Series 1

Series 1
No. Episodes
52
Network
Channel 5
First Aired
April 24, 1999
Last Aired
October 23, 1999
Next Season
Series 2

Series 1 of The Tribe consisted of 52 episodes which aired on Channel 5 from April 24 to October 23, 1999.

Taking place 6 months after the virus, children are fending for themselves in a world with no adults after they perished in a pandemic.

It depicted the formation of the Mall Rats and their struggles with limited resources, internal politics and personal issues within the Mall. Along with the external threat of hostile tribes like the Locos and eventually the return of the virus.

Plot Synopsis

Six to nine months after a deadly virus has wiped out the entire adult population, a group of children form a tribe and reside in a deserted shopping mall to hide from the dangers of the streets, eventually naming themselves the Mall Rats.

Early in the series Lex kills the leader of the Locos, Zoot, after this the Locos gradually lose power, but their new leader, Ebony, holds a grudge against the Mall Rats. It is then revealed that Zoot was Bray's brother and the father of Trudy's baby. The Mall Rats also have to look after Trudy's new-born baby, Brady while Trudy suffers from postnatal depression. Lex becomes the Mall Rats' leader after an election during which he bribes or blackmails most of the voters, but, he soon realises leadership isn't his strongest skill, so he shares the job with Amber and Bray. Lex becomes head of security, Amber worries about the cleaning schedules and Bray is in charge of foraging for food.

Jack, Dal and KC invent a wind turbine and a water purification system which allows the Mall Rats to become almost completely self-sufficent. Salene suffers from bulimia and ends up eating nearly all the Mall Rats' food, but she pulls through it with help from Trudy and Ryan. Amber nearly leaves with her new boyfriend, Sasha, but decides she can't leave after she sees the chaos it would cause amongst her friends. Lex becomes frustrated with Zandra playing hard to get and nearly rapes her. But, Tai-San convinces them to get married that way Zandra would feel more inclined to succumb to Lex's advances. Jealousy is a big issue throughout the series - Lex of Zandra and Ryan's friendship; Zandra of Lex sleeping with both Ebony and Tai-San and Trudy of anyone else being with Bray.

In the final episodes of the series the virus returns and starts to rapidly age the children and kill them off too. Lex is infected and Zandra reveals to him that she's pregnant. The Mall Rats have problems with the Tribe Circus and The Locos which results in the Locos stealing the cure for the virus and using Lex as a test subject. Lex is cured, but he destroys the antidote by mistake, believing it doesn't work. The Mall Rats go to Eagle Mountain to look for answers to an antidote, and when they arrive an Observatory there starts up and they are given a recorded message giving them pivotal information about the virus and a possible antidote.

Major Plot Points

The series focused on the formation of the Mall Rats and their struggle for survival. Some major plot points were:

• The formation of the Mall Rats, which initially happened by chance after the group was chased by the Locos into the Mall. Amber and Dal were conflicted about whether to stay or go to the country side. They were forced to involve Lex, Ryan and Zandra for protection, and Bray and Trudy got to stay following her birth. Later, the introduction of new characters like Tai-San, KC and Sasha into the group.
• Internal politics and leadership, where Amber and Lex constantly argued over decision making and work division, eventually leading to an election.
• External threats and defense against them. Setting up security systems and defences with the fear of the Locos constantly looming over them. Zoot's entrance and death in the mall, Bray's cooperation with Ebony. The Tribal Gathering, where a plea was made for peace and cooperation. The entrance of Tribe Circus, who wrecked the mall and would have burnt the Mall Rats alive.
• Romantic relationships, including Lex's disregard for Zandra, followed by marriage and an eventual affair with Tai-San; Trudy and Salene's obsession with and rivalry over Bray, Amber's denial of her feelings for Bray, her fling with Sasha before she eventually ended up with Bray.
• The return of the virus and the search for the antidote. Lex's infection. Going to Hope Island to find an antidote, later making a trek to Eagle Mountain.

Production

The scripts for series one were commissioned in March 1998 and pre-production started in June. Filming commenced in August the same year and lasted for six months until March 1999. Post-production lasted for six months.^[1]

During pre-production, Salene was originally envisioned as a brown girl while Cloe was a white girl. ^[2] Meryl Cassie auditioned for the former but the producers swapped the characters' ethnicity for the final as they feel Meryl was more suited for the role of Ebony. ^{[3] [4]} Victoria Spence had originally auditioned for the role of Trudy before being offered the role of Salene. ^[5] Ari Boyland had originally auditioned for the role of Paul before he got the role of KC. ^[6]

Bob the Dog was originally named Sherbret, but it was changed to his real name Bob so it would be easier for animal trainers during filming. ^[7] Zoot was originally going to ride a Tank instead of a Police Car, but this was scrapped because it would be difficult in terms of logistics and costs. ^[8]

Instead of the Demon Dogs, The Privileged was originally supposed to be the tribe that rivalled with the Locos. Their leader Flame was defied as a god. However, Raymond Thompson decided against this as he felt The Privileged was too edgy and raw. He wanted to introduce them in the planned Series 6 which ended up being cancelled. ^[9] The Privileged were eventually used in the sequel spin-off The New Tomorrow (2005) and also appeared in The Tribe: (R)Evolution (2019).

Directors

Directors for the series were Laurence Wilson (23 episodes), John Reid (14 episodes), Wayne Tourell (7 episodes), Julian McSwiney (4 episodes) and Costa Botes (4 episodes). Each director would direct a block of usually four, sometimes three or five, episodes before another director tok over for the next block. Wilson and Reid alternated as directors for the majority of the middle of the series, while Tourell, McSwiney and Botes directed some blocks at the beginning and end of the series.

	1-4	5-8	9-12	13-16	17-20	21-24	25-29	30-32	33-36	37-40	41-44	45-48	49-52
Wayne Tourell	x		x
Laurence Wilson		x		x		x		x		x		x
John Reid					x		x		x
Julian McSwiney											x
Costa Botes													x

Filming locations

37 sets were used in the production of series one.^[1] The Phoenix Mall set was located in Studio A at Cloud 9 Studios, while Studio B housed the sewers and other temporary structures that were built for specific scenes and demolished once filming was completed.^[10]

The Mall set was constructed and completed over five weeks, during which hundreds of people worked around the clock. At the time of production, the mall was the biggest permanent set for any television or film production ever made in New Zealand.^[1]

Cast

• Beth Allen as Amber
• Dwayne Cameron as Bray
• Caleb Ross as Lex
• Antonia Prebble as Trudy
• Amy Morrison as Zandra
• Victoria Spence as Salene
• Ryan Runciman as Ryan
• Michael Wesley-Smith as Jack
• Ashwath Sundaresan as Dal
• Meryl Cassie as Ebony
• Michelle Ang as Tai-San
• Sarah Major as Patsy
• Zachary Best as Paul
• Jaimee Kaire-Gataulu as Cloe
• Ari Boyland as KC
• Daniel James as Zoot
• David Taylor as Sasha
• Vanessa Stacey as Alice
• Keegan Fulford-Wierzbicki as Glen
• Sam Husson as Top Hat
• Sam La Hood as Spike
• Kiriana Chase as Brady
• Beanie Palmer as Brady

Gallery

Trivia

• Series 1 is the only series to use the Rosalind J. version of The Dream Must Stay Alive for the opening theme and end credits. From Series 2 and onwards, Meryl Cassie (who portrayed Ebony) would sing the opening theme.
• Series 1 is considered the darkest of the entire show. This is due to the realistic storylines of the Locos, Trudy's pregnancy, Zoot's death, Salene's bulimia, the Tribal Gathering, Hope Island, Tribe Circus and the 2nd Virus strain which made the kids age grotesquely. It is also the only season to show a skeletal corpse of an adult.
• Series 1 is the only season to feature 2 weddings. Although the first was postponed, it is the only season where 2 different wedding tribestyles are seen.
• The cast photoshoot features outfits and face markings not seen in the final show. This is because it was taken before the show had started filming and the cast's looks hadn't been finalised yet. Bray, Amber, Zandra and Tai San are the only ones to retain their outfits from this early photoshoot, although Jack retains his jacket and glasses while Zoot retains his singlet for the final show. Patsy is wearing a jacket that Cloe would wear in the show. Similarly, Zoot is wearing a blue jacket that Lex would wear in Series 3 while Salene is wearing a jacket that May would wear in Series 4.

References

The Tribe Episodes
Series 1
1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10 · 11 · 12 · 13 · 14 · 15 · 16 · 17 · 18 · 19 · 20 · 21 · 22 · 23 · 24 · 25 · 26 · 27 · 28 · 29 · 30 · 31 · 32 · 33 · 34 · 35 · 36 · 37 · 38 · 39 · 40 · 41 · 42 · 43 · 44 · 45 · 46 · 47 · 48 · 49 · 50 · 51 · 52
Series 2
1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10 · 11 · 12 · 13 · 14 · 15 · 16 · 17 · 18 · 19 · 20 · 21 · 22 · 23 · 24 · 25 · 26 · 27 · 28 · 29 · 30 · 31 · 32 · 33 · 34 · 35 · 36 · 37 · 38 · 39 · 40 · 41 · 42 · 43 · 44 · 45 · 46 · 47 · 48 · 49 · 50 · 51 · 52
Series 3
1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10 · 11 · 12 · 13 · 14 · 15 · 16 · 17 · 18 · 19 · 20 · 21 · 22 · 23 · 24 · 25 · 26 · 27 · 28 · 29 · 30 · 31 · 32 · 33 · 34 · 35 · 36 · 37 · 38 · 39 · 40 · 41 · 42 · 43 · 44 · 45 · 46 · 47 · 48 · 49 · 50 · 51 · 52
Series 4
1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10 · 11 · 12 · 13 · 14 · 15 · 16 · 17 · 18 · 19 · 20 · 21 · 22 · 23 · 24 · 25 · 26 · 27 · 28 · 29 · 30 · 31 · 32 · 33 · 34 · 35 · 36 · 37 · 38 · 39 · 40 · 41 · 42 · 43 · 44 · 45 · 46 · 47 · 48 · 49 · 50 · 51 · 52
Series 5
1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10 · 11 · 12 · 13 · 14 · 15 · 16 · 17 · 18 · 19 · 20 · 21 · 22 · 23 · 24 · 25 · 26 · 27 · 28 · 29 · 30 · 31 · 32 · 33 · 34 · 35 · 36 · 37 · 38 · 39 · 40 · 41 · 42 · 43 · 44 · 45 · 46 · 47 · 48 · 49 · 50 · 51 · 52