Hard Out – Season 1
Middledon is invaded by aliens in this pacy 2003 teen series. Jeff and Noodle — goofy 21st Century skaters — stumble upon the conspiring Neo Corporation. Being the only ones to see Neo's nefarious plot, the duo must resist mind control (teen spirit anyone?), save the town, and stop the skate park being 'wasted' and turned into a mall. Writer and executive producer Greg McGee described the two main characters as a "sort of junior Dumb and Dumber", which he says appealed to the target audience, alongside the skateboard stunts performed by two top Kiwi skateboarders, Kevin Francis and Brett Chan.
Episodes
Episode 1
Aliens have landed in suburban New Zealand. Well, that’s what Jeff and Noodle think when the freaky Neo Corporation arrives in Middledon with plans to waste their beloved skate park.
Episode 2
When Jeff and Noodle try to break into the Neo Corporation headquarters, Noodle finds himself in a real mess and Jeff’s teetering on the edge.
Episode 3
Jeff is enchanted by Astrid’s charms as she gets close enough to implant a fibre optic controller in his brain. Noodle comes to the rescue, but the boys are horrified to discover Jeff can’t skate anymore.
Episode 4
Jeff and Noodle chain themselves to the skate ramp as a last-ditch effort to save it, but no one can see them as the bulldozers bear down on them. Hard out!
Episode 5
Jeff and Noodle wake up in a strange place, and think they are dead. However, they are just in the new, improved Middledon – now known as Arohadale. Meanwhile, Astrid plots to get the boys out of her way for good.
Episode 6
Jeff wins the Neo Future Stars competition, but gets too big for his boots when the Neos groom him as a pop megastar. When Noodle tries to save his mate, things go horribly wrong, as usual.
Episode 7
After his accident, Jeff is in Wellness World, the freaky Neo hospital, where Brian experiments on his brain, and makes an astonishing discovery.
Episode 8
When Jeff and Noodle try to insert anti-Neo messages into a new TV advert starring the sexy Anahera and Astrid, jealous, accessorises her body as Volleybabe, the shoot is chaos.
Episode 9
Jeff and Noodle eat heaps and rub chicken fat onto their skin in a desperate attempt to bulk up to play cage rugby, but when they see the size of the hulks they are up against...
Episode 10
Playing in a TV reality show, Neo Saliva, Astrid’s latest mind control game, Jeff and Noodle are in big trouble when the pretend spears in the jungle fight turn out to be real.
Episode 11
When Gran is arrested as an unfit caregiver, Jeff and Noodle convince Brian, who has now become a social worker, to let her off the hook. But Astrid gets her hooks back into Jeff.
Episode 12
Brian tells Jeff the reason he and Noodle are not brainwashed is because they have powerful imaginations but just as Brian is about to reveal the aliens’ big plan, the world stops.
Episode 13
Jeff and Noodle discover the real secret of the town, the spaceship and the aliens and even find their stolen skateboards, but are they too late?