This collection looks at some of New Zealand's most significant national tragedies. Spanning 150+ years, it tells stories of drama, caution, hope and recovery — from the 1863 wreck of the Orpheus at Manukau Heads, to Tarawera, the Wahine, Erebus, Pike River and Christchurch. In the backgrounder, Jock Phillips writes about the collection, and the "common sequence" to disaster.

One October night In 1938 Orson Welles famously fooled radio listeners into believing that the United States was under attack from martians. New Zealand’s War of the Worlds moment arguably came in 1995, when directors Costa Botes and Peter Jackson unleashed moviemaker Colin McKenzie on an audience of unsuspecting patriots. Forgotten Silver joined a sly tradition of on screen Kiwi leg-pulling: from turkeys in gumboots and John Clarke as a rock star, to fence-playing farmer musicians, phallic molluscs and Māori porn stars.

This short film finds four 1990s teenagers caught up in the complications of growing up in Hutt Valley suburbia. Rising tensions during a day hanging out at the local park see misfit Rory (Riley Brophy) ignite a cracker bag of cravings for belonging, furtive sexual feelings, violence, racism and boredom. The combustive results of his misdirected teen spirit give the film’s title a grim irony. Fijian-born director Shahir Daud based the story loosely on his own experiences as a teen. Double Happy screened at the Montreal Film Festival and was a Short of the Week website pick in May 2011.

Neighbours at War was a popular and long-running TV2 reality show. In this opening episode from the show’s second series, an Otara fence is a battle line in a bitter territorial dispute between Lois and Alec. The mediator is Labour MP for Otara Ross Robertson, who draws on Winston Churchill, General Douglas MacArthur and aroha in an effort to broker peace — amidst allegations of rubbish and porn mags on one side, and swear words and brown eyes on the other. Narrator Bill Kerton’s puns and some choice sound effects punctuate the neighbourly nastiness.

This episode of Chris Stapp and Matt Heath's bawdy, bogan, BSA baiting TV variety series spoof promises "action packed action". The Constables need the assistance of the Onehunga Armed Offenders Squad to nullify the threat posed by a small boy with a water pistol. Host Danny Parker interviews "retarded South Island mechanic" Spanners Watson about the increase in mechanical incompetence and hospitalisations since he joined stuntman Randy Campbell's crew. Campbell's stunt will only ever end one way, and "NZ's number one porn detective" Smoodiver debuts.

In this debut episode of Chris Stapp and Matt Heath's bawdy, bogan TV variety series spoof, we meet "NZ's most loved TV personality" Danny Parker and "NZ's greatest ever stunt man" Randy Campbell. Parker's interview with Campbell results in an all-in studio brawl (not for the last time) and Campbell's attempt to jump over an ape in a cage on a BMX bike goes "horribly wrong" (not for the last time). The Constables set up a self-serving checkpoint, and Bottlestore Galactica attempts to make the galaxy a safer place for drinkers everywhere.

This cult late-night TV2 series was a bawdy bogan Kiwi variety show, mixing sacrilege, beer-fuelled hijinks and Jackass-like stunts. Created by Chris Stapp and Matt Heath, it centred around a mock live TV show, with music from house band Deja Voodoo. Characters such as "retarded South Island mechanic" Spanners Watson featured in BSA-baiting segments like 'Randy Campbell's Extreme Stunts' (fodder for film The Devil Dared Me To) and 'Cunstables'. This first series also screened on MTV2 in Europe and Channel V in Australia. A second series screened on C4 in 2008.

Winner of Best Actor and Best Director at short film festival Tropfest in 2013, this mockumentary follows the travails of Dave Dobson, "audio enhancement engineer for adult films". Dave’s passion for his job results in some sloppy aural props, in the hope that his soundtrack for Blizzard of Jizz will score a win at the Golden Clams. Not that his efforts are appreciated by his sleazy boss Gary, and hapless colleague Jake. Written and starring Greg Stubbings (Seven Sharp, The Crowd Goes Wild guest presenter), the comedy was selected for the ImagineNATIVE and Austin film festivals.

In this episode of Chris Stapp and Matt Heath's bawdy, bogan, BSA baiting TV variety series spoof, studio band Deja Voodoo have been fire after the police raid in the previous episode — but replacements, The Warlocks of Firetop Mountain, lack the "sharp suits and sharp tunes" that presenter Danny Parker is looking for in a band. There's an extended episode of Bottlestore Galactica but the real focus is on stuntman Randy Campbell's last despairing attempt to succeed at even the simplest challenge. His inevitable failure extacts a terrifying toll.

In this episode of the "greatest TV show on earth", the ape set on fire in the show's first episode — when Randy Campbell's stunt went "horribly wrong" — has escaped, and the hairy one is after vengeance. Meanwhile the police show no sympathy for presenter Danny Parker and daredevil Campbell, for the way the show has portrayed them. And against all odds, Spanners Watson's rocket car 'The Spirit of Russell Crowe' might actually work ... but the ape and the police are closing in.