The Swarm
- TV Series
- 2023
- 46m
Ecological thriller about the delicate interconnectedness between mankind and Earth.Ecological thriller about the delicate interconnectedness between mankind and Earth.Ecological thriller about the delicate interconnectedness between mankind and Earth.
- Awards
- 1 win & 4 nominations
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Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaFrank Doelger announced in 2020 at Cannes, as part of the International Market for Television Programs (MIPTV), that his next TV series The Swarm was going to be the adaptation of novel The Swarm by Frank Schätzing. The series was produced by ZDF within the framework set by the European Alliance, with France Télévisions and RAI, and in co-production with ORF, SRF, Viaplay Group and Hulu Japan who formed the joint venture 'Schwarm TV Productions GmbH & Co KG'. The series is the first project from Doelger-led Intaglio Films, a joint venture formed in 2019 by the German production company Beta Film and ZDF Enterprises.
The international cast is selected by casting director Robert Sterne, and includes European actors, Cécile de France, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Jack Greenlees, Lydia Wilson, Krista Kosonen, Alexander Karim, Leonie Benesch and German star Barbara Sukowa with Japanese actors Takuya Kimura and Takehiro Hira. American actors Rosabell Laurenti Sellers and Dutch Johnson, and Canadian Joshua Odjick also feature in the series.
The script was written by Steven Lally, Marissa Lestrade, Chris Lunt and Michael A. Walker in consultation with experts, such as polar and deep-sea researcher Professor Antje Boetius, from the Alfred Wegener Institute, and Dr Jon Copley, professor of Ocean Exploration from the University of Southampton. Barbara Eder, Luke Watson and Philipp Stölzl directed the series.
Filming began on 7 June 2021 in Italy and Belgium.The final scenes of the series were filmed at a EUR23 million underwater studio on the outskirts of Brussels.
Featured review
Great premise, but super slow and a genuine zero ending
I didn't read the book but got hooked on the pilot about an eco disaster and some sort of animal/nature revenge on mankind. As others have pointed out, it does start off slow and I was fine with that and I had it on in the background while doing other things.
There is just so much filler, downtime, pointless scenes in this that even this was ok with me as I mostly watched when something interesting was happening and treated this as a podcast with benefits of some visuals.
I didn't find any of the actors that bad really, it's just that the writing isn't that great and they're doing the best with what they have. Music was ok mostly, as were the special effects when needed. The production was decent with a good film crew and locations and the ship rentals have got to be substantial.
So why the low rating? Well, I was expecting some sort of intriguing climax to the story and it just meanders along like a lost snail. The ending is disappointing. With all the time, effort and a large cast of characters surely someone could have pointed out that perhaps they need to work on that a bit more.
You can't have a series like this, span 8 episodes of 45mins each, slowly building and building and then just abruptly stop filming one day because you run out of ideas or possibly money. For a long as this is, a 2 minute ending is embarrassing, and had I known beforehand I'd never have started.
Hopefully this helps others. Some rewriting, editing it down to 4 episodes or a movie and chock on a decent ending and this becomes a hit. 3/10 as I feel cheated out of my time.
There is just so much filler, downtime, pointless scenes in this that even this was ok with me as I mostly watched when something interesting was happening and treated this as a podcast with benefits of some visuals.
I didn't find any of the actors that bad really, it's just that the writing isn't that great and they're doing the best with what they have. Music was ok mostly, as were the special effects when needed. The production was decent with a good film crew and locations and the ship rentals have got to be substantial.
So why the low rating? Well, I was expecting some sort of intriguing climax to the story and it just meanders along like a lost snail. The ending is disappointing. With all the time, effort and a large cast of characters surely someone could have pointed out that perhaps they need to work on that a bit more.
You can't have a series like this, span 8 episodes of 45mins each, slowly building and building and then just abruptly stop filming one day because you run out of ideas or possibly money. For a long as this is, a 2 minute ending is embarrassing, and had I known beforehand I'd never have started.
Hopefully this helps others. Some rewriting, editing it down to 4 episodes or a movie and chock on a decent ending and this becomes a hit. 3/10 as I feel cheated out of my time.
helpful•2612
- Xavier_Stone
- Sep 14, 2023
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Details
- Runtime46 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.00 : 1
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