MovieChat Forums > The Tribe (1999) Discussion > One of the Best Concepts in TV History?

One of the Best Concepts in TV History?

posted 9 years ago by sauly151188
4 replies | jump to latest

With the virus wiping out all adults, and leaving behind a world of frightened and alone children/teenagers, the initial goal for all is finding a new home and a new 'family' where they can survive in this 'horrific' post virus world.

Tribes form as the title suggests and competing 'ideals' and ways of doing things is the name of the game.

Add to this the over arching theme there after, one of creating a new world for themselves and always trying to do better than the generations that came before and 'wrecked the world as we know it'.

The brains behind this show created a wonderful show, sometimes the budget and young actors don't deliver the full potential, but considering the show came from a relatively 'minor' studio, took all its talent and locations from New Zealand and had a budget hardly comparative to today's TV boom, they did a terrific job in following through on the ambitious and one of a kind concept.

The phenomenon it became worldwide has made it cult classic and one that still has people talking today and calling for a movie and more of the official novels etc.

I can't think of many concepts better or more original for a TV Show :) Agree? Lets start a convo about the different themes of the show and how well they were executed and any other shows with gutsy and unique concepts.

[–] eisphoenix-655-672150 9 years ago

It was just a cheesy TV show (which was why a lot of people liked it) with some moments of greatness and for a kids' show and a science fiction show it had an interesting level of reality and some quite dark, adult themes (teenage pregnancies, rape, forced prostitution, eating disorder, drug/alcohol abuse, abortion...), but overall it wasn't that original. If you want some sort of continuation show check out Jeremiah (with Luke Perry), which was basically The Tribe 10 years later, and I am pretty sure they weren't even aware of The Tribe. A world only populated by kids (for various reasons) had been done in science fiction before, so the idea wasn't really new.
Also I wouldn't call it a cult classic, a cult classic is something that is instantly recognized by a lot of people. The Tribe has it's loyal fanbase, even 12 years after the cancellation (and yes, I prefer to forget everything about The New Tomorrow, which wasn't even aired in Germany, where The Tribe hat its 2nd largest fanbase), but that fanbase is relatively small.
Another problem is that most of the kids weren't that good at acting. Yes, some of their acting skills improved over the years, but there is a reason why only four or so of the actors had a mayor acting carrer after The Tribe, most of them haven't even uploaded a photo here at imdb.
And the movie Raymond Thompson is fantasizing about since The Tribe got axed: It's either a marketing thing to sell more books or he's dillusional (and seeing some of the interviews and comments he gave after Season 6 got axed, I'd say its the 2nd option). There is absolutely no way a movie will ever be made, nobody is interested in funding it (except from a relatively small fanbase who think it could be funded via croudfunding), and it would basically suck, because the original cast is way too old and/or has moved on and a new cast simply wouldn't work. Raymond Thompson seems to think that his show is in the same league as Star Trek TOS, which it simply isn't.

[–] rateater (10081) a year ago

it was the star wars of postapocalyptic kid world tv shows. great characters and actors.

[–] DoctorThirteen (14227) a year ago

I'd forgotten about this show! I used to watch it with my kids. They loved it.

[–] rateater (10081) a year ago

good to hear.