In a typically polished effort from the industrious Thunderlips duo, Doprah vocalist Indira Force’s metamorphosis into a schizophrenic kawaii girl (Japanese for ‘cute’) makes for an unsettling contrast to the song’s slow-burning ambience — although a late cameo from bandmate Steven Marr in Sailor Moon-style garb provides some comic relief. The clip premiered on US music journal SPIN’s online edition, and was nominated for Best Music Video at the 2014 Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards.

This kidult thriller features Martin Henderson (in his screen debut) and Hamish McFarlane (fresh from The Navigator) with a script by Margaret Mahy. Brothers and sisters Emma and Zane, and Kelsey and Morgan are friends, with their own clubhouse and secret society. Their lives change when Zane and Emma witness a jeweller’s shop robbery, and Morgan and Kelsey see two men escape their crashed car after a police chase. The friends find themselves plunged into a world of intrigue, questionable Special Branch agents and a mysterious fire eater and magician.

As part of a series marking NZ On Air's 30th birthday, this video looks back at Bic Runga song 'Suddenly Strange'. It was released in 1997, when music videos were crucial to an artist finding an audience, and when NZ music was still finding its unique voice. Fashion designer Kate Sylvester reflects that the video "captures an amazing time" of creativity in Kiwi culture. Her partner, Wayne Conway, who directed the video, talks about how Runga's stripped-back music paralleled 1990s trends in NZ fashion; and Bic Runga talks about how, for a musician, videos always involve "a leap of faith".

One night in a West Coast pub, Melanie (Australian actor Rachel Blake) meets a handsome stranger (Sam Neill) and accepts his invitation to go back to his place. When they board his boat she discovers it is further than she thought (a shack on a deserted island). Once they arrive he treats her like a princess. However it slowly dawns on her that she's been kidnapped. Terrified, she also knows that he's her only way off the island. As events play out in Gaylene Preston's twisted thriller, Melanie's feelings change from anger and fear — to desire.

The remote Antipodes Islands lie 860 kilometres southeast of Stewart Island. This 1980 documentary follows a Wildlife Service team surveying the islands’ inhabitants who are making all the strange noises – fur seals, albatrosses, petrels, parakeets and snipe, elephant seals and prolific penguins. It also investigates threats to their survival: mice and overfishing in the southern ocean. Winner of a Silver Medal at New York's International Film and Television Festival, this early Wild South episode helped establish the reputation of TVNZ’s Natural History Unit (later NHNZ).

The "kids stumble on crims" premise of this kidult thriller series was practically an NZ TV staple in the 80s (Terry and the Gunrunners, The Fire-Raiser); here it's realised with a script by author Margaret Mahy and the director/producer team of Peter Sharp and Chris Bailey (vying with a schedule disrupted by Cyclone Bola). Mahy creates a world of masks, disguises and intrigue for a young cast including Martin Henderson (his screen debut), Hamish McFarlane (fresh from Vincent Ward’s The Navigator), Joel Tobeck (an early role) and deaf seven-year-old Sonia Pivac.

Where would New Zealand culture be without our own music? In this video celebrating NZ On Air's 30th birthday, Mike Chunn (founder of the Play It Strange Trust) describes the 2007 documentary series that followed a group of promising teenage songwriters as they honed their compositions — with help from Play It Strange judges and mentors like Jordan Luck. Chunn is overcome with emotion as he describes the feedback he receives from parents of those involved with the programme, while Luck feels "honoured" to have worked with young musical talent.

One of seven singles from Bic Runga's mega-selling debut album Drive, 'Suddenly Strange' is about calling time on a relationship. Runga's bittersweet lyric is a declaration of independence that never quite becomes unequivocal. Nominated for Best Video at the 1998 NZ Music Awards, the stylishly colourful clip finds her inside a cube in various locations around Auckland — enclosed while life carries on around her, at least until the hopeful final shot. Director and graphic designer Wayne Conway (partner of Kate Sylvester) also designed the cover of the Drive album.

It's hard to reduce legendary band Split Enz down to a single sound or image. Soon after forming in 1973, they began dressing like oddball circus performers, and their music straddled folk, vaudeville and art rock. Later the songs got shorter, poppier and — some say —better, and the visuals were toned down...but you could never accuse the Enz of looking biege. With Split Enz co-founder Tim Finn turning 65 in June 2017, this collection looks back at one of Aotearoa's most successful and eclectic bands. Writer Michael Higgins unravels the evolution of the Enz here.