1993: Oi

April 13, 2021

By AHNZ

For two seasons (1993 & 1994) New Zealand had a rather brilliant science/comedy TV show called ‘Oi’. Despite the very Kiwi title, ‘Oi’ was cleverly filmed for ease of dubbing into any language so it could be marketed internationally. I discovered it myself on Sunday mornings on TV3 from 9:20 to 10:05am back in 1994.

‘Oi’ had jokes, songs, puppets, animations, science, and science history. It had the scientific enthusiasm of Carl Sagan and James Burke mashed up with the comic sensibility of Monty Python. This was the vision of seasoned TV veteran Andrew Ross Johnston who put the company together and incorporated it. Clive Copeman and Michael Robinson brought production talent and Ken Gorrie¹ animated (probably used a Commodore Amiga.)

“It aired first on TV 3 and then on TVNZ in New Zealand. It was made in Dunedin in 1993-94, by JPL…you never see anyone speak with out something obscuring their mouth. It won a number of international awards. ” – Michael Robinson, Youtube

The National Film Unit had been sold off to TVNZ (1990) and so trimmed to fit a commercial agenda that shook up the industry. New Zealand on Air (1989) was giving money away to Kiwi content creators. TV3 was up and running by the end of that same year and was required by law to provide opportunities for NZ content. Into this context stepped one Ross Johnston who created Johnston Productions Ltd (JPL, 7 July 1992.) Johnston had done lots of work for State TV and now proved he could create product and jobs in an industry no longer protected and subsidised by the taxpayer.

‘Oi’ impressed the high school science teachers of New Zealand along with the last Gen X and first Millennial generations. These kids were still interested in big ideas and science because our culture was at the peek of what I call Krypton Factor Dignity Culture. This was an intellectual, aspirational, sesquicentennial anniversary (150th in 1990) time for New Zealand where it was still cool to be wise. Jet engines, lie detectors, how tides work, Archimedes, Galileo, sound waves, bacteria, batteries, bee stings, penicillin, soap,….for now it was all popular.

By 1994 our Dignity Culture era had given way to Victimhood Culture so I can understand why there was no season 3 for a show like ‘Oi’ or even a season 2 for ‘The New Adventures of Black Beauty’. Instead, ‘Captain Planet and the Planeteers’ with its anti-science but ‘scientifical’ fantasy theme of Social Justice Warriors took the attention of the youths. On the big screen, likewise, a blockbuster about a kid saving a whale from captivity (Free Willy, 1993.) Science was over now for the kids who were now being compelled by their government to wear Stackhats while cycling to government schools in this new Politically Correct Victimhood New Zealand. No more ‘Oi’.

—

1 Gorrie later joined another great company to rise from the ashes of State television and is still there today: Animation Research Ltd. (1989)

Oi on IMDB (note: if anyone has an account on IMDB please add the title pic to it)

Ref. Very little online footprint for ‘Oi’ but Michael Robinson, one of the creators, kindly put an episode on Youtube after I expressed an interest

Update: On 2021-04-14 01:05, Clive Copeman wrote:
> Hi Rick,
>
> Glad you liked the show. I don’t think I have any copies any more.
>
> I grew up on a diet of Monty Python, The Two Ronnies and Life on
> Earth, as well as great old Kiwi science show like Ron Walton’s “In
> the Nature of Things” and Peter Read’s “Night Sky”. I’d wanted to
> write a show like Oi since studying Zoology at Otago in the 80s and
> had a little taste of TV with my Uni Challenge experience. After
> spending a little time working in TVNZ’s science unit, a few of us
> were out of jobs when the company began downsizing in about 1990 or
> 91. Producer Ross Johnston formed his own production company and
> found NZ on Air funding for us to make the first series of Oi (which I
> originally wanted to cal IO, after the moon, and Input/Output.
>
> Michael was a theatresports actor Ross liked. He and I were still
> pretty green, so were lucky to have Ross take us under his wing, help
> us develop the show and bring it to life. Ross is a fan of quirky
> stuff. It’s pretty rough around the edges and full of apocrypha but
> for all that, but I’m pleased it found a few eyeballs back in the day
> and helped popularise science among a younger generation. A lot of
> great people were involved… Stacey Morrison, Alison James (who
> married Michael and then fund stardom in Shortland Street), Peter
> Hayden, I even think Taika Cohen did a little acting on it before he
> became Taika Waiti.
>
> Michael and I were offered gigs we couldn’t refuse in Auckland not
> long after, so weren’t around to make the second series. I did a
> little bit of story development for it, but I found it very difficult
> working in a vacuum up there and after the spectacular failure of the
> Auckland project, wasn’t in a good headspace to write for a while.
> These days I mostly shoot stills mixed with a little corporate or
> music video work and collaborate in the odd TV project if suits me
> these days, mostly as a shooter.

[…]

> Best,
>
> CC

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