Plot: What’s it about?
“Survivor” is now entering its eighth season and, evidently, the producers of the show thought that it needed more of a twist than usual. Hence, the “All-Stars” was born. This version of the show had been talked about for some time, having the so-called “favorite” or “best” players back from the previous seasons to play the game again and see who really the best was. This was of course, the downfall of the series. But if a “downfall” could be described in a good way, this was it. The show finished at #2 in the Nielsen’s and at #4 was “Survivor: Pearl Islands” in which we were introduced to the infamous “Johnny Fairplay”. What the All-Stars season was supposed to do was combine the best of the best (or the best of the worst if you consider Sue and Jerri), to really see who played the game the best. Granted, there were players who should have been there (Brian from Thailand, Mike Stupin from Australia and countless others) who weren’t and it’s not really fair to say that the 18 castaways (bumped up from 16 in previous seasons) were a true representation of “the best of the best”. Egos play a big part of this game and would someone who won $1 million dollars the first time around be likely to do it again? Evidently the answer was “Yes” as four previous winners of the game: Richard, Tina, Ethan and Jenna signed on to outwit, outlast and outplay a second time around. Was their motivation money, fame or both? This is the classic case of something sounding good in theory, but in execution – it just didn’t work (well, for the ratings it did; but for the fans…no).
We have the same game plan that is present for every other season. Much has happened since Richard and Rudy played the game for the first time. Now Richard and Rudy are four years older, but millions of people have seen it season after season and what worked in the first season might not work now. Half of the 18 castaways were made up of the first two seasons. From Borneo we have Richard Hatch (winner and widely still considered the best person to play the game), Sue, Rudy, and Jenna (who made some headlines of her own just after the conclusion of this season). From Australia were Colby, Tina (winner), Alicia, Amber and Jerri. Africa had three members (of the “Boran Boys Club” no less) with “Big” Tom, Lex and Ethan (winner). Marquesas had the spunky Kathy and infamous “Boston” Rob. Thailand’s lone representative was Shii-Ann, the first Asian-American to play the game. From the Amazon we had Jenna (winner) and the “best player to not win” Rob Cesternino. Rounding out the cast was the pirate, Rupert from Pearl Islands. So what happens when you have strategic and popular favorites from America’s favorite reality show all competing for $1 million…again? Could it be fireworks? Could it be…predictable? The answer to both is “yes”. For the folks who watched the first couple of seasons (like me) and then tuned out, it was nice to see some familiar faces again. But who were the rest of these characters and why won’t they disappear off my television screen (a question I’m still asking myself today with Boston Rob and Amber)? Regardless of how you view it, “All-Stars” was a success and it was fun to watch. The challenges were culminations from the previous seasons and though the faces were a bit different (to some extent), it was inevitable who would make it to the “Final Four”. Fun? Exciting? Probst’s dimples? The answer to all three is a resounding “Yes”! The good news is that another season of “Survivor” is on DVD. The bad news is that it’s the worst season out there. More good news: any future season released will undoubtedly be better. This tribe has spoken…
Video: How does it look?
Survivor is a television show and hence is full-frame, though there are shows that are filmed in widescreen. The colors are rich and bright and adequately reflect the atmosphere, the show looks as good as any others I’ve seen (television-wise). I saw no real compression artifacts, the black levels were dead on and the detail was incredible. Colors are a bit more rich than during the original broadcast and there is a bit more detail than that in the “Borneo” season. This looks as good as a television show can (one filmed in 4:3 that is). A very nice, clear picture.
Audio: How does it sound?
The Dolby Digital Surround mix sounds as it did when the shows originally aired (earlier this year). Though there is some more depth to it, as the sound is done in the digital domain. This is a pretty straight-forward mix here as with TV, we get crisp dialogue and very little going on in the background. Surrounds are used very sparingly as well. This mix is best classified as a good surround mix…which it is. Suffice it to say that if you like the way it sounds on Thursday nights, then you’ll be more than pleased with the way it sounds here.
Supplements: What are the extras?
In terms of supplements, “Survivor All-Stars” has plenty to go around, most notably the commentary tracks from most of the survivors on most of the episodes. The “conspicuously absent” on the commentary tracks are: Ethan (winner – Africa), Colby (runner-up Australia), Big Tom (Africa), Richard (winner – Borneo), Sue (Borneo) and Jerri (Australia). They do their respective tracks in groups of four and it’s interesting as each segment seems to take on a different personality. For example, the first group contains Jenna (Amazon), Rob C. (Amazon), Tina (Australia) and Rudy (Borneo). Rudy hardly says a word, except when he’s asked a question and for the most part, it seems to be a duel between Amazon tribe mates Rob and Jenna. Rob constantly cracks jokes and makes this first segment rather enjoyable. Also, the tracks were done in the order these contestants were voted off. These were 1-4, the next are 5-8 and so on. The next group contains Lex (Africa), Kathy (Marquesas), Alicia (Australia) and Shii-Ann (Thailand) and they make no mistake about which they like and don’t like (Boston Rob). The game really got cut throat later on and their hatred for Boston Rob (and to an extent, Amber) is shown here. Lastly, we get commentaries from the “Final Four”: Rupert (Pearl Islands), Jenna (Borneo), Boston Rob (Marquesas) and Amber (Australia). These folks don’t seem to be nearly as bitter as they made out pretty well financially. For those that have been living in a cave the last few months, Boston Rob and Amber are now engaged and use any and every opportunity to appear on television to show their affection for each other.
That covers the commentary tracks, but we’re just getting started. This season of “Survivor” had two reunion shows, the first was just like the rest where the winner (Amber) was crowned and also had the cast talking about the season. There were the usual fireworks, with Rob’s proposal to Amber (taking the very cheesy route – proposing to someone on TV) and the audience booing Jerri so badly that she literally walked out of the show. A second reunion was shown in which America chose the winner of a second million dollars. Call it what you want, but it was just a popularity contest (I voted for Rudy). Rupert, the tie-died pirate from “Pearl Islands”, walked off with a cool million. But wait – there’s more! Each disc also contains a few behind the scenes featurettes, mainly consisting of some deleted footage. These vary from disc to disc such as the “Chapera Mock Tribal Council” which took place after Jenna M. left the game. The quite funny “Bit Tom Gets Drunk” shows just that – Tom getting drunk on the reward challenge. Odd…he got pretty drunk in his Africa season as well. I like this guy.
There are also some exclusive featurettes on the seventh disc (dedicated solely to supplements):
Behind the Dream Team – This focuses on the Challenge coordinator and his team of 18-25 year olds who test the challenges and make sure they’re “doable”. Scratches and cuts? Fine. Anything more serious and it might need to be looked at some more…
Anthology with the All-Stars – This is more of a look back at all of the first seasons ranging from Richard and Sue’s first interaction, to some of the more gripping moments in the show’s history. Players, challenges and everything in between are all shown here in somewhat of a music video format.
Casting the Castaways – Casting director Lynne Spillman tells how some of the Survivors are cast (hint: personality, personality, personality) and clips from some of the audition videos are shown. Naturally, most are available from the CBS web site, but I still want to see Rob C’s audition video! New interviews with some of the All-Stars are shown as well and all try to give advice on how to make it on the show which is real original: be yourself.
The Big Night – This shows the set up process and the Survivors arriving at Madison Square Garden. This isn’t too terribly interesting, we get to see the castaways get ready for the big night and what it took to physically assemble the .
Survivor Profiles – Each member of the All-Stars cast has about four to five minutes with interviews and clips from their respective seasons. Mainly the scenes are all stuff we’ve seen before but they can be played all together or individually.
Promos – Each season can be selected (up through All-Stars of course) with anywhere from two to five CBS promos for that season. These range from the premiere to tribal councils to the finale. It’s interesting to see how they over hyped some pretty insignificant events (Thailand – “does anyone want to switch tribes”…). Nevertheless, every season is represented albeit not equally.
The bottom line is that “Survivor” is more popular than ever. This is the second season available on DVD and fans of the show are eagerly waiting for more. With the plethora of supplements that Paramount has supplied, fans are literally drooling for more and more seasons (and I’m one of them).
