The first point that needs to be made about “Alien Surf Girls” is that it is a thing. It’s real. It definitely exists and is not something I hallucinated late one night while hopped up on insomnia and Fiddle Faddle. The second point that needs to be made is that it’s totally serious. The third is that it’s totally Australian—which may serve as some sort of excuse/explanation. To be fair, in its country of origin, the show is titled “Lightning Point”—which makes it sound much more like the straight-faced preteen soap opera it is. But we Americans aren’t all that big on subtlety, so by the time it washed up on our shores, “Alien Surf Girls” it was.You can’t fault Nickelodeon for truth in advertising. Indeed the show is about aliens who are both surfers and girls. See, blond Zoe (Lucy Fry) and brunet Kiki (Jessica Green) are energy-based beings from the planet Lumina. They’ve been stranded on Australia’s Gold Coast in the tiny seaside resort of Lightning Point—which is convenient because they both love surfing so much. … Yeah, I’m gonna be honest with you right now and say I don’t really get this. Our two heroines are aliens from a barren, waterless planet. And they’re expert surfers? Moving on, then. Sci-fi suggestions aside, the show is more or less about two hot new girls in town—one kinda impulsive and one kinda sensitive—who befriend a shy local gal named Amber (redheaded Philippa Coulthard, completing our hair color trifecta). They all wear bikinis, hang out at the beach and look for boys to develop crushes on. Zoey’s totes in love with Brandon, the local surf stud. But he’s already got a g.f., stuck up “Miss Perfect” Madison. And Kiki is, like, obvi into Amber’s best friend, Luca. Only, Amber secretly like -likes Luca. She just can’t summon up the spunk to tell Luca or Kiki. Watch any random 10-minute stretch and you’ll probably miss out on a full third of the show’s titular promise.The twist is that cute, Justin Bieber-esque Luca is really a big nerd (yeah, right), who’s obsessed with hunting UFOs. Isn’t that ironic? His potential girlfriend is really a space alien with crazy alien powers! Occasionally, something actually alien-ish happens—like Kiki getting zapped into a lightning storm or the appearance of some crop circles—to remind you of the show’s basic premise.Aliens who hang ten don’t exactly have a long and proud history. There’s the Silver Surfer and Tommy Kirk in Pajama Party and … well, this show. Which, if nothing else, lives up to its title.
“Alien Surf Girls” airs pretty much every day on TeenNick. There are four episodes on Friday, July 27. starting at 1 p.m. There are two episodes on Saturday, July 28, starting at 11 a.m., then two more starting at 7 p.m. Sunday brings with it a similar four-pack (two eps at 11 a.m., two at 7 p.m.). Just turn on TeenNick, it’ll be there.
