I really enjoyed The Alice, seen as a serial on TV1 New Zealand. From the start: the introduction of the characters and why they landed up or were in Alice. I loved the colour of the location; the music, the script and the acting. The story lines gave good scope for further and/or new developments. The actors "grew: as the serial continued,and I cared about them. There was a kindliness about it: a relief from crime/mayhem, murder, nastiness; but not soft, not sloppy. We had a real sense of loss when the programme was suspended during the Commonwealth Games. The time slot was later than peak viewing even at the start, then was moved to 11.10pm! Thank goodness for video recording! Very much better viewing than Blue Heelers, a serial that continued for years. A real shame The Alice was canned!

The Alice outdoor scenes certainly were filmed in and around the real Alice Springs, and I enjoyed seeing some familiar places (Todd Mall, Anzac Hill, the John Flynn Memorial Church, the mural on the wall of Kmart, the Gap, the Macdonnell Ranges, Alice Springs railway station), as well as some great shots of the Central Australian scenery.The railway scenes appeared to be shot north of Alice Springs, on the new line to Darwin - an anomaly, since the character on (and off, LOL) the train was traveling from Adelaide to Alice Springs and these events should have taken place to the south of the town. The passenger lounge on board The Ghan looked authentic, as did the exterior shots of the train.The Adelaide station scenes were apparently shot somewhere other than at the station The Ghan uses, and the hotel into which the truck was driven was just a facade built for the film.Yes, it was a bit quirky, but I enjoyed it a lot.

This is most clearly a pilot. If not, why not name it "Eclipse" or the like. It really had noting to do with Alice Springs other than a conveniently central point to bring the characters together. There was too much unanswered or left open or just not explored at all. The series may be worth watching to see the quirks of some of the characters explored a little more. It would have been hard for the actors to ply their trade as there was little opportunity with a very watery storyline. Not much character development either, really a pilot needs a bit more meat to want you to come back to the series when produced. Erik Thomson's character seems to swing from loony former hard rock idol to sensitive new age guy with no real reason why. Jessica Napier gives a creditable performance as the young woman trying to find her way alone while fighting the demons planted by her demented mother.

Beautifully filmed in what looks like the real Alice Springs, the use of colour and light is quite exquisite and, in my opinion, the high point of the film. In fact I would go so far as to say that I believe that even Claude Monet would have pursed his lips in approval at some of the takes.Four groups of individuals are going to meet in Alice Springs. Some are going there for the eclipse, some other reasons, some passing through, some are going home. But all of them are going to interact with each other in a "six degrees of separation" kind of way. And when the eclipse is over, not all of them will live to see the Sun emerge from behind the moon....Bit of a bizarre movie, this one. Has a bit of a Peter Wier feel to it when, in fact, the production crew seem to be only the Nine Network regulars who are behind "McLeod's Daughters". The story is slightly improbable, in fact somewhat fantastic in some places. The characters are reasonably believable, only slightly exaggerated. But as an entertaining two house of adventure in the outback, it seems to work fine.