Directed by David Sims, A Train For Christmas follows the Kingston Flyer as it chugs through the farmland of Southland from Lumsden to Kingston, where on the shores of Lake Wakatipu it meets with the steamer TSS Earnslaw. With the driver as narrator, this poetic, and sometimes fantastical (the train talks at one point) celebration of steam transportation evokes a bygone era when the train “would stop at every crossing, hedge and house.” The steam train is cast as an integral part of a vast landscape and the communities that it travels through.

In this episode of her series for pre-schoolers, Suzy Cato goes where few television programmes have gone before and devotes an episode to toilet training. Food and its digestion, what happens in the bathroom and the importance of hand washing are all covered — with the more practical aspects demonstrated using Terence Teddy. Suzy mixes her customary warmth and friendliness with a no-nonsense approach and it's all done in the best possible taste. Light relief is provided by a film insert about a family making the traditional Tongan fruit drink 'otai.   

A mainstay on cinema and TV screens for over 20 years, this commercial — reputedly NZ’s longest-running — made Kiwis feel as if the UK-born hokey pokey treasure was ‘ours’. Directed by Tony Williams, the madcap romp features a bevy of 70s acting talent caught up in chaos, after outlaws start a free for all fight for a chest of Crunchie bars. A connection with Martin Scorsese’s editor allowed access to footage from old Westerns, while the immortal tune is by Murray Grindlay. Williams overspent his meagre budget, and a lawn mower given to him as a thank you ended up his fee.

Marcus Lush travels from the vast Kaingaroa Forest to NZ's busiest rail junction (at Hamilton), in this installment of his popular and award-winning telly love affair with NZ's railways. Along the way, he meets a legless train accident survivor turned motivational speaker; potter Barry Brickell and his 3km narrow gauge railway at Driving Creek; and a collector with more than 2,700 rail related items. There's also a visit to Waihi, turned into a boomtown by gold and rail in the 1870s, which was home to the might and power of the Victoria stamper battery.

This 1948 documentary follows 24 hours of work on the railways. It was directed for the National Film Unit by New Zealand’s first female film director, Margaret Thomson. It shows the engines and commuter trains preparing to leave Wellington, and the overnight train arriving from Auckland. Workers toil on the railway lines above the remote Waimakariri Gorge, and the town of Otira gets ready for a dance. The final shots are of an engine coming through the dawn and back to the city.

Designed to inspire school leavers to find their career, Pathways sees a selection of young New Zealanders talk about their job paths. The pilot episode of this 1994 Careers NZ resource is bookended with a 'mini-drama' about young people flatting together, which includes some familiar faces. Karl Urban plays lazy surfer Wayne, while Robbie Magasiva is the sales assistant whose plans of climbing the career ladder go awry. Marcus Lush plays a DJ who links a series of interviews with people either working or training. Later Lush interviews experts on youth employment prospects.

Marcus Lush goes "right up the guts" of the North Island from Wairarapa to Gisborne in this episode of his award-winning telly romance with NZ's railways. He meets railcar restorers and recounts the murders by rail porter Rowland Edwards in 1884. Particular praise is reserved for the "spectacular and beautiful" Napier to Gisborne line (now mothballed) with its viaducts at Mohaka and Kopuawhara. The latter is on the site of a flash flood that killed 21 workers in 1938 and it inspires an idiosyncratic Lush demonstration of NZ's then 10 worst disasters.

In this second part of Kia Ora Bonjour Sir Howard Morrison continues his exploration of France — plus an early Kiwi French connection. Back in Rotorua he welcomes Les Bleus (the French rugby team), teaches them about the haka, and looks back at Marion du Fresne’s first, fatal contact with Māori in 1772. In France Morrison checks out Bordeaux wines, takes a spa in Dax, goes fishing in multicultural Marseille, takes a TGV fast train, and cruises Paris in a Citroën. The Kiwi production was made for TV3, to mark the bicentennial of the French Revolution.

This film showcases legendary running coach Arthur Lydiard's training methods, through some of his most famous pupils — including John Walker and Heather Thompson. 'Arthur's boys' (Peter Snell, Murray Halberg, Barry Magee) scored attention by winning unheralded medals at the 1960 Rome Olympics. Lydiard later led the 'flying Finns' to similar success. His method revolves around long runs that build stamina to complement speed. It was influential in popularising jogging globally. A highlight of the footage is Jack Foster's exhilarating descent of a steep scree slope.

John Barry Fenton was just 15 when he joined the New Zealand Navy in 1949. When the Korean War broke out the next year, Fenton was part of the crew aboard the frigate HMNZS Pukaki, as it headed north for patrol duties. He describes the monotony of shipboard life in a war mostly fought on land. Returning to New Zealand, Fenton undertook further training before returning to Korea for a second tour of duty, this time aboard HMNZS Hawea. The ship mainly patrolled the area around the mouth of the Han River to stop enemy ships entering or leaving.