H2O: Just Add Water, The Complete Season 1

Aimed at young adults, this lightweight 2006 first season of the half-hour TV series is set on Australia's Gold Coast, where it is seemingly eternal summer (or at least high school never appears to be in session). After teenage friends Emma (Claire Holt), Rikki (Cariba Heine), and Cleo (Phoebe Tonkin) bathe in a mysterious enchanted grotto/pool at myth-shrouded Mako Island, the trio find that they are transformed into mermaids whenever they are exposed to water for any sustained time period (they also develop comic-bookish superpowers of manipulating, heating, and freezing water). Lightweight comedy-adventure-eco antics ensue as the amphibious heroines save various sea creatures, learn more about their magical abilities (which grow unpredictable during full moons) and, most of all, struggle to keep their fishy qualities secret. An overarching background storyline has snotty rich boy Zane (Burgess Abernethy)—who glimpsed one of the mermaids—trying to uncover the truth (and gradually going from bad guy to a sympathetic romantic interest). Compiling all 13 episodes from the first season that aired on TeenNick, extras include a TV movie condensation of the first season. [Note: H2O: Just Add Water, The Complete Season 2 and Season 3 are also newly available.] (C. Cassady)