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The TV series:

  • Ensemble Dark Horse: Hands down the most popular character on the show was Vera Farmiga as Catlin.
  • Fanon Discontinuity: "Sweet Bridget" does not exist.
  • Fridge Logic: Plenty!
    • In "The Chosen", a young boy believed to be the reincarnated father of the Druids is taken from his parents to the island of the Druids, causing much grief to his parents. After his father is killed by assassins, his mother travels all the way to the island where she is welcome to live among them.
    • In "Banshee", the gang help a young woman who foretells death return to her home in order to protect her from superstitious folk wanting to kill her. We never learn why she left in the first place.
    • In "Tash"—well, would you frequent a brothel run by a leper?
  • Les Yay: Catlin and Shannon only get two scenes together, but they're more than enough to qualify for Les Yay.
  • Replacement Scrappy: An unusual example. Though Catlin was never written out of the show, towards the end of the thirteen-episode run she seemed to be getting side-lined in favor of Fergus's daughter Molly, both as the lead female character and Conor's love interest. This did not win the character any fans considering Catlin's Ensemble Dark Horse status, and Molly's characterization as a Bratty Half-Pint.
  • Sweetness Aversion: Some of the dialogue, including sentiments like listening with your heart, believing in yourself and trusting in each other.

The 1981 movie:

  • Angst? What Angst?: Despite the fact that the family spent a couple days being terrorized by the big cats and other animals, then seeing two people get killed and eaten in front of them by said cats, it's really surprising how chipper the family seems to be at the end.
  • Awesome Music: The opening song, "Nchi Ya Nani," by Robert Hawk Florczak, is pretty damn cool, with a catchy rhythm, poetic lyrics, and soaring vocals.
  • Cult Classic: The movie didn't make a profit, nor is its production value very high, but its troubled development cycle and inconsistent mood have garnered it a large cult following.
  • Designated Hero: Hank is the hero, but acts pretty dickish. He underplays the big cats' dangerous behavior despite their actions, is a jerk to his assistant Mativo, and steals bicycles from a village by intimidating the villagers with his tigers.
  • Esoteric Happy Ending: The family survives to the end of the movie...and that's basically the only real happy thing about it. They spent the last couple of days being terrorized by the big cats, and two people got killed by them. Though the committee didn't agree to hunt down and kill the animals, their minds are pretty certain to change if they ever found out about how two of their members were killed by said animals.
  • Nightmare Fuel:
    • Togar, hands down. A huge rogue lion who is always covered in blood, making him look like a serial killer.
    • Hank's family being trapped in Hank's house with all the cats. Eventually, Togar tries to go after them, even smashing down several doors to get to them.
    • A lot of the animal attack scenes are pretty horrifying, considering most of them are unscripted, so the actors are actually getting hurt.
  • Overshadowed by Controversy: The movie is known less for its plot or its environmentalist themes and more for the gruesome injuries sustained by anywhere from "at least 70" to "over 100" members of the 140-person crew as a result of the filmmakers deciding to use hundreds of untrained wild African animals, including lions, tigers, and elephants. So heavily did the injuries overshadow the film's content that Alamo Drafthouse's promotion for a 2015 screening focused primarily on the former, calling it the "snuff version of Swiss Family Robinson."
  • So Bad, It's Good: The movie is by no means great, but the sheer insanity of everything, especially the troubles going on behind-the-scenes, makes it a pretty entertaining watch.

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