or shooting. I wanted to create a show that has the visceral feel of an action film, without the negative imitable behaviour. Basically, Star Wars… without the guns. That’s why a lot of the threats come from natural disasters.”
• Miles from Tomorrow, Disney Junior (DStv channel 309), Saturdays, 9.55am.