Plot: What’s it about?
“Survivor” is the show that started the reality television boom that is just now starting to wane. The first season caught America (the world, actually) by storm as we saw a now incarcerated Richard Hatch claim the million dollar prize. With the second season, “Survivor: The Australian Outback” we saw a more over the top cast and it was arguably a better season with Tina Wesson winning the money over crowd favorite Colby Donaldson. The buzz from the show started to wear off, but “Survivor” is still a Top 5 show in the Nielsen’s and each new season brings with it a new group of interesting and rather diverse group of castaways. “Survivor: Pearl Islands” saw the show go to Panama (and, as of this writing the new season is back in Panama for “Exile Island” – kudos to Paramount’s Marketing department and an “A” for timing there) with a “pirate” theme. As in seasons’ past there were 16 castaways divided into two groups of eight. The game proceeded as normal with one being voted off each week. But then…a twist!
Mark Burnett is known for throwing twists into the game of “Survivor” but the “Ghost Tribe” twist is one of the most controversial. The first six members who were booted from the game were given a chance to compete and re-enter the game. As luck would have it, two of them were let back in and it made the season a little more interesting. But when we talk about an “interesting” season, there was more to it than this twist. Two things stand out for me when it comes to “Pearl Islands” first is Johnny Fairplay’s lie about his grandmother being dead. He told this at the family reward challenge to play off the emotions of his competitors. Naturally, in reality, she was alive and well and Fairplay came off as one of the biggest villains in reality television. The other thing is Rupert. Rupert is a larger than life personality who looks like a biker/hippie. He went on to the All-Stars (the very next season) where he lost the game, but was eventually voted the most popular Survivor and it netted him $1 million.
“Survivor” is a show that is still leading the pack in terms of reality television. Great casting, exotic locales and lessons in human nature keep the core audience coming back for more and more twice a year. “Survivor: Pearl Islands” is considered to be one of the better seasons the show had to offer and though everyone has their favorite, it’s hard to argue that this season wasn’t entertaining. Some other highlights include the game’s first quitter in Osten – a man built like a Greek God but who got psyched out and was the first to lay down his torch. True fans of “Survivor” will no doubt snatch this up without a second thought and for those that might have missed this season; this is a good place to start. And if Panama is your cup of tea, check out “All-Stars” and the impending “Exile Island” – all of which take place there. We can only hope that more seasons of the show are on the way, but there are now four seasons available and that’s a good thing.
Video: How does it look?
“Survivor: Pearl Islands” is presented how most reality television is shown – in full-frame format. That said, the image is very crisp, showing all the beauty of Panama. While we would get some more detail if the image were anamorphic, it quite simply isn’t possible. As an avid viewer of the show I can say that these DVD’s were well on par with the digital broadcast that I’ve become accustomed to. Rupert’s tie-die shirt doesn’t exactly jump off the screen but there’s no edge enhancements or artifacting to be found. Suffice it to say that “Pearl Islands” looks just as good as when originally aired a few years back.
Audio: How does it sound?
Audio-wise this sounds as good as one might expect. A reality television show isn’t really known for dynamic audio and the Dolby Surround mix on these discs is more than enough. Russ Landau’s score is prevalent throughout the season and adds a nice mix of the tropics as well. Dialogue, the main factor in “Survivor”, sounds warm and natural. When watching a television show on DVD there are different factors to consider as opposed to when you’re watching a theatrical release. This set more than adequately represents the same audio experience you’d get if watching it on the actual broadcast – nothing more and nothing less.
Supplements: What are the extras?
Paramount has missed the boat a bit on the supplements after their features on some of the other seasons. There are commentaries on five episodes by a mixture of the cast (seven in all) with one of the more lively tracks being between Sandra Diaz-Twine and the infamous Johnny “Fairplay” Dalton on “The Great Lie”. Other cast members offer up their thoughts with Rupert, Christa, Andrew, Ryan and Burton on some other episodes. There are two bona fide featurettes included on the last disc. First up is “Pirates’ Tales” which is more of a retrospective look back at the season and all of its twists and turns. The same seven cast members are present here reflecting back on the season, the “Dead Grandmother” lie and the appearance of the ghost tribe. Producer Mark Burnett offers his thoughts on the cast as does host Jeff Probst. More interesting are the “Game Strategies” by the different players. You can select any player and are taken to a pre-show interview with them telling how they think they’ll win the million. Footage from the season is shown that usually contradicts what they said they’d do, but it’s interesting to see how these people differ from pre-game to the actual game. And that’s it. Some of the previous seasons have had deleted scenes and more commentary tracks but I’m not complaining here. “Pearl Islands” isn’t my favorite season of “Survivor” but its right up there and it’s good to have another season of this on DVD to say the least.
