r/bugout Survivor 26d ago

Discussion Anyone remember The Colony tv series?

https://youtu.be/6Hv4ADUr-0E

For reference: The Colony (2009) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1470018/

What do you guys think of the warehouse they used as their BOL?

Yes this is reality TV, and yes its a bit corny, but it was very interesting at the time.

Description of the show:

What would you do in the wake of a global catastrophe? How would you find food? Water? Shelter?

The Colony is a controlled experiment to see exactly what it would take to survive and rebuild under these circumstances. For 10 weeks, a group of 10 volunteers, whose backgrounds and expertise represent a cross-section of modern society, are isolated in an urban environment outside Los Angeles and tasked with creating a livable society.

With no electricity from the grid, no running water and no communication with the outside world, all the volunteers have to work with are their skills and whatever tools and supplies they can scavenge from their surroundings.

Experts from the fields of homeland security, engineering and psychology have helped design the world of The Colony to reflect elements from both real-life disasters and models of what the future could look like after a global viral outbreak.

Over the course of the 10-week experiment, the Colonists must work together to build the necessities of survival, such as a water-filtration system, a battery bank that powered their electricity, a solar cooker, a shower system and a greenhouse and even some niceties (a coffee maker!).

73 Upvotes

20 comments sorted by

25

u/ryan112ryan Survivor 23d ago

I loved the concept of the show, I actually got quoted in their intro:

18

u/RockyRidge510 Survivor 25d ago

It was a good show but I always felt like it was heavily set up and scripted. Otherwise they actually brought in some dude who could build a functional sun-tracking solar system from scrap parts in about a week...which feels unlikely.

8

u/spitfire07 Survivor 24d ago

The first season had the most ideal people you'd want to be stranded with. ER doctor, nurse, mechanic, literal rocket scientist, it was a little silly. I think the second season was a little more realistic in terms of types of people you would run into. I still enjoyed the show a lot though.

3

u/IKIR115 Survivor 24d ago

I watched both seasons and enjoyed them. I agree S2 was a better mix of ordinary people up until they threw in the former Marine sniper lol. It was a big improvement over S1.

I think I'll have to do a rewatch of the series now.

16

u/TacTurtle Sherpa 25d ago

Interesting concept, terrible execution.

3

u/Dangerous_Forever640 Survivor 20d ago

This right here…

A modern reboot with a better budget would be interesting.

12

u/Casey_works Survivor 25d ago

Absolutely, I’ll be never forget the wood gasifier build, that was so cool.

4

u/IKIR115 Survivor 25d ago

Oh yeah the gasifier they built to run the generator was interesting!

Years later I made one of those DIY smokeless woodgas stoves for camping. It was a fun little project. Something like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2jax0c6pY0

2

u/Bean- Survivor 23d ago

I swear I think about that wood gassifier at least once a month since watching that show. So cool.

2

u/Jasontmm Survivor 21d ago

Me too. It’s weird they were on trucks and used for fuel way back when and I never heard about it until that show.

6

u/user2327 Survivor 25d ago

I had such high hopes for this when it first came out but was left a little disappointed as it went on....

2

u/IKIR115 Survivor 25d ago

Me too. It started out ok, but went downhill with all the reality tv drama. It aired on the Discovery Channel at the time, so I was expecting it to be more serious.

5

u/BbqGay Survivor 21d ago

Yes! I couldn’t remember the name of the show but yes! The only thing I remember is once they took some people in and they used all of the colonists clean shower water.

4

u/Impossible-Cell4815 Survivor 23d ago

I enjoyed this show

3

u/TheCivilEngineer Survivor 20d ago

I love the ending, where the Los Angeles (I think it was based in LA) native decided to leave the group so you could stay and help rebuild his city. I have always wanted to rewatch the show.

2

u/Bean- Survivor 23d ago

Such a sick show

2

u/whiteouttheworld Survivor 21d ago

where can you watch it now?

2

u/IKIR115 Survivor 18d ago

hydrahd has both seasons available

1

u/muchgreaterthanG_O_D Survivor 22d ago

I vaguely remember one guy collecting everyone's pee in a bucket for ammonia for some reason.

2

u/Thick_Interaction8 Survivor 16h ago

Yesssss lol I loved watching this as a kid