'Survivors' by Terry Nation British TV series 1975-19

[Tigersoap]

We watched the first four episode of the serie so far and it's quite good.

Maybe I am too cynical but I don't feel much hope to see any real life survivors escaping the same difficulties as the characters in the serie.
Mechanical people surviving will face their own mechanical reactions and those of others...especially with no knowledge of psychopathy, narcissism, programs and so on...this can't be good osit.

 

[Carl]

We watched the first four episode of the serie so far and it's quite good.

Maybe I am too cynical but I don't feel much hope to see any real life survivors escaping the same difficulties as the characters in the serie.
Mechanical people surviving will face their own mechanical reactions and those of others...especially with no knowledge of psychopathy, narcissism, programs and so on...this can't be good osit.

Couldn't agree more, I've also watched the first four, my face in my palms every time a bad decision is made. Though it is easy to judge from the sidelines and with the knowledge we're blessed with. People really have no hope unless we can get out there and spread awareness.. the cycle of ponerization will just repeat again.

Still, I am interested to see how they deal with the union leader and his ever expanding power base. How would we deal with such a situation? Would it be like the gradual invasion of the goddess worshiping people by the male deity-driven agricultural people? How would knowledge protect when people with guns come to steal our food?

 

[Mrs. Peel]

Where I can get that version? I dont know buy that kind of English is hard to understand!!!

I believe the 2008 version of Survivors is on YouTube also, or at least, some of it. I can't search for it now because it is blocked out by our firewall at work. :/

 

[Mrs. Peel]

Couldn't agree more, I've also watched the first four, my face in my palms every time a bad decision is made. Though it is easy to judge from the sidelines and with the knowledge we're blessed with. People really have no hope unless we can get out there and spread awareness.. the cycle of ponerization will just repeat again.

I just watched the first 3, and couldn't believe that girl left the man with the broken legs to die there alone. Well, yes I can. :/ I also agree that I don't think most of the people today will act any better should something like this occur.

 

[agni]

People really have no hope unless we can get out there and spread awareness.. the cycle of ponerization will just repeat again.

May be I am not giving enough faith in humanity. But I also see very little hope things will change. Seems like people under stress of survivability will not so much concerned about expanding their awareness. Even if it's possible that some pockets of groups going to exists that are interested in that, there are people who are going to rely on brute force and weapons to establish their power/control or way to survive. And then like "V for Vendetta" saying, same thing will happen when people with no guns stand up to people with guns. It does seem like cycle of ponerization will just repeat.

Does anyone see at all how things can play out any differently for humanity ? Even going back to hyperdimensional aspect of it, the fact remains that we are STS after all, and after cataclysm would remain as such. Is it possible for STS humans to have different outcome, different way of life ?

 

[Lilou]

I've watched the first three episodes, and not that it was intentional on the part of the producers, but did chuckle a bit when I noticed that most all of the survivors were smokers. I have not looked for the 2008 version, but wondered if the smoking had been cut. With the anti-smoking campaigns in full swing, I suspect no smoking in the newer production.

 

[Gawan]

I've watched the first three episodes, and not that it was intentional on the part of the producers, but did chuckle a bit when I noticed that most all of the survivors were smokers. I have not looked for the 2008 version, but wondered if the smoking had been cut. With the anti-smoking campaigns in full swing, I suspect no smoking in the newer production.

That's true ;). But later on there is a bit of a spin for anti smoking as I understood it, it was subtle though (in the 1975 version).

 

[loreta]

I just finished the first series and I liked it much more since the discussions here. My conclusion is that this series is talking about a possible future but also, as in each futuristic creation (books or movies) Terry Nation is talking about our present. This is a study of human beings now and a thesis about IF something happens, how human beings can be. Not much different then we are. And can it be that our species will not survive, after all?

I found also some episodes a little too much naive, and simplistic and sometimes with contradictions in it: for example, they know that fish is mortal but they are fishing, etc. Not very well done, artistically speaking. But very, very interesting. In fact this series is one of my favorites. Characters have become part of my family, I mean they are very real, very near and very natural. Some characters are repulsive, others are attractive and they are also multidimensional, with contradictions in them. Greg I don't like but I think he is a very helpful man and maybe we need more Gregs in a situation like this.

What is very important if you want to survive in a post-modern catastrophe is to have some skills about First Aid.

Survivors also shows how difficult is to live in a group, in a commune. How our past is still there, our past status. In a commune where everyone is supposedly equal, equality is not there, although. You have workers and you have leaders. Some work very hard, doing dirty things, others no. Roles continue as before: men decide, women work for the family, etc. Surviving can be a sort of revolution, a big change. I doubt it. How difficult is it to change and that is because maybe we continue, as survivors, to act as humans. And human nature, as I see in this series, does not change even in drastic situations.

 

[Voyageur]

[quote author=loreta ]

What is very important if you want to survive in a post-modern catastrophe is to have some skills about First Aid.

[/quote]

This is a good point, not just in this scenario. Have just renewed my first aid a few weeks ago and was kind of shocked speaking with the paramedic that in North America, only about 1% of the population has taken it. That is not a very helpful average if you need attention.

 

[loreta]

[quote author=loreta ]

What is very important if you want to survive in a post-modern catastrophe is to have some skills about First Aid.

This is a good point, not just in this scenario. Have just renewed my first aid a few weeks ago and was kind of shocked speaking with the paramedic that in North America, only about 1% of the population has taken it. That is not a very helpful average if you need attention.
[/quote]

I follow some First Aid classes, some years ago, with the Red Cross... But the problem is the absence of practice. It is primordial to practice. And I think, in a world or Survivors, teach techniques of First Aid in school! As important as teach them to read or meditate.

 

[Voyageur]

[quote author=loreta ]
But the problem is the absence of practice.
[/quote]

This is true, I have to renew every three years, yet rarely use it. There is a worry of freezing memory in a situation too, not remembering the ABC's. Yet you may be surprised at what you remember of your training if truly needed.

Keep a good kit in your vehicle if you can.

 

[Gwenllian]

Yeah, I just finished watching that episode. Pretty disturbing. I wouldn't say that Greg and Abby's objective is power though, at least right now I'm not reading it that way, although that might change as the series develops.
To me they seem like two people trying to manage a community, making serious mistakes along the way due to their very poor knowledge and lack of self work. About them not showing remorse, if there is one thing I think that the way the series is directed is to blame, is the overall lack of emotional display in the face of things that would put any normal human being to pieces, so that may account for that? I mean, awful things happen and they just keep strolling along, showing only a little bit of discomfort...why, I feel way more discomfortable then they seem to be, and I'm just watching it!

Yes, it is all very stiff upper lip behaviour, isn't it. But isn't this the old traditional English response? I am not talking about the Welsh, Irish and Scottish. As far as I can judge they are more emotional?
The series was shot during the seventies. My eldest son is watching the "slick" series that was shot four years ago, based on the series of the seventies. My, how they scream and shout. It seems less stiff upper lip behaviour to me. :D

***Spoiler alert******
I simply can't understand how a group can make such a serious decision regarding Barney with so little data. I mean, it's a person's life we're talking about for Christ's sake.... Ok, we think it's him, out of all the other people living within the community, none of which were questioned, not to mentioned the possibility of an outsider having broken into the building whilst the party was going on, still, we think it is him, let's kill him! Never mind gathering more data, never mind giving ourselves more time to find the right course of action.

What struck me was that they pretended to act like a jury, executioner and judge all at the same time. But they completely overlooked the fact that every accused is entitled to some sort of legal counsel. And they knew Barney was slow. So he should have had even more assistance.
They went after their weakest link, because it was the easiest thing to do? OSIT.
Also, Greg just shot him dead, which probably reflected Britain's law at the time. Didn't they only fairly recently abolish the death penalty? After all, the BBC belongs to the state.

What bothered me also was the fact that despite all evidence from the beginning of the series, and there was plenty, that Price was a very, very shady character, they kept him because they needed him. And after two of them knew the truth about Wendy's murder, they still kept him because he was needed/useful. Sure, he murdered someone, but he's got a good pare of spare hands, so why not keep him?? Greg's last decision was extremely poor, not just because of his total lack of perspective of the overall situation, but even using his own very narrow reasoning which seems to be strictly confined to the number of people they have, what about the fact that Price has made them lose 4 spare hands?
Contextualizing this within my own life, how many things might I have lost due to giving in to an immediate need?

Well, Greg would have bashed Price's head in, if it wasn't for Abby.
But it is true, good personal skills would have saved them a lot of trouble. I enjoyed the second series, despite the harsh lessons, because there is a difference in leadership, because they go and live in the community where Charles is a leader. He is very different and so different measures are taken.

**Spoiler Alert**
I particularly thought the episode 'The Chosen' was very good with references to Nazi Germany, eugenics and the so-called chosen who survived. The blond pregnant lady (without a man by her side, no family units allowed) gave me the chills.
At one point you see the leader (an old school teacher, how typical) whipping up support for his leadership, trying to play the group.
Because it was the seventies you can see how WWII was still very much on the minds of the people. Unfortunately, that has changed dramatically.

Feelings of "need" have been brought up several times under different circumstances in the series, and those feelings were responsible for some of the worst decisions several of the characters have made, as I see it. It has made me ponder though, with the survival mechanism being triggered so quickly and strongly one is likely much more vulnerable to feelings of self interest and egoism, and finding that barrier between a natural instinct of survival of the self, and needs in the name of self interest, can become extremely foggy....worrying indeed.

Again, that changes in the second series. The episode 'The Witch' was also memorable, OSIT. But because there is one good person, who is charismatic, but who has his heart in the right place (Charles) who intervenes members of the community learn of their mistakes and make amends. That couldn't have happened under Greg and Abby.

Edit/added: The way the characters treated the kids was pretty disturbing to me during the first series. It gets better during the second series, but Greg and Jenny are not your typical warm and patient parents. I do understand their difficult position, but they don't exude any warmth, not even when their own child is born. Greg calls his son "funny face".
During the second series the kids get a different education, which is quite nice. They learn how to fish, milk cows and so on. They are much more involved in the day-to-day business of the farm, which I thought was great.

 

[mkrnhr]

I finished the first season of the series. There are many disturbing events even though the series is based on how the society viewed itself in the seventies. If it has to happen nowadays, it will surely be more violent.
The execution of the innocent boy who could not express himself was horrifying to say the least, and the reaction of the main characters after they discovered the truth even more. There is also the instance when the little child says to one of the three monks "you are going to die, goodbye".

The weather is sunny most of the time. I couldn't help however but considering the eventuality of the beginning of an ice age with no access to food and so forth. Things could be worse that in the series and in order to form such surviving communities, a full knowledge about pathology is more than necessary. The series shows well how some people's manipulations do lead to death. Right at the beginning of the series there was that woman who lied about the man who was left injured in the van, saying he was dead. There are also other pathological characters even though it was not intended in the script.

One interresting aspect also was that as long as they relied on hunting and recuperating some animals, they didn't have to worry that much about food. As soon as they turned into agriculture, problems started (the episode when they had to sell fuel for seeds).

Many things would be different (worst in fact) if such events happen today, but the series depicts well certain aspects on organization, trust, prejudice, that can be detrimental if one has no knowledge and no preparation.

 

[Hesper]

Yup, that was the episode when I decided that we all need to be watching this just for the lessons about the behavior of people who do not have knowledge nor have they worked on themselves, and to understand how societies form. We ALMOST decided to stop watching the whole thing after that episode because we were SOOO steamed about it. I mean, making that HUGE, HUGE mistake due to lack of knowledge, care, patience, and the COMPOUNDING IT in the worst possible way by concealing it!!! I mean, what kind of community can you have if stuff like that goes on???

Yeah, I just got to that episode and was not prepared at all for what transpired. Now I see what all of you meant when you said you were screaming at your TV's. Not even a plague can wake these people up!! I can totally see how the disjecta membra of an authoritarian civilization can easily spawn this kind of stupidity, perpetuating the downward spiral. Lots to think about there!

*spoiler alert*



When Wendy was killed Greg and Abby just walked down the stairs and notified everyone, nonchalantly, as if they were announcing that a fuse was blown. It was just disgusting. And, like Gertrudes had noted, they had absolutely every reason to suspect Price of being a nasty character but they simply allowed their system 1 to stereotype Barney as a "simpleton-therefore dangerous" so he automatically became their prime suspect. They spent 10 minutes deciding this sweet guy was a murderer, took a break for lunch, and took 5 minutes to decide how to kill him!! It is just beyond belief!

I am almost 90% certain that a situation like that, if it were to occur in reality right in front of our noses, would not be handled much differently. Pathological/shady character does something horrible, puts the blame on an innocent person, the innocent person is attacked, and, even once the truth is known, it is sacrificed for the "status quo". Sounds familiar to me! Again, if a plague can't wake people up then I am just *UGH*

 

[SeekinTruth]

I finished watching the entire thing -- all 3 series. Among many other things, the one thing I've been thinking about is that many of these scenarios (and more/worse) are very likely to happen in the near future. However, many of us will probably be facing these situations alone, probably completely cut off from the network here.

By alone, I mean, those that have been acquiring the knowledge that will be crucial, yet must somehow try to convey it to others (that likely have no clue) in "the heat of the moment." Many, many of us will be put to the test as far as our level of discernment and external consideration is concerned, yet getting across what needs to be understood by others. And all this without being able to network about it if we feel unsure of certain things. It's really been going around and around in my mind.