In the 1920’s, there was a song with the refrain “everything old is new again,” and one can’t help but think of that whenever a favorite old story is remade for modern viewing.
In 1975 British writer Terry Nation created a dramatic television series called Survivors, which was immensely popular, gaining cult status and is still greatly appreciated today for its innovative look at a “what if” scenario. BBC decided to retool the story and bring it into the 21st Century and this DVD set contains the complete two seasons of the show.
As any fan of the original STAR TREK or BATTLESTAR GALACTICA can tell you, when the powers that be decide to remake a series, even if they insist it is not a redo but something new, there is fear that it will go terribly wrong. I think the biggest fear of many is that the new will fail and carrying the old with it into oblivion.
This is not the case with the Survivors series of 2008. While its basic premise of surviving in post-apocalyptic society might not seem as innovative as in 1975, it is still an interesting and entertaining imagining for this age.
The plague in the new Survivors is a pandemic of a virulent strain of influenza, “the European Flu.” Straight away, this has my attention, as it is something that has been on everyone’s mind recently with real life bird flu and swine flu outbreaks. What would we do if these became a pandemic and threatened our world?
In the new series, the government knows of the flu and expects 90% of the population to die, only it is much worse than they predict. A tiny segment of the population survives, only by pre-existing immunity of an unknown origin or by having the virus and recovering. The big change occurs when everything simply stops….and those who are left must go on.
In the new series, the Survivors must learn to live in a world without any laws or law enforcement, and without any societal constraints. There is a conflict of good and evil of immense proportions. Even with the tiny number of people left, some are using the chaos to carve out places for themselves as slave masters, and dictators, supported by morally weak individuals bent on personal gain.
The small band of survivors that viewers come to know and care for, are a unified group under the leadership of Abby Grant (Julie Graham) whose strength of character and moral compass serve as a guide to others. Set against Abby’s goodness in the group is Tom Price (Max Beesley) a murderer who was serving a life sentence when the pandemic hit the prison and he is able to escape.
He is somewhat rehabilitated later on by Dr. Anya Raczynski (Zoe Tapper). Greg Preston (Paterson Joseph) is a loner who is convinced to join the group. His expertise in self-sufficient living and disaster preparedness are invaluable.
Al Sadiq (Phillip Rhys) a wealthy young man has the most difficulty adjusting to the new world, but his rescue and care of a young boy Najid (Chahak) an orphan shows that he has inner strength. It is indeed a different story of survival than in 1975, but one equally as terrifying and strange, with glimmers of goodness and hope.
Survivors Complete Seasons One and Two is presented on 5 discs containing all 12 episodes. According to Wikipedia, as of April 2010 the show has been canceled and so this is an excellent way to collect the series. In addition to the episodes there are some very nice special features in a Making of Survivors featurette, Character profiles for the actors involved and a featurette devoted to the Special Effects of the show.
Like the older Survivors, this is a story of people in difficult situations either rising to a level of strength and integrity they didn’t know they had, or collapsing as part of the widespread destruction. It is thought provoking, well acted and beautifully filmed, and a series that belongs in the collections of science fiction fans.
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