• Source: Aquila (TV series)

Aquila is a British children's television show which aired on the BBC from 1997 to 1998. An episode was aired once a week, and was based on the story of two boys, Tom Baxter and Geoff Reynolds, who find a spacecraft when digging in a field. The first series was based on the 1997 book Aquila by British author Andrew Norriss. The second series was novelised and published in 2010.




Synopsis


While digging on farmland, friends Tom and Geoff discover a cavern containing the skeleton of a Roman centurion and a craft named Aquila. The boys learn to fly Aquila, and have to find ways to hide it, prevent doing damage with it, and communicate with it.
Tom and Geoff eventually discover the source of Aquila – a massive abandoned spaceship orbiting the Sun. They realise the significance of this, exclaiming "a battle cruiser! You could have some serious fun with a battle cruiser!".




Episode list






= Series 1 (1997)

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= Series 2 (1998)

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Aquila


Aquila is a liferaft from a larger ship, built by the Yrrillians from the planet Deneb. The ship can fly an almost infinite distance, and can fly in outer space without the need for crew spacesuits, although damage sustained to the Oxygen Regeneration system before Aquila was unearthed meant that the craft could only hold six hours of air. Other abilities of the ship include invisibility, a form of verbal remote control, lasers, a holographic interface and the Core Defence Wave Gun (capable of passing out everything in a 300 coleymort (191.1 metres; 209.0 yd) radius.
Aquila can be programmed to execute basic manoeuvres from the detection of certain signals. This feature was used when the boys program it to travel to the location of an inaudible dog whistle. The problem arose when a dog owner blew his own whistle when the craft was in invisible mode in the grounds of a stately home. This rendered the craft missing but luckily a friend of the boys, Dunstan, found it and brought it to them. He also discovers that Aquila can be connected to a computer and be contacted by email. In the case of the 2010 novelization, Aquila can also be contacted using mobile phones, as Dunstan discovers, which the boys find more convenient than using the dog whistle and it can use the phones for verbal communication since its vocal generator was destroyed millennia ago though the software remained unharmed.
Aquila has the ability to demolish objects by flying directly through them. This ability was used by the boys when they flew it through a brick wall while discovering some of Aquila's capabilities. After inspection by the boys, the craft was found completely unharmed.
Aquila stores everything it sees on egg shaped objects which can be played back on the holographic screen. It records approximately 1,600 years of data. If the eggs are not replaced, then the ship starts recording over the start of the "footage". Aquila is also equipped with a lie detector that can interpret conversations in its black box footage as well as immediately outside it.
"Aquila" is the Latin translation of the word eagle. The words inscribed on the centurion's safety harness, 'Licat volare si super tergum aquila volat', translates as "A man can fly where he will, if he rides on the back of an eagle". This proverb was derived from an ancient Greek story, where one day, the gods decided to elect the noblest bird of all by having them race to the top of Mount Olympus. The eagle appeared to be winning, but the tiny sparrow had been resting on the eagle's back for the entire race, and at the last moment leaped up and won the race.
The name of the craft is inscribed on its own exterior as "AQVILA".




External links


Aquila at IMDb
Andrew Norriss' Homepage
Information about Andrew Norriss's work
David Bell at IMDb




Footnotes






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