The 100: A New Twist on Lord of the Flies

The CW's long-advertised The 100 begins tomorrow night (March 19).  And just in case you have not seen the trailers for the new show, here is the basic story:

Ninety-seven years ago, nuclear Armageddon decimated planet Earth, destroying civilization. The only survivors were the 400 inhabitants of 12 international space stations that were in orbit at the time. Three generations have been born in space, the survivors now number 4,000, and resources are running out on their dying "Ark" - the 12 stations now linked together and repurposed to keep the survivors alive. 

Draconian measures including capital punishment and population control are the order of the day, as the leaders of the Ark take ruthless steps to ensure their future, including secretly exiling a group of 100 juvenile prisoners to the Earth's surface to test whether it's habitable. For the first time in nearly a century, humans have returned to planet Earth. 

Among the 100 exiles are Clarke, the bright teenage daughter of the Ark's chief medical officer; Wells, son of the Ark’s Chancellor; the daredevil Finn; and the brother/sister duo Bellamy and Octavia, whose illegal sibling status has always led them to flaunt the rules. Technologically blind to what’s happening on the planet below them, the Ark’s leaders - Clarke’s widowed mother, Abby; the Chancellor, Jaha; and his shadowy second in command, Kane - are faced with difficult decisions about life, death and the continued existence of the human race. 

For the 100 young people on Earth, however, the alien planet they’ve never known is a mysterious realm that can be magical one moment and lethal the next. With the survival of the human race entirely in their hands, THE 100 must find a way to transcend their differences, unite and forge a new path on a wildly changed Earth that’s primitive, intense and teeming with the unknown.

And so, this is a little bit Lord of the Flies combined with The Hunger Games to keep the young viewers interested.  It also sounds a little bit like the set up for Battlestar Galactica, where 12 planets pine for Earth, though in this case it is 12 orbiting space stations.  And I guess the 12 "international" space stations avoided the earlier battle on the planet's surface, in the same way we are hoping the US and Russian crews of the International Space Station can stay above the fray in Ukraine. Yes, it is television, so all things are possible.  And I suppose it is no more far-fetched than an alien ship crashing on Earth turning into a high-school drama in The CW's new show from last month Star-Crossed.  So sit back, don't think too hard about it, and enjoy the show.