Amazon (1999 TV series)
Amazon was a syndicated adventure drama series created by Peter Benchley. It was developed by Canadian production companies Alliance Atlantis Communications & WIC Entertainment and German company Beta Film GmbH. The 22 episodes of the series were in first-run syndication between 1999 and 2000.
A novelization of the 2-hour pilot was written by Rob MacGregor, and a mass-market paperback was released by Harper (publisher) on 8 Aug 2000.
Premise
The drama series focused on the six survivors of a crashed airline flight in the Brazilian Amazon jungle. The group soon comes into contact with a hostile indigenous tribe, the Fierce Ones. They are taken in by a mysterious tribe called the Chosen, who are descended from 16th-century British colonists who were lost in the rainforest. Relations with the Chosen are tenuous at best. Most of the group escapes the Chosen only to stir up a hornets' nest with the cannibalistic Jaguar People, led by an insane Canadian woman bent on domination of all the local tribes.Cast
- C. Thomas Howell as Dr. Alex Kennedy
- Carol Alt as Karen Oldham
- Fabiana Udenio as Pia Claire
- Chris Martin as Jimmy Stack
- Rob Stewart as Andrew Talbott
- Tyler Hynes as Will Bauer
Production
In April 1998, Peter Benchley inked a deal with Atlantis Films to develop the show. Benchley came up with the idea for “Amazon” while vacationing in the Caribbean when he stumbled across centuries-old buttons and other artifacts buried in the sand.Each episode of the series cost $1.2 million. The total cost of the series was $26 million, making it one of the most expensive television series ever made.
The show started airing on WIC Television in October 1999.