Customer Reviews

Survivor - Season One - The Greatest and Most Outrageous Moments

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3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I am a true Survivor fan. From the moment I watched the very first episode I was hooked. I looked forward each week to see what challenges they had, and who would be the next voted off. I really missed the show after it was all over.

When I seen this dvd advertised I was very excited. I bought it thinking that it would have the 13 episodes that were shown on tv, plus extra never before seen footage. I was a little disappointed to find it was only hightlights from the episodes. There was a lot that they left out, like the challenges which I truly loved. So you dont get the exact feel of it all.

I still enjoyed the dvd, and I enjoyed the extras, (well, most of them, excluding naked Rich). It brought back some good memories of watching it for the very first time.

So if you watched it before, and are a fan, I recommend picking this dvd up, but if you didnt watch it and were planning on getting this dvd to see what the fuss was all about, I recommend holding off.

Maybe they will release all 13 episodes that was originally shown on tv!

(We can all hope!)

I'll be the first to admit that I loathed the premise behind Survivor. For all it's "real life, uncensored drama," it was still an incredibly manipulative, voyeuristic program. I got hooked on the show by the third week, when the various survivor names started sticking in my mind with the various survivor faces and personalities. If anyone made it far enough in this series to have favorites, they were fans, whether they admit it or not. Now that the show is revered as "the" reality TV event of 2000 (and not reviled, like Big Brother or the wretched Who Wants To Marry A Millionaire), viewers who were too 'principled' to watch the show faithfully can turn to this DVD for the rest of the story. Those of us who became ravenous fans may find ourselves slightly disappointed with this compilation of "greatest" and "most outrageous" moments.

The structure of this compilation is fairly straightforward: viewers are given a slightly expanded view of the pre-island days, and after establishing the basic premise of the two teams (and setup of the two camps), we go straight into the eliminations. Each survivor gets their own "chapter" on DVD, in the order of their departures from competition. These chapters highlight the social standing of each contestant, just prior to losing at tribal council. The soon to be banished survivor's pre-selection interview and "demo tape" is spliced in with footage of them in various "notable" social interactions. These are also the chapters in which continuity is ignored, and occasionally an already banished survivor appears, in interaction with the victim-to-be.

Some of the "heavier" moments are highlighted, though virtually every minor alliance and casual friendship wound up on the cutting room floor. That's the problem with taking 14+ hours of televised footage and straining it down to manageable 2 hour feature. But don't worry that your favorite survivor's personality has been whitewashed: Stacy still comes off as snide, Gervase's lazy charm is in force, etc. The survivors who lasted longest get the most exposure, of course. Speaking of 'exposure,' parents can need not worry about the nudity warning that flashes onscreen before the program begins: there are half a dozen fanny shots (mostly Richard) that never made it to TV. (Oh yeah...nice butt, Greg!) Profanity is probably the only objectionable material here, since there are some four letter words that made the final cut. For sheerly disgusting moments, nothing beats the fish-thing Richard catches, which starts to melt into slime the minute he cuts it open. Yes, even worse than the larvae eating sequence.

Of the many Survivor-related conversations I've had at work, it seems like a lot of people questioned "actual" personalities versus "televised" personalities. No one can say how each survivor adapted their "normal" speech and activities for the sake of TV (remember Greg & Colleen's fake fling?), but the way in which producers "arranged" and scored material to achieve a certain impact with TV audiences is reinforced here. Again, some of the survivors (Sonja, BB, Ramona) register only nominal personalities, but many of the others were shown to audiences cast in the light of the producer's eyes. So much of the "total" experience is edited that this DVD will reinforce the stereotypical character traits associated with each survivor...rather than show you a side of their personalities you didn't see when the show aired.

The bonuses on this disc are fairly interesting. There's a section of survivor bios (still frame reading) and voting histories, a map of survivor island and it's environs, a bit about the climate, vegetation and wildlife on the island, and a few other goodies. The 'documentary' piece is a worthwhile extra, featuring narratives from host Jeff Probst and series creator Mark Bennett. No, neither of them tells us who their favorite survivors were, but Probst' enthusiasm for the show makes his hokey host routine easier to bear.

In spite of some over-familiarity and unavoidably massive editing, this Survivor compilation is probably a must-own for fans. It's also a worthwhile 'document' in regard to television history, no less remarkable for it's manipulative premise.

-Stoned Soul

For those of you who enjoyed the series as much as I did, this collection of clips provides a welcome glimpse back into the lives of our favourite castaways. There are many never-before-seen segments but also several missing moments as well. The format of the video is basically as follows:

1) the intro (the castaways meet for the first time on the boat and swim to the island)

2) the body (the audition tapes of each castaway, the events that led up to their ejection at the tribal council, the actual tribal councils themselves, and the dejected castaways' comments afterwards)

3) and the finale (an interview with producer Mark Burnett and host Jeff Probst about some of the behind-the-scenes experiences they faced with the show - an interesting and amusing revelation)

In my opinion, the video plays a little too heavily on the inter-personal relationships of the castaways and less on the great immunity challenges that made the show so exciting to watch every week. Also it lacks some of the great speeches from the final tribal council (most notably Rich and Kelly's rebuttle speeches).

The problem you have with a compilation of this nature is that your favourite parts get edited and cut to save time. It is a mystery to me why the show's producer decided not to release the entire series in its full length as a Christmas gift set or something. This would have allowed people who didn't see the series (or missed some of the episodes) to see them in their entirety, the way they were meant to be seen. I know many friends of mine who would have bought a collection like that.

So my final analysis is this: if you haven't seen the series, don't buy it unless you are VERY curious about it. You won't get the same experience as you would have had seeing the original series, and therefore you won't get much out of it. But for those of you who have seen the series, loved it, and like me, want to relive it, go ahead and pay the. . . money . . .. The video offers extra footage and insight fromBurnett and Probst that die hard fans will probably enjoy.

For those of us who have seen some or all of Survivor, this DVD allows us to relive what was a truly unique, unexpected phenomenon. And though this DVD may not bear limitless repeat viewings, it is something I certainly enjoyed viewing in its entirety, and will perhaps again in the years ahead.

However, for those who have NOT seen Survivor, what an opportunity this is to witness the series for the very first time! The drama builds quite nicely without commercial interruption, and rather than waiting seven days between each episode, you can go at your own pace.

The extras are nice, though I wish they had added still more unused footage. Given the unbelievable amounts of footage CBS recorded, it seems like they could have given us a bit more.

The Survivor Season One DVD has won a permanent spot in my collection. This critic has spoken.

On May 18, 2004, the entire first season of Survivor will be released on a 5-disc set. The first four contain the episodes and bonus features. This is the 5th disc in the set. DON'T BUY THIS DISC IF YOU PLAN TO PURCHASE THE BOX SET.

This disc isn't as bad as most people say, but the season set will definitely be the better buy.

I bought this for my parents since they didn't get to watch the first season. I would have rather watched the full season again than what they considered to be the "highlights".

The DVD starts out showing the castaways upon the boat and traveling to the island. Then you get to see them arriving on the island and setting up camp. From here, the DVD starts introducing the castaways by showing their audition tapes, their audition interview and then a few highlights of their stay on the island. Then they proceed to show you each person getting voted off and what they said after they were eliminated. They follow the order of who was voted off first, second, etc. The DVD also shows a few challenges and more emotional moments of the series, but they didn't show the best parts of the season.

I watched the whole first season and was really surprised of the things they left out during the editting of this DVD. I was very dissappointed and thought that this would be something that my parents would love since they had started watching the shows in the last few seasons. But my dad was nodding off during the viewing and it looked like several (my whole family was watching) were getting bored and watching the clock. It did cause a little discussion after we were finished, but we were mainly talking about what we missed. I really wish they would have shown just the highlights of the season instead of all the interviews and auditions. Watching the whole season in its entirity would have been nice too.

I'm not really a television junkie (in fact, "Survivor" is the only show in the last few years that I've faithfully watched every week), but I must admit that I was really looking forward to this DVD/video release. I watched it the very day (O.K., the very hour)I received it from Amazon and, as with the television show, I was rivited to the screen. The video is organized around footage of each contestant in the order that they are voted off the island. You see each survivor's key moments from the program (Jenna's tearful reaction to the missing video of her daughters, Susan's infamous "rat and snake" speech, etc.), as well as segments from their audtion tapes (Sue pretends to be the characters from "Gilligan's Island" while Gretchen surprisingly comes across as a demure preschool teacher who likes to shop). Next, you're treated to the footage of that week's Tribal Council vote, with each contestant explaining the rationale behind his/her vote. Finally, the ejected member addresses the camera for a fairly lengthy farewell speech. An additional feature of my DVD version was a trivia background segment on each contestant listing such earth-shaking information as their favorite hobbies, candy bars, etc. (I chuckled when I read that Rudy's favorite smell was "Food"). Much of the video was a rebroadcast of what was seen on television, although there is a new challenge segment where each contestant guesses how much weight he's lost. Admittedly, some of the original thrill of "Survivor" is lost since you already know who's getting the boot, but this video does provide a very pleasant fix for those "Survivor" junkies who can't wait until the next series.

ME: Hi. My name is Greg, and I'm a reality show addict.

THE GROUP, IN UNISON: Hi, Greg. Welcome.

Just the other day I reviewed "The Real World You Never Saw," a DVD with new footage from the most recent season of MTV's "Real World." Although the new footage was good, I thought there wasn't nearly enough of it, and the DVD was not worth its cost.

Fortunately, that wasn't the case with the Survivor DVD. I thought it really delivered and that I got a lot for what I paid. The bulk of the DVD summarizes everything that happened throughout the season. It does so by putting the spotlight on each successive castaway in the order in which they were voted off.

The DVD blended new and previously aired footage. I thought the mix was very good. The previously seen material was stuff I definitely wanted to see again anyway. The new footage was stuff that really helped flesh out who these people are and how they interacted with each other on the island. (If only some of the weaker reality shows had such good editors.) I really felt as if this DVD helped me to get to know the castaways better.

In addition, to simply summarizing the season, there were a few segments that weren't necessary for understanding what happened but were great to see. For example, there was a challenge toward the end (right before Colleen got kicked off) where the castaways got to look at themselves in a mirror and guess how much weight they had lost. The person who got the closest received a small food reward. I assume this was never aired because of time limitations, but I was very glad it was included on the DVD. This is exactly the kind of stuff I wanted to see.

From reading the Survivor book, I know there was another unaired reward challenge that took place on the first or second day on the island. If I remember correctly, Joel was the winner. I was surprised that this challenge wasn't also on the DVD, but perhaps the producers felt that it wasn't interesting enough.

Anyway, I enjoyed the DVD very much, and I definitely felt that it was worth the money. If you've never seen SURVIVOR, you might have a bit of difficulty following what's going on on the DVD. (Wouldn't it be cool if the whole series were eventuially released on DVD? I'd love that.) However, if you watched and enjoyed the show, I can't imagine you not enjoying the DVD. It's the perfect thing to tide us over for a few weeks until the new series begins airing.

Being a survivor junkie I was hoping to enjoy this one. I didn't. This seems to be a few highlights from the first season, yes, all of Susan's dialogue is in there, and so is Rudy's not liking Richard in a homosexual way, but it doesn't have a lot of substance. It is highlights from each episode, but there isn't a whole lot that you haven't seen before. Some is uncensored dialogue, but you don't see much of many of the cast members. You do see a lot of the final four, others are in there as well, but they don't get the features that those four do. Personally I'd rent this one but I wouldn't purchase it.

Bummer! This is only a 2-hour-15 minutes DVD of highlights from the first Survivor. The nudity is nothing really. A rear-end shot of one survivor and Richard sitting down "tucked under" and walking naked. But no private parts seen here. Having not seen all of the episodes of Survivor. I was hoping for a complete, unedited, uncensored version, with all episodes Collector's DVD set. I guess it is not possible. One special feature is the "Survivor: Inside the Phenomenon", a 20-minute documentary, which I found to be quite interesting, especially how fair the game is, the exhausting hard work Producer, Mark Burnett and the Art Department can do, and how they managed to surprise the Challenge Survivor Winner, Sean, with a surprise visit from his father on the yacht at such short notice. How they got his father there at such short notice is remarkable.