From
the Guardian
They decided to focus the new drama on two 16-year-olds, Tom and Benny, one secretly in possession of magical powers, the other a super-bright scientific brain, who does not believe in magic. They combine their skills to battle a tribe of aliens, called the Nekross, to save the world.
From the dark side of the moon, the Nekross set up a base to scan the earth, looking for magical skills to buttress their power and, naturally, destroying anything that stands in their way.The idea was quickly turned into a first script, then an order for 26 episodes.
Davies said: "Magic and
science fiction are never combined. For example, the only thing that could make Harry Potter better, in my view, would be if a big spaceship arrives at the door of Hogwarts, but it never does. It does in ours, in episode one."
At the core is an ideological clash as the two boys argue over the separate worlds of magic and science, such as the existence of spells versus, say, laser technology.
Davies added that the trick was to create a drama based on ordinary life, as in
The Sarah Jane Adventures, set in Ealing, west London, into which fantasy intrudes. "Remember, I spent my whole childhood waiting for the Daleks to arrive in my school playground," said Davies. The wizard teenager is descended from a family of wizards, but he keeps this a secret and attends a comprehensive school.
Aliens Vs Wizards will also feature lots of prosthetic monsters, as in
Doctor Who, and not just computer generated imagery.
The lavish multimillion-pound series, which starts filming in the Cardiff drama studios of BBC Wales in March, is being financially backed by FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME), to supplement CBBC budgets. In return for the investment, Fremantle, not the BBC, has global sales rights, as well as rights to DVDs, merchandising and book publishing.
