The Story of Scavengers | Documentary

[@officialbackintheday]

Not the greatest game show in the world, but there's something about it I quite like! I think it's just the nostalgia of reminiscing of days gone by. They definitely don't make game shows like this anymore! Hope you enjoy everyone. It would mean the world if you could subscribe to the channel, and why not share the video with someone you think might be interested! Hard at work on the next video, which could be a long one!

[@Lorric101]

The games are well made and it has a soul.

[@racheljames7]

I remember this! I quite liked it too. It was better than anything on a Saturday night nowadays. Thanks for bringing back the memories.

[@jamesphelan7556]

I was thinking of this show the other day and I couldn't for the life of me remember the name of it. Thank you for the nostalgia.

[@MikeLarky83]

Absolutely loving your channel. Seeing my childhood favourites like Knightmare, Cluedo and Crystal maze getting a deep dive is wonderful. And thanks for introducing me to Interceptor :) Any chance of Krypton Factor soon please?

[@officialbackintheday]

It's on the list so definitely coming in the future!

[@richardbourn5896]

@@officialbackintheday seconding request for the Krypton Factor.

[@Bananapeels-Make-Great-Skates]

Haven't watched this video yet but can't wait to do so soon as i wake. This was one of my favourite Sci fi shows, which I was really hoping you'd cover, as most people didn't believe it existed. Sci fi crystal maze! Can't wait!

[@officialbackintheday]

Hope you enjoy!

[@ianmurphy9955]

This was a great show! I love this channel!. Can I suggest a video subject? A show that was on CITV called Terror Towers

[@Bananapeels-Make-Great-Skates]

Great video, really loving your content. I remember liking scavengers so much, that I took up a huge portion of me and my brother's lego supply to create the cyclops ship. It was probably crap but I was very proud of it at the time. Don't understand why this show didn't get the views. I absolutely loved it!

[@officialbackintheday]

Thanks, glad you're enjoying the channel!

[@richardbourn5896]

Thank you so much for this. I watched Scavengers as a child when it came out and I always vaguely remembered it. Awesome to see a positive summary of a show that had so much potential.

[@officialbackintheday]

Glad you enjoyed!

[@ad-mc]

I'd forgotten all about this, but I definitely remember it now. I hadn't realised that it had so few episodes

[@paulos9900]

There was a 2001 show called Lost (no not that Lost) on Channel 4 that was quite enjoyable. Basically there were 3 teams of 2 people each and they'd get dumped somewhere random in the world with no information on where they were and with few or no resources. They got dumped in some really out of the way places like Eastern Russia, Timbuktu or Venezuela and then would have to work out where they were and how to get back to the UK. 1st team to do so won. Apparently there was a US version too but I never saw it. I think I'll try and find if it's available somewhere and see if it's as good as I remember. Edit... Found the 1st 4 episodes of the UK series on KZbin but the rest might be semi "lost media".

[@officialbackintheday]

I remember that show yea! That could be a good topic for a future video :)

[@dickoon]

@@officialbackintheday *coughs in the direction of kzbin.info/door/JabjhzVYlnPtxGsm8gCv8Avideos as politely as possible*

[@Lorric101]

Scavengers was fantastic. My favourite game show ever. I had no idea it bombed so hard though, that's tragic. It was a brilliant show, and looking at it now those effects still hold up. They really made it believable that they were working their way through this behemoth of a ship team by team, piece by piece, with the ongoing story and like you said with continually doing different games. Something like the crusher is believable that they could repeat it with a new load dumped into the crusher each time.

[@officialbackintheday]

Couldn't agree more. This show definitely had more to give had it been given the time to evolve!

[@the50ftnerd98]

Great video and channel! No idea how you’d do it, but I think a video trying to understand Channel 5’s thinking behind the Cheggers game show Naked Jungle could be interesting

[@officialbackintheday]

Thanks for checking out the channel :) Oh yea, what a strange TV show that was. Could be a good topic for a potential future video cheers!

[@cycklist]

I remember being captivated by this. It seemed quite the adventure, to child me.

[@captainmarvelous2065]

Y'know out of all the Gameshows I watched as a kid I don't remember this so this was a very interesting watch. Loved game shows as a kid Crystal Maze, Takeshi's Castle, Fort Boyard. Hell there was a kids gameshow called GET WET that used to air on CITV back in the day and I remember watching that one a lot. Honestly love watching this channel seeing stuff I remember or something I didn't know before.

[@officialbackintheday]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed the video!

[@That_Ifrit_Guy]

I had never heard of this~ Sounds like something I totally would have loved growing up

[@vinnycochrane5139]

I remember this show from my childhood. My suspicion at the time, and now, was that it couldn’t replicate Crystal Maze because it was very serious about itself. CM was great because Richard O’Brien was an arch, glib, ironist. CM never tried to be too doom-laden, and the sense of threat was just based on the game. I can see what Scavengers was trying to do, but it was too divorced from reality to create real tension. But hey, it was fun.

[@LeeONardo]

Issues with the show: - John Leslie, he just didn't work. I believe he was taking it very seriously as a springboard to get an acting gig for James Bond. If he hammed it up I believe it would have gelled better. - Commander John sub plots. Scrap them outside of maybe a short little scene at the beginning of an episode. Simply have it, for example, once John is taking contestants to a game randomly an alien might appear to scare one of them, John blasts it and they carry on. Just keep the players on their toes. - VS format, needed to be team VS game. It just didn't feel right that they were working together but also against, especially when there wasn't much scope to actually sabotage each other. Also it would make the escape better for contestants whereas any that are stranded miss out on prizes.

[@MrWasjig]

Now this is a new one to me, I thought I'd heard of all the British 90s gameshows! This was certainly an interesting one, bit of a shame it didn't last beyond an initial short run, I think it had some serious potential with that insanely huge set! If I may, a very interesting a unique gameshow that I think would make a great video would be X-Fire (cross fire), that aired on Channel 4 in 2001

[@officialbackintheday]

Got it on my list!

[@ShaunStephens777]

I like the show. Remember seeing it on Saturday nights, and also weekday mornings during the summer holidays of 95

[@Sn0wc4t]

Loved this as a kid. Deeply, deeply flawed but great fun. I miss 90's gameshows. They don't make stuff like this any more! Is the full series available anywhere? There's a couple of episodes lurking here on KZbin but not much else.

[@KipClips]

I remember watching this as a kid and being somewhat enthralled - including one time being shouted at to come to dinner whilst I was busy watching this 😂 Thanks for the video :) Not sure if it was mentioned in the video, but what did the overall series winners get?

[@officialbackintheday]

I can't actually remember what they got, and unfortunately the later episodes of the show seem to be lost :(

[@dickoon]

@@officialbackintheday A badge, signifying official designation as Scavengers Captain Material. It looked quite, quite tacky. History does not record if there was an out-of-character prize or not, but this definitely has a feel of being a show played for fun.

[@0wastetime0]

That's so wild, I don't remember this show at all. I bet I would have been so in to this as a young teenager.

[@keithmartin1328]

I vaguely remember this, can't believe it was 30 years ago!

[@sanctumsanctorum4130]

I was an adult when Scavengers aired and a massive sci-fi fan. So you'd think this would have been right in my interest. Only it wasn't, like at all. For starters, it was really cheesy, not helped by John Lesley being completely unbelievable. And the random vignettes which put him at the center didn't help either. It just all came off as a bit naff, despite them spending a small fortune on the sets. Gladiators worked because it was real sports entertainment. Crystal Maze worked because the maze and Richard O'Brien were just a frame device for interesting challenges. With Scavengers, the framing device was too prominent, with random aliens that didn't really do anything and explosions which weren't really very threatening.

[@marcuslavaggi-bowen6539]

Ice Warriors, which like this show was in the Gladiators timeslot. It was basically the latter on ice and hosted by Danni Behr. It didn't catch on at all, so maybe you could do a retrospective on that please? 😊

[@officialbackintheday]

I have been trying so hard to find episodes of Ice Warriors online but to no avail :( If you happen to come across the full series, let me know!

[@danielwilliamson6180]

I am a fan of Scavengers. It premiered on my 10th birthday.

[@ShaunStephens777]

Would like to see all 13 episodes again. If I knew where to find them

[@mattyboy2024]

I'm british born in '85 never heard of this show ha. Quite familiar with gladiators though

[@Kousaburo]

8:25 Real acid? I used to love this show, it definitely looks over the top expensive for a British TV show.

[@hc3932]

This show passed us by, I have not heard of it.

[@puzzlethecheetah]

They really need to bring this back ^_^

[@Koraxbear]

It was a pretty good show, wondered why it was cut short. @officialbackintheday thinking of doing X-fire at some point? I know they did 1 season, any background on it, it seemed like the channel 4 version of Gladiators.

[@officialbackintheday]

Yea X-Fire is on the list, but the only videos I can find of it are quite low quality, so waiting until I can find something a bit better quality :)

[@GyleCast]

How did i miss this show? I have no memory of it whatsoever.

[@SanFran51]

So did the viewers that actually tuned in. I forgot about it for years. Because Scavengers really is that forgettable.

[@Gold_Bug]

This looks cool af, dont remember it but would have loved it at the time If I had seen it.

[@jamesabernethy7896]

This is a great mix of nostalgia. Shows that were ubiquitous in their appear to the more niche ones. I remember this and even though it wasn’t as good as the crystal maze. I liked how unique it was. Even though it was such an ambitious set, I think the sci-fi theme didn’t have mass appeal and the darkness didn’t make it visually appealing.

[@steveharrison76]

I think I saw a couple of these, it was pretty good. Thing is, my mum and dad had other stuff on at the same time that they wanted to watch so normally I was out of luck, and then it was off the air.

[@bigd5090]

It's better than all the modern reality TV rubbish. Imagination is missing today!

[@Martyn2021]

The strange thing is with John Leslie involved I will sure this was a kid show part of a Saturday morning block of children's television, on CITV

[@CaledoniaStorm]

Small mistake at 19:07. You say 280 salvage points when the screen says the red team have 180.

[@CaledoniaStorm]

What's the synthwave sounding tune played during the introduction?

[@HelloMisterJAMWAH]

"Drink yer scav juice, I'm taking ya home."

[@mysteriousbob]

Man, I don't remember this whatsoever, although I was apparently 5 when it aired so it must have been short lived indeed.

[@Zomerset]

Not heard of this one. It sounds good on paper (I like space / futuristic stuff), but watching the clips, it seems to be a bit random. Maybe it is because it was trying to do too much. I’m not sure what it tried to excel in. Crystal Maze worked because it was focused on the challenges and you could almost play along with some of them. Gladiators was great because it was focused on being a sports entertainment show.

[@philnewton-england7795]

So many shows after 1995 were banded as 'The new Crystal Maze', yet none of them ever came close 😔😔

[@officialbackintheday]

True, and I don't think anything ever will come close to capturing what The Crystal Made did 😔

[@marcuslavaggi-bowen6539]

I remember this and being really disappointed as in the ITV trailer it looked like Quasar / Lazer Maze made into to a TV show, but those were just interludes between the games. Despite that, I look back on it as an actually impressive show. May I suggest you do a retrospective on Goldenballs or Finders Keepers?

[@officialbackintheday]

Great suggestions. My list of videos is growing faster than I can make them, which is always a good thing!

[@marcuslavaggi-bowen6539]

​@@officialbackinthedayThose are remembered really, so I suggested Ice Warriors in a separate post 👍

[@ModelsExInferis]

It actually looked pretty good, I don't know why I've never seen it. I do remember thinking Gladiators was dross, so maybe I assumed this was in the same vein. I don't know. I might look it up and give it a chance... 30 years on! I agree with you about The Cristal Maze and Knightmare though, they really were the pinnacle of gameshows! I remember wanting to go on Knightmare, but I was too old. Then wanting to go on TCM, but then I was too young. Story of my life! I do wonder what a Knightmare for adults would be like today? With the CGI we have now I reckon it could be very impressive! Shame gameshows are so boring these days. They're pretty much all the same. And there's always a cash prize. I'd have been delighted just to have won a "I cracked the Crystal Maze" crystal! Now it's all 200k or something. Dull. Anyway, I look forward to your next video! Cheers!

[@kumachan9311]

They do a "Crystal maze experience" in London, few friends have been on it but it's pretty much a licenced escape room

[@fightview360]

Any chance on doing a video on the TV Show Games master?

[@officialbackintheday]

Will definitely be coming in the future. Stay tuned!

[@UnwittingSweater]

I loved this show when i caught it.

[@CaledoniaStorm]

I liked this show, but I can see why it got cancelled. They needed someone far more charismatic to play the Commander, John Leslie just wasn't cutting it. They also needed to blend the battle vignettes with the gameplay better. If they'd done it as originally envisaged with one team vs the ship, it may have played better. I'm not sure why ITV wanted two teams as the single team format for this ambitious style of show had worked very well for the Crystal Maze earlier. And as you alluded to, insisting there must be a winner and a loser when it's possible for both teams to lose was just asking for it to happen.

[@retrogiftsuk4812]

I always thought the series didn't work for several reasons. The 2 teams competing showed how contrived everything was, with a convenient equal number of red and yellow items to collect (would have worked better with 1 team working together) The timing of games meant no sense. Why only 3 minutes to complete a specific task?!? (Would have made sense if android could repressure parts of the ship remotely, but only override the ships computer for limited times... Or some other techno babble...) Nearly all the games were effectively the same. Collect the X, but OH NO it's up a ladder or down a hole. They had the odd mental game (like the one in the video where they had to describe the symbols) but again the logic for "you took 1 second too long so you lose your points" made no sense... They also had a memory game (which was basically a children's "Simon" game sprayed silver... Oh Dear!...) It's a bizarre situation where an unknown actor would have been a better choice of host as it would have been easier to believe they were from the future (rather than Blue Peter). As shown by the actress playing Android being more believable as an android than John was as a human from the future.

[@TheBeird]

I wanna say this looks familiar, but I can’t tell if I’m remembering this or footage of a Mega CD game 🤔

[@soullessmin]

how did i not see this back in the day? aside from John's "acting" this looks great, though not quite in the same league as Gladiators or Crystal Maze obviously.

[@kate_cooper]

It's not a bad idea, actually it's a good idea, and they obviously had faith in it or they wouldn't have spent so much money on the set. Sadly, the execution doesn't live up to the concept. The weakest thing about it was probably John Leslie. Not being able to act is one thing, but he isn't even *trying* to act. I would say the most immediately logical choice as host would have been Craig Charles and, even if he wasn't available, there's hundreds of better choices than John Leslie.

[@kumachan9311]

I could just not take this seriously as a kid.. John Leslie, C'mon

[@SanFran51]

I remember this from the June 1995 death slot. Even as a Kid I was intrigued but bizarrely bored by it. I think the big problem is the game is simply not enjoyable or engaging for the viewers to be invested in watching.... after watching one. I never had any reason to watch another. Proof that a poor game can sink a concept hard.

[@steventhompson3268]

Gladiators on a spaceship.

[@SophieCrane-o7v]

Nah, More Like Crystal Maze than Gladiators.