Mentors Going to the Dogs
(August 16, 2001)… Mentors is about to discover the truth about kids and dogs with next week’s episode featuring guest star Trigger as the original Sputnik dog, Laika. Director Rob King (Something More) will be keeping a tight leash on this heart-rending tale about man’s best friend. Produced by Anaïd Productions and Minds Eye Entertainment, Mentors is currently filming 13 episodes in and around Edmonton for its third season.
Mentors follows the adventures of young brother and sister team, Simon and Crystal Cates, after their cousin, Oliver, bestows his invention, VisiCron, to them. Using this ingenious computer program, Simon and Crystal zap historical figures into their 21st Century lives to help them solve a particular challenge they’ve encountered. Along the way, the mentors reveal surprising, little-known facts about themselves, adding new hues to their already colourful lives.
In Man’s Best Friend, Crystal desperately wants a dog to call her own but her dad’s allergies make it impossible. With dogged determination, she decides to test-drive a pup anyway and brings forward Laika, the first mammal sent into space by the former Soviet Union. Crystal figures she’s got Norm’s allergy problem licked when she discovers an allergy remedy but is baffled by his steadfast reluctance to have a dog-– until she discovers he’s never recovered from the death of his childhood pet. Realizing the fate awaiting Laika aboard Sputnik, she decides to say “nyet” to pet ownership for the time being, until she can better handle the emotional demands.
“This story is a love letter to our canine friends. Dog owners know that their pets give their love and loyalty without qualification and that aside from being wonderful companions, they are often prepared to sacrifice their lives to protect our loved ones. Laika blazed the trail for an entire era of space exploration that has led to the marvels such as the International Space Station currently orbiting above the earth. As we celebrate our heroes, we must be reminded from time to time that some of them are other species than man and that we collectively owe them a great debt.”
Mentors was created by Josh Miller of Minds Eye Entertainment who is producing the series with Margaret Mardirossian of Anaïd Productions with Kevin DeWalt of Minds Eye Entertainment as Executive Producer. The series features Stevie Mitchell (Snow Day, Real Kids – Real Adventures) as Simon, Samantha Krutzfeldt (Orange Seed Myth & Other Lies Mothers Tell) as his sister Crystal, Brian Martell (Texas Rangers) as their father Norm Cates and Jane Sowerby (The Young Person’s Guide To Becoming a Rock Star) as their mother, Peggy.
Historic mentors include
Frederick Banting (Matt Frewer in a Gemini Award-winning performance), Albert
Einstein (Elliott Gould), Lewis Carroll (Thomas Cavanagh), Napoleon Bonaparte
(Saul Rubinek), Ludwig van Beethoven (Henry Czerny), Daniel Boone (Roddy Piper),
Dr. James Naismith (Joe Flaherty), Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (William B. Davis),
Queen Elizabeth I (Margot Kidder), Casanova (Tony Rosato), Dave Thomas as Oliver’s
science teacher, Al Sherman, William Shakespeare (Stephen Ouimette), William
Randolph Hearst (Michael Moriarty), Vlad Tepes aka Dracula (Nick Mancuso), Confucius
(Henry Chan) and Annie Oakley (Megan Follows).
Established in 1986, Minds Eye Entertainment is a fully integrated production, post-production
and distribution entity with offices in Canada and the U.S. As Western Canada’s
largest independent film and television production company, Minds Eye Entertainment
has been instrumental in contributing to the country's thriving motion picture
industry. Its award-winning feature films, television series, shorts and documentaries
have been sold in more than 100 countries.
Anaïd Productions Inc. is an award-winning film and television production company focused on family programming and documentary series. Anaïd Productions Inc is a recipient of the CCA Rogers Communications award for the arts documentary Ronnie Burkett: A Line of Balance and Alberta Motion Picture Industries Awards for the comedy travel series, The Tourist.
Mentors is produced with the participation of The Family Channel Inc., the Canadian Television Fund created by the Government of Canada and the Canadian cable industry, Telefilm Canada: Equity Investment Program, CTF:Licence Fee Program, Shaw Children’s Programming Initiative: the Dr. Geoffrey R. Conway Fund and the Shaw Television Broadcast Fund, the Alberta Film Development Program, the CFCN Production Fund, CanWest Western Independent Producer’s Fund, Independent Production Fund, The Videon Fund, the Government of Canada Film Tax Credit Program and Minds Eye International.
International distribution of Mentors is provided by Minds Eye International.
Watch Mentors at 8:55 AM on Saturday and Sunday mornings (ET/PT) and Saturdays at 7:30 PM on The Family Channel (check local listings for times and days).
Visit our website at www.mentorstv.com
For more information/interviews, please contact:
Larissa Banting APR
Unit Publicity
(780) 438-8507