The Tribe is a series based on the idea of having a kids show where the main characters are all kids with no adults they can turn to. As such, its very unusual and that gives it a nice perspective.

It's a kids show, but aimed at older children or teenagers, but that doesn't stop it spilling out of the age range to let others watch and enjoy it. I saw this when it first came on TV and I was about in the target audience at the time, but I can still watch it and enjoy it.

This box set contains seven discs with all 52 episodes of season one. Each episode is just under 25 minutes long, so you'll find more than twenty-two hours, not including the extras.

~~~ The Plot ~~~
The entire adult population has been wiped out by a virus so now the children rule the world. In the chaos, the kids are having to fight for food supplies so various tribes have formed. The city in which the series is set is a war zone between the different tribes, with 'strays', those not in any tribe, easy pickings. Two of the most violent and dangerous of the tribes are the Demon Dogs and the Locusts (Locos).

Several small groups meet by chance and decide to form a tribe of their own, living in the ruins of a shopping mall. The Tribe follows this group as they try to keep the tribe together, create rules and live together without too many conflicts.

The relationships between the members gives this the feel of a soap opera at times, but there's always the backdrop of fear and danger that the storylines are shown against. The tribe is always in danger from the Locos and the other tribes that want what little food and supplies they have managed to collect together.

You can jump into the series in the middle but it would probably be extremely confusing. The plotline is continuous and the events in one episode will be influenced by the previous ones. If you're going to watch this series, start from the beginning.

~~~ Characters ~~~
New characters arrive during the series and some leave. It would be a bit of a spoiler if I said which of those would join and which were only passing through for an episode or two, so I'll just list those who are main characters from the start of the series.

Trudy, Bray, Amber, Dal, Salene, Cloe, Pasty, Paul, Lex, Xandra, Ryan and Jack are the members of the tribe from the beginning. There's also Zoot, who is the leader of the Locos and Ebony, also a Loco and extremely dangerous.

The characters are a nice mix of ages and personalities, with the little kids who want to play and the older teenagers trying to sort things out. There are those who want power and want things there own way and those who want to help and look after those weaker than themselves. One of the great things about this series is that there's a very grey area over who are the bad guys. I think that's one of the things that went wrong with the series later on, when there were definite 'baddies' and 'goodies'. For the first series, they're all just people.

Since all the characters are played by kids, its hardly surprising that the acting's not perfect. On the whole, its very good. I was amazed at how well Patsy and Paul (two of the youngest tribe members) were portrayed. However, there are some scenes with distinctly wooden acting, mainly from Dal and Cloe. These do become less as the series continues and the actors grow into their parts.

The fight sequences are always pretty bad, but I imagine its hard to get stunt actors for fight sequences between children.

~~~ Packaging ~~~
The box is red, with 'The Tribe' written on in large letters at the tope of the front and 'Series One' underneath this. The bottom half of the front is taken up by a picture of five of the characters, Zoot on the far left, Amber next, Bray in the middle, then Lex, then Trudy. The picture is red-tinted and the background looks a bit like a stormy sky.

On the back there are four small pictures, one each of Amber, Lex, Bray and Zoot taken as still from the series. Beneath this is a short plot summary, then a list of DVD extras and what numbers of episodes are on which discs.

The box is held closed by a small circle of velcro. It opens out into a long line of seven DVD holders. When you take the DVDs out, you see a brief summary underneath of the episodes that are on that particular DVD.

Turning the box over to look at the reverse, two of the DVD holders have the covers as their back, the others have pictures of characters all with the red tint and the sky background. Some of the characters aren't those listed above. The first picture, starting from the left, shows Trudy, Amber and Bray. The second shows Tai-San, Jack and Dal. The third shows KC, Ebony and Trudy. Then you have the front and back covers. Then there's a picture of Ebony, Top Hat and Lex. Finally, there's a picture of Bray, Lex and Amber.

The DVDs are all black with a red design on them, a different design on each one. They also have 'The Tribe' written on them and which episode numbers are on them.

~~~ Special Features ~~~
The special features are on the last DVD along with four episodes of the series. Some of them have the end credit sequences from different seasons. This is a relevant comment to make, since the end credits show snippets from the series, so a credit sequence from season four will include clips from that season.

There's a Making of Featurette which is 26 minutes long. This includes clips from the show and interviews with the creators and the cast.

The Tribe on Tour, 25 minutes long, shows the actors who play Lex, Ebony, Jack and Salene as they go on tour through various countries including Germany and England. They talk to the camera about the experience and the film also shows clips from shows they go on and footage of places they go to on the tour.

There's an Outtakes Reel which is 26 minutes long, but this includes bloopers from the first three seasons. This means it may contain a few spoilers if you've not seen any further than the first series, but they aren't enough to build any coherent idea of what happens in the later seasons. This reel is introduced by some of the actors, with a very poor script and some highly obvious and unfunny jokes. As with most bloopers, there's a lot of shots of people forgetting lines and a few very funny mistakes.

There are character profiles, short sections of text on each of the characters. But, if you've watched far enough to reach the extras, you probably know everything that's on here.

~~~ Overall ~~~
I really liked the first season of The Tribe. I enjoyed the second season and watched the third. I gave up on the forth and haven't seen any of the fifth. I found the first series very entertaining, but never enjoyed the later ones as much. One explanation for this is that I was simply growing too old to be in the target audience, but I don't believe it, since I still enjoy rewatching the first series.

I wouldn't recommend buying this unless you've watched the series on the TV and know you'll like it. It's a lot of DVD to take a risk on. You do get a lot of DVD for your money though. It's £26.99 from HMV or MVC, or £25.99 from play.com (at the time of writing; if prices change, don't blame me.)

It's a drama series aimed at teenagers. It deals with many of the same issues as other kids drama shows, but also some more serious ones. Discussions on death penalties, methods of fighting and survival of the fittest will turn up as often as issues the viewers are much more likely to face.

It's a nice bit of escapism with interesting characters, reasonable acting and a good plot (at least in the first season.)