BBC Warner | 2008 | 641 mins. | Not Rated
The original version of Survivors aired on the BBC for three seasons from 1975-1978. Created by Terry Nation (Dr. Who) and still widely popular, it came as no surprise when the BBC remade the post-apocalyptic series. Those familiar with the original series know the basic premise, though there are a few minor changes. A mysterious flu breaks out; According to news reports it starts in Europe, but soon sweeps across the globe. It’s incredibly contagious and very deadly. 24 to 48 hours after the first symptoms appear anyone infected dies. In less than a week over 99% of the world’s population is dead.
Like the original series, the show focuses on a group of survivors. The group consists of Abby Grant (Julie Graham) a housewife, certain that her son Peter, is still alive (he was off at boarding school when the pandemic hit), Tom Price (Max Beesley), a tough criminal who was in prison when the plague began and killed a guard to get out, Greg Preston (Paterson Joseph), a black engineer, Al Sadiq (Phillip Rhys), a rich playboy, Anya Raczynski (Zoe Tapper), a young doctor at a busy city hospital, she watched hundreds of people die when the pandemic first hit. The youngest member of the group, 11-year old Najid Hanif (Chahak Patel) a devout Muslim who is seen praying when the virus breaks out, awakes in the mosque to find the entire congregation, including his parents and the rest of his family, dead.
Having watched the original Survivors just prior to the remake, two things about the cast jump out at me immediately. While some of the actors in the 1970’s version were average looking and older, everyone here is young and good looking. At the same time, the original cast was all white, while the remake deserves credit for its multicultural look.
The start of the series (in some cases, even the characters names), begins just like the original. This is to be expected; after all, there aren’t many different ways for people to react to a pandemic that kills 99% of the world’s population. To the credit of the writers and producers, they do throw enough subtle changes, and a few twists and turns to keep fans of the original interested.
The character of Samantha Willis (Nikki Amuka-Bird), formerly the Junior Minister responsible for the government’s media response to the virus, and the only government official to survive, adds a very unique twist to the story. After arriving at an ecologically self-sufficient government research center, she tries to rebuild a new legal system but finds herself stymied by various problems. The biggest of which just might be her own actions.
Predictably, much of the first season deals with the groups day-to-day struggles to survive. The problem is, they don’t do it very well. Months after the virus has hit, several characters are running around acting as though nothing has happened; magically, electricity will return and food will be plentiful. It just doesn’t work, and makes it hard to truly feel invested in these people’s lives. Heck, they are attacked FOUR TIMES before anyone thinks to get a gun, and even after that only one person goes around armed.
Despite that, the first season was still pretty suspenseful. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the second season. For whatever reason, the show moves away from the characters daily struggle to survive and morphs into a kind of action-adventure drama—Abby’s been kidnapped, we have to find her!, Tom’s been kidnapped!, Najid’s run off!—where the same plots are recycled repeatedly.
Strangely too, food seems to be available whenever they need it. They can just walk into any building it seems, and find a huge cache of food. There are also several occasions where the audience is apparently expected to suspend belief. For instance, Abby is in a building where all the lights are off, but there happens to be an external camera that’s unexplainably still operational, hooked up to a monitor that just happens to be on. Right then, she looks at the monitor when someone who looks like her son, Peter walks by.
It’s no wonder the ratings plummeted during the second season, and has been canceled by the BBC. It’s almost as if the producers got bored by the series original concept, and tried to turn it into something entirely different in the second season. For my money, I would recommend the original Survivors; this is a remake that probably should have been rethought.
The 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfers are fine, though not particularly remarkable. Black levels are consistent, and while flesh tones err on the pink side of things much of the time, more saturated hues come through with impressive clarity. Detail is more hit-and-miss—certain sequences have excellent sharpness, while others showcase an unfortunate degree of softness. Compression artifacting also shows up more often than one might like.
The 2-channel tracks get the job done, but they may leave some viewers hoping for more. Dialogue sounds fine and the show’s music comes through well, but during loud sequences, Survivors’ sound palette gets cramped and muddy. They’re not terrible mixes, but things could have been a lot better.
English SDH subtitles are included.
There are only a few special features, all of them dealing with the first season. A New World: The Making of Survivors goes behind the scenes and talks with the cast and crew about the show. There’s also a featurette on the special effects and a series of character profiles.
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