ALL THREE SERIES of Survivors have
been released in two different DVD formats in Italy. In 1975 and 1976
Survivors received an extremely strong popular and critical reception
in Italy, and the show continues to enjoy a strong cult reputation in
the country. A full Italian DVD release of the series has therefore been
long anticipated.
When first shown in Italy, cuts were made to Survivors.
These new fully-complete versions have been re-dubbed into Italian (as
the show was when originally transmitted on Italian TV - in edited form),
but both releases also include the original English soundtrack. In 2009-2010 Survivors
was released both as a part-work, available in newsagents,
and as a three separate box-sets.
Italian Survivors DVD part-work
Released under the Hobby & Work imprint,
Survivors were issued in a set of DVD part-works, with
each release including two episodes (see the illustration of the first
release above).
Hobby & Work released all 38 episodes of the
programme over the course of 19 issues. The first DVD in the set was released on 27 December 2008
The first
double-episode DVD includes
a short full-colour booklet (see illustration below)
The launch of the release was promoted by television adverts on
the Italian terrestrial stations Canale5, Italia1
and La7 and on satellite station SKY FOXCRIME.
The company have loaded a seven-second promotional video to YouTube (which is understood to be identical to the TV advertisement).
Italian series one DVD box-set
Released on the Yamato Video and Dolmen Home Video labels,
the first series DVD set includes all 13 episodes of series one, complete
with English and Italian audio tracks (and Italian subtitles)
Each episode features a slightly extended end credit sequence to include the names of the voice actors and various production staff involved with the release. This effect is achieved by looping a section of the closing musical theme and freeze framing the on-screen image
This release includes some (though not all) of the special
features previously included on the DD Video and DD Home Entertainment
releases - specifically the interviews with cast and crew (which are
accompanied with Italian subtitles rather than being dubbed), and
the mute cine-camera footage from the recording of A Beginning.
However, the episode commentaries on The Fourth Horseman
or Law and Order and the photo galleries are not
included
Rescheduled several times, the first series DVD set was released on 4 February 2009
Yamato has now released series two (see below) and plans to release series three "to form
the complete edition"
Italian series two DVD box-set
Released on the Yamato Video and Dolmen Home Video labels,
the first series DVD set includes all 13 episodes of series two, complete
with English and Italian audio tracks (and Italian subtitles)
Each episode features a slightly extended end credit sequence to include the names of the voice actors and various production staff involved with the release. This effect is achieved by looping a section of the closing musical theme and freeze framing the on-screen image
This release includes some (though not all) of the special
features previously included on the DD Video and DD Home Entertainment
releases - specifically the interviews with cast and crew (which are
accompanied with Italian subtitles rather than being dubbed). However,
the episode commentary on The Lights of London II
and the photo galleries are not included
Italian series three DVD box-set
Released on the Yamato Video and Dolmen
Home Video labels, the first series DVD set includes all
12 episodes of series three, complete with English and Italian audio
tracks (and Italian subtitles)
Each episode features a slightly extended end credit sequence to include the names of the voice actors and various production staff involved with the release. This effect is achieved by looping a section of the closing musical theme and freeze framing the on-screen image
This release includes some (though not all) of the special
features previously included on the DD Home Entertainment release
- specifically the New World Rising documentary on
the making of series three. However, the episode commentaries on Law
of the Jungle and Mad Dog and the photo
galleries are not included
To celebrate and promote the launch of the series three
box-set, a premiere screening of episodes from Survivors third series was held in the La Capella Underground cinema in Trieste in May 2009. As series three was never broadcast on Italian television, this was the first time that these Survivors episodes have secured a public screening in Italy. As part of the build-up to the series three premier, earlier episodes from Survivors first two series were also screened - including The Fourth Horseman, Garland's War, Lights of London and Parasites
Many thanks to Luca for helping with information
about these releases.
Background to the Yamato release
Italian DVD label Yamato confirmed its intention to the release
an Italian DVD boxset of Survivors series one in 2007. The company
announced that the release would include both Italian and English audio
tracks, as well as Italian subtitles. Yamato's catalogue listing also
indicated that the release would include "behind-the-scenes interviews
with the actors and crew" - which suggested that the company had licensed
at least some of the 'special features' material include in the original
2003 UK release by (what was then) DD Video. The listing also suggested
that the boxset will include an unspecified 'trailer'.
The original release date for the set was 1 May 2008, but
- following a number of delays - the set was made available in early 2009.
In the beginning they thought that it was just a normal influenza epidemic. Then people started dying. Then they realised that this was something new and frightening: a completely new disease; incredibly contagious it spread around the globe with terrifying speed... Now humanity stands on the brink of complete extinction. The few who remain alive inherit and all-but-empty world; where they are forced to confront the challenge of rebuilding the world from scratch, and need to learn again long-forgotten technologies. They had come from a society able to put men on the moon, but now, as individuals, the survivors of the plague have the skills and capabilities of the iron age. Nonetheless, they have no choice but to fight to survive and to ensure above all else that human life on the planet is not extinguished for ever...
Yamato will present this legendary TV series, a masterpiece of British science fiction, in a new remastered and unedited version. The intention is, in due course, to release all three series of the original series.
The first series of 13 episodes will be presented in a single boxset; which will be followed by two further boxsets to complete the release.
Audio: Italian 2,0, English 1,0 Subtitles: Italian Extras: Behind-the-scenes interviews with the actors and crew Format video: 4:3 Trailer: Yes
Developed from an initial Babelfish translation
Yamato Video plans Italian series one DVD
The Italian cult DVD company Yamato Video announced its plans for an Italian-dubbed release of Survivors series one on DVD in 2007
When Survivors was broadcast in Italy (under the
title I Sopravvissuti), first by RAI (1978-1982) and then by
TMC (1983), the series was a critical and ratings hit. The first two series
were entirely re-dubbed by Italian actors and the episodes saturated by
extensive background music selected by the Italian broadcasters. In the
end, the third series of Survivors was not licenced for broadcast
in Italy; although Terry Nation's Survivors novel was translated and published by three Italian publishers between 1978 and 1980.
Yamato Video indicated that they intended, later in 2007,
to release a dubbed version of series one, although few details about
the release were as yet confirmed. The licensing complications that would
follow any attempt to resurrect the earlier TV version of Survivors
series one, made it seem likely any Italian release would need to be re-dubbed
afresh; and the inclusion of background music re-assessed from scratch.
The following is a translation of the company's announcement of its plans for the release:
Yamato Video to release Survivors
Another TV classic is soon to be released on
DVD, courtesy of Yamato Video — a leading distributor in Italy
of animated Japanese features and live action cult series: recognised
cult classics from an earlier television era.
With the
current success of major American TV shows such as Lost (2004-) and
Jericho (2006-) now is an ideal time to rediscover an earlier English
television series that enjoyed both popular and critical success:
Survivors, a three-series end-of-the-world drama produced by the BBC
in the 1970s. Thirty-nine episodes of the show together attempt to
answer the most alarming of questions: "what if the world we all know
unexpectedly ended?" The end of the world in Survivors takes the shocking
and dramatic form of a pandemic, unleashed by a virus that kills more
than 95 per-cent of the earth's population and which spares neither
industrialised nations nor the developing world. All corners of the
globe succumb to the spread of this invisible killer.
Only a few fortunate
people survive the calamity, and they must now try to find way to
live in the new, desolate and empty world. Knowing that the loss of
civilisation is total and irreversible, these survivors must band
together in the ruins of the world and stand up to those who would
try to amass power and profit from this tragedy. The only alternative
is to isolate oneself completely for anyone else remaining alive.
Into this post-apocalyptic setting, Survivors
introduces characters such as Greg Preston (played by actor Ian
McCulloch) who returns home from abroad to an alien and unrecognisable
country; housewife Abby Grant (Carolyn Seymour), who learns that
London is descending into chaos; or like secretary Jenny Richards
(Lucy Fleming) who flees from the capital as the contagion rages.
The three of them meet by chance, thrown together by the calamity,
and join forces in the quest to locate Abby's missing son. Other
men and women will join them as their adventures unfold, all of
whom have fled — in various ways — The Death in the
hope of finding new life.
First screened by the BBC in 1975, Survivors
had been created by Terry Nation, a writer whose background in the field
of comedy had developed into a passion for science fiction which would
culminate in the creation of the celebrated Blake's 7. Terry Nation
was known in the profession above all as a thrilling adventure writer
— one whose scripts focused more on action than the subtleties of
wordplay. Nation had originally pitched the idea of the series to
Andy Osborne, Head of BBC Drama in 1973, and on the strength of his
previous canon of work had been given the go-ahead.
Survivors mines
a number of rich dramatic themes: the dangers of unrestrained scientific experimentation;
the loss of civilisation; the instability of progress; humankind's
changed relationship with nature after The Death, and the regression of society to the level of the medieval.
The first series of 13 episodes
(first broadcast between April and July 1975) focuses on the loss
of the old world and the efforts of the survivors to find renewed
hope through the establishment of new communities and settlements.
The second series of a further 13 episodes (shown between March and
July 1976) examines in depth the challenges posed by the struggle
for long term survival, and the multiple dangers and problems the
survivors need now to confront. The third and concluding series (transmitted
in the UK between March and June 1977) is comprised of 12 episodes.
Amongst this final selection of Survivors stories, Mad Dog is recognised
as one of the most popular ever episodes amongst fans. This Survivors
classic was written by the veteran scriptwriter Don Shaw and brought
to the screen by the experienced director Tristan de Vere Cole.
Survivors was shot on location in often memorable
settings. The latter part of the first series made extensive use
of Hampton Court, near Hope-under-Dinmore — a regular destination
for location-visiting fans of the series, more interested in its
TV associations than the stately home's long and illustrious history.
Developed from an initial Babelfish translation
The news article appeared in the January edition of the Italian genre magazine Series:
Survivors: soon on DVD
Yamato Video has in store, some time in next few months,
an exceptionally welcome surprise for lovers of genre and cult TV.
The company is preparing the release of an Italian edition of the
classic seventies English series Survivors. This unique television
programme (three series of which were produced) can be seen as the
precursor of current shows such as Jericho and Lost, sharing with
them a deeply alarming end-of-the-world premise. In Survivors it
is an epidemic that has wiped out around 95% of the world's population.
More details about the project will be made available closer to
the release date. In the meantime - prepare yourselves!
For an authoritative and comprehensive guide to all aspects of Survivors read The End of the World?: The Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to Survivors, co-authored by Rich Cross and Andy Priestner. Published by Telos Publishing in December 2005, and now in its third printing.
Richly illustrated with behind-the-scenes photos, the book includes: Guides to the production of each of the three series of the show; reviews and analysis of all 38 episodes; assessments of the core themes of each series; character and location guides... and much more besides.
Survivors
Italian DVD releases
