Series 4

Series 4
No. Episodes
52
Network
Channel 5
First Aired
January 5, 2002
Last Aired
July 6, 2002
Previous Season
Series 3
Next Season
Series 5

Series 4 of The Tribe originally aired from January 5, 2002 to July 6, 2002 on Channel 5 in the UK.

The series moved The Tribe into science-fiction territory with the invasion of the Technos, a technologically advanced tribe who caused the disappearance of several main characters, including Bray, Tai-San, KC, Alice and The Guardian.

Wishing to create a technological utopia, the Technos re-introduce electricity and water. They also made the City addicted to their virtual reality game Paradise, which is given to everyone in exchange for work, so as to turn the City into mindless workers.

The newly arrived Technos had their leader Ram, his wives Java and Siva (Ebony's sisters), general Jay, his younger brother Ved and the emotionless Mega. Newcomers Dee, Patch, Mouse, Charlie and Sammy join the Mall Rats. Hawk was introduced as the new leader of the Ecos.

Plot Synopsis

Series 4 starts with a plane flying over the vicinity of the City. As occupants jump out via parachute, it becomes obvious they are not adults. They are know as The Technos, led by Ram, a germ-phobic paraplegic, who has two wives: Java and Siva, who are Ebony's older sisters. They have advanced vehicles and weaponry. However, they bring with them food, water and electricity. But they have ulterior motives, they set up Virtual Reality (VR) and kids become hooked onto playing it, like a drug. They can play so long as they do slave work for the Technos. As a group of Technos approach the barn where Amber is ready to give birth, they capture Bray, presumably by stunning him with a zapper. Bray is taken to an unknown location, where he isn't seen again until The Tribe: A New World.

Trudy finds Amber and realize the baby is having difficulty arriving. Ambers baby is born and is a boy. Amber names her baby, Bray Jr., named after his father. The Mosquitos rebel against Ebony and the Mall Rats discover that they are missing many friends since the Technos arrived, such as Bray, KC, Alice and Tai-San. And Ellie finds that Luke has dumped her to go with The Guardian (we assume). Cloe wants Pride to be the Mall Rats leader, because she falls in love with him. But he finds love in Salene and then Cloe then starts up a relationship with Techno, Ved. Despite still missing Tai-San, Lex then starts a secret relationship with another techno, Siva. Amber and Trudy go to live with the Gaians for safety. Jack gets captured and Ellie blames Ebony, and tries to kill her twice. Ellie is sent away for her crimes. Amber is captured by Ram and some other Technos and used as a science experiment, but later rescued by the Lex, Pride, Dee, Salene and Trudy. Amber and Trudy goes back to the Gaians to see Bray Jr.

Cloe thinks she is pregnant, but when she tells Ved he dumps her. He tells her that it's over and he never wants to see her again. Later on, she realises she isn't pregnant and tells Dee. Dee is angry at Ved for doing what he did, so Dee tells Ved that she is not pregnant. When Ved finds out, he is relatively happy and him and Cloe get back together again. Java finds out about Siva and Lex's private relationship, and then frames Lex because she thinks that Lex will just hurt her sister, Siva, by putting "stolen" computers in his room. Lex is then used as a Virtual Reality project (like Amber) and almost loses his life in The Game. Ram wants to get rid of Jay when he no longer needs him. Siva then moves into the mall after Ebony marries Ram. Cloe and Ved were deleted by Ram as he disapproved of their relationship.

However, Ebony gets together with Jay and they run away together, leaving Ram heartbroken. They run into the ecos, who take them back to their camp. Amber leaves with Jay and Ebony when they decide to go back to the city. The Ecos all get captured except for Hawk, Trudy, Bray Jr. and a couple of others, they go to the Mall. Trudy goes to the hotel, where it is revealed Tai-San is alive and well. Mega and the Mall Rats plan to defeat the Technos but Mega warns Ram. However Mega unexpectedly disables the weapons and gives Ram a virtual reality sunglass where he lets Ram see what he wants to see. Mega dumps Ram in a garbage tip and leaves him to rot. Meanwhile, Ebony is guided by a mysterious voice into a dark room. Once there, she sees Zoot who tells her the Technos have carried out his plan well, and now they've brought the power, the chaos is coming.

Character Introductions

• Jay (James Napier)
• Ram (Tom Hern)
• Java (Megan Alatini)
• Siva (Monique Cassie)
• Ved (Dan Weekes-Hannah)
• Dee (Kelly Stevenson)
• Patch (Morgan Palmer-Hubbard)
• Mouse (Jacinta Wawatai)
• Charlie (Charley Murphy Samau)
• Sammy (Lucas Hayward)
• Hawk (Sam Kelly)
• Mega (Calen Maiava-Paris)
• Baby Bray (Lucas Hill)

Reception

Series 4 often gets a mixed reaction from the fans, often considered the "Jumping the Shark" moment. This is mostly due to the technology aspect. Series 4 sees this aspect introduced in a way never before seen in the previous three seasons. Fans have criticised how the technology had little to no explanation of where it came from (until The Tribe: A New Dawn which was released 12 years later in 2014). There was also heavy criticism at how the show became more light-hearted from this season onwards. Since it had previously tackled controversial issues and for striving to never talk down to its audience, many fans lament how the show was no longer as dark as it originally was.

Another reason was the mass exodus and significant reduction of characters. Criticism was directed at how the characters disappeared off-screen without a proper exit from the show. The only characters from previous seasons to return as regulars were Lex, Ebony, Salene, and Pride. Characters like Amber, Trudy, Jack, Ellie, Tai-San, Cloe, and May would appear, but were written out for various reasons. Amber and Trudy would leave to stay with the Eco Tribe for two occasions. Jack and Ellie would be captured by the Technos early in the season and would not appear again until Series 5. Cloe would appear in the first half of Series 4, but was written out. May would reappear half-way through Series 4 after being captured by the Technos in the premiere. Tai-San would only reappear for the final 2 episodes.

Regardless, some fans praise that the writing for Series 4 was a little more serious than Series 5, mainly due to Ram's ruthlessness and the creepy VR experiments which had characters like Amber suffer from severe side-effects. Praise has also been given for the new characters like Ram, Jay, Ved, Dee, Mouse and Siva, the latter of whom had the most character development in the entire season and became a fan favourite.

Gallery

Trivia

• Tribe Spirit becomes the ending song, replacing Abe Messiah. It would continue through Series 5.
• This is the first and only season in which the plans of the main antagonist have nothing to do with Zoot in any way.
• This is the only season where the Mall Rats are never seen forming a circle by holding hands.
• This is the only season not to have any on-screen deaths of the main cast. Only background characters are shown dead, such as Ram killing two Technos with his zapper.
• Raymond Thompson mentioned in 2011 Facebook chat that the Techno invasion storyline had been planned "Three years in advance in story terms. In overview rather than detail."
• The first half of Series 4 has the smallest amount of characters in the history of the series.
• Series 4 is infamous for writing out half of the cast. They include Bray, Tai-San, KC, Alice, May, The Guardian, Moz, Luke, Andy, and Tally.
  • While Moz, Luke, Andy, and Tally would never been seen or heard from again, May would return about 3/4 in the Series 4, Tai-San returned toward the end of Series 4. KC, Alice, and The Guardian reappeared toward the end of Series 5, and Bray returned as a major character in The Tribe: A New World.
• The reason that Series 4 had the most sporadic cast appearances and disappearances was due to a variety of reasons:
  • Bray was permanently written out as Dwayne Cameron left to focus on studies and other projects.
  • Tai San was written out as Michelle Ang decided to leave to pursue her studies. She would briefly return in the final two episodes of this season.
  • KC was written out as Ari Boyland wanted to return to school, before briefly returning in Series 5.
  • Alice was written out as Vanessa Stacey wanted to pursue other projects and flew to Europe. Alice returned briefly for the final episodes of Series 5.
  • May was temporarily written out as Laura Wilson was busy filming Atlantis High. She would return midway of Series 4.
  • The Guardian was most likely written out as Damon Andrews worked on another Cloud 9 show called Revelations: The Initial Journey (2002) and would become Assistant Director for Series 5. He would return for a few episodes in Series 5.
  • Andy was most likely written out as James Ordish was busy filming Atlantis High and was also offered a role in Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, which was a major film in 2002.
  • Tally was written out for an unknown reason. But in 2021, Amelia Reynolds gave an interview about her time on The Tribe where she cited struggling with loneliness and difficulty. It is likely she chose not to return due to these experiences.
  • Luke was most likely written out as Jacob Tomuri would go to be a stunt man on the Lord of the Rings films, the first of which started production during the filming of Series 4 which made Jacob unavailable.
  • Moz was most likely written out as Miriama Smith had roles in 2 major films The Other Side of Heaven (2001) and Toy Love (2002). Therefore, she could no longer be on the show.
  • Amber and Trudy temporarily exited twice this season. Beth Allen and Antonia Prebble share the same school holidays and requested to film only during their holidays to focus on their studies.
  • Jack was absent for the majority of the season as Michael Wesley-Smith was the lead role in another Cloud 9 show Atlantis High which was in production during the filming of Series 3 and 4.
  • Ellie was temporarily written out because Jennyfer Jewell requested time off to focus on her exams. Jennyfer stated that if she could have gotten out of that, she would have definitely done it to continue being on the show regularly. Ellie did not return until Series 5.
  • Charlie was written out for an unknown reason. But Charley Murphy Samau did not act again until 2008, meaning he had taken a long break for an undisclosed reason after acting on The Tribe.
  • Cloe and Ved were written out as Jaimee Kaire-Gataulu and Dan Weekes-Hannah dated off-screen and skipped a day of shooting together which caused Cloud 9 studios to lose one hundred thousand dollars. Both actors were fired from the show because of this incident.
• Ebony was almost written out of the show in Series 4 because Meryl Cassie wanted to pursue a musical career with her sisters. Not wanting to lose her, the producers wrote her sisters into the show where they could also record new music as they had originally planned on doing. Had Ebony been written out, she would have likely been captured and sent away by the Technos like most of the cast who left.