`SKYLAND' BRINGS SCI-FI TO NICK.

Byline: David Kronke Television Critic

Nickelodeon's ambitious new series, ``Skyland,'' is essentially ``Battlestar Galactica'' for kids. There are a lot worse things to be.

Set in the year 2551, when the Earth is reduced to giant chunks of free-floating rubble, ``Skyland'' pits a hearty band of resistance fighters against the evil Sphere, a group bent on global domination -- were there still a globe, that is.

When their mother, a telekinetic Seijin, is abducted by Sphere overlord Oslo, young Lena, another Seijin, and teen Mahad, a cocky fighter pilot with a turbo-charged boomerang, join the rebels, hoping to free her.

Though the dialogue and vocal performances can be clunky, what elevates ``Skyland'' is its impressive and inventive visual sensibility. Designs are invariably cool, and the computer animation gives the sense of camera work with lushly oversaturated lighting, symbolic of the sunlight that gives the Seijin their powers.

``Skyland'' borrows from sci-fi iconography everywhere -- it begins tonight cribbing from the ``Star Wars'' pod race -- but seems to know what's worth using and what isn't. Youngsters weaned on this could well end up being sci-fi fans for life, so be warned.

David Kronke, [phone]

[e-mail]

SKYLAND - Three stars

What: Computer-animated series, set in the year 2551, about two children's quest to rescue their mother from an evil group called the Sphere.

Where: Nickelodeon.

When: 9 tonight.

In a nutshell: ``Battlestar Galactica'' for kids, not a bad thing to be.

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In the year 2551, two kids undertake a quest to rescue their mom in ``Skyland,'' at 9 tonight on Nickelodeon.