You did have to suspend belief a little bit during a lot of the death scenes and things because people seemed to die at very different rates and in some strange positions.
Yes, the Muslim boy so busy praying that he failed to notice everyone around him in the mosque dying of the plague.
Yes, the Muslim boy so busy praying that he failed to notice everyone around him in the mosque dying of the plague.
I realise that it's a drama, but that particular scene was one of many which seemed to have been staged to create some kind of visual interest, rather than maintain narrative plausability. File along with the shot of the blue car parked right in the middle of the empty car park!
I remember watching the original series in the 70s and recall being slightly freaked out by it all. This was at the time of the self sufficiency craze/hippy communes, Doomwatch and the Cold War at its peak. Survivors fitted that era perfectly.
Early days yet - but this "reimagining" just doesn't have that edge of fear or panic yet. Perhaps it will get more grim as the bodies decompose and supplies of soap run low!
(The guy in the lab was in "Holby City" - I think he was Connie Beauchamp's husband).
I thought it was pretty boring, to be honest. All post-apocalyptic films are the same, doesn't matter what the disaster is. Small group of survivors bands together with good intentions, travels around meeting other bands of survivors who are generally complete psychos who try to kill them. If anyone's looking for someone, they generally find them in the end, and they'll all probably start a small community on a remote Scottish island and live just like their ancestors did. I didn't really identify with any of the characters, so I'm not much bothered what happens to them. The secret lab looks interesting, but we always knew these government scientists were up to something!
I thought it was pretty boring, to be honest. All post-apocalyptic films are the same, doesn't matter what the disaster is.
Which would kind of beg the question why watch it then?!
For what it's worth I am a big fan of the original which itsefl is a little tedious in places but then I'm sure that's exactly what life would be like if it all went to pot! I'm not really sure why TV has to be all crash-bang-wallop all the time. Personally I quite enjoyed the remake and, even though it's got that awful woman from Bonekickers in it, it's firmly on my Sky+ planner!
A couple of things that that interrupted my 'suspension of disbelief', on top of the ones mentioned above.
A 1930's house has a huge great water tank in the loft, why did her shower run out after a few seconds?
If you are going to rob a bank (or whatever he did) hide your stash in your mum's water butt, the police would never think of looking there!
I'll be watching again on Tuesday, it seems you cannot watch TV without these types of things these days so may as well get used to them or not watch anything.
It felt like "Holby City Does a Disaster Movie" to me. Just not quite a big enough budget to convince. I found the scenes on the A road/dual carriageway particularly unconvincing - it was filmed on a test track and thats what it looked like - way too clean as well. It wasnt a bad 90 minutes but I was disappointed.
I agree with most of the above comments. I didn't find it too bad, but it wasn't intelligent enough. There weren't any moments where I thought, "That's clever", and plenty where I thought, "That's stupid". A tiny but representative example is Abby not putting on her seatbelt before ramming the hospital door. Or people using candles instead of LED torches. I'm not saying such things wouldn't happen, but they lacked intelligence or insight or anything. There wasn't a lot of reward for watching.
I did like the sequence where Abby woke up and went next door etc. I found that more effective than the sequence in 28 Days Later with the guy waking up in hospital.
Thought it was enjoyable but very luke-warm. The whole point of these 'something kills everyone with a few survivors' dramas is to get the collapse of civilisation properly done. THAT is what gives us viewers the willies, knowing that the difference between our comfortable lives and disaster is what we're watching.
Unfortunately, it wasn't done very well, too many plot holes (eg. most people would've died in bed, slowly wasting away, but yet all the people dead in the praying position in a Mosque indicating a quick death. Eh?), the lack of bodies and cars ALL over the place etc etc
It is only ep. 1, so I have hopes things will improve. I find Julie Graham a bit annoying though, and the guy from Numberwang, although a good actor, will always be the guy from Numberwang
I'd agree with many of the comments above. There were some moments of pure predictability, such as the woman from the club dieing in bed (hey at least he got a post-apocalyptic shag) and the fact that later he befriends the young boy and ends up in a "downsized" car...etc. And how did they outrun that petrol station explosion?
But here’s the thing. A lot of this predictability added in many ways to the tension levels. We all knew that most people would be dead by the end of episode 1, so effectively, we were watching a slow motion train crash, all the more horrifying because it could actually happen!
I watched the old series (with my mum, all those years back) and the thing that struck me here was the change in the attitude of survivors. Old series seemed to be all about "how can middle class Britton survive when Waitrose no longer opens for business" (anyone remember the potato planting scene), and now we are in modern Dog Eat Dog Britain where people grow there own but don't necessarily want to help each other, they just want to look after what they have scavenged.
So, plot line? Well, there's the guy with the Landover who "just wants to get away", there is the invertible catch up scene where we find out what our resident psycho did, and of course there is the mysterious lab... What's going on there then?
My one big criticism was showing it directly after top gear meant I had to do a 2 and half hour stint without a toilet break. But hey, I got through, I'm okay.
Phew ! :yawn: You should have gone when harry enfield was on, his driving is as crap as his jokes.
In the context of the 70's series it fitted in with the doom laden scenarios real and imagined that were thrown at the population.
However too much of the later parts of Survivors matched the plots of the Good Life, if they tried that now it would look like that series with the go green nutter and his family in Devon but with a lower body count.
So after the first round the original Survivors series blows away this half hearted attempt easily so far. They need to crank up the horror and shock the viewers to keep me watching .
OT - that Guardian review was poor, how could he not put a Shaunof the Dead reference in when he was watching an apocalyptic but not that bad drama.
This show is getting a real roasting in the thread in the Cult forum.
I enjoyed it. Possibly because I've never seen the original, so have nothing to compare it to. It wasn't Shakespeare, and the characters are typical "disaster movie" stereotypes, but it was still a good bit of drama for an otherwise boring Sunday night and I want to see more.
My 1930's house doesn't, nor did my Victorian Terrace either - they tend to get removed when a combi boiler is installed;)
Flies - there were flies around Abby's dead husband - I'm suprised so few posters noticed them:D
Overall I'm afraid I found it a tad disappointing - maybe 'cos I can remember the original & how that run out of steam toward the end?
Ah yes but the shower was a power shower which you could easily see from the fittings and you can't run one of them off a combi boiler (unless you have a separate tank)
How the hell did they film that? OK some of it will have probably been green screen/CGI etc, they can't just tell everyone to get out of London but like the motorway scene, that sure looked real to me? Did they just find a quite motorway and close it for a bit or is there a trick to these sorts of shows?
The motorway scenes were filmed at a dressed up racing track to give the impression of a motorway.
I did like the sequence where Abby woke up and went next door etc. I found that more effective than the sequence in 28 Days Later with the guy waking up in hospital.
DId anyone notice the complete rip-off of the scene from 28 Days Later with the aerial shot of the city and the petrol station exploding. That was such a great scene in 28 Days Later that one can't blame the BBC for pinching it.
To be fair, I suppose it is always hard for the first episode of a new drama as the scene has to be set, characters introduced etc..etc..
The original did this very very slowly ovr many weeks but today's audience seems to demand a lot more and much quicker I would say.
Actually I think a true PC test will be if the lapsed muslim regains his faith.
I rate that has a 90% chance of happening.
90%?
I'd say more like 99.9.
When he was having the discussion with the kid about praying, I was surprised that neither was crushed by the anvil of foreshadowing that fell from the sky.
Still, if that happens, it's not really a PC thing. I'd say it was more of a cliche thing.
Comments
Yes, the Muslim boy so busy praying that he failed to notice everyone around him in the mosque dying of the plague.
I realise that it's a drama, but that particular scene was one of many which seemed to have been staged to create some kind of visual interest, rather than maintain narrative plausability. File along with the shot of the blue car parked right in the middle of the empty car park!
Early days yet - but this "reimagining" just doesn't have that edge of fear or panic yet. Perhaps it will get more grim as the bodies decompose and supplies of soap run low!
(The guy in the lab was in "Holby City" - I think he was Connie Beauchamp's husband).
What really annoyed me though was the useless soundtrack.
Lacking any kind of defined style and at times needlessly bombastic, it reminded me of one of the things that really annoyed me about modern Dr Who.
The fact is, everyone's pretty much dead - which means there's a lot less noise in the world. Highlighting that is creepy and builds the mood.
Playing a half-arsed score over the top doesn't.
Which would kind of beg the question why watch it then?!
For what it's worth I am a big fan of the original which itsefl is a little tedious in places but then I'm sure that's exactly what life would be like if it all went to pot! I'm not really sure why TV has to be all crash-bang-wallop all the time. Personally I quite enjoyed the remake and, even though it's got that awful woman from Bonekickers in it, it's firmly on my Sky+ planner!
A 1930's house has a huge great water tank in the loft, why did her shower run out after a few seconds?
If you are going to rob a bank (or whatever he did) hide your stash in your mum's water butt, the police would never think of looking there!
I'll be watching again on Tuesday, it seems you cannot watch TV without these types of things these days so may as well get used to them or not watch anything.
I did like the sequence where Abby woke up and went next door etc. I found that more effective than the sequence in 28 Days Later with the guy waking up in hospital.
Unfortunately, it wasn't done very well, too many plot holes (eg. most people would've died in bed, slowly wasting away, but yet all the people dead in the praying position in a Mosque indicating a quick death. Eh?), the lack of bodies and cars ALL over the place etc etc
It is only ep. 1, so I have hopes things will improve. I find Julie Graham a bit annoying though, and the guy from Numberwang, although a good actor, will always be the guy from Numberwang
Phew ! :yawn: You should have gone when harry enfield was on, his driving is as crap as his jokes.
In the context of the 70's series it fitted in with the doom laden scenarios real and imagined that were thrown at the population.
However too much of the later parts of Survivors matched the plots of the Good Life, if they tried that now it would look like that series with the go green nutter and his family in Devon but with a lower body count.
So after the first round the original Survivors series blows away this half hearted attempt easily so far. They need to crank up the horror and shock the viewers to keep me watching .
OT - that Guardian review was poor, how could he not put a Shaun of the Dead reference in when he was watching an apocalyptic but not that bad drama.
I enjoyed it. Possibly because I've never seen the original, so have nothing to compare it to. It wasn't Shakespeare, and the characters are typical "disaster movie" stereotypes, but it was still a good bit of drama for an otherwise boring Sunday night and I want to see more.
I really didn't think it was that bad.
Earth Abides! One of my favourite books!
I rate that has a 90% chance of happening.
My 1930's house doesn't, nor did my Victorian Terrace either - they tend to get removed when a combi boiler is installed;)
Flies - there were flies around Abby's dead husband - I'm suprised so few posters noticed them:D
Overall I'm afraid I found it a tad disappointing - maybe 'cos I can remember the original & how that run out of steam toward the end?
She was obviously cast as geek bait for the Doctor Who crowd.
Ah yes but the shower was a power shower which you could easily see from the fittings and you can't run one of them off a combi boiler (unless you have a separate tank)
The motorway scenes were filmed at a dressed up racing track to give the impression of a motorway.
DId anyone notice the complete rip-off of the scene from 28 Days Later with the aerial shot of the city and the petrol station exploding. That was such a great scene in 28 Days Later that one can't blame the BBC for pinching it.
To be fair, I suppose it is always hard for the first episode of a new drama as the scene has to be set, characters introduced etc..etc..
The original did this very very slowly ovr many weeks but today's audience seems to demand a lot more and much quicker I would say.
She must have been cast to show that incredibly irritating people like cockroaches are genetically programmed to survive the apocalypse.
Bit stingy of the Beeb not to have had the M6 shut for a day to film there instead.
90%?
I'd say more like 99.9.
When he was having the discussion with the kid about praying, I was surprised that neither was crushed by the anvil of foreshadowing that fell from the sky.
Still, if that happens, it's not really a PC thing. I'd say it was more of a cliche thing.