ORBzine - Peter Benchley's Amazon TV Review
1st Season 1999
Peter Benchley's Amazon [Season 1, Episode 1]
Fallen Angels
Shown June 2005 - Monday
A plane is flying over the Amazon rainforest. It crashes, leaving the passengers stranded in the jungle.
Peter Benchley's Amazon [Season 1, Episode 2]
Nightfall
Shown 4th July 2005 - Monday
The survivors meet up.
Peter Benchley's Amazon [Season 1, Episode 3]
Suffer the little Children
Shown 11th July 2005 - Monday
Rob Stewart [Tropical Heat] is wearing glasses, but still recognisable. This may have been filmed on a studio set - it looks very fake. Esecially when compared with Lost , which is filmed on location in Hawaii. Since this was filmed in 1999 by Atlantis Alliance, no wonder it looks a bit cheap.
The boy discovers a white man dressed like a native. Stewart and Howell return to the wreck and are attacked by the natives. Then a futuristic rescue chopper turns up - will it see them?
Shown 18th July 2005 - Monday
The boy, 2 babes and 2 expendable guys are prisoners of the natives. Stewart and Howell meet the Tarzan lookalike - he's Oirish! The native witchdoctor speaks English too, apparently.
Peter Benchley's Amazon [Season 1, Episode 5]
The Chosen
Shown 25th July 2005 - Tuesday
Tarzan's village is filled with Oirish Christians [not Catholics, though] ... They appear to be non-demoninational generic Christians with a fundamentalism and technology better suited to the early 1500s. The village elder is John Neville [ Baron Munchausen ].
Tarzan's rivals in thre village believe that the survivors are Demons, and want to hand them over to The Fierce Ones. Alotta Fagina, however, is anything but demonic in her obligatory skimpies scene at the start.
Peter Benchley's Amazon [Season 1, Episode 6]
The End of The World
Shown 1st August 2005 - Monday
Stewart, Howell and 2 other guys try to escape from the camp of the Chosen. The so-called Christians have decided to trade 3 demons for the 3 dead Heathen.
The natives are untrustworthy, but Howell is fanatically determined to escape. He steals a canoe, but the river leads to The End of The World. At least we get to see some genuine outdoor footage.
1- 7 6 Nov 99 The Lost Words
Peter Benchley's Amazon [Season 1, Episode 8]
Resurrection
Shown 15th August 2005 - Monday
The boy undergoes the initiation rite, to enter into manhood in the Indian tribe. Tarzan intervenes and gets captured ...
Among the Oirish, Talbott [Rob Stewart] has a fever. The locals exile him - yes, the village has its own leper colony! Luckily it has a gorgeous blonde who tries to save him.
Left for dead, Talbot enters a spirit quest that mirrors the boys. Grief-stricken, Fabiana Udenio does some opera-singing [unconvincing lip-synch].
Peter Benchley's Amazon [Season 1, Episode 9]
Blood Angel
Shown 22nd August 2005 - Monday
The survivors awake to find the village deserted. The Oirish have all disappeared - off to a mountaintop they call Ararat. We get to see their background, for example the reason they use the Eastern Orthodox cross ...
The survivors encounter an old acquaintance, whose return asks more questions than it answers. Also, they bump into the boy after he's been abandoned by the Spider Tribe. Or has he?
Peter Benchley's Amazon [Season 1, Episode 10]
War
Shown 29th August 2005 - Monday
The Chosen go to war against the Spider Tribe to save the boy. Unfortunately, the witchdoctor has a vision and knows they're coming ... His prophecy is that the boy will die!
Peter Benchley's Amazon [Season 1, Episode 11]
Eyes in the Dark
Shown 5th September 2005 - Monday
The boy is back with the other survivors, but he has trouble fitting in. He has visions of the Medicine Man and the other natives.
Meanwhile, a predatory beast is stalking the Chosen.
Peter Benchley's Amazon [Season 1, Episode 12]
The First Stone
Shown 12th September 2005 - Monday
The menfolk try to help the medicine man.
The Chosen hags turn on Alotta, and give her a Snidely Whiplash-style cliffhanger execution ...
1-13 5 Feb 00 The Devil's Army
Peter Benchley's Amazon [Season 1, Episode 14]
The Finding
Shown 3rd October 2005 - Monday
A couple of days before the mass-wedding there is a betrothal ceremony. The next night the Chosen hold a singles-night party. This means that they try to sort out their relationships. Things get complex - the Elder [John Neville] has a linking for Alotta Fagina !
Meanwhile, the teenage boy has to help the witchdoctor. By sheer coincidence, this involves him getting a love interest of his own!
Peter Benchley's Amazon [Season 1, Episode 15]
Escape
Shown 10th October 2005 - Monday
The survivors decide to make their way down the river. Never mind that C Thomas Howell almost died the last time he tried it. Or that the Chosen won't let them!
The Chosen only care about getting the boy back. They want to punish the others ...
Peter Benchley's Amazon [Season 1, Episode 16]
Home
Shown 17th October 2005 - Monday
The survivors get back to NYC. We know it's NYC because the Twin Towers are still standing.
This ep is mostly shown from the stewardess's perspective. She has flashbacks to the events in the jungle, as does Rob Stewart. Which makes no sense, when you see the ending.
Peter Benchley's Amazon [Season 1, Episode 17]
The Pale Horseman
Shown 24th October 2005 - Monday
The Elder [John Neville] falls ill. Can the Boy save him?
Peter Benchley's Amazon [Season 1, Episode 18]
The White Witch
Shown 31st October 2005 - Monday - Hallowe'en!
With Alotta and the Boy at the Chosen's village,
the others are still lost in the jungle.
At night.
With a man-eating panther on the loose.
Worse, The White Witch [ Margot Kidder ] is out there. And strange things happen ...
Peter Benchley's Amazon [Season 1, Episode 19]
Circle of Fire
Shown 7th November 2005 - Monday
The White Witch [ Margot Kidder ] leads a clan of gun-toting cannibals. In her spare time she shags a photo-journalist. She has plans for the survivors ...
The Spider Tribe turn up for peace talks with the cannibals. Margot wants them to unite against the illegal loggers. Makes you wonder, who's the real villain?
At the Chosen camp, the annoying guy tries to make friends with Alotta. The Boy takes hunting lessons from Tarzan.
Shown 14th November 2005 - Monday
Safe, in a manner of speaking, the survivors split up. Three want to find the plane, while Rob Stewart sticks with the friendly natives. Unfortunately, some of the cannibals are still around ...
Meanwhile, back at the camp of the Chosen, Alotta encounters a strange woman of unknown origin. She's plastered in white mud, and speaks no known language.
Peter Benchley's Amazon [Season 1, Episode 21]
Wild Child
Shown 21st November 2005 - Monday
C Thomas Howell tries to get to civilisation. Unfortunately, he doesn't speak Spanish or Portugese. Worse, the AK47-wielding cannibals are still on the loose.
Meanwhile, back at the camp of the Chosen, the strange woman of unknown origin is accused of being The Beast. It turns out she's the daughter of John Neville, which gives the rebellious types even more incentive to kill the old man and take over the tribe.
Peter Benchley's Amazon [Season 1, Episode 22]
A Bible and A Gun
Shown 28th November 2005 - Monday
The 3 survivors have to decide who takes the plane - there's only enough room for 2. Makes you wonder how it delivered an entire team of geologists, but there you are. C Thomas Howell is still fanatical about leaving. However, the Stewardess is the only one who can actually pilot the plane!
Meanwhile, the Chosen are victims of a coup attempt by the creepy pair.
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