Havoc and Newsboy took the malarky of their 90s youth show on the road in this 1999 series. This episode sees the pair talking intelligence. In Wellington they spy on Keith Quinn, simulate an earthquake and hang out outside Defence HQ with journalist Nicky Hager, to talk SIS surveillance and silver protective curtains. The intrepid duo follow Hager's leads to "the most secret place in New Zealand": the Waihopai intelligence base near Blenheim. “We went and did a dance, trespassed and left our masks on the front gate”. On the ferry en route, Newsboy pays homage to song 'Montego Bay'. 

The Five Eyes spy network was set up after WWll to monitor and share intelligence between the United States, Canada, Britain, Australia and NZ. According to this interactive documentary, the network sought a new justification for its existence after the Soviet Union's collapse, and found it in digital communications. Narrated by Lucy Lawless, I Spy aims to inform viewers about just what their local intelligence agencies are up to. Interviewees include journalist Nicky Hager and former NSA and CIA director Michael Hayden. I Spy was funded by a joint Canadian-NZ Digital Media Fund.  

The story of Satellite Spies is a Rashomon-style tale, whose details change depending on which website you read. Songwriter/vocalist Mark Loveys and guitarist Deane Sutherland both lay claim to the band name. What is clear is that in the mid 80s Satellite Spies supported Dire Straits, won a Most Promising Group Award and had a top 20 hit with 'Destiny in Motion'. After that Sutherland left the group, copyrighted the name, and set up a second Satellite Spies in Australia. The NZ Spies continued until 1988.   

Sam Neill has acted in forgotten Kiwi TV dramas (The City of No) and classic Kiwi movies (Sleeping Dogs, The Piano, Hunt for the Wilderpeople). His career has taken him from the UK (Reilly: Ace of Spies) to Hawaii (Jurassic Park) to dodgy Melbourne nightclubs (Death in Brunswick). As Neill turns 70, this collection celebrates his range, modesty and style — and the fact he was directing films before winning acting fame. In these backgrounders, friends Ian Mune and Roger Donaldson raise a glass to a talented, self-deprecating actor and fan of good music and pinot noir.

The music video for this 1987 Satellite Spies single is a straight down the line performance piece, focusing on vocalist/songwriter Mark Loveys. After scoring a hit single in 1985 – 'Destiny in Motion' – Satellite Spies won Most Promising Band and Most Promising Male Vocalist at that year’s NZ Music Awards. This single was recorded for their second album, which would finally be released in 2011 as Us Against the World. The album was made without guitarist Deane Sutherland, who left the group in 1986 — and later launched a band of the same name in Australia. Rock’n'roll!

This music video features Satellite Spies as the headline band at a high school ball. Unusually for a local music video made in the 80s, it features a scene-setting intro sequence before the song begins: amidst the excited throngs, a boy struggles to work up the courage to ask his crush for a dance. The second single off the band's debut LP Destiny In Motion, 'I Wish I'd Asked' failed to chart, despite the band agreeing it was the standout song. After hearing the track, Mark Knopfler gave Satellite Spies the nod to support Dire Straits when they played in New Zealand in 1986.

In September 1985 Satellite Spies released 'Destiny In Motion', their first single. It made waves in the NZ charts, peaking at number 14 and spending 10 weeks in the top 50. The corresponding video is stylishly minimalist. Lead singer Mark Loveys and guitarist Deane Sutherland wander darkened back alleys in the rain, and encounter a mysterious blue triangle. The song proved a good launchpad: in March of 1986 Satellite Spies found themselves opening for Dire Straits when the group arrived in New Zealand. After that, Loveys and Sutherland were destined to move in different orbits.

This documentary questions New Zealand’s involvement in the ‘Five Eyes’ intelligence alliance. The examination of contemporary intelligence gathering takes in NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden, entrepreneur-in-exile Kim Dotcom, and NZ Prime Minister John Key. It is framed around the 2008 sabotage of a Blenheim spy station by a priest, a teacher and a farmer: the 'Waihopai three' cut open a plastic dome protecting a satellite dish, in protest at the base’s role in the US-led 'War on Terror'. Directors Errol Wright and Abi King-Jones made 2011 terror raids documentary Operation 8.

Away Laughing was an early sketch comedy show from Wellington company Gibson Group. In this episode from the second series, skaters, spies, panelbeaters and Buck Shelford are the butt of jokes. Kevin Smith and Murray Keane play two Australians mocking New Zealand place names; a trio of firefighters make idiots of themselves in a classroom; ingratiating priest Phineas O'Diddle (Danny Mulheron) arrives at the pub in time to join in on Hori's birthday; and onetime Telecom promo man Gordon McLauchlan interviews two gorillas about Telecom's privatisation.

This 1966 edition of National Film Unit’s magazine slot heads to Christchurch International Airport to explore weather measuring devices being launched there. Helium 'Ghost Balloons' are sent into the sky by an outpost of the United States' National Center for Atmospheric Research. Meanwhile Christchurch weathermen send up hydrogen balloons, read satellite data, and provide a flight plan for a U2 reconnaisance plane from the US Air Force. The pilot’s preflight routine involves breathing pure oxygen to prepare him for the ultrahigh altitude plane’s steep ascent into the sky.