Breaking Boundaries
Prompt given by grim_lupine
A high school exchange student program--in space. That is, there are multiple human colonies on different planets in space, and in an effort to foster inter-planet diplomacy, high schools sign up for this exchange student program.
The Horizons program allows high school kids to discover the other worlds out there. Four kids are inextricably linked by the events on all their worlds in this new adventure drama:
BREAKING BOUNDARIES
RUACH - the farm world
Ruach was founded by colonists who, tired of the commercialism and industrialization, decided to go back to their roots. The planet was so fertile that they named it after the Hebrew name for the breath of life.
Jane Wheaton
(Played by Gillian Anderson)
The matriarch of her little clan, Jane is proud to see her daughter go on her own adventures. She’s awesome at spinning, but she’ll also hold her own when it’s time to harvest the crops. Her undying faith in God helps her and her family through the tough times and the fun times as well.
Thomas Wheaton
(Played by John Barrowman)
Thomas lives in the farmhouse his own great-grandfather built, and he loves it. When Maggie told him about her plans to join the exchange program, he was surprised, but he realized that farming isn’t for everyone, so he gave her his blessing. He was really excited to meet Orly and could tell right away that he was a natural
THOMAS: If you can’t work, that’s fine; we’ll teach you everything you need to know. But if you don’t work, that’s a different story
Maggie Wheaton
Maggie enjoys living on a farm, but she’s always thought there was more out there, so when she got the letter inviting her to participate in a summer exchange program, she leapt on the chance. When she gets to Borealis, she falls madly in love with Viktor, who never looks at her twice. When she starts taking art lessons, it turns out she’s a natural at sculpting dreams.
Opening Scene: A crowded train station. The stream-lined train pulls in and the doors open to reveal Maggie carrying a carpetbag. She’s excited and overwhelmed by so many new sights. The camera angle slowly pans around to show the city of Vermillion - it’s gigantic and beautiful. Determined, she hitches her bag up on her shoulder and goes out to find her new adventure. Opening credits start.
BOREALIS
Part thriving metropolis, part New-Age search for nature, Borealis is an artist’s paradise. Everyone is an apprentice of everyone else, and the Borealans believe that there is always something new worth learning. A struggling artist will always find a home here, because everyone has been at a difficult stage in their career and is willing to lend a hand.
Beverly Emerson
(Played by Tracy Ann Oberman)
Beverly is an acclaimed splatter-painter who draws her inspiration from Jackson Pollock and Wassily Kandinsky. She’s the one waiting for Maggie at the train station and the one who realizes her potential as an artist. She and Helena fight so much because they’re too similar to one another.
Russell Emerson
(Robert Downey Junior)
Russell is the “cool dad” who tries to get involved with what his kids are doing, but frankly they’re getting too old to hang out with their father who drops cultural references to bands whose members all need hip replacements. Maggie likes him right away, and he introduces her to psychedelic rock music. He has a tendency to go into the forest for inspiration for his next big project and disappear for weeks at a time.
Viktor Emerson
(Played by Joe Anderson)
Viktor works at the nearby iron forge to make gigantic sculptures of pacifism and universal brotherhood. He gets up at the crack of dawn to ride his bike down there and doesn’t get back until late. Even though he may look scruffy, he’s got a big heart and is a gentleman to Maggie whenever they see each other. He doesn’t think of her as anything but a good friend, but there’s some handholding in the garden in Episode Five.
Helena Emerson
(Played by Nicole Kidman)
Helena is a senior who wants to look older than she really is, because that’s what everyone around her is doing. She can’t stand her brother because “manual labor is below him, and he should care more about his image”. She paints sweeping landscapes, but is easily bored, so she moves on to bigger and better things with Horizons. At first she hates Flecnode because she’s not used to being cut off from the sun, but then she discovers a secret about the network of caves and falls in love with the place.
The Dreamweaver
(Played by John Cho)
No one is really sure where he came from. Some say he just emerged from the earth and will eventually sink back into it. Others say that all the colonists carried parts of him in their hearts and that he rose out of a collective dream. He becomes the mentor of Maggie after her power is discovered.
FLECNODE
Many generations ago, the inhabitants of Flecnode lived above ground but they soon discovered toxic gases in the surface air, so they retreated to the safety of the underground. But as everyone knows, there are some places you just don’t go, and the Parnassus caves are one of them.
Tracy Doone
(Played by Whoopi Goldberg)
Tracy is the no-nonsense leader of the cavedwellers, and she keeps the memory of the entire planet intact by reciting stories of heroes and monsters. She can read the stories that rocks tell and everywhere she goes, she will pick up some of the dust and put it in her pocket. She taught her daughter the value of respecting nature.
Christopher Doone
(Played by Shaun Parkes)
Christopher is an engineer trying to make an apparatus that will let them return to the surface. While he loves to listen to the stories his wife tells, he has trouble believing them. He would much rather run through corridors than anything else and you will never see him in a suit
Amanda Doone
(Played by Freema Agyeman)
Amanda is always eager for an adventure; she doesn’t care where or with whom. At first she was a bit disappointed with Helena, because she “acts a bit prissy, doesn’t she” but after the surprise discovery in Episode Seven they become inseparable.
The Pythions
Helena gets lost one day and ends up in the Parnassus caves where she meets the Pythions, a group of childlike natives to the planet. They’re incredible artists and show her how to sneak to the surface.
RAGNARÖK
This ice world combines the mythology of many cultures, with its inhabitants sharing Greek, Irish and Scandinavian roots. And something sleeps beneath the ice…
Illithyia Hansen
(Played by Ellen Degeneres)
Illithyia’s father, Bran, went on a sailing mission seventeen years ago and still hasn’t returned. She loved listening to his tales of Persephone and Freya and trusts that they are still looking out for him. She hopes that Orly will one day meet his grandfather and can always be found looking out over the sea in search of a scarlet sail.
Thorleif Hansen
(Played by Paul Ottar Haga)
Trained as a warrior, Thorleif still does not know what to do with himself now that the Great War is over. He has taught his son the basics of self defense in case the southern peoples revolt again.
Orly Hansen
(Played by Anton Yelchin)
He’ll never tell his father this, but Orly hates fighting. He’d much rather work in a garden or discover a valley of hidden stars. He and Zach have hung out together for most of their lives and he only hopes that the arrival of the beautiful Amanda won’t wreck their friendship. He’s an only child, but he’s great with Maggie’s younger brothers and sisters.
Zachariah Sørlandsgård
(Played by Skandar Keynes)
The first time he met Orly, he hit him over the head with an icicle and a beautiful friendship was born. He’s brilliant at mathematics and sits by Illithyia as she watches the seas. When he and Orly go on their escapades they call themselves Muninn and Huginn after Odin’s ravens.
A high school exchange student program--in space. That is, there are multiple human colonies on different planets in space, and in an effort to foster inter-planet diplomacy, high schools sign up for this exchange student program.
The Horizons program allows high school kids to discover the other worlds out there. Four kids are inextricably linked by the events on all their worlds in this new adventure drama:
BREAKING BOUNDARIES
RUACH - the farm world
Ruach was founded by colonists who, tired of the commercialism and industrialization, decided to go back to their roots. The planet was so fertile that they named it after the Hebrew name for the breath of life.
Jane Wheaton
(Played by Gillian Anderson)
The matriarch of her little clan, Jane is proud to see her daughter go on her own adventures. She’s awesome at spinning, but she’ll also hold her own when it’s time to harvest the crops. Her undying faith in God helps her and her family through the tough times and the fun times as well.
Thomas Wheaton
(Played by John Barrowman)
Thomas lives in the farmhouse his own great-grandfather built, and he loves it. When Maggie told him about her plans to join the exchange program, he was surprised, but he realized that farming isn’t for everyone, so he gave her his blessing. He was really excited to meet Orly and could tell right away that he was a natural
THOMAS: If you can’t work, that’s fine; we’ll teach you everything you need to know. But if you don’t work, that’s a different story
Maggie Wheaton
Maggie enjoys living on a farm, but she’s always thought there was more out there, so when she got the letter inviting her to participate in a summer exchange program, she leapt on the chance. When she gets to Borealis, she falls madly in love with Viktor, who never looks at her twice. When she starts taking art lessons, it turns out she’s a natural at sculpting dreams.
Opening Scene: A crowded train station. The stream-lined train pulls in and the doors open to reveal Maggie carrying a carpetbag. She’s excited and overwhelmed by so many new sights. The camera angle slowly pans around to show the city of Vermillion - it’s gigantic and beautiful. Determined, she hitches her bag up on her shoulder and goes out to find her new adventure. Opening credits start.
BOREALIS
Part thriving metropolis, part New-Age search for nature, Borealis is an artist’s paradise. Everyone is an apprentice of everyone else, and the Borealans believe that there is always something new worth learning. A struggling artist will always find a home here, because everyone has been at a difficult stage in their career and is willing to lend a hand.
Beverly Emerson
(Played by Tracy Ann Oberman)
Beverly is an acclaimed splatter-painter who draws her inspiration from Jackson Pollock and Wassily Kandinsky. She’s the one waiting for Maggie at the train station and the one who realizes her potential as an artist. She and Helena fight so much because they’re too similar to one another.
Russell Emerson
(Robert Downey Junior)
Russell is the “cool dad” who tries to get involved with what his kids are doing, but frankly they’re getting too old to hang out with their father who drops cultural references to bands whose members all need hip replacements. Maggie likes him right away, and he introduces her to psychedelic rock music. He has a tendency to go into the forest for inspiration for his next big project and disappear for weeks at a time.
Viktor Emerson
(Played by Joe Anderson)
Viktor works at the nearby iron forge to make gigantic sculptures of pacifism and universal brotherhood. He gets up at the crack of dawn to ride his bike down there and doesn’t get back until late. Even though he may look scruffy, he’s got a big heart and is a gentleman to Maggie whenever they see each other. He doesn’t think of her as anything but a good friend, but there’s some handholding in the garden in Episode Five.
Helena Emerson
(Played by Nicole Kidman)
Helena is a senior who wants to look older than she really is, because that’s what everyone around her is doing. She can’t stand her brother because “manual labor is below him, and he should care more about his image”. She paints sweeping landscapes, but is easily bored, so she moves on to bigger and better things with Horizons. At first she hates Flecnode because she’s not used to being cut off from the sun, but then she discovers a secret about the network of caves and falls in love with the place.
The Dreamweaver
(Played by John Cho)
No one is really sure where he came from. Some say he just emerged from the earth and will eventually sink back into it. Others say that all the colonists carried parts of him in their hearts and that he rose out of a collective dream. He becomes the mentor of Maggie after her power is discovered.
FLECNODE
Many generations ago, the inhabitants of Flecnode lived above ground but they soon discovered toxic gases in the surface air, so they retreated to the safety of the underground. But as everyone knows, there are some places you just don’t go, and the Parnassus caves are one of them.
Tracy Doone
(Played by Whoopi Goldberg)
Tracy is the no-nonsense leader of the cavedwellers, and she keeps the memory of the entire planet intact by reciting stories of heroes and monsters. She can read the stories that rocks tell and everywhere she goes, she will pick up some of the dust and put it in her pocket. She taught her daughter the value of respecting nature.
Christopher Doone
(Played by Shaun Parkes)
Christopher is an engineer trying to make an apparatus that will let them return to the surface. While he loves to listen to the stories his wife tells, he has trouble believing them. He would much rather run through corridors than anything else and you will never see him in a suit
Amanda Doone
(Played by Freema Agyeman)
Amanda is always eager for an adventure; she doesn’t care where or with whom. At first she was a bit disappointed with Helena, because she “acts a bit prissy, doesn’t she” but after the surprise discovery in Episode Seven they become inseparable.
The Pythions
Helena gets lost one day and ends up in the Parnassus caves where she meets the Pythions, a group of childlike natives to the planet. They’re incredible artists and show her how to sneak to the surface.
RAGNARÖK
This ice world combines the mythology of many cultures, with its inhabitants sharing Greek, Irish and Scandinavian roots. And something sleeps beneath the ice…
Illithyia Hansen
(Played by Ellen Degeneres)
Illithyia’s father, Bran, went on a sailing mission seventeen years ago and still hasn’t returned. She loved listening to his tales of Persephone and Freya and trusts that they are still looking out for him. She hopes that Orly will one day meet his grandfather and can always be found looking out over the sea in search of a scarlet sail.
Thorleif Hansen
(Played by Paul Ottar Haga)
Trained as a warrior, Thorleif still does not know what to do with himself now that the Great War is over. He has taught his son the basics of self defense in case the southern peoples revolt again.
Orly Hansen
(Played by Anton Yelchin)
He’ll never tell his father this, but Orly hates fighting. He’d much rather work in a garden or discover a valley of hidden stars. He and Zach have hung out together for most of their lives and he only hopes that the arrival of the beautiful Amanda won’t wreck their friendship. He’s an only child, but he’s great with Maggie’s younger brothers and sisters.
Zachariah Sørlandsgård
(Played by Skandar Keynes)
The first time he met Orly, he hit him over the head with an icicle and a beautiful friendship was born. He’s brilliant at mathematics and sits by Illithyia as she watches the seas. When he and Orly go on their escapades they call themselves Muninn and Huginn after Odin’s ravens.