The 26, 30-minute-episode series will cost $14 million – making it ABC Children’s TV’s biggest budget live-action series, he says.

Ngunnawal resident Andrew, who’s directed episodes of “Home And Away” and “Kerri-Anne”, and created the Inside Film Awards, says the idea for the show came from his science-fiction addiction.

“As a teenager, I was the head of the ‘Dr Who’ fan club, and I loved ‘Battlestar Galactica’ and ‘Battle of the Planets’,” he says. “I have four kids and I felt that the things they were watching just weren’t as engaging as those when I was a kid.

“They’re very Disney-esque, and there’s a place for that, but it all seems to be about being liked, being popular, having a boyfriend or a girlfriend.

“I wanted to create the kind of show I grew up watching; something I could watch with them.

“I tried to weave in cameos of actors that parents would recognise, so that it might become a sort of guilty pleasure for them, too.”

One such cameo is actress Jane Badler, who played evil reptilian Visitor leader Diana in the TV series “V”.

“She scared the living hell out of me as a teenager, so I wanted to create a bad girl character based on her,” he says. “She plays the mum in the pilot, but in the TV show she’ll have a more engaging role.”

“The have amazing technology and are trained by a young billionaire, and they try to expose the truth and save the world,” he says.

“I wanted it to appeal to boys and girls, there’s plenty of action for boys, but girls can relate, too. With three daughters, I definitely wanted there to be strong female characters in there.

“In fact, in the first episode it’s the girls who save the day. They step up and are equal to the boys. One can’t function without the other.”

Although the pilot was shot in Canberra in 2008, the series will be shot in Adelaide in November, he says.

“The pilot has a very international feel, and most people don’t know it was filmed in Canberra until the last shot where you can see the Telstra Tower,” he says.

“Regrettably we can’t shoot the series here because we needed the sound stage in Adelaide, but we’ll be the first production to use the SA Film Corporation’s new facilities.”

The show is a co-production between Australia’s Persistence Productions and Canada’s Shaftesbury Films, and will be on ABC3 in late 2012.

“It will have been four years since we made the pilot, by the time it comes on air,” says Andrew.

“It’s been a long road, but a lot of fun.”