Mako: Island of Secrets

Mako: Island of Secrets
File:Mako Mermaids photo.png
Genre	Children, teen, fantasy
Created by	Jonathan M. Shiff
Written by	Sam Carroll Anthony Morris Chris Roache
Directed by	Evan Clarry Grant Brown
Starring	Lucy Fry Ivy Latimer Amy Ruffle Chai Romruen
Opening theme	"I Just Wanna Be" by Chantelle Defina & Jack Dacy
Country of origin	Australia
Original language	English
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	13 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Jonathan M. Shiff Julia Adams
Producer	Jonathan M. Shiff
Cinematography	Zenon Sawko Simon Christidis
Camera setup	Single camera
Running time	26 minutes
Production company	Jonathan M. Shiff Productions
Original release
Network	Network Ten
Release	26 July 2013 (2013-07-26) – present (present)
Related
H2O: Just Add Water

Mako: Island of Secrets, internationally released as Mako Mermaids, is an Australian television programme for children, pre-teens and teenagers. The show is a spin-off of H2O: Just Add Water and is produced by Jonathan M. Shiff in association with Nickelodeon.

Plot

Zac is a teenage boy who decides to camp on Mako Island, unaware that three mermaids, Sirena, Nixie and Lyla, who are guardians of the island, are watching him. That night, when the full moon rises, the boy comes into contact with the magic water of the Moon Pool. The following morning, Zac discovers that he has the ability to control and manipulate water. Later, after accidentally falling into the water, he finds that he has also become a merman with a fish-like tail. His new-found merman abilities will cause problems for the mermaids.

The three mermaids, curious about living on land and motivated to remove Zac's merman powers, venture onto the land and learn to live among humans.

Cast

Main characters

• Lucy Fry as Lyla, one of the three mermaids. Hot-headed and determined, she develops feelings for Zac.
• Amy Ruffle as Sirena, one of the three mermaids. Naive and sweet, she acts as a mediator when Lyla and Nixie quarrel.
• Ivy Latimer as Nixie, one of the three mermaids. She is an adventurous girl, who often gets into trouble.
• Chai Romruen as Zac, who becomes a merman after entering the Moon Pool during a full moon. He grew up surfing and is sporty.

Supporting characters

• Dominic Deutscher as Cam, Zac's best friend who is aware of his merman secret, often helping him to hide that secret.
• Gemma Forsyth as Evie, Zac's girlfriend who believes the three girls are "stalking" her.
• Kerith Atkinson as Rita, the school principal and a mermaid who left her pod. She serves as a source of knowledge and history for the girls.
• Rowan Hills as David, an employee at the Ocean Cafe. He and Sirena become mutual love interests.

Production

The show, announced in July 2011, consists of 26 episodes of 26 minutes each, plus an option for one 90-minute episode. Filming was to begin in April 2012, but it was postponed to the beginning of May. On 8 May 2012, Shiff Productions announced the principal cast and the start of the shoot. Filming ran through 12 October 2012. Mako was scheduled to broadcast in the second half of 2013, with a second series confirmed before the first had screened. Production of the first series totalled A$12.3 million.

The show was first announced as Mako: Island of Secrets, then as Secret of Mako Island, and finally as Mako Mermaids for its international release. It debuted domestically on Network Ten as Mako: Island of Secrets on 26 July 2013.

In partnership with Shiff Productions, Netflix will be the exclusive internet television provider for the series. The first thirteen episodes were released on 26 July 2013, with the second half of the season airing in September 2013.

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Production code
1	"Outcasts"	Evan Clarry	Sam Carroll	26 July 2013 (2013-07-26) (Netflix) 26 July 2013 (Network Ten)	TBA
On the night of a full moon, two boys decide to camp out on Mako Island. When one of the boys, Zac, discovers a hidden cave, he accidentally falls into the Moon Pool where he is transformed into a part-time merman with powers. Three adolescent mermaids, Lyla, Sirena, and Nixie, who were on patrol and failed to prevent Zac's discovery of the Moon Pool, are cast out of the Mako mermaid pod. Heartbroken, the girls are determined to remove Zac's powers if they are ever to return to their pod again.
2	"Getting Legs"	Evan Clarry	Anthony Morris	26 July 2013 (2013-07-26) (Netflix) 2 August 2013 (Network Ten)	TBA
The mermaids realise that they must be humans in order to get close to Zac and remove his powers. With the use of Sirena's Moon Ring, they are able to gain legs.
3	"Meeting Rita"	Evan Clarry	Max Dann	26 July 2013 (2013-07-26) (Netflix)	TBA
The mermaids, now in human form, follow Zac to school. The school's principle, Rita, becomes suspicious since the girls are not registered at the school. When Rita notices Sirena's Moon Ring, she confiscates it without warning. The girls' suspicions rise when they realise Rita's extraordinary interest in not only the ring, but in mermaids.
4	"Lyla Alone"	Evan Clarry	Simon Butters	26 July 2013 (2013-07-26) (Netflix)	TBA
The girls continue to try to fit in human society, taking Rita's advice to buy clothes rather than steal them off the pier. After finding clothes at the Ocean Cafe, enlisting Evie's help, they follow Evie to the shoe store, much to her annoyance. Meanwhile, Lyla's attempt to force Zac into merman form backfires, leaving her trapped in the café's freezer as a mermaid.
5	"Blizzard"	Evan Clarry	Sam Carroll	26 July 2013 (2013-07-26) (Netflix)	TBA
During a rain storm, Lyla convinces Sirena to use her Moon Ring to change the weather until it backfires and it snows indoors. Exposed to the frost, Lyla and Sirena develop an increasing "snow rash". Nixie and Rita must find a cure for the rash before the girls are taken to the hospital. Meanwhile, this rainy day is also the day Zac and his father go out camping. Desperate to hide his merman secret, with advice from Cam, Zac uses his powers to force a fever to stall his father.
6	"Dolphin Tale"	Evan Clarry	Chris Roache	26 July 2013 (2013-07-26) (Netflix)	TBA
When David and his brother take a ride in a new boat, their fish finder locates an unusual sea creature near them—it is Nixie taking a swim. As Nixie tries to swim away, David's brother decides to chase it down and discover what the creature is, ignoring David's protests. When Nixie accidentally becomes tangled in a net, she is cornered until Lyla, Sirena, and Zac (believing it is a dolphin), find a way to rescue her.
7	"Zac's Pool Party"	Evan Clarry	Michael Joshua	26 July 2013 (2013-07-26) (Netflix)	TBA
Believing that Zac's unusual behaviour is a result of feeling lonely, Evie decides to throw Zac a surprise pool party, against both Cam and Zac's wishes. Because of his being a merman, Zac isolates himself from the party when Lyla tries to console him. After seeing the two together, Evie believes Zac's behaviour is the result of him seeing another girl. When Cam hears of this, his frustration with Zac increases and he pushes Zac into the pool, where his secret is "exposed" to the mermaids. Meanwhile, Evie's friend Carly becomes upset when her crush, David, spends all his time with Sirena.
8	"Zac's Return to Mako"	Evan Clarry	Sam Carroll	26 July 2013 (2013-07-26) (Netflix)	TBA
The first full moon since Zac was transformed into a merman has arrived and the girls believe that complete isolation from the moon will rob Zac of his powers. Despite the attempt, the full moon overpowers Zac and he is exposed to moonlight, drawing him to the Moon Pool. The girls desperately follow Zac to prevent him from finding the Pool.
9	"The Siren"	Evan Clarry	Simon Butters	26 July 2013 (2013-07-26) (Netflix)	TBA
Lyla convinces Sirena to use her beautiful singing voice to enchant Zac to follow their orders and remove his powers. This backfires, however, when her voice enchants David and he focuses his attention on Nixie, to Sirena's disappointment. Sirena and Lyla enlist the help of Rita to find a cure. Meanwhile, when Evie begins to worry about the big exam, Zac uses his powers to sneak into Rita's office and find the test answers, not knowing this would upset Evie.
10	"Zac Returns to Mako"	Evan Clarry	Chris Roache	26 July 2013 (2013-07-26) (Netflix)	TBA
Zac wants to know exactly how he became a merman, so he decides to return to Mako to find out the truth. However, the girls know that Zac doesn't know about the underwater entrance or the fact that the land entrance does not open unless the full moon is out. When Sirena and Nixie strictly reject Lyla's request to use Sirena's Moon Ring to open the entrance, Lyla steals Rita's Moon Ring and goes to Mako Island with Zac herself.
11	"I Don't Believe in Mermaids"	Evan Clarry	Max Dann	26 July 2013 (2013-07-26) (Netflix)	TBA
Nixie is convinced that she and the girls will never be able to return to the pod again and goes off alone to clear her mind. While walking on the pier, she meets a young boy who refuses to go sailing to the South Pacific with his parents. Nixie inadvertently causes the boy to run away after giving the boy advice to "look after yourself". Feeling guilty, she looks for the boy herself and gets him to believe in magic to want to explore the world, also asking him to throw Sirena's carved shell into the South Pacific in hopes it will get to Sirena's sister, Aquata. Meanwhile, after finding a trident through Mako's land entrance, Zac does some research on the trident and ocean mythology and is determined to one day get it himself, unbeknownst to him that the trident's history involves much "horrendous and destructive" power through mermen.
12	"Close Call"	Evan Clarry	Anthony Morris	26 July 2013 (2013-07-26) (Netflix)	TBA
Zac's determination and curiosity about the trident grows and Lyla worries about the potential danger if he retrieves the artefact. While Lyla is focused on preventing Zac from getting it, Nixie and Sirena start to sell Sirena's self-made jewellery using shells and pearls she finds in the ocean in order to earn money rather than take from Rita. However, when Sirena goes out to find jewel pieces, Zac sees a glimpse of her tail, making him believe he may not be the only merman around despite the difference in tail colour. After hearing from Evie and Cam that Mako has underwater caves, Zac goes out to find if there are more mermen, worrying the girls that he may find the underwater entrance to the Moon Pool.
13	"Betrayal"	Evan Clarry	Michael Joshua	26 July 2013 (2013-07-26) (Netflix)	TBA
The full moon returns and thus the trident will be within Zac's reach. Lyla is desperate to prevent Zac from grabbing the trident and harming, or even killing, himself. Cam confronts Zac when he realises that Zac is putting too much trust in three mysterious girls who have no background. When Zac is unsuccessful at fighting the full moon, he races to Mako Island to grab the trident, with the girls following pursuit. Zac reaches the trident and turns, seeing the girls in their mermaid form. Lyla fights with Zac and accidentally causes the trident to activate and throw everyone out of the entrance. Zac has snapped out of the moon's spell but is angry that the girls have been lying to him from the beginning. Believing that the girls are trying to take the trident for themselves, Zac ends their friendship. After apologising to Cam, Zac is now even more determined to get the trident.

External links

• Mako Mermaids – ZDF Enterprises promotional website
• Mako Mermaids at the Australian Television Information Archive
• Mako Mermaids at IMDb