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Survivors the Complete Collection
The last three weeks, I was given a
challenge by my editor, review the classic BBC series the Survivors.
Containing season 1, 2 and 3 of this late 70's science fiction series, I
comfortably told him that I would have it reviewed, bagged and tagged in
3 weeks... I done it in 2! With a running time of 1915 minutes which
translates to 31.9 hours, I was somehow drawn into this series even
though I loathed the first few episodes and to some extend the final
season. My next challenge was how on Earth can you do the series justice
through a mere review.
I guess having someone involved with Doctor
Who and Blake's 7 is always promising and Terry Nation is that man who
was also joined by Terence Dudley to create this epic post-apocalyptic
science fiction series about a plague that not only destroyed almost all
of Britain but also the world. What what once the norm of society has
been turned into a fight for supremacy as the old ways return and modern
society has become a former shadow of what it once was. Although it's
labelled as a science fiction series, it's more of a drama and a "what
if" scenario which successfully translates to the small screen.
The Survivors also created a
template of movies to come and from the very first episodes which were a
little slow for me, you are given an almost eye witness account of what
the hell went wrong. Unfortunately a scientist accidentally unleashed
his creation on an unexpected planet that had devastating results with
almost the entire population of the Earth dying as a result.
One of the main characters from season one
is Abby Grant (Carolyn Seymour) who witnesses the devastation of this
pandemic and eventually is joined by others who have somehow
miraculously survived. Joining together, they attempt to rebuild society
as tensions grow and questions remain unanswered. Although some of the
stronger members of the group provide leadership and focus such as Greg
Preston (Ian McCulloch), others appear to have more ulterior motives
such as Tom Price (Talfryn Thomas) but that's what made the first series
so compelling. With so few characters, it's interesting to see their
perspective on the world and when realty sets in, it's also quite
depressing.
In season two, this small community that
they established is shaken up again with Abby leaving to search for her
son who may still be alive and their small village is forced to join
another. Relationships are becoming stronger as Greg and Jenny (Lucy
Flemming) have a child in this post apocalyptic world which sheds the
despair
that humanity can rebuild from the ashes. Of course, the tensions are
still there as hostile survivors visit the community and our hero Greg
decides to travel to Norway in search of others and more specifically
technology that may be able to bring them up from their current rung.
Season two was interesting and dynamics between the various characters
did lead to some thoughtful personal reflection on my behalf.
Series three begins with the search for
Greg as his wife Jenny leads a group of others in search of him. It's a
little unclear but somehow they believe that Greg is back in the United
Kingdom. Their travels take them through the remnants of England and in
this harsh disaster, humanity has started rebuilding that shines hope on
the planet re-establishing itself again. The final series of Survivors
was a little bit of a letdown as many of the main characters have left
or never came back. I'm a bit fan of continuity, especially with
characters and I would of loved to see some of the originals come back,
even for some cameos.
In conclusion, Survivors is definitely an
impressive science fiction epic that was well produced by the BBC and it even
lead the creation of a remake. If you're expecting action or aliens,
than you might want to get your treats elsewhere but what the writers
and directors created was a thought provoking journey into man's darkest
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