The original post: /r/television by /u/GojiMania on 2024-06-20 04:02:16.
According to its Wikipedia page: The Tribe is a science fiction drama television series which premiered on Channel 5 in the United Kingdom on 24 April 1999. The series was created by Raymond Thompson and Harry Duffin, and was developed and produced by the Cloud 9 Screen Entertainment Group in New Zealand. The series was commissioned by Channel 5, who received the initial screening rights. The series made its New Zealand premiere in 2000 on TV4.
Primarily aimed at teenagers, The Tribe is set in a post-apocalyptic city in which all adults have been killed as the result of an unknown virus. The series focuses on the remaining children and teenagers who must navigate the social and personal issues of adolescence, while being faced with the larger problems of a society in a state of anarchy. The inhabitants of the city form social groups, or tribes, with the focus of the series on the Mall Rats, who fight to survive among other threatening tribes such as the Locos. Overarching themes include the focus on change from tradition, empowerment, religion, and the exploration of power and corruption. The series was filmed in Wellington, New Zealand.
The series ran for 260 episodes and aired its final episode on 6 September 2003. A sequel series entitled The New Tomorrow was commissioned by Channel 5 and the Seven Network in Australia and first aired in 2005. It depicted the descendants of characters from The Tribe and was aimed at a younger audience. The Tribe experienced a resurgence in popularity after screening on ABC3 in Australia in 2009. This led to Cloud 9 developing a series of novels to continue the story of the television series, the first of which was released in 2011.
I actually got into the show while its second season was nearing its end on the Encore WAM channel here in the United States (sometime between 2001 and 2002, and I was also in the show’s age demographic), and was able to catch up completely thanks to nightly re-runs starting from its very first episode. I remember it being quite dark and clearly small budget, but even with reusing the same music throughout the series, they clearly made it work. It’s by no means a masterpiece, with acting that will either be a hit or miss, and the storylines can be quite repetitive in its last two seasons, but there is a charm to its characters and worldbuilding that cannot be denied. My favorite characters on the show were Jack and Trudy. The series is also famous for having Taika Waititi in a small role in Season 4.
As stated, a novel trilogy was released, starting with the The New World which was the Season 6 of the show, followed years later by The New Dawn as Season 7, and finally R(E)volution as Season 9. IMO, they didn’t live up to the hype and can be seen as a lesson in how not to write a novel.