Customer Reviews

Survivors: Complete Original Series 1975-1977

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Terry Nation's drama series Survivors, broadcast by the BBC between 1975 to 1977, was one of the most popular series of all time.

Set in a post-apocalyptic, present day world ravaged by a devastating plague, Survivors explored how humanity would cope in a world stripped of modern technology and comforts.

The disease struck quickly and with devastating effect - a global plague that, in Britain, spares just a few thousand people. This is the chilling story of some of those who survive -- Jenny, Greg, Abby and others -- determined to construct a new community from the surrounding wasteland where the technology and skills of the old life have become obsolete.

Survivors is a thought-provoking and involving series that explores the aftermath of a man-made biological catastrophe that's even more plausible these days than it was back in the Seventies. Sound and broadcast quality of all the episodes is good and the accompanying booklet is especially informative and well-produced, with very useful background information and essays.

The first series mostly centres around three main characters. Abby Grant, a very middle class mother, who is played - with a cut glass accent which can take some getting used to - by Carolyn Seymour. Ian McCulloch plays Greg Preston, a Civil Engineer and someone who seems to find some sense of purpose in an otherwise unfulfilled life after the coming of the "death". Lucy Fleming's Jenny Richards is written very variably from occasionally being utterly wet to eventually becoming something of an action heroine towards the end of the show. Denis Lill as Charles Vaughn guest stars in a first series episode and goes on to steal the whole show in the last two series. Two rather annoying adopted children are also thrown into the mix for most of the run, and the main purpose of them seems to be to get everyone else into a great deal of unnecessary peril.

This is TV at it best,a not to be missed DVD.

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I'm giving this item only three stars because while the show deserves 5 stars (I'll confess I've only seen the first season) this DVD release only deserves one! In the UK and Australia the three seasons of Survivors were put on 11 single sided DVD's. Someone at BBC Video had the bright idea that for the USA release the series would be put on only six. Five of the discs are double-sided, the last one has a single side. This wonderful series, created by Terry Nation the man who created the Daleks for Doctor Who and the series Blakes 7, deserves to be put on discs that are not so fragile and easily scratched. Maybe BBC Video just wanted to make a quick buck off the fans of the new Survivors which is getting a lot of promotion on BBC America. That show is good but not as good as the original. Anyways, Survivors is excellent and should not be missed but this DVD release is a big disappointment.

Rarely has a show hit the skids so quickly. The first season is quite good. Strongly influenced by John Wyndham, it's a quiet, thoughtful examination of the consequences of a plague several orders of magnitude worse than the bubonic plague, though there's plenty of action as well. The only thing missing are triffids. The writing is generally good, and the show moves along quickly, particularly in the early episodes. The thing I liked best was the mixture of survivor types, some good, some bad, and most in between. All have weaknesses. Everybody's pretty clueless about what to do next. In the second season, the show goes all introspective and loses its way. The survivors settle in a rustic community where they have little to do but figure out how to farm and take care of livestock. Since there's little contact with the outside world, several of the episodes deal with personality conflicts among the people living in the small community. Most of the episodes are instantly forgettable, with the exception of two London based episodes that were probably from left over first season scripts. The third season is a little more exciting as the main characters leave their little community and wander all over England dodging rabid dogs in order to make endless speeches about the need to restore civilization. There are a few memorable episodes, one of which deals with rabies and another a particularly virulent form of smallpox.

In its defense, the show never loses its smarts, but most of the excitement drains out of it. If you like post-apocalyptic scenarios, it's worth a watch at least through the first season. It is far superior to the recent remake, but it's not all that it's cracked up to be.

The End Of The World As We Know It - From A British Perspective

I have always enjoyed end of the world movies - so when I saw this series thought I would pick it up. To tell you the truth - at this point I have only watched the first episode. It held my interest throughout. Unlike many end of the world movies - there are no zombies and no terror in the streets. People are dying due to some unknown disease. No cure. No panic. Just people dying. Of course some survive and that is what the story is about. How do they survive?

Early on one character explains that society will have to be totally rebuilt. Of course there are all kinds of resources that are left - but what happens when those resources are gone. Who will learn to weave cloth? Who will learn to make candles? Where will those skills come from?

In programs like this character development will be critical. We have to care about the people and how they will respond to the challenges ahead. After viewing the first episode I am interested in what will happen next. Will the mother find her son? Is he still alive? We the survivors form groups of communities? Will social order be maintained? How will they cope being placed in a world that is not their "norm"? One question that the show has not even addressed is: "What about all the bodies?" How will they be disposed of?

A couple things about the DVD: Folks remember this is a 1970s TV show. (You can tell it.) Also I was disappointed that the disks are two sided - but then it would have been 11 disks instead of 6.

If you do one thing for yourself then buy this dvd series. If your American pay close attention to how the Brits have disarmed themselves and how that has left them wide open to so much hurt. I watched the entire series as quickly as possible and have to admit that I became a fan. I have opened my eyes and now can see what the US and the world is rapidly heading towards. I hope you each have at least a years worth of food and water on hand and enough guns, bullets, beans and band aids to get you through this coming crisis. Yes this series is fiction but it certainly can open your eyes to what can happen. Hard to believe it is a 1970's series. I bought the newer series but have only watched one episode and found it lacking so much of the character development that I am saving it for much later. Buy this series now before you can't get it later.

Remade a couple of years ago the first version is still the best

The plot line is simple a plague, called simply the Death, has killed off 4,999 people in every 5,000 The population of Great Britain has fallen from 60 million to 10,000. We learn later in the series that the population of Cairo is only 12. The first series follows two women (Jennie and Abbie) and one man (Gregg) who seek to start a new life and struggle for the basics of life, food, shelter and clothing. They cannot get these things from cities as they have become no go areas infested with rats, dogs and piles of dead bodies.

The first series' most distressing episode is however not about the struggle to find food and shelter, but how do you administer justice in a world without law. A group of survivors try a simple minded man for murder. If he is guilty what do they do with him? There are no prisons; they cannot exile him from the group as he cannot survive without them. Is their only choice to kill him? even in countries with the death penalty he would have not been executed because of his mental state. If they decide to kill him who will do it?

In the second series Abbie goes off in search of her son and Jennie and Gregg merge their settlement with another community led by Charles who becomes the shows main figure by series three.

The show does have a number of faults, everyone is a bit to clean and we are told early in the series that modern man has fewer skills than stone age man. Yet a lot of the survivors appear to have useful skills, Gregg is an engineer, Charles is an architect and other people who turn up are bee keepers, herbalists or have other skills. Also we are told that no two persons who knew each other survived the death, yet later in the series whole families appear to have survived.

This being a British series from the Seventies, the middle class survivors are the ones who get things done, while the working class survivors are feckless and need their social betters to boss them around.

The show's main problem is however that it cannot decide if it needs to concentrate on how you survive, how do you grow your own food? How do you pull a tooth with no medicines? or does it become an adventure series with heroes battling bad guys who have come to plunder. The show treads an uneasy path between the two trends. This is acknowledged in series three when Jennie calls Charles a little boy for going off on adventures instead on concentrating on the farm.

Survivors is however a first rate drama which poses some questions which with luck we will never have to answer. How do you preserve meat, even if you have salt? How do you make an axe when the last one is broken? What do you do about having children in a world where most babies will die before they are five and there are no contraceptives?

Most of all what would you do if you had survived the death. Could you cope in the new world?

Not bad but a little too much of a soap opera feel for my taste. If you are trying to decide between this original release or the newer series remake, I would vote for the latter. It has better story lines and a lot more action.

Let me say this first. I really liked this show, but (and you knew a but was coming up here) after the first season it seemed to come up short. In the first season there was a focused narrative. By season 2 it was gone. It did have some compelling story lines in seasons 2 & 3, but it also seemed to be all over the place. There also seemed to be HUGE gaps in the story that seemed to be solved by... "Oh I was over at "X"" and skip the whole back story on big plot points.
Quick break down:

Good:

>Great Premise.
>Compelling Characters.
>Holds a mirror up to society, even 30+ years later.
>Like Classic Trek, touches on a few major issues.
>Not afraid to be dark and gritty.


Bad:
>After the first season and Terry Nation running the show, it really loses a definitive focus and plot, though some of the best stand alone episodes occur in seasons 2 & 3.
>Losing the main character by season 2 and not wrapping up her story line.
>Too many story lines.
>Huge continuity gaps.
>Just when it felt like it finally got a solid premise again... Like that it's gone.

Watch it. (Especially if you can see it free or cheaply). It's a good but not great show. It could have been so much more with a well thought out plot. Even so it is worth the ride.

In reply the review by L. Ferguson, this *is* the show from the 1970's, not the remake. This isn't released yet, so I can't comment on the DVD quality or the extras, but having watched the UK DVDs I can at least comment on the content.... It was created by Terry Nation of Daleks fame. I like the premise and some of the sorts of post-apocalyptic issues that are explored, but much of the series is like a low-budget soap opera, and I'm left wishing they had done better. I especially liked Carolyn Seymour's performance in the first series/season, but apparently there was a falling out and she didn't return for the other series/seasons. Other main characters, locations and even plot lines disappear abruptly, adding to the soap opera feel. The show has cult status among some people who watched it when it originally aired or who are fans of Terry Nation.