The Colony (American TV series) season 1

The Colony (American TV series) season 1
Genre	Reality show
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
Production
Production locations	516 S Anderson St, Los Angeles, California, United States
Running time	1 hour (with commercials)
Original release
Network	Discovery Channel
Release	July 21, 2009 (2009-07-21)

The Colony is a reality television program. The series was filmed in an industrial area bordering the Los Angeles River on the edge of downtown Los Angeles, and follows ten cast members in an environment that simulates life after a global catastrophe. The series first aired on the Discovery Channel on July 21, 2009.

Cast

Vladimir Beck is a 62-year-old retired oil industry engineer from Zagreb, Croatia who currently resides in Los Angeles, California. Vladimir has been a mechanical engineer since the 1970s and spent many years working as an engineer in oil refineries. He also spent a number of years in the military and left Communist Yugoslavia as a young man. On the Discovery Channel website, he has been voted the 2nd most popular colonist.

John Cohn is a 50-year-old chief IBM scientist for design automation from Richmond, Vermont. He is an expert in fixing, making or hacking electronics, building structures out of natural materials, growing edible plants, mechanical fabrication, welding, sculpting and fire building. John is a self proclaimed "mad scientist," and he has performed a "Jolts and Volts" electricity show to more than 50,000 people across the U.S.. In 2006, John's 14 year old son, Sam, was killed in a traffic accident. Since then, John has dedicated all of his education outreach work to Sam's memory. Viewers have rated him as the number one colonist.

George Fallieras is a 34-year-old internal medicine/pediatric/ER doctor from Tampa, Florida who currently resides in Los Angeles, California. After majoring in Marine Biology at University of Florida and considering a career as a marine mammal veterinarian, George received medical training in Tennessee and New Orleans. George returned to New Orleans in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to provide care in makeshift medical units. He stands as the 6th most popular colonist.

Morgan Hooker is a 23-year-old aerospace engineer from Woodland Hills, California. Morgan designs irrigation, makes a generator, and builds heat insulated shelters using clay, metal, wood and her generator. She is also a sculptor who can make a kiln from clay and dirt, and can make pots, pans, plates, cups, etc. As an aerospace engineer, she focuses mostly on engines and propulsion mechanisms for planes and spacecraft. She has been voted as the 9th most popular colonist.

Michael Raines is a 47-year-old actor [13]and solar panel installer/fabricator from Kotor, Montenegro who currently resides in Santa Monica, California. He specializes building alternative energy. He is an inventor who fabricates furniture from both wood and metal, customizes cars and bikes, installs solar panels, and makes bows and arrows from scrap metal. His gruff attitude does cause problems with the other colonists, especially Morgan and Leilani. He is currently ranked as the 3rd most popular colonist.

Joey Sciacca is a 37-year-old building contracting company owner from Los Angeles, California, currently resides in Sherman Oaks, California. He is a Black Belt in Tang Soo Do. He also does plumbing, electrical, drywall, framing, concrete, and is an artist utilizing pencil, pointillism and pastels. In 1994, while living in New York, in an attempt to pay off some debts, Joey agreed to do a drug run for a friend. He was arrested in Miami while boarding a train for New York and ended up serving six years in prison for his crime. Joey now works in construction, where he utilizes his skills as an eco-friendly contractor. Ranked as the 4th most popular colonist.

Leilani Smith is a 36-year-old black belt martial arts fighter/instructor who currently resides in Sherman Oaks, California. She was born in Osan City, Korea, began her martial arts career at the age of 28, and now works as a personal trainer/self defense instructor. She is into mental strategic games such as chess and Scrabble. She also loves to cook and uses her organizational skills in charity to help homeless and battered women. She is ranked as the 7th most popular colonist.

John Valencia is a 37-year-old machinist from Covina, California. He is a conservationist and a machinist who can make pipe fitting for irrigation, repair engines, and rebuild alternators to hook up to generators for electricity. He also has developed hand crank electrical systems. He has been voted the 5th most popular colonist on the Discovery Channel website.

Amy West is a 34-year-old marine biologist from Durango, Colorado who currently resides in San Luis Obispo, California. Amy is certified in CPR, diving, and advanced rescue. She grew up in the mountains of Durango, CO; then at age 18 she packed her bags and moved to the Caribbean to study marine biology. While in the Virgin Islands in 1995, she experienced Hurricane Marilyn firsthand. She then entered the Peace Corps and served in Gabon, Africa for two and a half years, and then New Zealand to work on organic farms for an additional three years. Amy eventually relocated to central California to complete a research internship, which led to stints in Alaska, Antarctica, and the Arctic Circle. She has been voted as the least popular colonist on the Discovery Channel website.

Allison White is a 29-year-old registered nurse from Oklahoma City, whose natural inclinations allow her to remain calm in extreme, life-threatening situations; thus, she has found herself most at home working in the emergency room. Over the years, Allison's assignments as a traveling nurse have led to the opportunity to both work and explore living in cities such as Manhattan, Miami, Los Angeles, and Honolulu. She is currently the 8th most popular colonist.

Episode list

#	Title	Director(s)	Writer(s)	Original Airdate
1	"Arrival and Survival"	TBA	TBA	July 21, 2009 (2009-07-21)
Ten volunteers enter an experimental post-catastrophe world to see if they can survive and rebuild after a global disaster. Cordoned off in a downtown Los Angeles warehouse with no electricity from the grid, no running water, and no communication with the outside world, they must secure shelter, filter water, and defend their new home from thieves.
2	"Power Struggle"	TBA	TBA	July 28, 2009 (2009-07-28)
With their power supply dwindling, the volunteers attempt to build a generator that runs on smoke from wood scraps. When they scavenge the nearby streets for supplies, they must face off with a motorcycle-riding thug.
3	"Comfort in Chaos"	TBA	TBA	August 4, 2009 (2009-08-04)
After securing the basic necessities for survival, the volunteers focus on the one creature comfort they can't live without: a hot shower. But focusing on comfort leaves them open to a massive attack that threatens their long-term survival.
4	"Safety and Security"	TBA	TBA	August 11, 2009 (2009-08-11)
After an attack shatters the volunteers' sense of security, they must focus on building weapons and fortifying the warehouse. But before they can finish, a truckload of gun-toting traders arrives to test the volunteers' unity.
5	"A Stranger Among Us"	TBA	TBA	August 18, 2009 (2009-08-18)
The volunteers have the opportunity to up their electricity and power capabilities when they scavenge a stock of abandoned solar panels. But the experiment takes a dangerous turn when two strangers walk into the compound with their own key and claim that it belongs to them.
6	"Loss and Communication"	TBA	TBA	August 25, 2009 (2009-08-25)
The volunteers are rocked by the disappearance of a treasured member during a search party mission. The loss spurs them to build a collection of communication devices in hopes that their missing member is somewhere out there… listening.
7	"A Test of Faith"	TBA	TBA	September 1, 2009 (2009-09-01)
The Colonists run into missionaries on a river trip, and John V's moral compass is shaken. The arrival of two new visitors creates an internal rift.
8	"Recon Mission"	TBA	TBA	September 8, 2009 (2009-09-08)
A kidney stone puts Joey down for the count, and while he recovers, the Colonists are surprised by a new arrival and a very wet situation. Mike and Vlad set out on what turns into a dangerous recon mission.

Phases and Projects

Episode 1

Phase	Context	Description
Phase 1: Sleep Deprivation	Shock and Fatigue	To simulate the stress survivors experience in the aftermath of a disaster, the volunteers are kept awake for thirty hours with almost no food or water.
Phase 2: Looting	Scarcity of Supplies	Mentally drained, the first six volunteers were given fifteen minutes in an abandoned department store to scavenge as many resources as they can carry.
Phase 3: The Marauders	Resource Competition	Ten minutes into scavenging, a gang of looters and thugs are sent in to steal the volunteer's supplies.
Phase 4: River Walk	Search for Shelter	Before arriving at the colony, the volunteers haul their 200 pounds of looted supplies eight miles down the Los Angeles River.
Phase 5: Arrival and Survival	Rebuilding Begins	The six colonists arrive at an 80,000 square foot warehouse on a three and a half acre plot of land. They are supplied with rudimentary materials, tools, and a small supply of food and water. How they use these resources is up to them.

Projects

• Water Filter: The Los Angeles River is the colonist's main water source, but the water is unsafe to drink without some filtration. The plan is to puncture small holes in a 55 gallon drum, and fill it with multiple layers of sand and charcoal to filter out impurities such as rocks, algae, lead, and E. coli. Afterward the water is then to be boiled to remove bacteria, only then will they have a safe water supply.
• Surface Grill: To cook their food, the colonists suspend a steel plate over a fire inside a steel drum.
• Styrofoam Shoes: With their wet socks drying on the grill and their shoes wet from the river crossing, the colonists use shipping envelopes and duct tape for socks.
• Manual Flush: Without running water, the colonists test the toilets to see if they can flush them manually by pouring enough water in the bowl to force waste through the siphon tube.
• Giant Bed: Using some cardboard, pallets, box-springs, fabric and foam the colonists assemble a giant bed for them to sleep on.
• Night Watch: In this post-apocalyptic world, security can be compromised at any time, so at night one or two colonists stays up to look after the others at certain times through the night.
• Secured Yard Door: After a single intruder attempted to break in through the Yard door, Michael looped a chain through the door and around an I-beam.
• Newcomers: While Mike, John C., Allison, Morgan, John V., and George are settled in, the other four volunteers Vlad, Joey, Leilani, and Amy arrive with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Their rations already scarce, they reluctantly allow the newcomers in.
• Battery Array: To get electricity, the colonists daisy chain twenty 12-volt car batteries in parallel to maximise amperage. They then convert the direct current to alternating current using an inverter. It provides just enough power to last just a week, so a generator will need to be built to recharge the batteries.
• Water Storage: Keeping a supply of drinking water is crucial to the colonist's survival. To guarantee a steady supply, they move the filter on a warehouse shelf and places a large container beneath it.
• Brewing Coffee: To grind whole coffee beans, the colonists use hammers to smash them. To brew it they use cheese cloth as a filter and parts of a coffee machine, allowing them to produce their first brew.
• Rain Catcher: When a rare LA rain storm approaches, Mike and John V. modify the gutters of the warehouse to catch and stockpile rainwater, thus saving them a river trip.
• Laundry: Because of the grime on the roof, the first part of the collected rainwater is too dirty to drink, but it is suitable for laundry. Without detergent, the colonists improvise using baking soda, and to clean their clothes they use a piece of corrugated steel as a washboard.

Episode 2

Phase	Context	Description
Phase 6: Sustainable Energy	Fuel Shortage	With the battery array running out of power, the colonists need to build a generator and find a plentiful fuel source.
Phase 7: Foraging	Resource Acquisition	With a lack of food, the colonists go out to acquire more food for the colony. They acquire a small supply of canned goods, fresh fruit, and a pair of goats.

Projects

• Inventory: The colonist's first few days were so hectic they haven't had a chance to see what resources were available to them. So they take the time to do so, and find a number of useful items including power tools.
• Power Generator: The immediate priority is power, and with the batteries having only a few days worth of power left, a generator needs to be built. The plan is to scavenge an engine of a pressure washer, a pulley system from a ventilation fan, and a car alternator. The engine's drive shaft must turn the pulley and the pulley must spin the alternator. Just like in a car the alternator converts mechanical energy into electrical energy, which is needed to charge the battery array.
• Wood Gasifier: To keep the generator engine running they will need a fuel. One way is to scavenge for gasoline, but that method is dangerous and barely sustianable. John Cohn proposed building a gasifier after noticing an abundance of wood. A gasifier is two containers each holding wood scraps. The wood in the first container is used to build a fire. The fire heats the wood in the second container releasing a flammable vapor called wood gas. The wood gas is then piped directly into the generator engine.
• Tire Shoes: The river walk destroyed most of the colonist's shoes, so new ones were made using the rubber from a tire.
• Light Fixtures: With power being generated, Mike used some wires to suspend some light bulbs in the main warehouse space.
• Escape Vehicle: Everyone agrees that the warehouse, or the city for that matter is not an ideal place for long term survival in this post-apocalyptic world. Noticing a broken down flatbed truck out on the yard, everyone brings it inside the warehouse and into the main work area so it can later be used for their exodus.

Episode 3

Phase	Context	Description
Phase 8: Creature Comforts	Recreating Home	With a power source for their tools, the colonists decide to make a shower and other smaller comforts to improve morale.
Phase 9: River Trip	Resource Scarcity	Running out of water and tired of eating canned goods, the colonists head to the river to acquire water, fresh fish, and citrus.
Phase 10: Power On	Outside Contact	Discovering the small television is on and transmitting an emergency signal, the colonists who did not leave the colony to go on the river trip discover that the power has been turned on for a short time.
Phase 11: Colony Attack	Resource Competition	Not paying attention to security, the colonists are surprised by an attack on the warehouse by marauders and thieves, and they lost two days worth of food afterwards. The mauraders were given instructions not to physically harm the colonists, but the colonists don't know that.

Projects

• Solar Shower: The immediate project is a shower. The shower has a tank of water on the roof that uses solar energy to heat the water inside. The tank is painted black to maximize heat absorption, has reflectors aimed at it to increase heat absorption, and shrink wrapped to preserve the heat. A garden hose is hooked to it and pours the water down into a wood and fiberglass structure. The gray water is then piped out of the box and into a bucket. Water is pulled up by a bicycle pulley to the roof.
• Generator Upgrade: The generator was not making enough energy to charge the batteries all the way so Mike adds a second alternator to piggyback on the first the maximize energy production.
• Toilet Paper: Leilani makes a few rolls of toilet paper by cutting a roll of muslin.
• Fish Trap: Amy makes a fish net to help with fishing in the river.
• Visual Diary: Morgan starts a picture diary about the colony's day activities in the Hieroglyphic room.

Episode 4

Phase	Context	Description
Phase 12: Security	Safety From Attack	After being surprised by an attack from marauders and thieves, the colonists agree to increase their security on the warehouse.
Phase 13: Traders	Negotiation Skills	A group of gun-toting traders arrive to trade with the colonists for certain goods they have for things that the colony needs.

Projects

• Warehouse Defenses: The immediate project is securing the warehouse with better defenses. Joey fixes the hole in the back wall that was previously breached by putting trash on the stairs. He also puts chainlink on the wall where they were previously attacked to prevent any openings in the wall and puts wooden board secured with metal screws to keep the front door shut.
• Weapons: The colonists build a series of weapons for defending their home. John C. creates a flamethrower and a large taser that can be used from a few feet away. Vladimir starts building claymore mines out of some small materials.
• Gym: Leilani builds a small gym to teach everyone self-defense for when they need to leave the warehouse. She makes a punching bag by filling a nylon bag with dirt from the yard and suspending it with chains.
• Safe Cracking: The colonists discovered a room hanging over the entrance of the yard that had a safe as well as an unlabeled bottle of vodka and a small cot. They opened the safe to discover $1000 in it which they deem worthless, but they enjoy the vodka later that night.
• Trading: The colonists send Joey and Mike to trade goods with the traders outside. They trade an air compressor and jackhammer for a ten kilowatt generator and five gallons of gasoline. They also trade 157 oranges, eight cans of food, one bag of flour, and 1 bag of salt for two chickens, one jug of cooking oil, one box of toiletries, and nine yuccas.
• Escape Vehicle: Mike and John V. get to work on the two-ton truck to get it working again so it can be used to leave the city into the country for a more sustainable existence. Mike discovers that the one of the engine's pistons and the carburetor's butterfly valve was rusted in place so that the engine won't start. Fortunately he managed to fix them so now the engine runs.

Episode 5

Phase	Context	Description
Phase 14: Solar Power	Fuel Shortage	Not having enough power for their fabrication needs, the team goes out scouting for renewable energy in the form of obtaining solar panels.
Phase 15: New Arrivals	Test of Unity	Two mysterious new colonists, Andre and Elizabeth, make their way into the complex through a locked side door, to test the team's willingness to accept outsiders and their unity against potential threats.

Projects

• Solar Panel Rig: Using the generator obtained from the traders in Episode 4, Mike, Joey and others set out to build a rig for the solar panels they obtained from the roof of a nearby building and along the railroad. John C. works to build a device that incorporates two solenoids and a small motor into a solar tracking device, allowing the solar panels to follow the sun during the day, and return to starting positions at night.
• Washing Machine: To make the laundry duty easier, John V. modifies the interior of a steel drum, then sets it on an angled base mounted with wheels so no water can get out. To conserve electricity, he gets the drum turning by hooking it up to a bicycle so it runs on pedal power instead.
• Code of Conduct: Andre and Elizabeth's unwillingness to work and their wasteful habits put the colonist's survival at risk, so the group forcefully evicted them from the warehouse. To maintain order and unity, everyone puts together a code of conduct in the Hieroglyphic room for any new arrivals in the future.
• Escape Vehicle: Their next objective for the escape vehicle is to get the bed stripped by removing the damaged truck bed and the remaining part of the trailer body, that way they can have something to work with.

Episode 6

Phase	Context	Description
Phase 16: Health	Illness and Injury	Five weeks of living in unsanitary conditions proves to be a health hazard for the colonists so even minor cuts and bruises need to be continuously looked after. Also, a lower intake of food has taken its toll on them physically as well.
Phase 17: Hospital Foraging	Resource Scarcity	Needing medical supplies, as well as food and other salvageable materials, some of the colonists enter an abandoned hospital for resources.
Phase 18: Disappearance	Coping With Loss	To simulate a loss in the group, George was removed from the experiment during the hospital trip. None of the colonists were informed of George's whereabouts or if he will return.
Phase 19: Communication	Outside Contact	While grieving the loss of George, power from the grid goes on and the television receives an emergency broadcast for a short while. With renewed hope, the colonists focus on communication with the outside world.

Projects

• Clinic: Allison and George clean part of the lookout for a sanitary environment for a clinic. They assemble the furniture and shelving found in a typical doctors office and place a scale to check the colonist's weight. The colonist's conditions are recorded in a medical record.
• Foraging Cart: To help with hospital foraging, John V. takes parts from the solar panel dollys into and makes them into a cart.
• Search Party: When George goes missing, lead by Vladimir, the others start looking for him frantically without success.
• Spark-Gap Transmitter: John C. proposes making a rudimentary transmitter that's similar to a telegraph. It will consist of four components made from scratch. First, a capacitor is made from aluminium foil and glass sandwiched together to store electrical energy. A switch will activate a spark gap made from two bolts, which will release the stored energy. He crafts a transformer that consists of a spool like housing made of PVC pipe and copper wire to turn the electrical energy into radio waves. Finally, an antenna will be wired to broadcast the radio waves over the AM band. Their messages will be transmitted in Morse Code.
• Receiver: To go with the spark-gap transmitter, Morgan proceeds to build a receiver to go with it so they can listen in on any responses. She installs a second antenna to the roof of the warehouse and wraps a piece of insulated copper coil around a discarded peanut butter jar. She then hooks the receiver up to a telephone headset and later to a television to listen for any form of radio communication. By moving an alligator clip across the wires, she can pick up different AM frequencies.
• SOS Banner: Hoping to get help from someone, Mike and Allison paint an SOS message with intructions to transmit over the AM band on a large peice of fabric and hang it on the roof.
• Fireworks: Vladimir builds fireworks to hopefully get other survivors' attentions at night. For a fuse he uses string, glue, and charcoal from the gasifier. He then cuts ABS pipe to be used as a launcher. The fireworks themselves consists of gunpowder scavenged from shotgun shells and other flammable materials inside cardboard tubes. To safely set them off from the roof, he builds a detonation system so he can fire them from a safe distance.
• Inverter Repair: A test of the spark-gap transmitter fried the inverter's cooling fan, making it open to overheating. John C. replaced it with a fan from a foraged computer from the hospital.
• High Voltage Power Source: Not wanting to risk harming the inverter again, John C. uses a car battery and harvested electronics to get the high voltage needed for the transmitter to work.
• Escape Vehicle: Joey continues work on the escape vehicle by getting to work on the truck's bed. He puts in benches, hidden compartments, and a tank to hold 75 gallons of drinking water.

Episode 7

Phase	Context	Description
Phase 20: Missionaries	Exploration of Faith	A group of missionaries walking down the river introduce the subject of faith to the colonists who are gathering water from the river.
Phase 21: Nomads	Sharing Resources	Two wandering nomads beg the colonists to share their dwindling resources in order to test their unity and sense of charity.

Projects

• Ozonator: With their propane supply gone, the colonists must find an alternative method of sterilizing the filtered water. One way is to use fire to boil water, but that's not an efficient enough way to do it making it a waste of effort and wood. John C. gets an idea to use ozone as a way to purify their water supply. The plan is to build a tesla coil to generate ozone, then using a pump scavenged from hospital equipment, pipe the ozone into a bucket of water to be purified.
• Rat Hunting: With some rat traps, the Colonists catch 4 rats and Vlad cooks them up for dinner. The rats were a sanitary hazard, a nuisance, and they provided the much needed protein the Colonists were deprived of.
• Phonograph:
• Soap:
• Film Projector:
• Escape Vehicle:

External links

• Official website
• The Colony at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com
• John Cohn's blog