Survivor - The Complete First Season

No question, the most memorable moment of "Survivor: Borneo" was during the final tribal council when Sue Hawk unloaded on Kelly Wigglesworth. When Sue told Kelly "if I were ever to pass you in this life again, and you were laying there, dying of thirst, I would not give you a drink of water. I'd just let the vultures take you, and do whatever they want with you, with no ill regrets," everyone watching had their jaws on the ground. When Sue finished her speech and made her plea for the contest to end the way Mother Nature intended it with Richard the Snake eating Kelly the Rat, I can remember thinking that they can do "Survivor" until the end of time and they will never top that moment. Every time one of the jury members tells Jeff Probst that they want to make a statement rather than ask a question, they get judged against the Sue Hawk standard and they fail (It is like lighting the Olympic flame; no one will top using the archer at Barcelona).However, when I watched "Survivor: The Complete First Season" again on DVD what was confirmed for me was that the most pivotal moment in the show came in the tribal council at the end of Episode 7. This was not only when the road was paved for Richard Hatch to be the sole Survivor, but also when the course of American popular culture changed. This is because once Hatch won the million dollars, his strategy of alliance and deception became the template for how future competitors would attempt to outwit, outplay and outlast the others on "Survivor" but on "Big Brother" and virtually every other reality game show. But what people forget is that at the turning point in the series MOST of the castaways were playing the game quite differently.Episode 7 was the first tribal vote after the merger and you probably remember that Gretchen, who was the most popular of the contestants and the one we thought personified the skills of a true Survivor. But Gretchen was voted off because she had four of the ten votes cast. The four who voted for her were (surprise, surprise), Richard, Kelly, Sue, and Rudy. But do you recall the rest of the votes? Greg voted against Jenna, Jenna voted against Gervase, Gervase voted against Susan, Sean voted against Colleen, Colleen voted against Richard, and Gretchen voted against Rudy (remember, nobody ever voted against Kelly). In other words, the other six all voted for six different people. But not only did the former members of Pagong all vote for different people, instead of targeting a member of Tagi, but Greg and Jenna both voted against Pagong teamamates. All together now: What were they thinking?Well, in retrospect, I think it is clear that what the former members of Pagong were thinking when they mereged with Tagi into Rattana, was that they really were now one tribe. Needless to say, this is not a mistake that has been made since that day. Consequently most "Survivors" since then have featured a reshuffling of the tribes before the merger, just to keep things interesting. Unfortunately the commentary for these episodes on DVD is quite limited (but insightful for the first and last episodes), because I would have liked to have checked my hypothesis, which is that it was Gretchen herself, by word or deed, who propagated the idea that doomed first her and then the rest of the former Pagong players one by one by one.My thesis is that this was an event of great cultural significance. If Pagong had decided to target any one of the Tagi players, whether it was Rich or not, that would have been five votes to four and the steamroller would have been on their side. I do not think they would have voted for Rich, because he was providing food, and since Gretchen voted for Rudy that would be consistent with the Pagong approach of getting rid of the member of the tribe who was contributing the least. Play that token out to the end and Gretchen wins. Given who would have won (most qualified) and how they won (voting off the weakest and not the strongest member), the course of popular culture and American civilization would have been changed and, more importantly, changed for the better. Face it. This country was not built on the idea of taking out the strongest or the best. That is the goal, not the objective. Make Richard Hatch the role model and we are heading for a bizarre dystopia no one ever would have expected.The other thing that rewatching the original "Survivor" confirms is that Mark Burnett did a marvelous job of creating suspense when there was not any. After Episode 7, which was furiously debated around the nation's "watercoolers," the consensus was that unless the rest of the castaways wised up, the alliance of four was going to run the table. Which they did. But Burnett, aided by some the release of some computer alterred photographs, cut these episodes so that there was always a slim reed of hope that the alliance would be derailed. But it never happened. Who went home when the tribe spoke each week might have been a surprise, but it was never one of the alliance until they were the only ones left and started eating their own.I almost always like to watch movies twice because I like to see how the end game is set up, and that same approach is what makes watching "Survivor: The Complete First Season" interesting. Knowing the outcome informs your enjoyment and understanding, not only of how the game was being played that first time around, but also how it was editing for maximum effect. One suggestion when you watch these episodes again: After each one go check out the CBS web site for "Survivor: Borneo" because they are all still up, and you can still access all of the information and extras, such as polls and stuff. Frozen there for Internet eternity right now are the online poll predictions for the finale. Rudy was the overwhelming favorite with 53.47%, with Kelly second at 22.54% and Susan third at 12.22%. Richard Hatch was sitting at 11.75% and he ends up being the one with the million dollar check. Now we know how he did it and what it has meant.

I finally succombed to survivor fever back when it was first on tv during the merger episode. By then, I really didn't know enough from the earlier episodes to understand the moronic attitude of the anti alliance group, and to appreciate Hatch. I did not like him for years. However, I got my S1 dvd set this week and I am on disk 3 now. I LOVE THIS. What a great season.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 council2) 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.

Survivor (particularly season 1) is the pinnacle of reality tv. Period. What makes season 1 so great is that it the moments of the show manage to be authentic, as it was made early enough in the reality tv craze that producers hadn't yet begun scripting everything. This makes season 1 messy, but real.

Nobody does reality shows like Survivor. From the back stabbing and intrigue to physical and mental challenges i t's top notch entertainment.

The product arrived before the expected date, and I couldn't be more pleased with this season's content. I've been a Survivor fan for many years, and watching the season where it all began really solidified my appreciation for the incredible show. I highly recommend this product for those who wish to nostalgically recall the roots of their reality tv competition passion or experience it for the first time.

Now that I watched it a second time it turns out that Richard was the nice guy and Sue was a classless sore loser. I had totally forgotten about it.Love the extras or bonus features... highly recommend for fans of the show and those who are willing to give it a try.

WARNING Don't look at the back covers before you watch this set as some clown has decided to show the names of the winners of each episode on the back covers .Otherwise well worth the money.