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Survivors: Series One (2008)
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Movie Review by The Gravedigger
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03.11.09
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This is a remake of the British television show from the mid-70's. It's a much more racially diverse group, as everyone in the original series was as white as a fence post. Although many of the character's names are the same the personalities are a bit different. What happens to Jenny is totally unexpected, considering she was a primary character in the original series. Greg Preston is black and the female doctor, Anya, is a combination of a few characters. The most interesting bunch of the group is Tom Price, a guy who was in prison for robbery and murder. While everyone is dying of the plague, he manages to escape his cage and meets up with the other survivors.
And of course, there is Abby Grant, a mother who is in search of her twelve-year old son, who may have survived.
There's a subplot about the remaining government, which is bunkered underground and sealed off from the rest of the world. They are trying to find a cure and it's suggested that they are the ones responsible for creating the virus to begin with. It sort of acts like the flu and then makes the body's immune system destroy itself. Only 10% of the population survives.
In the third episode Greg and Tom come across a father, daughter and son who have isolated themselves since the plague and so might not be immune. The daughter sneaks out--then father won't let her back in, as he's terrified that she will kill them all.
Abby encounters a society she aspires to, who still have electricity, the model of an "eco-village". But what seems to be too good to be true usually is too good to be true.
Some of the story lines from the original series are combined. "Garland's War" is combined with the episode about the gang of young boys living on their own.
In the end Abby is captured by the government facility, who want to study her blood to make a cure, Greg is shot and possibly dying and there's a brief scene with a boy whose backpack says "Peter", so we know Abby's son is indeed alive, which was never shown in the 70's series.
As "end of the world" stories go, this continues to be a good one and I'm surprised it wasn't "re-imagined" earlier. If you are a fan of the original you'll definitely enjoy this, as it's both familiar and different enough, sort of like the upgrade of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA.
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Rating: nan out of 10.0 - 0 votes cast total
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