Why the Colony is my favorite survival TV show

Originally posted 2017-04-11 16:44:57.

Survival TV shows became quite the big deal in the run up to the ‘2012’ hysteria.  There were lots of shows that caught on to the idea that people were preparing for, or at least fascinated by, big disasters or shit hitting the fan.   My favorite of all these shows that came out was Discovery Channel’s The Colony which was short lived with only two seasons, but I still re-watch the second season from time to time.  I have seen the first season, which was interesting, but the setting and scenario of the 2nd season seemed a lot more captivating in my opinion.  The participants in the 2nd season were also a little less ‘hand picked’ and didn’t include a bunch of engineers and doctor types, like the first season did.

The 2nd season of The Colony aired on Discovery in 2010.  It takes place after a fictional disease called the ‘nuclear flu’ (how creative, guys)  has wiped out most of the world’s population.  The participants are uninfected survivors that have been collected by the Viral outbreak Protection Agency (VOPA) in order to create a new colony and rebuild.  The show somehow acquired the rights to use a few busted up city blocks in New Orleans that were still devastated following Hurricane Katrina.  This made for a much more interesting setting than the first season of the show, which mostly took place in a large warehouse in Los Angles.   This season also seemed to focus more on some basic projects the colonists built for survival that would be more widely applicable in a real world scenario.

The characters in the 2nd season of the Colony were:

• Jim, a carpenter and devout Christian
• George, an artist and inventor
• Deville, a retired contractor
• Becca, a model
• Sally, an auto mechanic
• Sian, a teacher
• Rino, a construction foreman
• Michael, an anatomy instructor
• Amber, a logger and woodworker
• (later on) Tick, a marine sniper and survivalist

Throughout the series, the colonists are met with several different challenges, from roving gangs trying to steal their resources to dealing with the elements of down pouring rain and fires, kidnappings, bartering and more.  While some of the staged interactions and scenarios that happen in the show are kind of cheesy, it still gives the viewer a basic idea of what surviving in a scenario like this could look like.  I think the coolest part of both seasons of the Colony were the various projects and inventions the colonists built together in order to bring some level of civilization back to their lives.  In the second season, these projects included:

• Sand water filter
• Bio fuel from pig carcasses
• creating a generator out of an old tractor
• a forge for metal working
• a ‘bridge’ (Looking at you, Jim)
• a shower
• a cistern
• a power generating windmill
• a scout motorcycle
• various weaponry from the forge
• a still to produce alcohol and fuel
• a watch tower
• a propeller, which ultimately becomes the propulsion for an airboat

Probably the most fascinating part of this show is watching how the interactions between the participants evolve and become a little more chaotic the longer the experiment goes – there are several points within the show that they demonstrate the extreme weight loss that has occurred in a relatively short time due to the calorie restricted diets and hard manual labor that they have to perform every day to survive.  You also see the participants begin to argue, bicker and become more and more clouded in their mental capacities as time goes on.   I think this in particular is worthwhile to take note of, and essentially the main thing on the colonists mind throughout the series is food.  How to find food, how to protect food, etc.  This unfortunately leads to the colonists getting raided multiple times due to their limited focus on security of their home.

The show is no longer available on Netflix unfortunately, but you can still find some (most) episodes on YouTube.  If  you haven’t watched The Colony, and you have an interest in post disaster survival type material,   I suggest it for both some entertainment and some thought provoking content.

Copyright belongs to the creators of the TV show.  I am just a fan! 🙂