Spellbinder
A few days ago when I was in the city, I picked up a copy of Spellbinder which finally came out on DVD. The television show which was first broadcasted in 1995, I must admit, is a kids series. Though I was 11 years old at the time and it soon became one of my favourite TV shows of all time. For great periods of my early teenage years, I would race home from school to watch it, which meant I had to be home by 4 o’clock. Also the same thing later on when the sequel, Spellbinder II: Land of the Dragon Lord went to air.
Though what is the series (the original that is) actually about? Well when Paul goes away on a school camp, a prank goes wrong and he accidentally becomes stuck in a parallel world. It is a world where people live simple lives and society takes on a hierarchical structure, much like you’d expect in medieval times. Though at the top of society there is a powerful group called the Spellbinders. The Spellbinders managed to use their limited knowledge of science to rule society, through which the population believed was magic. Paul was a smart kid with quite a good knowledge of science so he was able to pick this deception. While he is there, he became friends this girl named Riana who is pretty much the same age as him. Through Riana he learns that the people are actually quite happy the way they live.
Certainly there is a contrast between this world that Paul stumbled into and our modern technological world. This is no doubt the thing that I liked best about this series. Throughout the series, scenes switch between Riana’s world and our modern world (known as Paul’s world) where his family and friends are searching for him. Most of all, however, it’s the way they depict chaotic modern city life that I like best. Especially the way it’s based in an Australian city that I’m somewhat familiar with, though not to mention that even the scenes of Australian bush have a sense of familiarity where I can instantly recognise our world. This is especially true for the second half of the series, though unfortunately it’s only the first half that has been released so far.
To a large extent there is probably a lot of sentimental value with re-watching it again now. Though how is it from an adult perspective? Certainly, there is a tiny bit of quirkiness that is typical of children’s programs. Overall, however, it has quite a good sci-fi and adventure story line and it can almost become addictive. Definitely a good choice if you happened to have a younger audience to entertain (which I certainly don’t). After all these years I certainly still enjoy watching it. Evidently, I’m not the oldest fan either.
Paul (Zbych Trofimiuk) and Riana (Gosia Piotrowska) at the market place
Ashka (Heather Mitchell), the evil spellbinder
Our world
November 13th, 2005 at 9:48 pm
I loved this show! Every time I see Heather Mitchell in something I imediately identify her as Ashka (most recently an ad for something or other I can’t remember). For some reason I didn’t like the Dragonlord as much as the original…
December 5th, 2005 at 9:02 pm
I remeber watching this as a kid; for the longest time I couldn’t remember what it was called… Now I remember it! This was one of my favourite shows!
And I’m the same as Ben, Heather Mitchell == Ashka.
April 29th, 2006 at 1:12 am
i loved this show too! ashka was the best. any way i can pick up a dvd in US?
April 29th, 2006 at 12:01 pm
Your best bet for the moment is probably to wait for the full series to be released as you’ll save half the price, then order it from Australia (you can find a number of sellers at http://www.dvdplaza.com.au/).
April 30th, 2006 at 11:56 pm
Ehi, finally I found a place where people know spellbinder! I watched it when I was a kid too, and was always scared by that terrible Ashka…
I have been collecting some episodes from emule, but now I can’t find episodes 14-26 (I think they call it the “second series”): can you tell me where can I found them?
thanks!
(sorry for my english, if there is something wrong or “strange”… i’m italian)
May 1st, 2006 at 1:00 am
Episodes 14-26 haven’t been released yet. Strangely it seems they are going to re-release episodes 1-26 as one package even though episodes 1-13 have already been released as “Part one”. I would suggest waiting for this upcoming release and purchasing the DVD, you’ll get much better quality than emule!
May 1st, 2006 at 8:22 am
Thank you for the advice. Then i’ll buy them in the NEXT (hope) future. I imagine I will found them only in the internet, since here things arrive veeery late…
Bye, and great blog! (well, i just like Australia… :P)
June 7th, 2006 at 11:53 pm
hi guys i live in the uk, and can anybody tell me how to get the first seriese of Spellbinder, cos i like it so much. thanks
June 8th, 2006 at 2:05 pm
See above, if you find a seller through DVD plaza, you can order it from Australia and it should work on your DVD player. It seems that the complete series is out now.
June 18th, 2006 at 4:16 pm
My favourite qoute from Paul was……………”It’s a video camera,…..from Myy world.!”
June 18th, 2006 at 10:49 pm
spellbinder was a core to my imaginative creativity as an adult i am very happy to hear that others had a great experiance with the show as children as well i hope the authers realise the greatness they have created.
July 24th, 2006 at 12:55 pm
I live in Pakistan and it is being telecasted on our channel now.
It is the BEST tv serial.
July 29th, 2006 at 12:33 am
Hey! I just Australian Googled Spellbinder and your website was on the top of the list!
I used to race home from school when I was in Year 5 or 6 or 7 or 8 to watch this show (I’m in uni now). Like you, this show carries a lot of my memories from childhood. I remember how all my school friends were just as enthusiastic as I was and we’d always talk about it when we were together. What a blast from the past!
For anyone interested: if you have ezydvd in your city they have the entire first series on sale for $40 — International shipping costs another $15, I think (check their website: http://www.ezydvd.com.au/item.zml/785799). YouTube also has a recap of the series that anyone can view online — just search ‘Spellbinder’. OK, I think I’ve been over enthusiastic with my post
October 25th, 2006 at 6:45 pm
OMG! I love spellbinder i remember watching it everyday after school and now im at uni i have not outgrown it i want to buy the dvd’s soo badly i hope they make another sequel i didn’t like the land of the dragon lord that much
November 20th, 2006 at 6:35 pm
where can i buy spellbinder land of the dragon lord
thanks
December 19th, 2006 at 3:11 am
hi. I’m french and in my country the name of “Spellbinder” is “les maitres des sortilèges”. this serie is brillant: good actors, good décorations and very good history! but it is not diffused now and I don’t arrive to find her spin-off “les terres du seignes dragons”.
January 21st, 2007 at 6:32 pm
hello spellbinder fans, i am an adult who first watched the series 10 years ago as a 26 year old,the show may have been made for kids but for me and my friends we fell in love with this show just as much as everyone else,i even read the books,,thankyou
February 21st, 2007 at 4:18 am
I loved THIS show as a kid is the dvd available in the usa
March 3rd, 2007 at 12:01 am
Wow, Finally I found out the name of this show. As a child I really loved it but I didn’t remember the name. Now I’m 17 and I’m glad I know something about it. It’s really great, I hope it will be aired again someday
March 16th, 2007 at 9:43 am
I think I was 11 when Spellbinder was shown in England, i loved the show so much. I missed the very first episode though! Also the last episode ever saw was the one in which Rhiana was pulled into Pauls world and the gateway closed. After that episode CITV (a chidrens show containing lots of different shows in about a 2 and a half hour slot) stop showing the series. I was gutted I never found out what heppened next. I’ve been checking the internet recently (wikipedia) and found out that Ashka followed them into Pauls world and that Rhiana mad it back to her own world and became that spellbinder’s apprentice. I wish i could have watched the DVD’s of the series without knowing wat was going to happen. As a matter of fact I wish I had the DVDs. I remember so much about the series. For some reason I remember a part of one episode where Paul wakes the good spellbinder up by holding his nose, I don’t know why it stuck in my head! And other small things like Paul saying “It’s not magc, it’s science.” And those two people in Pauls world saying “Look, the bottom like is we’re in love” Gotta laugh how random quotes can stick in your head for years. I’ve tried looking for episodes on youtube but can only find music videos with clips of the show.
It’s so nice to know that other people feel the same way about Spellbinder as I do. Another show i watched and loved was reboot but CITV stopped showing that half way through the series in which Matrix and Andrala were trying to get back to Mainframe. Thankfully I’ve been able to watch all other episodes on youtube.
I’m 19 now (in 2007) and feel sentimental about these kind of shows. I really want to buy the DVDs.
Spellbinder rules!
March 17th, 2007 at 9:08 pm
hi,
I fist watched this show when I about 15..back in 1999…and I loved it…as you said before, it carries a lot f my childhood memories, and I loved Ashka.I loved the way she walked, the way she talked, the way she worked..I imitated her way of talking nd I wanted my friends to call me Ashka….
I still love it a lot.Specially scholar Mec
“He is brave, intelligent and polite…… ”
“You know what i mean”
March 29th, 2007 at 1:25 pm
absolutly brilliant sparked my imagination into great depths and lengths helped me to see with the mind anything is possiable.
May 18th, 2007 at 1:10 pm
Hehehe, my friend was out in Manly the other night and ran into a mate who he said was on Spellbinder, so I had to google around and see what I could find about it. Great post, wish there were more shows like this on TV. Anyone remember game show Amazing?
May 24th, 2007 at 6:55 am
you can go to youtube.com and watch the spellbinder episodes for both series!!!!
July 10th, 2007 at 11:13 pm
omg heather mitchell is hot hot hot i miss spellbinder they should get the original cast back and do a spellbinder 3 TEN YEARS ON!!!! im trying to create a power suit as it is right now (not working that well but we shall see).
correan=awesome
alex=funny
paul=wiener but fine
spellbinder=best show ever
im getting the dvds
July 14th, 2007 at 4:08 am
Hey Shivosky make sure to show the suit you create! I want to make one as well and I was thinking of making an eyestone but I don’t know anything about metalwork unforunately. I would pay money to have an eyestone radio case made for me but I don’t even know where there would be such a person.
I love spellbinder and I just watched the entire show on a website called stage6. I had only seen some of it when I was younger and it aired (in USA) and I fell in love with it. Then suddenly it was never on again and I have never met anyone who has heard of it.
I was pleasantly suprised that the series is still great now that I’m so much older and I’ve finally seen the whole thing! I’ll have to check out the sequel as well.
August 3rd, 2007 at 1:04 am
Hello, just watched the whole first season of Spellbinder, yes the 26 episodes, but now i’m searching for some pics of Riana aka Gosia Piotrowska. I searched google a million times, but couldn’t find any pics of her. I’m just wondering how she looks at this moment. (I do can find pics of her, from the series :), but no pics of 2007.
August 17th, 2007 at 1:14 am
I was 9 years old when Spellbinder was on air. It is my favourite tv show ever. Few weeks ago I found the whole 1st season in youtube (all 26 episodes). It renewed memories about my childhood and how I enjoyed watching Spellbinder. I love the series, the Land of the Dragon lord is also cool but for some reason I did not like it as I like Spellbinder 1st series.
September 27th, 2007 at 8:47 pm
Love Spellbinder, yes it is a kids show but I love it and well I’m a kid at heart. I watched the first series and got hooked and wanted more and then found the Land of the Dragon Lord, it was different of course but by the end of that series, again I wanted more. the idea of parallel worlds, what a blast and poor Ashka wonder what happened to her.
October 3rd, 2007 at 6:12 pm
Thanks for putting my comments on your site, I’m actually going to get the original Spellbinder out of the video store and watch it again, love the photos on this site.
November 10th, 2007 at 12:34 am
hi everyone, like most of you i am an enormous spellbinder fan.
This is really fantastic that there are still so many fans of the original show.
I remember (13 years ago now) coming home from school with my brother refusing to do any bit of homework , just to watch spellbinder at 4 o ‘ clock on channel 9!
Now being 22 and he’s 26 i can’t believe after purchasing the complete set on DVD recently, the show still has its flare, uniqueness and quality, showing the very best of young Australian talent. The writers are just truely imaginative and creative. Its quite interesting to know what some of those young actors are up to these days. ( they’d be at least in their late 20’s now) I know some had a few shots at home and away but does anyone know what’s happened to the main cast , Paul ,Alex and Katrina?
November 15th, 2007 at 11:04 am
I remember watching this. I love it so much!
i think i was about 3 then. cause i was born on 1992.
but i have a really good memory. My brother recently gave me all the DVDs of the show and i got to see it again. IT WAS GREAT.
i like the first one better than dragon lord though.
it was more orignial.
November 24th, 2007 at 9:22 am
I can’t believe this. I have the same story as everyone else. I watched this when it aired in England, I’m now 20.
My search for the title of this show started when I searched google for little bits that I rememebrs, with no luck. So I emailed ITV and asked if they could tell em the name, I included little bits that I remembered like “Shoot lightning, portal, saltpeter cave” they probably just thought I was insane.
I then, today, searched a CITV show list on wikipedia, took me ages because I couldn’t remember the name. I am SO happy to hear it’s out on DVD I am buying it when I get paid. Anyone feel free to email me and we can chat about it! neilsdead@hotmail.com
January 9th, 2008 at 7:32 am
I liked this show as much as you all did and perhaps even more. It is so cool to have others liking the show. Spellbinder or (Les Maitres des Sortilèges in French) was is and will always remain my favorite show. If anyone want to chat and talk about Tv series I’m free
January 9th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
Loved That Show! Found your site by google image searching SpellBinder. Hopefully I can download the show!!!
January 28th, 2008 at 12:08 am
I enjoyed watching this show,in fact this is a very interesting and exciting show ! My interest grew and grew as i was watching it!
I have a question , will you please answer me who knows - is there a 3d part of this show? i was looking for it everywhere? could not find and still have a hope it exists . Thank you in advance
January 28th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
I was searching about this series. Hope i’ll be able to buy it
February 2nd, 2008 at 10:49 am
It’s really a greate Show I ever watched.
I was every day watching the Show with my brother. And we were very excited about the Idea. It was in the winter and we had the special socks made of wool. It was Spellbinders’ socks, becouse when we was rubbing the sinthetic carpet with our magic socks we got an electic charge and could affect each other with small sparks. Once we put out of action our TV, it became able to tune only one program. Of course it was the channel Spellbinder was aired on.
I’m 21 now and I’ve just finished watching the First Series of Spellbinder on the Childrens’ channel. Today was the 2nd serie of Dragonlord.
I feel like a child, all the pictures are in my memory. Every day I watch the TV. We can see it 4 times per day but the most convenient time for me =) is 2.30 am and I intend to watch It till the end. Now we can use the i-net to get information about the film, but I want to renew all the pictures without downloading the pictures and the story =)
February 23rd, 2008 at 8:36 pm
i’ve used to watch this when i was younger and got a friend to tape all the episodes. definitely the first is better than the second, each episodes just keeps you wanting more. And The actors are all so talented.
February 29th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
as for me a have the stiries same with others! I saw this show in 90 years? now i`m 21 one, yesterday i devoured one more time of Spellbinder-1! soon i`ll watch The dragonlord! I as most of you love the 1st part more! It`s wonderful! I still want to have such electrosuit as Aska`s and i deeple belive that such parallel worlds really exist
March 11th, 2008 at 9:04 am
good news…i found spellbinder on youtube.. the whole 26 ep.
April 15th, 2008 at 1:55 am
I am so happy! I watched this as a kid and my friend reminded me of it today.. so i searched the net… the only thing i remembered was that it was australian and there were regents… And I actually succeeded! Now I am gonna go and watch it on youtube:)
April 19th, 2008 at 8:25 pm
Hi all,
Does anybody know what became of Giosa Piotrowska? I can’t find anything about her after the series. Did she play in another series or movie?
Would appreciate it if someone could tell me
Tnx.
May 8th, 2008 at 8:57 am
Heya guyz! i am pretty much the same as all of us… in LOVE with Spellbinder! I watched Spellbinder 1 and 2 when i was in gr 6-7, now i’m 23 but i still wanna re-watch it and even show it to my younger bro - hes now 8. I could not speak English when I watched it, but the letters of the name got stuck in my head (since i saw them with every episode!) and by the time i got literate, i found it on the Net! What a happy day!!! I will definitely buy a DVD set, especially of Spellbinder 2: the land of the Dragon Lord - that one is SO cool, all the techs and world travel… amazing!!! Lets enjoy it together!
May 13th, 2008 at 2:02 am
Fantastic, mind-blowing . It makes me nostalgic .
August 27th, 2008 at 4:02 am
It’s very fantastic and very cool. i love SPELLBIDER.spellbinder is a great series.
August 28th, 2008 at 1:26 am
i mostly watch this drama for riana and her perfomance. unforgetable spelbinder.
September 5th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Im form sri lanka and its my favourite tv serial
September 6th, 2008 at 3:52 am
I love spellbinder..it was my favourite when i was small…and its the best forever…now i watch it for the 3rd time on tv…
September 8th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
Hey i watched it too. It’s really nice and i watched it too when i was small and i’m still watching it. We got it on our tv here in sri lanka. That’s really the best tv series i ever watched. Nice and very interesting.
September 8th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
hey if anyone have got any way of contacting Riana in Spellbinder just let me know my email is drey_cnyf@yahoo.Com
September 17th, 2008 at 3:41 am
it is really an amazing story.i love it……first i watched it when i’m 14 years old. now i’m 22 and still i love it and i keep it’s DVDs with me
it’s really fantastic………………….
September 19th, 2008 at 5:35 am
Yeaaa this is my favourite tv series. I watched first part for the 3rd time and waiting for 2nd part now.. i am 18 old now.. when i was 10 years old i watched this tv series and so it is my favourate forever,,i love it forever,, plz let me knw if anyone have got any way of contacting any actor in this Show shehan_nbs@yahoo.com
September 19th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
hi . when i was in 6 years old in 1996. sri lanka National Television Showed the Spellbinders series 1 according to my memory it showed on every saturday at 6.00 PM . after 2,3 years it showed series 2 too. i loved that show i will never forget it.. its a very nice teleseries. after 12 years last month SL National TV telecasted it again. now I am a 18 years old boy but i’m still like to watch spellbinders. can i buy it from the internet ? or from where can i buy it in sri lanka ?
September 20th, 2008 at 3:57 am
I like this very much,,,,I fevorit series forever ( sri lanka)
September 21st, 2008 at 12:17 am
its crazy.. i’m actually fall in love with spellbinder!
i have never enjoyed before from a tv show like this. i saw it when i was 7 year old and now i was so happy to find it on youtube! i see the all 26 episode and it was amazing.. i wish i have know whats up with the main actor today or how they look like…
by the way its great to see this blog and know that people are still remember this show
October 2nd, 2008 at 8:37 pm
omg…i jst cant belive dat i found something 2 do with spellbinders n d net…
wow….i watched dis wn i was a kido….
gosh…..it was soo exciting…cool..loved it…
November 16th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Actually thad drama was kept an unforgetable memory in my mind.Ashka was the most prominent one.But i like Paul and Riana, because of their innocent characteristics…..i love it very very much.
November 29th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
hai im from srilanka
im a die hard fan of spellbinder it is my all time favorite TV sereies & the best TV sereies i have ever seen in my life.iwas 8 years old when i wached that(sorry if there eny spellin mistakes)now im 18 year old girl but i still love the sereies specially spellbinder part 1. also i love paul & riana they are my all time favorite . i tried to find picture of them but coud not find if enybody have the pictures of paul and riana and spellbinder please send it to me t_hewage@yahoo.com thank you
November 30th, 2008 at 7:05 am
Hey, thats a good film, i realy love Gosia Piotrowska and her action…Reana is great
December 16th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
Hi! I’m NAVINDRA from Sri Lanka
The most brilliant and the greatest TV series ever is the SPELLBINDER.
SPELLBINDER season 1 was showed when I was 2 years old and it showed again on 2008 twice. I like series 1 more than series 2 because RIANA is not there. She did a wonderful job in SPELLBINDER as RIANA. She is so beautiful and she is so clever. I have searched over billion times, her present wallpapers on the Internet. If u fans got some present photos of RIANA, please tell how did u get them to ‘nno3x@yahoo.com’
January 14th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
hai im sri lanka
my favorite Tv program is spellbinder 2[land of the dragon lord]im 16 is old im very like Kathy i want to Kathy address please send to me yamindu@pre.sltnet.lk thank you
January 16th, 2009 at 7:15 pm
i am a great fan of spell binder since i was a school girl i love the charactors very much
January 21st, 2009 at 5:49 am
I love spellbinder.
January 21st, 2009 at 5:55 am
I love spellbinder Part 2 , Asanka Lakmal Amarasingha , No-12. Sacred City, Mahiyangana, Sri Lanka. +94718368125
May 28th, 2010 at 2:10 pm
I love to have the Dvd’s of both part of Spellbinder but its not available in Bangladesh, my country..i wish i can have a copy in future..i also wish it continues another exciting scientific part..