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The Tribe: Birth Of The Mall Rats is the first novel in a planned series of novelizations of The Tribe, written by Harry Duffin and released in 2012. It covers the first half of Series 1, specifically Episodes 1 - 15.

The novel provides deeper examination of the characters' thoughts and feelings than the television series. It also features several scenes that take place outside the focus of the Mall Rats and thus, were not in the series. Most of these show the activities of the Locos.

An audio dramatisation of the novel was released on March 20, 2022. It features the voices of Vanessa Stacey (Alice), Damon Andrews (The Guardian), and Matt Robinson (Slade). [1]

Publisher's Summary[]

The world began without the human race. Now, after a mysterious pandemic decimates the entire adult population, it looks as if it will end exactly the same way. Unless the young survivors - who band together in warring Tribes - overcome the power struggles, dangers and unexpected challenges in a lawless dystopian society to unite and build a new world from the ashes of the old. The Birth of The Mall Rats is the first story in a compelling series of novelizations of the global cult television phenomenon, The Tribe. Creating a new world in their own image - whatever that image might be...

Production[]

The novel series was first announced on 10th June 2011, where Ray stated:

"I have also been speaking with Harry and am pleased to advise that Harry and I will be working together to bring you a novelisation of the entire series of The Tribe which will be broken down into episodic blocks. For example the first novel might concern the first 12 episodes, the second novel the following 12 episodes, and so on and so forth. This will give us an opportunity of opening up all the stories and going into depth with the characters and their back stories, presenting not only a timeline but allowing us to delve into just so many areas we couldn’t within the confines of the television series." [2]

Although the novel had been advertised as the first in a series of novelisations of the show, there has not been any announcements concerning more follow ups since 2012. It is unknown if this novel series has been cancelled.

Corresponding Episodes[]

Episode 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Chapters 1–20 21–40 40–50 50–64 65-75 75-82 83-88 89-93 94-106 107-113 114-126 127-139 140-153 154-167 168-181

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • This novel currently has the longest chapters at 181, which totals into 428 pages, making it the longest novel as well. But it's worth noting that all the chapters are short and straight forward, unlike the other novels which have long chapters.
  • Although the book is a novelisation of the first 15 episodes of Series 1, some chapters have altered dialogue, extra scenes or were completely rewritten from the TV show. An example of this would be Amber waking up before dawn to visit Bray's room due to her instant attraction to him, only to find the room empty. This leads to Trudy's entrance to the Mall the next day from Series 1 Episode 2, which never shows such a scene of Amber going to Bray's empty room. [3]
  • The novel gives new details that the TV series never mentioned, which includes the following:
    • All the kids wear war-paint as a form of protection to say "Danger, stay away." [4]
    • Bray's hair extension and green feathers was an echo of the Native American Indians whose traditions and lifestyle he deeply respected. [5]
    • Amber and Dal are the same age. Dal initially had a crush on Amber. This detail caused controversy as it was originally believed that Amber and Dal were different ages due to their height, Dal referring to Amber like a "Big Sister" and the actors' real life age of 14 and 12 respectively. [6]
    • Patsy and Paul are both 8 years old. [7]
    • Cloe names Bluebell from a storybook of a cow that her father had constantly read to her as a bedtime story. [8]
    • Ebony's position in the Locos was Zoot's lieutenant. [9]
    • The Rail Yards were the original headquarters of the Locos. After Zoot's death, Ebony moved their headquarters to the Horton Bailey Hotel. [10]
    • Some of the books that the Locos burnt were mentioned to be: Alice in Wonderland, The Great Gatsby, Shakespeare, Origin of Species, The Odyssey and Harry Potter. [11]
    • The leader of the Demon Dogs was called Silver Demon. [12]
    • Zoot had a Huge Tank spray-painted in Loco graffiti which he kept in a warehouse at the Rail Yards. He used this Tank to launch an attack on the Demon Dogs, but it was destroyed when one of the Demon Dogs threw a molotov cocktail into the Tank, causing it to explode. [13]
      • Originally Zoot was supposed to use a Tank instead of Police Car in the show, but was scrapped due to budget and logistics reasons. The idea ended up being used in this novel. [14]
    • The Mall is mentioned to have more than 2 levels. Before Jack arrived, a fire had started that burnt all the upper level stores. The fire went out by itself before it spread to the lower levels. This could explain why the upper levels were never shown in the TV show, since one can tell the Mall had more than 2 levels whenever the exterior of the Mall is shown. [15]
      • It is also mentioned that the Mall has a glass dome above the atrium, which was never seen in the show. It's likely however, that this design feature could not be implemented into the show due to budget reasons. [16]
      • The Mall was only recently completed when the virus struck. [17]
    • Before all the adults died, the City Authorities had ordered the destruction of all weapons, or made them unusable. A far-sighted official had realised what carnage would follow if all the kids got their hands on weapons. This explains why guns were never seen or mentioned in the show. [18]
    • Zoot's necklace was originally given to him by Bray as a gift during his "hippy" phase before the virus. [19]
    • The members of Tribe Circus came from circus families who had travelled around the country for generations. Many of the tribes did not disturb Tribe Circus due to wanting to have fun at their Casino, which was allowed to flourish among the decaying ruins. [20]
    • Tribe Circus's Casino was taken over by the Locos when Ebony threatened to burn it down. Top Hat reluctantly signed ownership to the Locos, who allowed Tribe Circus to continue running the Casino. [21]
    • Lex has Attention Deficit Disorder. [22]
    • Salene's favourite lesson in school was Domestic Science and bread-making was her specialty. [23]
  • Despite the fact that Paul can be heard speaking in the TV Series, he has no lines of dialogue for the entire novel. His lines were given to others or erased for unknown reasons. The closest that Paul speaks is in Chapter 172 where he is described as "gabbling." [24]
  • Page 18 contains a spelling error where Cloe is misspelled as Close.

References[]

  1. http://www.tribeworld.com/thetribe-birthofthemallrats-audiobook/
  2. http://www.tribeworld.com/2012/a-message-from-ray-about-new-the-tribe-books-and-developments/
  3. Birth of The Mall Rats Chapter 38
  4. Birth of The Mall Rats Chapter 2
  5. Birth of The Mall Rats Chapter 1
  6. Birth of The Mall Rats Chapter 2
  7. Birth of The Mall Rats Chapter 15
  8. Birth of The Mall Rats Chapter 53
  9. Birth of The Mall Rats Chapter 16
  10. Birth of The Mall Rats Chapter 16 and 119
  11. Birth of The Mall Rats Chapter 34
  12. Birth of The Mall Rats Chapter 55
  13. Birth of The Mall Rats Chapter 55 and 57
  14. Keeping the Dream Alive Chapter 9
  15. Birth of The Mall Rats Chapter 64
  16. Birth of The Mall Rats Chapter 120
  17. Birth of The Mall Rats Chapter 174
  18. Birth of The Mall Rats Chapter 74
  19. Birth of The Mall Rats Chapter 94
  20. Birth of The Mall Rats Chapter 122
  21. Birth of The Mall Rats Chapter 122
  22. Birth of The Mall Rats Chapter 125
  23. Birth of The Mall Rats Chapter 132
  24. Birth of The Mall Rats Chapter 172
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