Series 3

Series 3
No. Episodes
52
Network
Channel 5
First Aired
November 18, 2000
Last Aired
May 11, 2001
Previous Season
Series 2
Next Season
Series 4

Series 3 of The Tribe premiered on Channel 5 in The UK on November 18, 2000 and concluded on May 11, 2001, consisting of 52 half-hour episodes.

The Mall Rats form a resistance movement against The Chosen, who have taken control of the City. A forest tribe called the Ecos are discovered. Amber, who supposedly died at the start of Series 2, was re-introduced as their leader Eagle. An Eco member named Pride becames a prominent character.

The Guardian's deputy Luke was introduced as a new romantic interest for Ellie who gradually turned away from The Chosen. Newcomers Ned, Andy and Tally join the Mall Rats. After the Chosen's downfall, the Mozquitoes and their leader Moz emerge as a new rivaling tribe for power over the City.

Plot Synopsis

The Guardian and the Supreme Mother, Trudy, have taken control over the Mall. Ebony, Lex and Bray escaped and are now in the woods working on a plan to save all the Mall Rats, who must either join The Chosen or work as slaves. Jack is taken away when he tries to find an escape for his friends.

Ebony and Lex meet Pride, who helps to rescue Bray and Dal from The Chosen. Pride takes them back to his tribe the Ecos. Their leader is Eagle, later revealed to be Amber, whose death was faked by Ebony back on Eagle Mountain. Although reluctant to join the fight against The Chosen at first, Amber changes her mind after the death of her best friend, Dal, who tried to escape from the Chosen. The rebels rescue Trudy from the mind-controlling Guardian and recruit numerous tribes to help them win the battle.

Inside the Mall, Patsy joins the Chosen as a spy and so does Cloe, but both get sent away when they are discovered. Alice convinces Ellie to get closer to Luke, The Guardian's lieutenant, in order to overthrow The Chosen. Ryan refuses to let The Chosen control his life and gets taken away. Salene, afraid for the life of her unborn baby, agrees to follow their orders but suffers a miscarriage after falling down the stairs.

The Guardian decides it is Zoot's will that Tai-San should be the new Supreme Mother, after Trudy is named an imposter when the rebels save her from execution; when Lex finds out he tries to kill The Guardian at her coronation. When Bray tries to pull him back, he accidentally shoots Tai-San and mistakenly believes she is dead. Eventually the rebels storm the Mall and defeat The Chosen. The Guardian is imprisoned, but the city leaders disagree over what must be done with him. Jack returns to find Luke and Ellie are together. After witnessing them kissing he chooses to leave, but soon returns with Cloe. Ebony is elected as city leader through her own manipulation. When Bray and a pregnant Amber denouce her deceitful leadership, Ebony banishes them just as a mysterious plane approaches the city.

The costumes for Series 3 initially took a very naturalistic look, mainly due to the introduction of the Gaians. After the Rebels defeated the Chosen and took back the Mall, the costumes changed to a more modern industrial look, possibly a slight foreshadowing of what was to come next season.

Production

Pre-production of Series 3 started in May 2000 and continued up to the start of shooting on July 3.^[1] Principal photography of series 3 started on July 4, 2000 and lasted until December.^[2] In the week leading up to production, the cast read through the first few scripts to learn dialogue and had costume fittings with the wardrobe department.^[2] The first week of filming started on Tuesday, July 4 with interior studio scenes at Cloud 9 studios and lasted to Sunday, July 9, with days off on Monday and Saturday.^[3] Shoots involving the main cast ended on December 8.^[4] However, there was an extra day of filming a week later at Ohakea Air Force base, for the scenes with the Technos invading the city by plane.^[5] New themes and incidental music for the series was composed by Simon May.^[1]

Character Introductions

• Pride (Nick Miller)
• Luke (Jacob Tomuri)
• Ned (Bevin Linkhorn)
• Andy (James Ordish)
• Tally (Amelia Reynolds)
• Moz (Miriama Smith)

Reception

Many fans consider Series 3 to be the best of the five. Reasons attributed to this include the takeover of the Mall by The Chosen, the introduction of Pride, Amber's return to the series, and her subsequent reconciliation with Bray, the division of the Mall Rats, the introduction of Moz and the arrival of the Technos, as it was believed they were adults in the season's conclusion. Although some fans have lamented how The Chosen were not as serious as they were in Series 2, elements of religious extremism were still displayed, such as the attempted execution of Bray by burning at the stake, and The Guardian attempting to set off a suicide bomb which would kill everyone in the Mall.

This was also the last season to feature the original cast from Series 1, naturally holding a special place in many fans hearts. Dal, Patsy and Ryan were written out in the first half of the season as their actors had to leave for various reasons. Bray, Tai San, KC and Alice were main cast for the final time in this season before they were written out in Series 4's premiere.

Due to these reasons, it is not uncommon for many Tribe fans to refer to this as the last "real" series of The Tribe. The next two seasons would feature a change in tone, as with the appearance of the Technos in Series 4, and thus featured semi-futuristic technology. The tackling of controversial topics is mostly downplayed after this season, becoming more light-hearted overall. This has caused outcry from most of the fandom for the sanitisation of a show that was previously not shy to have realistic storylines.

Gallery

Trivia

• A slightly different version of Abe Messiah replaces the one used in the end titles for Series 2. While both versions are essentially the same, the Series 3 one has Meryl Cassie singing most of the song, while the one used in Series 2 featured the incumbent Mall Rats and Danny James.
• Series 3 is final season to feature some parts of Phoenix Mall:
  • The side entrance to the Mall, which is only used this season. Except for Series 5, it can be spotted in all seasons if one were to look closely whenever the back exterior of the Mall is shown.
  • The management rooms that are used by The Guardian and later Lex and Tai San. This is the only season to feature these rooms.
  • The Sewers are seen for the final time this season. Although they are mentioned in succeeding seasons, it doesn't appear. A different sewer entrance appears only once in Series 5 when Amber and Salene leave for the Eco Tribe. The reason is that the sewer set was torn down for another show Cloud 9 show called Atlantis High and was never rebuilt. ^[6]
• Strangely, Series 3 is the only season where a cast photo is not taken. The reason is unknown, but it's possible the production crew had forgotten to take one as Cloud 9 were also busy producing Atlantis High during the filming of Series 3.
• Series 3 is the only season that does not feature a wedding.
• This is the last season to feature animals, which are Cloudy, Porky and Apollo.
• This is the final season to have the original Series 1 cast as regulars. With the exception of Lex and Ebony, some were written out temporarily or permanently during and after this season. All of which was for a variety of reasons:
  • Bray, Tai-San, KC and Alice are main cast for the final time this season. According to creator Raymond Thompson, Dwayne Cameron left after this season to focus on his studies and other projects. ^[7] Michelle Ang decided to leave to pursue her studies, but returns briefly in Series 4. Ari Boyland wanted to return to school, before briefly returning in Series 5. ^[8] Vanessa Stacey wanted to pursue other projects and flew to Europe, but she returned briefly for the final episodes of Series 5. ^[9]
  • Amber and Trudy temporarily exited twice this season. Although Beth Allen had agreed to return to the show since Series 1, she had an agreement with Cloud 9 to film only during her school holidays. Antonia Prebble also asked for the same request as they both shared the same school holidays. This is repeated for Series 4 as well. ^[10]
  • Jack temporarily exited twice this season as Michael Wesley-Smith was the lead role in another Cloud 9 show Atlantis High which was in production during the filming of Series 3 and 4.
  • Dal was killed as Ashwath Sundaresan's family were moving to the United Kingdom and he could no longer be in the show. ^[11]
  • Cloe was absent for majority of the season as Jaimee Kaire-Gataulu had to leave temporarily to deal with personal issues. ^[12]
  • Patsy was permanently written out off-screen. It has been alleged over the years that Sarah Major's agent got into arguments with the producers concerning her character and pay, which led to her leaving the show abruptly. Although this rumour has never been directly confirmed.
  • Ryan was permanently written out as Ryan Runciman wanted to focus on his studies instead. ^[13]
  • Salene temporarily exited near the end of the season as Victoria Spence had to leave to work on Atlantis High, where she had a supporting role.
• During filming, a group of tribe fans were brought into Cloud 9 studios to have the opportunity to play extras. They had won a competition during the 1999 tribe tour for creating their own tribe character. The whole occasion was featured as a documentary called A Date With The Tribe on Channel 5. ^[14] They were used as extras for episodes 35, 40 and 42, one of them was even given lines in episode 42 but the scene was cut.
• The cast of Series 3 did several public appearances during and after production in New Zealand. These include performing at North City Plaza, Wellington Christmas Parade, Westfield Queensgate Mall in Lower Hutt, Auckland Christmas Parade, Wellington Special Needs Children's Christmas Party and Te Papa Museum. ^{[15] [16] [17]}

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