The Tribe (1999 TV series)

In a post-apocalyptic city, all of the adults have been killed as a result of an unknown virus, leaving the children and teenagers to survive in a state of anarchy. Several social groups, or tribes, have formed, including the "Locos", an unruly tribe controlling the city under the leadership of Zoot, who is later killed. On the streets, Amber and Dal lead a group of children to safety and take refuge in an abandoned shopping mall, forming a new tribe called the "Mall Rats". They are joined by Bray and Trudy, who is pregnant; Bray's brother, Zoot, is the father. The tribe learns to solve issues including food and water shortage. A second wave of the virus strikes the city, and the tribe searches to find a cure.

At Eagle Mountain, Amber and Zandra, who is pregnant, are killed in an explosion. The tribe continues searching for an antidote to the virus and are successful, with Tai-San becoming the only one aware of the formula to produce it. Under Bray's leadership, the Mall Rats use their position of power to unite the other tribes and bring peace to the city. A bill of rights is developed by Danni, along with a trading market in the mall, and a newsletter by Ellie detailing the city's progress. The virus is later diminished, and a new tribe called the "Chosen" surfaces, worshipping Zoot as their god.

The Chosen take control of the city, led by the Guardian and the "Supreme Mother", who is a brainwashed Trudy. The Mall Rats are captured and, along with other prisoners of the city, are given the choice to join the Chosen or work as slaves, with many civilians being sent away due to rebellion. After escaping, Ebony and Lex encounter the Eco tribe and discover that its leader is Amber, whose death had been faked by Ebony. The Eco tribe join the revolt and the remaining Mall Rats recruit other tribes to their side. The Chosen are overthrown, and Ebony is elected as city leader; she banishes Bray and Amber when they refuse to let her execute the Guardian.

The city is invaded and conquered by a group of paratroopers, who are called the "Technos" and possess advanced technology. Ebony maintains control of the city through a deal with the Technos general, Jay. After Bray is captured, Trudy helps Amber give birth on the outskirts of town. They flee to the Ecos, then later rejoin the Mall Rats. In an attempt to create a utopia, the leader of the Technos, Ram, releases a virtual game to which the people of the city become addicted. Ebony and Jay betray Ram and escape the city. The Mall Rats defeat Ram by imprisoning him in a virtual reality, with the assistance of Ram's lieutenant, Mega.

Mega becomes the new leader of the Technos, and plans to take over the city. He orders everyone to be branded with a barcode and set to manual labour. Ebony is manipulated by virtual reality to believe that Zoot is alive. The Mall Rats try to learn the location of their members who were removed by the Technos. Ram is rescued by a vagabond, Slade, who takes him to the country town Liberty. Amber and Jay lead an attack against the city, capturing Mega. Ram infiltrates Mega's technology and creates an artificial intelligence program, which goes rogue and releases a new virus. The Mall Rats and their allies evacuate the city by boat.

Discussion which led to the creation of the series began when Raymond Thompson, co-founder of the independent production company Cloud 9 Screen Entertainment Group, known for his work as a screenwriter on the soap Howards' Way, was approached by Nick Wilson of Channel 5 to "develop a soap for the millennium, targeting a child/adolescent market".[3] Thompson recalled an idea that he had in the 1980s about a world without adults, run by tribes of children and teenagers. Having already worked with writer Harry Duffin on several occasions, Thompson contacted him in November 1997 to work with him on further developing the concept for Cloud 9. They commissioned and recruited a team of ten writers to adapt the storylines and by July 1998 the first four scripts of The Tribe were finished.[3]

Pre-production for series one started in June 1998 and filming began in August 1998. Principal photography was completed in March 1999[4][5] and the first episode premiered on Channel 5 on 24 April 1999.[6]

The cast and crew amounted to between 400 and 500 people on each series of The Tribe. Filming of each series took about four to six months, chiefly in two studios at Cloud 9's production centre in Wellington, New Zealand. The permanent set of the "Phoenix Shopping Mall" was located in Studio A. This large set took five weeks to build prior to the commencement of principal photography and was said to be the largest set built for a production in New Zealand at the time.[7] All of the shops contained in the Mall were built to almost realistic shop size specifications and designed to last for a long time.

The set of the "Phoenix Shopping Mall" in series one.

Studio B housed the sewers that the Mall Rats use to secretly escape the Mall, as well as temporary structures that were built for scenes outside the Mall. Between the filming of the second and third series of The Tribe, the Mall set was repainted and redressed for use on another Cloud 9 production, Atlantis High.[8]

Scenes of The Tribe were also shot on location in and around Wellington. For example, the Cloud 9 Studios car park was used as the exterior of the Mall and Alice's and Ellie's farmhouse was built in the rural area of Whitemans Valley in Upper Hutt.[9] At times, over some weekends, the crew closed off Wellington streets to shoot scenes that took place in the desolate city streets.[10]

Most of the cast had agents prior to the casting in 1998, as they had already worked on productions that were filmed in New Zealand, such as Xena: Warrior Princess, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys or Mirror, Mirror II.

Many of the actors had worked with Thompson on other Cloud 9 productions before they auditioned for The Tribe. Jennyfer Jewell (Ellie) and Ryan Runciman (Ryan) had worked on The Enid Blyton Adventure Series in 1996 and Jewell had also starred in The Enid Blyton Secret Series in 1997 alongside Daniel James (Zoot). Beth Allen (Amber) and Michael Wesley-Smith (Jack) had been cast in The Legend of William Tell in 1998. Many cast members from series one had acted in William Shatner's A Twist in the Tale in 1999.

The majority of the actors cast in series one were students and were tutored between scenes at Cloud 9's production centre.[11] The underage cast members stayed in the "Cast House" for the duration of the shoot and were accompanied by chaperones on set.[12]

Pre-production for series six started in September 2003[13] and a script for a Tribe movie was written and put on the market.[14] The scripts for the first two episodes of series six were included on the Series 5 DVD box set (released in 2006), and told the story of the Mall Rats as they arrived on an unknown island.

However, Nick Wilson and Thompson decided that although "the show was still performing well, [they] felt that the cast was getting too old [and that] it was beginning to stretch the core proposition."[15][16] Some of the cast and crew members went on to work on other productions.

Series one of The Tribe premiered in the United Kingdom on 24 April 1999 on Five.[17] The final two episodes of The Tribe were shown on 6 September 2003 on Five.[18]

The Tribe began airing in New Zealand in 2000 on TV4.[19]

In the United States, The Tribe premiered on 1 December 1999 on Encore WAM! Channel.[20] WAM! remained the program's exclusive US broadcaster throughout its run.[21]

In Australia, The Tribe returned to television through its broadcast on ABC3 in 2010.[22][23] The third series was aired due to popular audience demand and the program was repeated until 2012.[23][24][25]

Series one was first released in 2003 by Sanctuary Entertainment. Two years later, Revelation Films purchased the rights to the show and released all five series throughout 2006.

The first series of The Tribe was released on DVD in Australia by the ABC on 3 March 2011 after airing on ABC3.[22] Dwayne Cameron appeared at promotional release events.[22]

In 2012, Shout! Factory released the first series of The Tribe in the US through two volumes.[26] Questar Entertainment released the first volume in a region-free format in 2018.[27][28]

All five seasons of the program were released to Vimeo in 2018.[29] They were also made available on the New Zealand video-on-demand service Lightbox.[30]

Several books based on the series were published in English:[36]

• Paula Boock (17 September 2000). Power and Chaos. Auckland, New Zealand: Random House. ISBN 1-86941-435-7.
• Ken Catran (2001). Mall Rats. Auckland, New Zealand: Random House. ISBN 1-86941-471-3.
• Harry Duffin (25 November 2012). The Tribe: Birth of the Mall Rats. Martinborough, New Zealand: Cumulus Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-0473231491.

In addition, three novels that serve as sequels to and a continuation of the story from the television series have been published:

• A. J. Penn (25 November 2011). The Tribe: A New World. Auckland, New Zealand: Cumulus Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-0-473-19938-8.
• A. J. Penn (30 November 2014). The Tribe: A New Dawn. Auckland, New Zealand: Cumulus Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-0-473-30794-3.
• A. J. Penn (5 November 2019). The Tribe: R(Evolution). Auckland, New Zealand: Cumulus Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-0-473-50125-9.

Several books related to The Tribe have also been published in German.[37]

• Ralph Sander (January 2002). The Tribe: Zwischen Hoffen und Bangen (in German). Panini Verlags GmbH. ISBN 978-3897485983.
• Ralph Sander (February 2002). The Tribe: Schöne Neue Welt (in German). Panini Verlags GmbH. ISBN 978-3897485976.
• Ralph Sander; Linda Jansen (September 2002). The Tribe: Das Zeitalter der Auserwählten (in German). Panini Verlags GmbH. ISBN 978-3897486676.
• Ralph Sander; Linda Jansen (November 2002). The Tribe: Der Weg in die Freiheit (in German). Panini Verlags GmbH. ISBN 978-3897486676.
• Ralph Sander; Linda Jansen (March 2003). The Tribe: Die Ankunft der Technos (in German). Panini Verlags GmbH. ISBN 978-3897487284.
• Ralph Sander; Linda Jansen (March 2003). The Tribe: Verloren im Paradies (in German). Panini Verlags GmbH. ISBN 978-3897487291.

Two CDs were released, featuring music from the soundtrack of the television series and songs recorded by the cast. Abe Messiah was released on 7 November 2000 in New Zealand and on 19 March 2001 worldwide.[38] A reissued version of the album, entitled Abe Messiah: Remix, was released in Germany in 2003. It also featured three music videos: "Abe Messiah", "You Belong to Me" and "This Is the Place".[39]