SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Ceticultsot Beautiful, moving film.

Yash Wade Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

jdwaite59 I'd seen the re-make recently and enjoyed it, but was frustrated by the abrupt ending midway through season 2. I figured, I know the original is going to be a cheesy 70's production, but I like the basic storyline and I'll at least get 3 full seasons out of it. What a mistake. Aside from the horrid filming (unavoidable for 70's era TV) the acting is atrocious. And both of these pale in comparison to the worst writing I think I've ever seen. I don't just mean the script but the entire storyline. The characters make mistakes no sensible person in that situation would make and never learn from them. Nevertheless, I was determined to stick with it until episode 9, "Law & Order", which is inexplicably the favorite of other reviewers I've seen. First, the idea that any group of people would allow an obvious degenerate like Tom Price to join them after he's held 2 of the women hostage at gunpoint and tried to force them to trade sex for food is laughable. They know he's a drunk and a lecher, yet he's welcomed into their society without as much as a discussion. Then, after he's raped and killed one of their members, no one even thinks to mention his name as a suspect, even though he'd been visibly drunk, obnoxious and bothering one of the other women at the "party" the night of the murder. No, instead they "convict" a mildly retarded and good-hearted man, then decide execution is the only way to settle the issue. When the tragic error is discovered (too late), the idiot leader who railroaded the whole scenario along decides they can't tell the truth about the matter or they'll undo all the "good" they've accomplished so far. Got news for you, Greg, if you've just wrongly executed an innocent retarded man based on nothing but your flimsy, meandering logic, while the real and obvious killer is sitting right there, you haven't "built" anything worthwhile and you shouldn't be in charge of anything other than tinkering with fuel pumps and such. And then, they allow the murderer to stay with the group! No worries about the children now, no talk of banishment, why? Because they need him to help them farm! This is absurd on so many levels, my head hurts. Needless to say, out came the disc, and into the mail with it before any more damage could be done. I don't usually take the time to shred bad movies, but in this case I've made an exception to, hopefully, save other viewers of the new series the pain of what I just went through with the original.

harvey-ratchford The saddest part of this "business" is that Carolyn Seymour got fired after season one because she was accused of being an alcoholic by the ass-hole producer/boss. She was the star! The writing was great but degraded over time and do not watch the final season as they let it all go to hell (I know as I own the DVDs and having watched it as a teen in the 1970s when it meant something to me). And it still does.The story is that a disease has killed most of us. Season one is as about as good as it gets for anyone interested in what happens when most of us die and we must now try to survive when the food and the gas gets low. It is science fiction but I think the acting/characters are great and how they relate and strangely it has its moments. Classic post-apolcoliptic fiction but told with wonderful humanity at times. I feel it after many watchings still.HHR

filmbforever When an enigmatic unnamed scientist accidentally infects himself with a lethal engineered virus he unwittingly spreads it world wide via air travel. Focusing on London, England we see the effects of the virus as millions succumb and civilization collapses accordingly. The story hones in on a handful of emotionally scarred survivors who come together and attempt the difficult and painful reconstruction of a new society no longer able to depend on supplied science and technology. In one episode entitled "Law and order" the survivor's group are faced with a rape and murder of one of their number following a raucous celebration. An intellectually disabled member is falsely accused and sentenced to death with the killer himself voting for the man's execution. After one of the group leaders carries out the killing, he learns the identity of the real killer and is forced to allow him to stay in the group and withhold the information as the news of the tragic error would permanently splinter and destroy what they fought, against enormous odds, to create. Survivors is gripping stuff; well acted, cleverly written and creatively directed - if you like character driven Sci - Fi drama then this is for you.

spook-15 This series was first shown on peak-time on Sundays on B.B.C. 1 (the prime channel) and regularly attracted audiences in millions including a precocious ten year old (me!) and his siblings. The reason was simple: it was the best adult oriented S.F. drama series the B.B.C. had ever made. They have never made anything better since. And it was very powerful, very realistic, completely believable, terrifyingly accurate and very scary on a psychological "what if?" level. Characters behaved in the way that people behave in real crises (such as civil wars) when the veneer of civilisation falls away: some try to grab power, some become natural leaders, some want to be led, others give up in despair and kill themselves. The series didn't flinch from showing all that or sugar coat the pill - and was much the better for it. The B.B.C. had the pick of the best T.V. and stage character actors around to cast it, plots never plumbed the depths of cliche, stories and themes were rarely if ever neatly resolved. It made a huge impact on the British national consciousness: episodes were being talked about in offices, factories and school playgrounds for days afterwards. If you consider that it was broadcast before anyone had ever heard of A.I.D.S., H.I.V., B.S.E., C.J.D. or G.M.O.s then I think it fair to say it was way ahead of it's time. And, sadly, like a lot of the finest T.V. produce of the B.B.C. and independent T.V. in Britain of the 1970s and 1980s - nowhere is it available on video.