Tv Series Roots.

[joybee]

Don't suppose many of you will remember it but I bought the 'Roots' box set. I just loved Kizzy

[culnara]

Re: What tv series have you bought on dvd

Don't suppose many of you will remember it but I bought the 'Roots' box set. I just loved Kizzy

have only got the first series of root's
think it ended with the Toby - kunta kenti name lashing

[rossobantam]

Re: What tv series have you bought on dvd

I've been to Kunta Kinte's (sp?) family/home village in the Gambia....

[joybee]

Re: What tv series have you bought on dvd

Really Dave ? How come ? Has it been turned into a tourist attraction ??

Joy

[rossobantam]

Re: What tv series have you bought on dvd

1993....it was one of the 'day excursion' affairs you always get on hols abroad....and included a VERY scary crossing of the Gambia river (only a few hundred yards wide, but obv a major route for local trade etc as there were thousands trying to get on (think of a small cross-channel GB ferry about 30yrs old & you're not far off)..it got stuck on a sandbank & I had visions of being on BBC news as another 'ferry-type' disaster

Anyhow, we then transferred to a motor boat & went down-river (dolphins either side of boat..cool!). I forget the actual village name now, but you are introduced to elders who are apparently descendents of Kunta Kinte etc etc. They even show you to a small stone tower the slavers built as a 'holding pen' prior to shipping the slaves up-river.

Incredible place Gambia...the heat was unreal. The kids out in the 'wild' ( ie true African villages of the sort you see on the telly ) went crazy for the tourists' empty plastic water bottles

[joybee]

Re: What tv series have you bought on dvd

1993....it was one of the 'day excursion' affairs you always get on hols abroad....and included a VERY scary crossing of the Gambia river (only a few hundred yards wide, but obv a major route for local trade etc as there were thousands trying to get on (think of a small cross-channel GB ferry about 30yrs old & you're not far off)..it got stuck on a sandbank & I had visions of being on BBC news as another 'ferry-type' disaster

Anyhow, we then transferred to a motor boat & went down-river (dolphins either side of boat..cool!). I forget the actual village name now, but you are introduced to elders who are apparently descendents of Kunta Kinte etc etc. They even show you to a small stone tower the slavers built as a 'holding pen' prior to shipping the slaves up-river.

Incredible place Gambia...the heat was unreal. The kids out in the 'wild' ( ie true African villages of the sort you see on the telly ) went crazy for the tourists' empty plastic water bottles

Sounds like you had a fab time Dave - I envy you ! Were you a fan of the Series and did it experiencing the area make it seem more real ??

[rossobantam]

Re: What tv series have you bought on dvd

hi Joy


I do remember avidly watching the series with my mum.

We didn't decide on Gambia because of Roots, rather we knew its history was there, so you couldn't NOT go and see it could you? It'll prob be the only time I ever visit the Gambia, so that's another reason!

Incredibly we found a curry house....very nice too...in amongst the huts of Banjul (the capital)....I wouldn't want to walk anywhere though esp at night!!

[joybee]

Re: Tv Series Roots.

Oh no ! I wasn't implying that you went just because of Roots !! 'Specially as you would've only been knee high when it was transmitted - weeell, not much bigger

The curry house couldn't have been more authentic could it ? As for walking round at night - animals - or locals ???

[Danny]

Re: Tv Series Roots.

I remember watching Roots and the second series Roots the Next Generation

However, I can also remember a three-parter called The Making of Roots and nobody else seems to remember it - - can't even find a reference to it anywhere

There were a few progs like that in seventies, i.e. The Making of Jaws and The Making of Star Wars , all in two or three parts, and I think there's only me who ever watched them

[rossobantam]

Re: Tv Series Roots.

Oh no ! I wasn't implying that you went just because of Roots !! 'Specially as you would've only been knee high when it was transmitted - weeell, not much bigger

The curry house couldn't have been more authentic could it ? As for walking round at night - animals - or locals ???

lol joy

BOTH !

Yes, really nice curry house amngst the huts...really. There were only 2/3 'restaurants', all reachable by taxi

[Twocky61]

Re: Tv Series Roots.

Ralph Waite, of John Walton fame, played a slave ship captain in Roots

[Moonraker]

Re: Tv Series Roots.

I recall watching the series in 1977. We had many discussions at school about the programme.
It is unusual to broadcast episodes each consecutive day, with eash show in excess of 90 minutes.
Any ideas why this was adopted? Why was the show not aired over say, seven weeks?

[zabadak]

Re: Tv Series Roots.

Ralph Waite, of John Walton fame, played a slave ship captain in Roots

LeVar Burton, who played the young Kunta Kinte, also played Geordi La Forge in Star Trek: The Next Generation

[Richard1978]

Re: Tv Series Roots.

I recall watching the series in 1977. We had many discussions at school about the programme.
It is unusual to broadcast episodes each consecutive day, with eash show in excess of 90 minutes.
Any ideas why this was adopted? Why was the show not aired over say, seven weeks?

I think it was shown in the USA each day for a week or so. Luckily it was during a cold winter so people stayed in & it got really good ratings.

The first 2 Godfather films had similar treatment, with all the scenes put into chronological order & some material cut out the original releases put back in, along with newly shot some linking scenes.