I recently binge-watched the TV series
The 100, on the streaming service Amazon Prime. Series 1-5 are free, and I watched them all. I just found out there are two more series, available to buy, so I’m struggling to decide whether to buy or wait.
Here is the plot summary for season one:
Ninety-seven years after a devastating nuclear apocalypse wipes out most human life on Earth, thousands of people now live in a space station orbiting Earth, which they call the Ark. Three generations have been born in space, but when life-support systems on the Ark begin to fail, one hundred juvenile detainees are sent to Earth in a last attempt to determine whether it is habitable, or at least save resources for the remaining residents of the Ark. They discover that some survived the apocalypse: the Grounders, who live in clans locked in a power struggle; the Reapers, another group of grounders who have been turned into cannibals by the Mountain Men; and the Mountain Men, who live in Mount Weather, descended from those who locked themselves away before the apocalypse. Under the leadership of Clarke and Bellamy, the juveniles attempt to survive the harsh surface conditions, battle hostile grounders and establish communication with the Ark.It starts out a bit like Lord of the Flies, with the teenagers running wild and forming factions. Then they discover the Grounders and all sorts of complications. That’s what gripped me. I read, and write, the kind of scifi that deals with characters and how they cope with different circumstances. There are all kinds of power struggles, betrayals, relationships and clashes of culture. Each season brings up a new enemy, but it’s so well done.
There is one downside however. I enjoyed the series so much that I bought the
first book of the
series it’s based on. I was disappointed. I expected changes, they never make a film from a book without major changes, they are different media. But the original book was not nearly so good. Maybe it’s a lesson to read the book first in future.
Ann Marie Thomas is the author of five medieval history books, a surprisingly cheerful poetry collection about her 2010 stroke, and the science fiction series Flight of the Kestrel, Intruders, Alien Secrets & Crisis of Conscience are out now Follow her at http://eepurl.com/bbOsyz
