Television series
Ocean Girl
Ocean Girl is a 1994 Australian adventure series about Neri, a mysterious girl with extraordinary aquatic abilities who emerges from the ocean to befriend two teenage boys at an underwater research station. It's earnest, imaginative science fiction aimed at younger viewers—part coming-of-age story, part environmental fable, with genuine warmth beneath its modest production values. If you remember it fondly, it holds up better than you'd expect.
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The Goonies1985
A foundational touchstone for adventure stories about kids discovering secrets and making allies against odds. The same spirit of scrappy friendship and treasure-hunting excitement runs through both.
But It's much louder and more aggressively comedic than Ocean Girl, and moves at a breakneck pace that might feel exhausting if you prefer slower world-building.
Aquaman2018
A superhero origin story centered on underwater kingdoms and a hero discovering their hidden lineage in the ocean. Same fundamental mythology, massive budget instead of a modest Australian production.
But The tone is grimly earnest and visually bombastic—nothing like Ocean Girl's quieter, more contemplative moments exploring what it means to be an outsider.
seaQuest DSV1993
A contemporary series set aboard an underwater research vessel with similar themes of exploration, discovery, and unlikely friendships. Same era, same fascination with what lies beneath the surface.
But It leans harder into military procedural and action; Ocean Girl's strength is its focus on character and mystery over plot momentum.
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Ponyo2008
Both stories hinge on a being from the ocean forming a transformative bond with a human child. Both treat that connection as sacred rather than sensational, and both use water itself as a metaphor for emotional depth and otherness.
A Studio Ghibli film about a magical sea creature who befriends a boy, told with luminous animation and profound emotional clarity. It captures what Ocean Girl reaches for—the mystery and beauty of connection across difference—but at a completely different register of artistry.
But It's a quiet, contemplative film that moves at a dreamlike pace. If you want plot momentum or conventional adventure structure, this is meditative in ways that might test your patience.
More like this (7)
The Blue Lagoon1980
Two young people isolated on an island, learning to survive and form deep bonds. That sense of discovery and adaptation mirrors Neri's journey from isolation to connection.
But It's a romance-focused survival story with very different stakes—far more about physical attraction and less about the kind of gentle, curious friendship that drives Ocean Girl.
Mako Mermaids2013
An Australian adventure series about teenagers discovering a magical underwater world. Similar setting, similar tone, similar audience—made later, but with that same spirit of wonder.
But It's more overtly magical and less grounded in science fiction; if you love Ocean Girl's sense of plausible mystery, this might feel too fantasy-heavy.
H2O: Just Add Water2006
Three teenage girls discover they have powers triggered by water. Another Australian series exploring teenage identity through a sci-fi lens, with humour and genuine emotional stakes.
But It's pitched at a slightly younger audience and relies heavily on sitcom pacing and comedy. Ocean Girl's drama is weightier.
The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance2019
A beautifully crafted adventure series featuring young protagonists discovering they're part of something larger than themselves. The same emotional core of friendship overcoming difference and mystery.
But It's darker, more visually stylized, and operates in a completely different genre—high fantasy with puppet design rather than sci-fi with real actors.
Irwin Allen's Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea1964
An early adventure series about exploration and discovery beneath the ocean. It shares Ocean Girl's sense of submarine wonder, even if separated by three decades.
But It's dated in ways that go beyond charming; the pacing is slow even by 1960s standards, and there's little character development comparable to what Ocean Girl offers.
Kin-dza-dza!1986
Like Ocean Girl, it's low-budget sci-fi made outside the English-language mainstream that trusts its audience to accept strangeness without over-explanation. Both prioritize character and philosophical questions over spectacle, and both have aged remarkably well.
A Soviet science-fiction film about two ordinary people transported to an alien world where they must navigate incomprehensible hierarchies and find humanity in the bizarre. Strange, funny, genuinely moving—a masterclass in sci-fi worldbuilding on a budget.
But It's deliberately weird and demands patience. The colour palette is jarring, the logic is non-Western, and there are no easy answers. You can't watch it passively.
The Shape of Water2017
Both center on a being from the water whose very existence challenges how we understand the world. Both ask: what do we owe to those who are fundamentally other? Both suggest the answer is love, but neither makes it simple.
A love story between a lonely woman and a mysterious aquatic creature—lush, romantic, heartbreaking. Guillermo del Toro crafted something that transforms the isolation and wonder Neri embodies into full emotional tragedy.
But It's intensely adult in its themes and sensuality. The tone is melancholic rather than adventurous, and it's far more interested in isolation than connection.
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- Jonathan ShiffCreator