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.

This episode of Chris Stapp and Matt Heath's bawdy, bad taste series promises "action packed action". The constables need the assistance of the Onehunga Armed Offenders Squad to deal to 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. "NZ's number one porn detective" Smoodiver also debuts.

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.

Rolling out their Christmas Special in June, to show just how far they're ahead of the game, the Moon TV team threw most of their regulars into this wrap-up special: dodgy driving on Speedo Cops, Naan Doctors (a soap set in an Indian restaurant) and Leigh Hart's regular attempt to sound literary with writer Joe Bennett. Elsewhere Hart and Matai Johnson cheat during the annual coast to coast race, and join Jason Hoyte to demonstrate how not to treat a guest when John Key joins them on Late Night Big Breakfast. Plus pratfalls from an incompetent handyman.

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 highlights special culled from the first four years of Eating Media Lunch, presenter Jeremy Wells manages to keep a straight face while mercilessly satirising all manner of mainstream media. Leaping channels and barriers of taste, the episode shows the fine line between send-up and target. The 'Worst of EML' tests the patience of talkback radio hosts and goes behind the demise of celebrity merino Shrek; plus terrorist blooper reels, Destiny Church protests, Target hijinks, and our first indigenous porno flick (you have been warned: not suitable for children).

In this episode of Back of the Y, Chris Stapp and Matt Heath concentrate on drugs. Convinced that all students are on drugs, the constables travel to Dunedin to deal to the local scarfie population. Meanwhile a baggy-trousered, inner city pothead journeys into the backblocks in search of a cannabis mother lode in 'Te Puke Thunder'. A new feature introduces "extreme" cameraman Wally Simmonds (profiling a sight impaired skate team) and stuntman Randy Campbell has to cope with his team's incompetence as well as his own.

A special tribute to 20 years of TV3's late night news show Nightline — including interviews with most of its regular newsreaders and major contributors of the previous two decades. Belinda Todd pops up in Los Angeles via satellite link and Darren McDonald is "door-stepped" at home while the others celebrate in a Ponsonby Road bar. There's a tribute to the late Dylan Taite; and other packages are devoted to Belinda Todd's more notorious antics, Bill Ralston's gonzo approach to politics, the show's arts coverage and its on-going love affair with nudity.