Survivor: Borneo - Complete First Season [DVD] [2000] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

Then Charlie Parsons and Mark Burnett brought to CBS an idea that, while not entirely original in concept or design, was remarkably different than anything currently being aired in the United States. It was a "reality" show, based on the hit Swedish program "Expedition Robinson", in which a group of strangers were dumped on an island and forced to fend for themselves, and vote each other off one by one. They called their version "Survivor", and it kicked off a TV revolution that does not appear to be going away.

This first season of "Survivor" established all the rules which, eight seasons later, are considered gospel by fans and contestants alike: sixteen players are divided into two tribes where they must build shelter, find food, and compete in challenges. Lose the challenges and you face Tribal Council, where the tribe votes out one of its players, be they the weakest link, the bossiest leader, or the slimiest snake. Eventually the two tribes merge into one where the challenges become individual and the field is ultimately levelled to two remaining players who are judged by their fallen peers. One is left standing to claim the million-dollar prize and the title of Sole Survivor.

With these parameters, sixteen Americans volunteered to be the initial guinea pigs, and were marooned in Borneo. Some were there for the adventure, some for the fifteen minutes of fame, and some for the money. It was, in the end, a game, and those who sought the pot of gold proved the most ambitious. One of the only rules of Survivor is that you cannot conspire to share the prize money. The Pagong tribe, consisting of mainly younger players like Jenna Lewis, Colleen Haskell and Greg Buis, were quite content with this and opted to lay back and let the cards fall where they may. But the Tagi tribe (including Rudy Boesch, Susan Hawk, and, of course, Richard Hatch) discovered early on that you could bend the conspiracy rule without actually breaking it. If they all voted together as a bloc, they'd have the numerical advantage to ensure a slot in the final four or five. You could call it an arrangement, or agreement. They called it an alliance.

The alliance strategy ultimately proved the obvious way to go, and it was perhaps that one aspect of this first season which proved the most influential on the seasons which followed it; nearly every subsequent winner of the game has used a solid alliance to get them to the top. It is not always the ringleader, not always the strongest or smartest. No one person or personality is guaranteed victory in this wholly unique game, because the game is shaped by the people who play it, and no two people are the same. Survivor was an almost instant ratings smash, and the first season finale ranks among the most watched events in recent years, and this can be attributed not to its sex appeal or entertainment quotient, but its curiosity. Random people scheming and plotting to outlast each other in a democratic process. Survivor is, at its core, a microcosm of Western society and politics, a grand sociological experiment of the Pax Americana.

The DVD release of the complete first series allows many fans who have forgotten or did not see the original Pulau Tiga castaways to experience, or re-experience, the show that they fell in love with those four long years ago. And coming with the hindsight of eight sequel seasons (season nine is being cast as of this writing, and producer Burnett and host Jeff Probst are reportedly signed through season twelve), it is a real trip to go back and watch how it all started; when grubs were considered "gross food", sloppily-edited credits gave away future events (giving berth to the wild internet "spoiling" subculture), and "alliance" was considered a dirty word. Probst is shaky here; the job is new to him and there is no edge to his attitude. It is a new experience to him, as it is to everyone else. And all the great moments are here: Greg and his "coconut phone", Sean's alphabetical voting strategy, and of course Susan's infamous "snakes and rats" jury speech, often imitated but never duplicated.

Survivor fans will need a copy of Season One. Others may want to consider this as the perfect place to start catching up on what they've been missing.

In fact, I'd argue that watching the series again *after* the first time is the only way to completely grasp what makes SURVIVOR work so well, as being less focused on who is ousted from the island each episode allows the viewer to actually notice the details. New viewers, one-time viewers, and longtime fans alike should all be able to appreciate this set, while purchasing it will most likely determine whether later seasons are released onto DVD as well... so have at it.

(Speaking of later seasons, all of them contain a series of reactions and strategies against the standards set by this season, when the slate was clean and no one really knew how to play. The powerful reactions of the often innocent players, not expecting the backstabbing and deceit that everyone expects from this game now, are completely unique in that respect to this season of SURVIVOR, and remain gripping -- even emotional -- four years later.)

Here are some observations.

Cheesy stuff they don't do anymore, that I think is great in these episodes:

1) the gong going to tribal council
2) the treasure chest full of "money" (my note: what happened to this money during the rainy tribal councils? They never show it soggy)

More on the filming:

During most of the challenges, you can see boats out at sea that are supporting the production. Most of the time, the cruise ship they used for the crew is parked at the horizon, clearly visible in the scene. I heard helicopter noise during the filming of the merger challenge, where pagong lost for the last time to make it an even 5.

It is VERY amusing to watch the voting after the merge. Pagong pagonged ITSELF. This is hilarious. I just finished the episode where Jenna gets voted on by her entire tribe, even though the alphabet voting put greg out.

Another observation: whenever Jenna was on a tribe, the tribe did happy things. Pagong was a happy tribe as was Chapera. I think Jenna is under appreciated as a player on survivor.

I miss them casting a wide age range of players. If they bring that back, it will make the dynamics more interesting. BB's game strategy was a train wreck. Sonja was a great lady. I loved her singing that funny song to hatch.

Gretchen was an interesting survivor, she understood the game, as did Greg. How come we don't hear about these contestants?

If you haven't watched the new dvd set, I recommend that you watch the first CD all the way through WITHOUT the probst et al commentary turned on. Then go back and turn on the commentary and watch E1 all over again listening to the boys talk about the scenes as they unfold. This is great stuff. I wish they had commented on EVERY episode with more of the cast.

This was probably the best $35 i have spent on entertainment in quite some time. I hope they bring all the seasons out on DVD.

What I wish they will do for future sets:

1) after the credits for each episode, then show clips of the voting confessionals and ALL the insider clips that were on the CBS website each week.

2) Have cast commentaries on EACH episode by cast members of that season that you can turn on or off, like they did for episode 1 on this set.

3) Show audition tapes of cast members (I don't know if these are on this set, I am still watching disk 3)

Also for those purchasing this set, don't mistake the plastic on each CD case as something you have to rip off. I was bone headed and discovered AFTER I ripped off the plastic on my case that it was to hold the cover in place. The cd case itself was not sealed in plastic (dah). Oh well.