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Survivor Season One
The Greatest and Most Outrageous Moments
review by Zach B.
Not Rated
Studio: Paramount
Running Time: 135 minutes
Starring Jeff Probst and the 16 "Fifteen Minutes Of
Fame" Survivors
Retail Price: $19.99
Features: "Survivor: Inside The Phenomenon"
Documentary, Episode Summaries, Survivor Profiles, Island
Profiles
Specs: 1.33:1 Standard, English 5.1 Dolby Digital,
English Subtitles, Chapter Search (31 Chapters)
Where to begin... where to begin... I am pretty sure what
I'm going to say has already been said a billion times, but
what the hell. Late in May 2000, CBS introduced the reality
series "Survivor", and history was made. While the show
started off with a decent number of viewers, it slowly
became history in the making. Summer TV viewing is never
big, but "Survivor" made it big. Reality television, which
was really nothing new with shows like "The Real World" and
"Cops" being on the air for a number of years, was born
again. Sort of like when ABC introduced "Who Wants To Be A
Millionaire", a slew of game shows were slapped on the air
within a matter of months. Same thing with "Survivor",
networks bought the rights to popular reality game shows
from other countries. While "Big Brother" was more like "Big
Bomb", audiences became eager for new programming, where at
the time I am writing this, Fox just introduced the
controversial "Temptation Island" and ABC started to air its
own version of the popular Belgium show "The Mole". And of
course, "Survivor II" is just a few weeks away (and CBS has
just signed on for "Survivor III" and "Survivor IV").
But again, "Survivor" was truly a groundbreaking show.
The basic premise is this: eight men and eight women are
divided into two different tribes and must survive on an
island. There they battle each other in competitions, eat
rats to survive and basically take the saying "every man for
himself" (or every woman for herself) to the extreme. And
every three days, depending on who won what challenge and
who lost, the losing tribe votes to kick one of their own
off. The last survivor gets one million dollars. And during
the course of the series, alliances are formed, arguments
ensue and the normal kind of manipulation and treachery
you'd come to expect. Of course, as most of us know, the
tribes then merged once a certain number were kicked off.
Audiences were fascinated by the tension and drama, while
executive producer Mark Burnett had an instant hit.
Millions and millions spent an hour each Wednesday during
the summer to see who got the boot off the island. Again,
the 20 something million who tuned in each week was
astounding, because no one really watches television during
the summer. The big finale at the end of August drew a
whopping 51 million viewers, being the second most watched
TV show of the year 2000 right below the Super Bowl.
While I'm sure fans would have loved the complete series
on DVD to re-experience those disgusting, heart-racing
moments again, this DVD edition is more like a "Best Of".
Here, for two hours and fifteen minutes, you get the most
famous moments from all the episodes. Most of it you've
seen, but some of it is brand new and includes dirty
language as well as the infamous, uncensored Richard Hatch
nudity. Some moments I would have liked to seen were not
included or were briefly shown. But what you get is a nice
package, including audition interviews as well as the video
tapes the cast aways sent in, hoping they'd get picked to be
on the show (poor old Gretchen did a rip-off of "The Blair
Witch Project"). If dirt on the cast aways you like, I'm
sure you'll get a kick out of how Sue lost her virginity and
that Rich actually got married. The DVD works like this:
every chapter stop focuses on who got kicked off in order
and the stuff in between. Now you can rewatch the intense
Sue and Kelly catfight, see the emotional tribal councils
and even get a peek at "Survivor II" (which is the same damn
promo you've probably seen a dozen times by now). So, if you
want to relive the best moments of show over and over, this
disc is for you. The way I see it, you either love the show
or you hate it. I know there are large groups of both. I am
a fan of the show, and I do admit to watching most of the
episodes during the summer. I'm not so into it as so many
people seem to be, but I find the show entertaining. Some of
you think it's a new low and much exploitment where people
eat rats and bugs in a chance to score a cool mil. Some of
you think how wonderful and exciting it really is. Still,
has anyone ever thought that the show's editing make things
and some of the contestants a lot worse or a lot better than
they really are? Ah, the magic of editing... it does give
you the way how Burnett and his crew wanted you to perceive
it. But those are some general thoughts of mine. Still, if
you're a big fan of the show, definitely consider getting
this disc.
Presented in 1.33:1 full frame, this disc looks quite
good. Of course it's a TV series and pretty much just ripped
from tape, but colors are bright and solid, I didn't notice
any noise and the picture is pretty sharp. However, it's not
perfect. I was surprised to see a tiny bit of particles on
this transfer... go to 2:00:08 to see what I mean. Around
the 47 or 48 mark, it's a night time shoot, meaning the
camera quality is really fuzzy with the night vision. Still,
tt doesn't get much better than this... another spiffy
Paramount transfer.
We're treated to a 5.1 Dolby Digital mix... and it is
pretty good. While I think a 2.0 surround mix would have
been fine, most of the 5.1 comes from the now famous tribal
council music as well as other music, and some loud noises.
I feel this mix was a bit overdone and doesn't feel so
natural. Music sometimes over laps dialogue which is
annoying, but I give credit to Paramount for trying to
create some kind of experience with this. Not the greatest
track ever, but it's certainly not the worst 5.1 ever.
The features are pretty good, and do give a sense of
having all the episodes on DVD despite the fact they're not
there. The features just make this package nice and more
complete.
I guess the main portion of the disc is the 21 minute
Survivor: Inside The Phenomenon Documentary. This
makes for a pretty good watch to gain some more information
and trivia on the series. Executive Producer Mark Burnett
discusses his inspiration of how it came to be as well as
finding the island and how he got the rights to shoot there.
Host Jeff Probst gives his input on getting the job and the
show in general as well. Each also talks about the cast and
other aspects of the show. If you're interested in some
background and the show's creative process, gives this
"documentary" a whirl, it's worth your time. Again,
Paramount offers subtitles on their extras, which is always
a really great touch.
The next sections is more like the "Survivor
Encyclopedia". Episode Summaries gives the title as
well as all the important plot points on each episode. This
includes happenings, challenge results and how everyone
voted. To brush up on your "Survivor" knowledge and to get a
glance back on the episodes in general, this section is for
you. I found this to be a very worthwhile addition.
Survivors gives you the lowdown on all sixteen
cast aways, where you learn their personal information,
their favorite things, a whole voting history and their
final words in a nice presentation with video where we hear
and see the cast aways themselves on the final tribal
council with the voting (and it is uncensored). This gives
you all you need to know about the famous sixteen who are
still using their fifteen minutes of fame (Colleen has a
movie with Rob Schneider due out in June 2001).
Finally, rounding it off is a whole section on The
Island itself. There you can get a little map, and learn
about the terrain, wildlife and climate. There are also
pictures and text about some of the locations such as the
Tribal Council and the tribe beaches.
This is surprisingly a nice disc for a revolutionary
(well, in a sense) TV series. The picture quality is great,
the 5.1 is good and the extra features will feed any fan of
the show's appetite. I know so many of us would have liked
the whole series, but this disc is just fine. The retail is
also pretty low (20 bucks, not your usual 30 dollar
Paramount DVD) making this a very good buy if you're a fan
of the series. There's also no denying this is a cash-in
technique as well, since "Survivor II" is just around the
corner. Highly recommended if you enjoyed the show.
 (4/5, NOT
included in final score)
 (4.5/5)
 (3.5/5)
 (2.5/5)
(4/5,
NOT an average)
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