MovieChat Forums > Survivors (1975) Discussion > Anyone else get mad at the children?

Anyone else get mad at the children?

posted 15 years ago by yojimboy
9 replies | jump to latest

It seemed like in series 1 & 2 there was a too-often repeated plot device that would repeatedly put everyone in danger because no one was watching the children. We were constantly presented scenes where the children would wander into danger and put everyone at risk, such as when John and Lizzie marched out and told the abusive trader about the hidden pregnant woman and that one kid who walks in to the quarrantine barn with Paul as he's dying of the plague. It got to the point where I disliked them. It got ridiculous at the point where John drops the firing pin to the shotgun which almost gets Greg killed when hunting the sniper, and then the kids run out in front of the sniper minutes later, putting everyone in danger again.

[–] Hungerhill 15 years ago

Certainly the boy was a hopeless actor and got on your nerves.

[–] paengmanila 14 years ago

Probably expected from kids who had been used to earlier living, but they do sound more mature in the third series.

[–] Banjo_oz 14 years ago

John annoyed me (his interviews as an adult are very interesting, he's the son of the producer) but I thought Lizzie was not just well acted but a great character with some great moments.

Sadly, she was the daughter of one of the writers, who fell out with the above-mentioned producer! So, in season 3, the actress was 'replaced' and when they finally focused on the kids again, it was on poor John. :(

[–] joedogboy68 13 years ago

Part of the problem is that nobody really pays attention to the kids. They are often unsupervised while doing dangerous things, when they could be gainfully employed helping an adult to do something productive. After the first few times that Hubert causes trouble by telling them lies, you'd expect the other adults to warn them not to listen to him - but he continues to be their major source of "information" even after the first time it risks the lives of group members.

[–] Darth_Ferior 13 years ago

Actually there have been several occasions where I've watched a film or TV program where there is a hopeless child actor, and my first thought is that this must be the child of the director or producer, e.g. Fistful of Dollars, American Werewolf in London.

However I thought that Stephen Dudley and Tanya Ronder were pretty good. I especially liked the way Tanya acted with Nicholas Grace, and I found out later that he is her godfather.

The script they were given was a bit annoying though, with lines such as "Liquid Butane", "Rabbits and Cabbage", "I'm hungry Mummy", but you need to blame the script writer for that.

They needed these kids to make it more of a challenge to survive, such as John leaving the chicken gate open, telling the gold trader about the woman they were hiding, playing with the guns, and of course the other kid who went into the quarantine hut whilst Paul was dying.

I wonder what would have happened to them in the end? Would someone have told them that Greg didn't mean what he said in their final meeting, did they get married, and feed their kids on rabbits and cabbage cooked on a stove powered by liquid butane?

[–] hugh1971 13 years ago

I did find them annoying, although Lizzie was quite sweet. Most of their conversations seemed to consist of:

LIZZIE I want to do x.
JOHN You can't!

or

DANGEROUS STRANGER Hello little children...
LIZZIE/JOHN Hello. Shall we tell you something that will really **** things up for everybody?

[–] skelk 11 years ago

They did the same in the walking dead with Carl constantly wandering off and getting into trouble.

In Survivors the part that really freaked me out was when the boy tells one of the three angels that he is going to die and he gives a smile that would frighten the kid out of the Omen. I half expected him to turn into a psychopathic maniac in a later episode but I guess that was just dodgy acting.

[–] jtalh2003 11 years ago

To be honest it would not have surprised me if they caused the plague that wiped out 99% of humanity playing catch with the test tube of disease they stole from daddy's laboratory

[–] yojimboy 11 years ago

A hilarious reply!