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"Survivors" More at IMDbPro »
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| Index | 19 reviews in total |
21 out of 24 people found the following review useful:
It Started Off Well, 10 February 2003
Author:
Theo Robertson from Isle Of Bute, Scotland
This speculative drama starts each episode with one of the greatest title
sequence ever devised for television : A Chinese scientist accidentally
drops a glass tube . Cut to the scientist collapse at an airport where
planes are arriving then taking off again then the camera focuses on
passports of Moscow , Madrid , Madrid , Paris and London being stamped as
the picture dissolves . It doesn`t sound very exciting and it`s probably not
but it is very very effective because it`s so simple . The whole premise of
the series and its consequences of a lab borne virus escaping and being
carried around the world sums up what has happened to humanity - the
survivors - in the opening credits . Not a lot of programmes do that . And
credit too for Anthony Isaacs title music which is understated , bleak and
haunting
Written by Terry Nation the first couple of episodes introduce us to the
main characters of Abby Grant , Jenny Richards and Greg Preston , three
people who have survived a superflu like virus that has wiped out 99 % of
the world`s population . The trio meet more characters on their travels ,
not all of them good . One thing season one was good at was showing us that
a worldwide calamity will not bring out the best in people and in some
episodes like " Garland`s war " and " Something of value " that people may
have to turn to violence if they want to survive at all . One outstanding
episode " Law and order " centres around the premise of how will people deal
with someone within in the group who harms another person in the sanctum
Unfortunately as soon as Nation left to create BLAKES 7 at the end of the
first season he took many of his Wyndham / Christopher inspired ideas with
him . Seasons two and three are far less interesting than the first .
Charles Vaughn who wouldn`t be out of place on a hippy or Greenpeace commune
becomes the central character and SURVIVORS becomes a sort of BBC post
apocalypse rival of EMMERDALE FARM with the only episodes worth watching
being " Lights of London " , " Mad dog " and the absolutely outstanding "
Last laugh "
All in all a fairly good mature intelligent drama series but it should have
been an unforgettable masterpiece from the golden age of British television. And if only Terry Nation had been given more control I`m certain it would
have been . So if you`re going to watch SURVIVORS make sure you watch the
whole of the first season and the episodes I mentioned above . Ignore the
rest
17 out of 18 people found the following review useful:
Intelligent, frightening and wholly relevant., 17 June 2004
Author:
filmbforever from Australia
When an enigmatic unnamed scientist accidentally infects himself with a lethal engineered virus he unwittingly spreads it world wide via air travel. Focusing on London, England we see the effects of the virus as millions succumb and civilization collapses accordingly. The story hones in on a handful of emotionally scarred survivors who come together and attempt the difficult and painful reconstruction of a new society no longer able to depend on supplied science and technology. In one episode entitled "Law and order" the survivor's group are faced with a rape and murder of one of their number following a raucous celebration. An intellectually disabled member is falsely accused and sentenced to death with the killer himself voting for the man's execution. After one of the group leaders carries out the killing, he learns the identity of the real killer and is forced to allow him to stay in the group and withhold the information as the news of the tragic error would permanently splinter and destroy what they fought, against enormous odds, to create. Survivors is gripping stuff; well acted, cleverly written and creatively directed - if you like character driven Sci - Fi drama then this is for you.
10 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
Bring out your dead, 4 February 2000
Author:
greg-233 from Australia
Survivors is a show about the aftermath of a deadly plague. The title of
the
show indicates the plague originated in a lab in the Far East, and was
accidentally released after a beaker was dropped. Air travel helped the
flu-like disease spread around the world quickly and wipe out most of the
population.
In England scattered survivors of every age, race and creed band together
in
small communities, learning to become self sufficient. The survivors often
discuss the future, struggling to preserve a sense of normality and trying
to plan ahead for building a new world.
This series was created by Terry Nation, better known as the creator of
Doctor Who's most deadly enemies the Daleks. I suspect Terry Nation got a
lot of his inspiration from such books as Earth Abides and The Day of the
Triffids. Particularly the parts about new societies. I've only seen the
first series of this show. It was made the year before I was born.
Apparently after the first series it started to go downhill, as writers
were
running out of ideas. Terry Nation was unhappy with the path the show was
taking and disowned the later episodes. I think he wanted an ending more
like Earth Abides, where post-plague society slips into primitive
illiteracy.
Survivors is popular enough to have its own website, created by fans of
the
show. It has some interesting discussions and speculation about what it
would be like to live in the post-apocalypse world, and recommends books
with the same theme.
9 out of 13 people found the following review useful:
Great, 15 May 2003
Author:
rikko_71 (rinko_71@yahoo.it)
Great Pilot, great movie.
It was late '70 or first '80 when Rai (italian broadcast company) played
this show.
I was mesmerized by this product and I still remember characters as Abby
or
Greg.
The story of a virus killing 90% of earth population compelling the
survivors to start a new civilization again was thrilling expecially in
the
computer decade.
I miss it.
4 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
Genius ... or Tedious?, 19 August 2007
Author:
chuffnobbler from United Kingdom
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
An amazing, sprawling epic, touching on some of the most powerful
issues that mankind can ever face ... or ... lots of people standing
around talking about crop rotation.
Survivors is the most variable TV show I have ever seen. It is either
gripping, or tiresome. Its three seasons seem to have little in common
with each other, and the series gradually runs out of steam (ironic, as
it ends with the re-invention of the steam engine!).
The first series is the best. Beginning with the shock of The Death,
and society falling apart, it moves on to deal with scavenging,
trading, disease, and how to cope without electricity or medicine. Some
brilliant images of deserted streets. Memorable characters, such as
Emma Cohen and Tom Price, will not be bettered as the series moves on.
Some stand-out episodes, including the capital punishment story
everyone always remembers, make up for some of the more ordinary tales
which seem to involve two groups of people waving guns at each other
for 45 minutes.
With series two, Abby Grant has moved on, and nearly all the likable
characters are killed off in a fire. Now in a new, less tight-knit
community, the stories are more varied in quality and some quite
unsympathetic.
Mina is very likable, but is thought to be a witch. It's this kind of
story that reminds us how easy it is to become primitive all over
again. The community gains a doctor, and the London-based two parter
breaks the series' mould effectively.
It all falls apart at the end of series two when leader Greg heads off
to Norway in a hot air balloon. This is the first nail in the coffin of
the series.
Series three is very hard going. Having spent so long building up the
new community in series two, this is barely seen and all but forgotten.
The doctor is never even mentioned again. Jenny moans a lot about
missing either (a) home, (b) kids, or (c) Greg. In some scenes, she
moans about all three, becoming an unlikeable whining machine. Charlie
rants on about forming communities and rebuilding society to anyone who
will listen, almost prompting me to reach for the mute button. Hubert
gets drunk and falls over (he occasionally proves himself useful by
shooting people).
Charlie, Jenny and Hubert trot from one place to the next, avoiding
wild dogs, trying to find Greg. It all seems a bit aimless. There's a
brilliant and terrifying episode about rabies, but the third series is
mostly very yawn-making. Greg seems to be setting up some kind of
military rule towards the end of the series, though Heaven only knows
how Norweigian Anna is involved.
The final episodes, aiming to switch on hydro-electric power-stations,
makes interesting viewing, if only because they're talking about valves
instead of crops, for a change. Moving from one location to the next,
occasionally picking up and dropping off new faces, gives the third
series far less emotional involvement than that in earlier episodes.
It's a real effort to sit through some of it.
At its worst, Survivors bored me and frustrated me as characters
behaved illogically and provoked arguments for no reason. At its best,
it's shocking, thought-provoking and terrifying. In the first two
years, the best far outweighs the worst. Towards the end, I was losing
patience and sympathy. Worth a watch for the scale of its ideas if
nothing else.
4 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
"Please...don't let me be the only one!", 10 December 2006
Author:
ShadeGrenade from Ambrosia
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
A Chinese scientist accidentally smashes a flask. Some time later, he
collapses at an airport and dies. Within hours, the terrible plague he
has inadvertently unleashed spreads across the world. Millions die.
Only a handful survive - and they band together in an attempt to
rebuild civilization...
So began Terry Nation's gripping post-apocalyptic drama series
'Survivors'. At the time of its original screening, I remember
thinking: "What if this came true? Could I live in a world without
electricity and all the other comforts we take for granted?". The main
characters were Abby Grant, a strong-willed middle-class housewife,
Jenny Richards, secretary, and Greg Preston, engineer. Carolyn Seymour,
Lucy Fleming, and Ian McCulloch, who played these roles, were
excellent.
Initially, the story lines combined action and adventure with
thought-provoking drama. In the best episode of the series, 'Law &
Order', a retarded man is put on trial for the murder of a young woman.
His fate is to put to the vote. He is found guilty, and executed. Then
its discovered that he was innocent. It remains the finest indictment
of capital punishment I have come across.
Another good episode was 'Something Of Value' in which a petrol tanker
becomes the centre of an ownership dispute.
After an excellent first series, the show went slightly downhill in the
second, as Carolyn Seymour was fired by the producer. Then Ian
McCulloch left in the third, and when power was restored in the very
last episode, the series came to an upbeat conclusion.
If you've never seen 'Survivors', its well worth seeking out. With Bird
Flu in the news a while back, the timing is right for a viewing. And it
has one of the creepiest title sequences in television history!
11 out of 18 people found the following review useful:
Very good for the time it was made, but it has some serious flaws., 5 June 2005
Author:
conor_kiley from United States
Ultimately I do recommend it, but it is often terribly frustrating. The
most serious problem is that supposedly intelligent characters are
constantly doing very stupid things at the convenience of the plot and
it's very heavy handed. It shoots itself in foot too often.
Yet it is also thought provoking and consistently entertaining. Watch
one episode and you want to see the next one.
For the many people who saw this when they were young it's easy to
understand why it had such an impact on them. It's an excellent show
for something from 1975, but not quite as magnificent as some memories
paint it. It would certainly interest anyone who has read Stephen Kings
"The Stand", though it doesn't contain the supernatural element his
novel does.
All of that aside it is worth checking out and truly is superior to
most other TV shows.
ps- Why do so many British shows look so drained of color? Star Trek
had its share of flaws but it was always bright and interesting to look
at.
3 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
Disturbing, frightening and powerful., 19 October 2007
Author:
stephen-alford1 from Scotland, United Kingdom
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
What an incredible impact this series had on me as a nine year old in
1975. To me it was absolutely terrifying the way it depicted the total
collapse of civilisation. The airliners taking off from Heathrow during
the credits really illustrated perfectly how a killer virus would be
spread right round the planet. The Oriental scientist at the start
carried the plague overseas - was this a deliberate ploy by his
government because they knew their own country was doomed? Or was the
plague slow acting at the start and he didn't know he was infected?
Jenny's doctor friend said that the disease was a mutant virus. That
suggests to me it changed very quickly and started killing much quicker
as it spread worldwide. You seen people dead behind the wheel of their
vehicles meaning it killed very quickly at times. I would expect the
towns and cities to look just like early morning - cars lined neatly
outsides houses and in driveways and shops and factories locked up,
because people would simply be dead in their homes. Wouldn't cities be
gloomy and terrifying without street lighting and illumination from
homes and shops? Obviously the rats and other vermin would be
widespread. Pets would become feral again no doubt. Do you think towns
and cities would ever be accessible again? How long would it take for
nature to reclaim the built up areas? Just think, all round the world
would be virtually silent with vast cities with only a handful of
stunned, terrified people in them.
Another thing, in Survivors you seen Greg, Abby and Jenny using petrol
pumps to fill up cars they acquired. Think about it, nowadays that
would be impossible because you need to get activation from an
attendant's computerised screen/till and obviously the power would be
gone. How could you get fuel? Computers and advancing technology if
anything has made us MORE vulnerable. If society collapsed we'd be
completely at a loss in many ways, much more so than when Survivors was
on.
With all the corpses lying dead, wouldn't other diseases be on the
rise? That would be disastrous for new born babies because they
wouldn't be innoculated in a post plague world.
So, so many questions. Survivors is probably the best post plague
apocalyptic series I've ever seen.
8 out of 13 people found the following review useful:
The best adult S.F. drama series the B.B.C. has ever made., 22 January 2000
Author:
spook-15 (spook@gunnery.fsnet.co.uk) from Coventry, England
This series was first shown on peak-time on Sundays on B.B.C. 1 (the prime channel) and regularly attracted audiences in millions including a precocious ten year old (me!) and his siblings. The reason was simple: it was the best adult oriented S.F. drama series the B.B.C. had ever made. They have never made anything better since. And it was very powerful, very realistic, completely believable, terrifyingly accurate and very scary on a psychological "what if?" level. Characters behaved in the way that people behave in real crises (such as civil wars) when the veneer of civilisation falls away: some try to grab power, some become natural leaders, some want to be led, others give up in despair and kill themselves. The series didn't flinch from showing all that or sugar coat the pill - and was much the better for it. The B.B.C. had the pick of the best T.V. and stage character actors around to cast it, plots never plumbed the depths of cliche, stories and themes were rarely if ever neatly resolved. It made a huge impact on the British national consciousness: episodes were being talked about in offices, factories and school playgrounds for days afterwards. If you consider that it was broadcast before anyone had ever heard of A.I.D.S., H.I.V., B.S.E., C.J.D. or G.M.O.s then I think it fair to say it was way ahead of it's time. And, sadly, like a lot of the finest T.V. produce of the B.B.C. and independent T.V. in Britain of the 1970s and 1980s - nowhere is it available on video.
5 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
Good but could have been great, 26 August 2000
Author:
Robski from United Kingdom
The Survivors portrayed a vision of a post apocalyptic society coming to
terms with itself. A virus had wiped out the vast majority of the earth
population and those who were left had to come to terms with their
predicament and "survive".
There were three distinct series, the first centred around three
characters,
Greg, Jenny and Abby, and their struggle to come to terms with their
situation. The second saw Abbey leave and a community set up with Charles
Vaughn and a group of others, which ultimately failed and the third saw
the
survivors branch out to try to unite everyone who had survived as some
sort
of federal government.
The first series was excellent the final series was weak, the whole
concept
got lost halfway through to be honest as writers other than Terry Nation
got
involved.
Although good this was by no means a classic overall, even though the
first
series was.
IF Survivors is your cup of tea then I would recommend The Last Train
which
was pretty good.
Survivors was always rumoured to be coming back for a fourth series set on
a
boat between Scotland and Norway but nothing materialised.
It is probably just as well.
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