Strange Days at Blake Holsey High (also known as Black Hole High) is a science fiction television series which first aired in North America in October 2002 on Global TV. It is set at the fictional boarding school of the title, where a Science Club (five students and their teacher) investigates mysterious phenomena, most of which is centered on a wormhole located on the school grounds. Spanning four seasons, the series developed into a success, and has been sold to networks around the globe.
Created by Jim Rapsas, the series intertwines elements of mystery, drama, romance, and comedy. The writing of the show is structured around various scientific principles, with emotional and academic struggles combined with unfolding mysteries of a preternatural nature. In addition to its consistent popularity among children, it has been recognised by adults as strong family entertainment. Forty-two episodes of the series, each roughly twenty-five minutes in length, have been produced, the last three of which premiered in January 2006. Those three final episodes that aired were combined into a film, Strange Days: Conclusions. The show was filmed at the Auchmar Estate on the Hamilton Escarpment in Hamilton, Ontario.
Contents
Premise
The show revolves around a group of five friends and their favorite teacher. Together they join the Science Club at Blake Holsey High, a boarding school located in southern Ontario. The name "Blake Holsey" is a pun on the concept of a black hole in that preternatural events constantly happen at the school and affect the students, sometimes as an unexpectedly drastic consequence of their own minor misbehavior. The school's science club considers what a wormhole, a floating Qigong ball, and Pearadyne Industries, a lab that was destroyed years ago right next to the school, all have to do with the mystery.
Characters
Josie Trent (portrayed by Emma Taylor-Isherwood) is the show's main protagonist, an intelligent and curious new student who transfers to Blake Holsey High at the beginning of the series, and is the one who discovered the wormhole first.
Corrine Baxter (portrayed by Shadia Simmons) is Josie's best friend and roommate, Corrine is the so-called "brains" (with a self-claimed IQ of 172) in the Science Club.
Lucas Randall (portrayed by Michael Seater) is a conspiracy theorist and the most driven member of the Science Club.
Marshall Wheeler (portrayed by Noah Reid) is Lucas' best friend and roommate, Marshall is more social and fun loving than Lucas.
Vaughn Pearson (portrayed by Robert Clark) is the fifth student in the Science Club. Vaughn is intelligent but sometimes struggles in school as a result of dyslexia and has preferred pursuing athletic activities. His father is Victor Pearson, the owner and founder of Pearadyne Industries.
Professor Noel Zachary (portrayed by Jeff Douglas) – Professor Zachary, or "Z", is the presiding teacher of the Science Club.
Principal Amanda Durst (portrayed by Valerie Boyle) is the disagreeable Principal Durst is a looming presence over the Science Club, and differs with Professor Zachary's easygoing ways. A former science teacher, she is a reluctant conspirator in Victor Pearson's plans.
Victor Pearson (portrayed by Lawrence Bayne) is a benefactor of the school and a constant antagonist to the Science Club's investigations.
The Janitor (portrayed by Tony Munch) is an enigmatic character who seems to understand the mysteries at Blake Holsey High.
Episodes
Significant objects and locations
Qigong Ball/Chi Ball/Floating Ball: Once a normal ball used to handle stress, but became a source of unlimited potential. Josie had used these balls for relaxation, but during Science Club, one was taken from her by Professor Zachary. The other one was affected by the energy of the wormhole in a trip to the 1970s, which made it gravity-less. It defies the laws of physics, which was why a younger Victor Pearson steals it from Josie years ago when he was in Blake Holsey High. Presenting it to Sarah Lynch, they started their plan to create Pearadyne Industries. Using the Chi Ball to power their lab, it caused an explosion, which led to the destruction of Pearadyne and Sarah's disappearance. Consequently, a wormhole formed at Blake Holsey and caused other strange occurrences. When Josie finds the ball again, she assumes that Vaughn and Victor had plotted to use it. Josie steals it back from them and replaces it with the Chi Ball's original normal partner, leaving Victor under the impression that the Chi Ball has somehow lost its power. However, Josie's clone from the future steals the floating ball back and places it back into Victor's hands.
Wormhole: A powerful vortex that can lead to either the future or the past that can be found in the office of Blake Holsey's science teacher. The exact time and duration the wormhole is open is apparently sporadic and it is uncertain when it will lead. Many agents have attempted to keep the knowledge of the wormhole a secret from everyone, however the energy released from the wormhole has affected the students and the school due to the emotions and conditions of the students.
Pearadyne Industries/Labs: A laboratory created by Victor Pearson and Sarah Lynch. It was used to create inventions and master quantum physics. On October 4, 1987, Pearadyne was destroyed in an explosion that covered the disappearance of many workers, including Sarah Lynch (Vaughn's mother).
History
Strange Days at Blake Holsey High began airing in Canada on Global as well as VRAK.TV in Quebec. In the United States, meanwhile, it aired on Discovery Kids and NBC, Also airing in the Philippines on ABS-CBN. In late March 2003, almost six months after its North American debut, the series was sold to several international markets at the annual MipTV, which was held at Cannes, France. After the series ended, reruns aired on The Hub until June 25, 2011. The British broadcasting network ITV acquired UK terrestrial television rights to the series, while Fox Kids Europe acquired pay television rights in the UK, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and Scandinavia, who themselves pre-sold the series to Disney Channel for Latin American and Australia. In Russia (Tomsk), the series airs on CTC. In Denmark, it airs on TV2 Denmark. It also airs in other European countries such as Norway (and other Scandinavian nations), the Netherlands, Portugal, Israel, Poland, Turkey and Italy, as well as Colombia in South America. The children's television channel in the UK, PopGirl, acquired the rights to show the series in 2012 with a host of other acquired programmes including another season of Life With Derek, Family Biz, Mortified and Zoey 101. They were bought together and Black Hole High was the last to be shown. Coming Soon trailers started broadcasting on the channel until its 29 September debut. It was the first airing of the show in almost five years. The series is currently airing.
Fireworks Entertainment, the company behind Strange Days at Blake Holsey High, closed down after the production of Season 3. There were three additional episodes of the series, which aired as a finale film event on January 28, 2006, on the Discovery Kids channel, as "Strange Days Conclusions". As of June 2006, no episode or season of Strange Days at Blake Holsey High has been legally released to DVD in any country. In 2004 it was announced that a DVD box set of season one was to be released in the United Kingdom on July 26, 2004, and websites such as Amazon put up the DVD for pre-order. The release was later pulled without explanation.
Strange Days at Blake Holsey High has been nominated for several awards, but won none. Writers Jeff King, Jeff Schechter and Thérèse Beaupré were nominated for episodes broadcast in the year 2003 at the 31st Daytime Emmy Awards in 2004, in the category Outstanding Writing in a Children's Series. Emma Taylor-Isherwood, Shadia Simmons and Robert Clark were each given Young Artist Award nominations in early 2003, although Taylor-Isherwood was placed in the supporting category, Simmons was elevated to lead, and Clark was considered a "guest actor". Simmons received a second nomination the following year, alongside Talia Schlanger (Madison). The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television nominated creative team Tony Thatcher, Adam Haight, Jeff King and Kevin May for Best Children's or Youth Fiction Program or Series at the annual Gemini Awards in late 2004, and the Directors Guild of Canada also recognised the show in areas such as sound editing, team achievement, and the product as a whole in 2003 and 2004.
Sequel
Beginning in 2022, series creator Jim Rapsas produced a web series continuation of the story. Called Echoes, the show takes place 16 years after the events of "Conclusions" and is intended to show how the events impacted individuals in and out of the school. Robert Clark, Jeff Douglas, Tony Munch and Talia Schlanger reprised their roles as Vaughn, Professor Z, the Janitor and Madison. The web series ran from 2022 until 2024, but plans for a season 2 were cancelled due to a lack of funding.