Amazon (1999 TV series)

Last updated
Amazon
Peter Benchley's Amazon.PNG
Also known asAmazonas – Gefangene des Dschungels
Created by Peter Benchley
Developed byMalcolm MacRury
Written byAlison Lea Bingeman
Paul Aitken
Directed by Milan Cheylov
T.W. Peacocke
Starring C. Thomas Howell
Carol Alt
Chris William Martin
Fabiana Udenio
Tyler Hynes
Rob Stewart
ComposerGuy Zerafa
Country of originCanada
Germany
Original languagesEnglish
German
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes22
Production
Executive producersSeaton McLean
Peter Sussman
Peter Benchley
Producer Jan Peter Meyboom
Running time44 minutes
Original release
Network Syndication
Release25 September 1999 (1999-09-25) 
20 May 2000 (2000-05-20)

Amazon (also known as Peter Benchley's Amazon) was a syndicated adventure drama series created by Peter Benchley. It was developed by Canadian production companies Alliance Atlantis Communications & WIC Entertainment and German company Beta Film GmbH. The 22 episodes of the series were in first-run syndication between 1999 and 2000.

Contents

The drama series focused on the six survivors of a crashed airline flight in the Brazilian Amazon jungle. The group soon comes into contact with a hostile indigenous tribe, the Fierce Ones. They are taken in by a mysterious tribe called the Chosen, who are descended from 16th-century British colonists who were lost in the rainforest. Relations with the Chosen are tenuous at best. Most of the group escapes the Chosen only to stir up a hornets' nest with the cannibalistic Jaguar People, led by an insane Canadian woman bent on domination of all the local tribes. The first season ended in a cliff-hanger, and a second season was never produced. The series retained sufficient interest that it was released on DVD in 2011. This was most likely to capitalize on the cult-popularity of Lost , with which it could all too easily be confused .

A novelization of the 2-hour pilot was written by Rob MacGregor, and a mass-market paperback was released by Harper (publisher) on 8 Aug 2000. [1]

Cast

Episodes

No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air date
1"Fallen Angels" Jon Cassar Peter Benchley September 25, 1999 (1999-09-25)
2"Nightfall"Jon CassarStory by: Malcolm MacRury & Paul Aitken
Teleplay by: Malcolm MacRury
October 2, 1999 (1999-10-02)
3"Suffer the Little Children" Ron Oliver Malcolm MacRuryOctober 9, 1999 (1999-10-09)
4"Exodus"Ron OliverPaul AitkenOctober 16, 1999 (1999-10-16)
5"The Chosen"Jon Cassar Heather Conkie October 23, 1999 (1999-10-23)
6"The End of the World"Jon CassarHeather Conkie & Malcolm MacRuryOctober 30, 1999 (1999-10-30)
7"The Lost Words"Terry IngramPaul AitkenNovember 6, 1999 (1999-11-06)
8"Resurrection"Holly DaleHeather ConkieNovember 13, 1999 (1999-11-13)
9"The Blood Angel"Terry IngramMalcolm MacRuryNovember 20, 1999 (1999-11-20)
10"War" Milan Cheylov Paul AitkenNovember 27, 1999 (1999-11-27)
11"Eyes in the Dark"John BellHeather ConkieJanuary 22, 2000 (2000-01-22)
12"The First Stone"UnknownAlison Lea BingemanJanuary 29, 2000 (2000-01-29)
13"The Devil's Army"John BellUnknownFebruary 5, 2000 (2000-02-05)
14"The Finding"UnknownUnknownFebruary 12, 2000 (2000-02-12)
15"Escape"Clay BorrisPaul AitkenFebruary 19, 2000 (2000-02-19)
16"Home"T.W. PeacockeMalcolm MacRuryFebruary 26, 2000 (2000-02-26)
17"The Pale Horseman"Steven LuppinoUnknownApril 15, 2000 (2000-04-15)
18"The White Witch"Steven LuppinoUnknownApril 22, 2000 (2000-04-22)
19"Circle of Fire"T.W. PeacockeHeather ConkieApril 29, 2000 (2000-04-29)
20"Babel"Ross ClydeUnknownMay 6, 2000 (2000-05-06)
21"Wild Child"Steven LuppinoUnknownMay 13, 2000 (2000-05-13)
22"A Bible and a Gun"Ross ClydeUnknownMay 20, 2000 (2000-05-20)

Production

Each episode of the series cost $1.2 million. [2] The total cost of the series was $26 million. [3]

Home media

Alliance Home Entertainment released the complete series on DVD in Canada only on 22 February 2011. [4] This was soon followed by the release to the rest of the North American market. [5]

Related Research Articles

<i>Spider-Man</i> (1994 TV series) American animated television series

Spider-Man, also known as Spider-Man: The Animated Series, is an American superhero animated television series based on the Marvel Comics superhero of the same name. The series aired on the Fox Kids Network from November 19, 1994, to January 31, 1998, for a total of five seasons comprising 65 episodes, and ran reruns on Toon Disney's Jetix block and on Disney XD. The series was produced by Marvel Films and animated by TMS-Kyokuichi.

<i>The Hitchhiker</i> (TV series) Television show filmed in Vancouver

The Hitchhiker is a mystery horror anthology television series. It aired from 1983 to 1987 on HBO, and First Choice and NTV in Canada. The series later moved to the USA Network from 1989 to 1991.

<i>TaleSpin</i> American animated television series

TaleSpin is an American animated television series produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. It first aired in 1990 as a preview-run on The Disney Channel before beginning its main run in syndication later that year as part of the programming block The Disney Afternoon. It features anthropomorphized versions of characters adapted from Disney's 1967 animated feature The Jungle Book, which was theatrically rereleased in the summer before this show premiered in the fall, notably Baloo the Bear, Louie the orangutan, and Shere Khan the tiger, along with new characters created for the show. The name of the show is a play on "tailspin", the rapid descent of an aircraft in a steep spiral, and on the fact that tale is another word for "story". The show is one of nine Disney Afternoon shows to use established Disney characters as the main characters, with the other eight being Darkwing Duck, DuckTales, Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers, Goof Troop, Bonkers, Quack Pack, Aladdin, and Timon & Pumbaa. It is also one of two animated television series based on the book The Jungle Book, the second being Jungle Cubs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alliance Atlantis</span> Former Canadian film and media company

Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. was a Canadian media company that operated primarily as a specialty service operator in Canada. Alliance Atlantis also had offices in Halifax, Los Angeles, London, Dublin, Madrid, Barcelona, Shannon, and Sydney.

<i>Cold Squad</i> Canadian television series

Cold Squad is a Canadian police procedural television series that premiered on CTV on January 23, 1998, at 10 p.m., and ran for seven seasons. Led by Sergeant Ali McCormick, a team of homicide detectives from the Vancouver Police Department reopen long-unsolved, or "cold" cases, using present-day forensic technology and psychological profiling to help crack them. Cold Squad premiered simultaneously in French Canada on Séries+ as Brigade spéciale.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Benchley</span> American author (1940–2006)

Peter Bradford Benchley was an American author. He is best known for his bestselling novel Jaws and co-wrote its movie adaptation with Carl Gottlieb. Several more of his works were also adapted for both cinema and television, including The Deep, The Island, Beast, and White Shark.

<i>Spider-Man</i> (1981 TV series) 1981–82 American animated TV series

Spider-Man is a 1981–82 American animated TV series based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. It is the second Spider-Man cartoon, following the 1967 series.

<i>The Lost World</i> (TV series) American action/adventure television series

The Lost World is a syndicated television series loosely based on the 1912 novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World. The show premiered in the United States in the fall of 1999. It ran for three seasons, the final two of which aired in syndication in the United States, before it was cancelled in 2002 after funding for a fourth season fell through. The final episode ended with an unresolved cliffhanger. All three seasons were released in DVD box sets in 2004.

<i>Checkmate</i> (American TV series) 1960 American TV series or program

Checkmate is an American detective television series created by Eric Ambler, starring Anthony George, Sebastian Cabot, and Doug McClure. The show aired on CBS Television from 1960 to 1962 for a total of 70 episodes. It was produced by Jack Benny's production company, "JaMco Productions" in co-operation with Revue Studios. Guest stars included Charles Laughton, Peter Lorre, Lee Marvin, Mickey Rooney and many other prominent performers.

Tyler Hynes is a Canadian actor.

<i>The Man from Snowy River</i> (TV series) 1993 Australian TV series or program

The Man from Snowy River is an Australian adventure drama television series based on Banjo Paterson's poem "The Man from Snowy River". Released in Australia as Banjo Paterson's The Man from Snowy River, the series was subsequently released in both the United States and the United Kingdom as Snowy River: The McGregor Saga.

<i>The Land Before Time</i> (TV series) 2007 American TV series or program

The Land Before Time is an American animated musical television series, based on The Land Before Time film series created by Judy Freudberg and Tony Geiss. It was developed for television by Ford Riley for Cartoon Network and was produced by Universal Animation Studios and Amblin Entertainment, and animated by Wang Film Productions in Taiwan and Toon City in the Philippines. It premiered on YTV in Canada for a test on January 5, 2007 and premiered on Cartoon Network in the United States on March 5.

Beastmaster is an Australian-Canadian-American television series that aired from 1999 to 2002. It was loosely based on the 1982 MGM film The Beastmaster, which was itself loosely adapted from the 1959 novel The Beast Master by American author Alice "Andre" Norton. The series aired 66 episodes over three complete seasons. It was produced by Coote/Hayes Productions.

Indiana Jones is an American media franchise consisting of five films and a prequel television series, along with games, comics, and tie-in novels, that depicts the adventures of Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones Jr., a fictional professor of archaeology.

<i>Street Justice</i> American television series

Street Justice is a Canadian-American action crime drama series starring Carl Weathers and Bryan Genesse. The series began airing in syndication in 1991, and was canceled in 1993 after two seasons.

<i>The New Adventures of Jonny Quest</i> 1986 American TV series or program

The New Adventures of Jonny Quest is an American animated series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, and a continuation of the 1964–65 television series Jonny Quest. It debuted in 1986 as part of The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera syndication package, being the seventh and final Hanna-Barbera cartoon of the four and a half weekday/weekend morning line-up. While it is a continuation, the series can be seen as the second season to the original series.

Madeline is an animated preschool television series produced by DIC Entertainment, L.P., as part of the Madeline media franchise. It began as a series of six television specials from 1988 to 1991, and then continued as Madeline and The New Adventures of Madeline from 1993 to 2001. The show is narrated by Christopher Plummer.

<i>Iron Man: Armored Adventures</i> Superhero animated series

Iron Man: Armored Adventures is a 3D CGI-animated series based on the Marvel Comics superhero Iron Man. It debuted in the United States on Nicktoons on April 24, 2009, and it aired on Teletoon in Canada. The series is story edited by showrunner Christopher Yost, who also worked on Wolverine and the X-Men, and numerous other Marvel Animation projects. The television show is not related to the 2007 animated film The Invincible Iron Man; it has a different voice cast, but some story elements are similar and the show uses the same musical score as the film in some instances. It is the first Iron Man television series since Iron Man from 1994 to 1996, and started airing after the success of the live action Iron Man film, which had been distributed by Nicktoons’ sibling Paramount Pictures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phantom (character)</span> Fictional character from The Phantom comic strip

The Phantom is a fictional costumed crime-fighter who operates from the fictional country of Bangalla. The character was created by Lee Falk for the adventure comic strip The Phantom, which debuted in newspapers on February 17, 1936.

Kimba the White Lion, originally known as Jungle Emperor Leo in Japan, was a 1965 television series produced by Mushi Production. This series was based on the manga written and illustrated by Osamu Tezuka. The series was broadcast on Fuji Television and other stations from October 6, 1965, to September 28, 1966; as such, it was the first full-colored Japanese anime broadcast on TV. This series consisted of 52 episodes and won a few awards like Special Award of the 4th TV Editors' Award 1966 and the Cultural Award of Children's Welfare under the Ministry of Health and Welfare 1966. Since its first airing, there have been sequel TV shows, films, and remakes made.

References

  1. Rob MacGregor. "Peter Benchley's Amazon: The Ghost Tribe". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2013-08-04.
  2. "Amazon TV set an indoor jungle". Edmonton Journal . December 1, 1999. p. 38. Archived from the original on April 21, 2023. Retrieved April 20, 2023 via Newspapers.com.
  3. Atherton, Tony (July 29, 1999). "Tyler's awesome Amazon adventure". The Ottawa Citizen . p. 25. Archived from the original on April 22, 2023. Retrieved April 21, 2023 via Newspapers.com.
  4. Peter Benchley's Amazon: The Complete Series. "Peter Benchley's Amazon: The Complete Series". Amazon.ca. Retrieved 2013-08-04.
  5. Peter Benchley's Amazon: The Complete Series. "Peter Benchley's Amazon: The Complete Series". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2013-08-04.