Survivors Series Two
About the only part of the Survivors world I haven’t experienced is Terry Nation’s original book from which the first, three season TV show was spawned, and through which the BBC’s recent re-boot was influenced by. I say influenced because after watching the second season of the new Survivors I can say for a certainty that the two TV shows have very different story directions – which one is based more on the novel I’m not sure.
What I do know is that I fell in love with the original series when it was released onto DVD recently. It was the story of a motley band of survivors trying to eek out an existence in a post-plauge world where 99% of the world’s population has been wiped out. Part of the allure of the show was seeing just how helpless people became without technology and how people had to go back to relying on the land to survive, with varied results.
The re-visioning of Nation’s classic tale however takes a different approach, which is cemented with the arrival of season 2 on DVD. Rather than trying to find a place to settle down, out modern band of survivors are more content to be scavengers, and the whole emphasis seems to be on the conspiracy behind what caused the plague, something only hinted at in the opening credits of the original TV show.
This season we discover for sure that it was a man made accident, and that the people who created have been whisked away to a safe zone somewhere off the mainland.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that the new Survivors isn’t any good – it’s just a different kettle of fish. The survivors still go through some similar situations, and the all too short season cracks along at a steady pace.
We get to see just how evil people can become when society breaks up, but our band of merry misfits seem to hold it together and keep on looking out for each other.
It’s plain to see that Survivors is the best science fiction that the BBC has been able to produce for some time and as such both seasons deserve a permanent place in your DVD collection, even more so now that the BBC has seen fit to can the show and rely on the predictable Dr Who for their SciFi needs.
It’s sad really, because season 2 had a cracker of a cliffhanger than would have set season three up to be the best yet.
Shame on you BBC.
FILMGUIDE rating:
Reviewed by: Jonathan
