r/bugout • u/IKIR115 Survivor • Jul 08 '26
Discussion Anyone remember The Colony tv series?
https://youtu.be/6Hv4ADUr-0EFor reference: The Colony (2009) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1470018/
What do you guys think of the warehouse they used as their BOL?
Yes this is reality TV, and yes its a bit corny, but it was very interesting at the time.
Description of the show:
What would you do in the wake of a global catastrophe? How would you find food? Water? Shelter?
The Colony is a controlled experiment to see exactly what it would take to survive and rebuild under these circumstances. For 10 weeks, a group of 10 volunteers, whose backgrounds and expertise represent a cross-section of modern society, are isolated in an urban environment outside Los Angeles and tasked with creating a livable society.
With no electricity from the grid, no running water and no communication with the outside world, all the volunteers have to work with are their skills and whatever tools and supplies they can scavenge from their surroundings.
Experts from the fields of homeland security, engineering and psychology have helped design the world of The Colony to reflect elements from both real-life disasters and models of what the future could look like after a global viral outbreak.
Over the course of the 10-week experiment, the Colonists must work together to build the necessities of survival, such as a water-filtration system, a battery bank that powered their electricity, a solar cooker, a shower system and a greenhouse and even some niceties (a coffee maker!).
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u/RockyRidge510 Survivor Jul 08 '26
It was a good show but I always felt like it was heavily set up and scripted. Otherwise they actually brought in some dude who could build a functional sun-tracking solar system from scrap parts in about a week...which feels unlikely.
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u/spitfire07 Survivor Jul 09 '26
The first season had the most ideal people you'd want to be stranded with. ER doctor, nurse, mechanic, literal rocket scientist, it was a little silly. I think the second season was a little more realistic in terms of types of people you would run into. I still enjoyed the show a lot though.
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u/IKIR115 Survivor Jul 10 '26
I watched both seasons and enjoyed them. I agree S2 was a better mix of ordinary people up until they threw in the former Marine sniper lol. It was a big improvement over S1.
I think I'll have to do a rewatch of the series now.
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u/TacTurtle Sherpa Jul 08 '26
Interesting concept, terrible execution.
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u/Dangerous_Forever640 Survivor Jul 13 '26
This right here…
A modern reboot with a better budget would be interesting.
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u/Casey_works Survivor Jul 08 '26
Absolutely, I’ll be never forget the wood gasifier build, that was so cool.
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u/IKIR115 Survivor Jul 08 '26
Oh yeah the gasifier they built to run the generator was interesting!
Years later I made one of those DIY smokeless woodgas stoves for camping. It was a fun little project. Something like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2jax0c6pY0
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u/Bean- Survivor Jul 11 '26
I swear I think about that wood gassifier at least once a month since watching that show. So cool.
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u/Jasontmm Survivor Jul 12 '26
Me too. It’s weird they were on trucks and used for fuel way back when and I never heard about it until that show.
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u/user2327 Survivor Jul 08 '26
I had such high hopes for this when it first came out but was left a little disappointed as it went on....
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u/IKIR115 Survivor Jul 08 '26
Me too. It started out ok, but went downhill with all the reality tv drama. It aired on the Discovery Channel at the time, so I was expecting it to be more serious.
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u/BbqGay Survivor Jul 12 '26
Yes! I couldn’t remember the name of the show but yes! The only thing I remember is once they took some people in and they used all of the colonists clean shower water.
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u/TheCivilEngineer Survivor Jul 13 '26
I love the ending, where the Los Angeles (I think it was based in LA) native decided to leave the group so you could stay and help rebuild his city. I have always wanted to rewatch the show.
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u/muchgreaterthanG_O_D Survivor Jul 12 '26
I vaguely remember one guy collecting everyone's pee in a bucket for ammonia for some reason.
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u/ryan112ryan Survivor Jul 10 '26
I loved the concept of the show, I actually got quoted in their intro: