The second season of The Colony on the Discovery Channel started a couple of weeks ago. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the show, The Colony features a group of everyday people or “volunteers” with varying backgrounds and skills who are trying to survive the aftermath of an apocalyptic event. This season begins with our survivors coming out of quarantine due to a global pandemic, and are sequestered in a ruined industrial compound in Louisiana. They must try to survive day-to-day without running water, electricity, communication and outside assistance. The abandoned compound consists of ruined buildings, rubble, trash, and a bayou running though it. According to the show, it is a ruined site following the wake of Hurricane Katrina and was never restored.
The show starts our survivors with four days worth of food in the form of unlabeled canned goods that they managed to scavenge. In the last few episodes, the survivors have found a nearby water source, hunted snakes for meat, harnessed bio-fuel from a pile of rotting pig carcasses and built a foundry from scavenged materials. The survivors were also “attacked” by outsiders who were armed with clubs and pepper spray. The outsiders took some of their food stash and pepper sprayed one of the survivors. I personally thought the survivors should have focused more on security and should have hidden their food stash. They could have done this by spreading the food out instead of keeping the food in a grocery style shelf but that is my “armchair survivalist” thinking.
Our household is divided on our impression of The Colony. I basically like the show, and I just sit back and watch how these “regular” people would react to the harsh situation. My husband, who grew up in a tough neighborhood, and witnessed first hand the 1992 Los Angeles Riots, believe the show is lacking in realism by not including guns. I say the show is fine the way it is, you just need to suspend your disbelief. Yesterday, he and our son had a lengthy discussion on how using paint ball guns would add a degree of realism to the show. Getting hit would either eliminate the character altogether or the character would have to sit out for a time period due to the implied injury. Anyone who has ever played paintball knows that getting hit with a paintball at close range not only leaves a mark but stings for a long time. For the most part, they may have a point, as the actors reactions would definitely change, knowing that they can be eliminated. The way it stands, my husband has stopped watching the show, my son is impartial, and I like it for the entertainment value.
What do y’all think?
The Apartment Prepper's Blog 
My wife and very much enjoyed the first season of the Colony and think season #2 is even better. I agree with your husband that either paintball or AEG’s would be more accurate and are frankly necessary. If this were the Colony: UK or the Colony: Japan it would be fine as is, but leaving the entire firearm question out of the Colony: US is a gaping hole both in terms of realism and accuracy.
For example in the first season there was a eastern European guy who was trading with the Colony and he showed up with AK armed guards. At some point the Colony made a makeshift flame thrower to defend their base as well.
Here in season 2 they just made a machete and are going to build more weapons for defense. So the notion of using weapons is not the issue for the producers disallowing firearms.
The producers may think the question and use of firearms would be “too graphic” or “too disturbing.” Due to the potential high casualty rate. By limiting ammo available (realistic) this puts a cap on fire arm use.
As is, firearms absence is a semi-truck sized hole in the experiment, but it does deter me from watching at all.
I’m with you–even with the lack of firearms I still like it and look forward to what happens next. Thanks for sharing your comment!
We don’t have cable so I can’t watch the current season but I’ve seen some of last season online. I like it, I think it’s great for getting our thoughts flowing about what we would do in a given situation. I agree about the weapons and issues with looters. I think in a real situation most likely the looters would probably just kill anybody who had food and take it, but I guess that wouldn’t make for a very interesting show, lol. Other than that I enjoyed watching it.
As i am based in the UK i am unable to watch the series on telly however i have found users on youtube that have uploaded the last series and are currently uploading series 2 as it is released, as i am at work i cannot look at youtube to give you the correct user but i think it is something alont the lines of tmnl2 a quick search for season 1 brings him up and you can just go to his channel and see all the new one
Regards
Dom
I think that if this is the way the average person is going to react in a SHTF, we, even as preppy, armchair, survivalists, as we are sometimes referred to, are ahead of the game. We will know when to get out, and what to avoid. This situation would not apply to me unless it were a really bad situation that hit without any warning, and I was a refugee/survivor. And if that were the case, I would try to emerge or have someone emerge as a leader so that there was a hierarchy of leadership for opsec, as well as every day tasks. Right now, it seems everyone is working on their pet projects, even though it seems they might make sense. The guy that built the smoker, great idea, VERY stupid to build the fire box out of wood, and they should have tried to have some sort of tube connecting the two to send the smoke over to the box to keep them separated. Good try, but not as much thought went into it as should have. Or, they could have built a dakota fire hole, and covered it with that wood box they used as the fire box. This would have contained the fire under ground in the hole and smoke and heat only would have emerged from it. They also should have added salt (if they had it) to the fish to help preserve it as well…
It is about as realistic as it can get for TV. I am not sure the threat of elimination with paintball would actually be good. It makes it more a game than psychologically make them adapt to their surroundings.
If you analyze each show, I think there are good examples of what to avoid doing and how to shore up your own group if you have one that you plan on working with if the SHTF.
We watch the show as a family and over all we like it. It has moments that make us think differntly about some of the things we do every day as well as what we would do if such an event took place. I think you have to take it for what it is, there is good knowledge to be found in it, but some of the things the people do on the show are really dumb like wondering off alone and throwing away any food when you have no food, dumb as well. My children where quick to chime in that lizards are food…and so are maggots, plus there are wild greens all over the ground where they are at. they were angry when they traded for a gas powered generator instead of the fishing net as the creek is filled with small fish. Aside from that we did learn how to make a forge, a smoke house(as well as what not to do with your smoke house…lol) and have a better idea how wind power works.