History Series / TheTribe

* EmperorScientist: Ram, leader of the villainous Technos, is a genius computer scientist. Of course, that's the whole theme of his faction. [[spoiler:His successor Mega continues it.]]

* EnragedByIdiocy: Used to cement a KickTheDog moment by the new BigBad Ram in season 4. One of Ram's Techno mooks presents him with a set of nonsensical programming orders that would actually erase most of Ram's computer systems. Ram calls him a moron and [[YouHaveFailedMe executes him in front of Ebony for his idiotic failure]].

* MarryThemAll: Ram married [[SiblingTriangle sisters Java and Siva]]. When he meets Ebony (the third sister) he want to marry her too, not out of love, but to "complete the set". [[spoiler:She promises she will, but chooses his much kinder subordinate Jay instead.]]

* {{Polyamory}}: Ram made wives out of [[SiblingTriangle sisters Java and Siva]], mostly to show off his own power. When he meets Ebony (the third sister) he want to marry her too, to "complete the set", and she seem receptive to this at first. [[spoiler:When she falls in love with Jay instead he becomes heartbroken for her betrayal.]]

* Occasionally (when the setting becomes more rural or gets close to the edge of town) there are establishing shots featuring wildlife. Let's put it this way, that wildlife does not look British.

* SexIsEvilAndIAmHorny: The Guardian, the fundamentalist preacher of the Chosen cult, actively represses his own sexual desires. He takes it very badly when Trudy offers herself to him, as he had conferred the title of Supreme Mother unto her as she carried the child of Zoot. He gets into a complicated relationship with Tai-San, whom he genuinely lusts for, while seeking spiritual advice from her.

* YouHaveFailedMe: Ram kills a Techno who completely failed his programming mission, mostly to show Ebony that he doesn’t shy away from killing people. He does it again in a later episode in front of the rest of his terrified mooks.

%%* BurnBabyBurn: Zoot gets sent off like this.

%%* DepopulationBomb: The Virus. Highly selective.

%%* {{Jerkass}}: Lex. He later becomes a JerkWithAHeartOfGold.

%%* NeutralFemale: Zandra.

%%* ParentalAbandonment: Via [[OnlyFatalToAdults highly selective]] DepopulationBomb.

* PutOnABus: many characters mysteriously "disappeared" during the later series, some it was heavily implied were killed, others (Amber and Jack being notable examples). So much so, the Chosen and Technos [[HumorMode could have been rival bus companies.]]

%%* TheSmartGuy: Both Jack and Dal.

%%* TeenPregnancy: Trudy in Series 1, [[spoiler: Salene and Amber in Series 3]].

* CainAndAbel: [[spoiler: Java shoots at Ebony, but Siva [[TakingTheBullet Takes the Laser]] for her, then Ebony kills Java.]]

* NoCommunitiesWereHarmed: The series was set in "The City" - not only did they refuse to give it a proper name, but they even went out of their way to avoid pinning down which country (or continent!) they were in. All the actors spoke with New Zealand accents, but a British 50p coin was seen in an early episode, and several times British banknotes were also shown. No other cities were ever mentioned, and the only landmark was Eagle Mountain, but there aren't any mountains by that name in either New Zealand or mainland Britain (though there is one in Northern Ireland, and several in the United States).

* VillainousLegacy: Zoot, the leader of the Locos in season 1, continues to effect events long after his death. These include the Chosen, a fanatical cult who revere Zoot as a god, and a straight-up resurrection of his old tribe in the form of the Zootists with a Zoot impersonator.

** Lex is a rival to Bray, as well as most other males on the show with any authority. He's also a thug and a petty criminal who thinks he's much more of a MagnificentBastard than he really is.

* AntiHero: Lex, kinda - well he's more than willing to take the role of TheBigGuy ''if'' he'd get something out of it.
* AntiVillain: The Guardian, Ram and Mega all have anti-villainous traits.
* AnyoneCanDie: At least, [[InfantImmortality anyone over 12]].

* TheApunkalypse: Mainly the Locos.

* BadassLongcoat:
** Lex.
** Also Pride.
** And sometimes Amber.

* BrattyHalfPint: Cloe, Patsy and KC.
* BurnBabyBurn: Zoot gets sent off like this.

* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Tai-San, especially in the first season.

* CurbStompBattle: When the Technos take over the City.

* DepopulationBomb: The Virus. Highly selective.

* DrillSergeantNasty: Major Brown, Lex and Ryan's boot camp instructor.

* FaceHeelTurn: Trudy in Series 2 after returning from the Chosen.

* FakeDefector:
** Tai-San and Pride in Series 3.
** Jack in Series 5.

* FreudianExcuse: Zoot, Ebony, Mega.

* FutureSlang: see UnusualEuphemism below.

* {{Jerkass}}: Lex. He later becomes a JerkWithAHeartOfGold.

** Also Jack, Ellie and Luke.
** Jay, Trudy and Amber.
** Amber, Pride and Bray.
** Salene, Pride and May.

* MamaBear: Trudy.
* ManchurianAgent

** Ebony again.

* TheMole: May for the Guardian in Series 3 and for Mega in Series 5.
* MrFanservice: Lex. Later also Pride.

* NeutralFemale: Zandra.

* PaperThinDisguise
* ParentalAbandonment: Via [[OnlyFatalToAdults highly selective]] DepopulationBomb.

* PromotionToParent: Some fared better than others.
* PunkPunk: The fashions.

** And Ebony to Amber.
* ScavengerWorld: Especially in the first and second series.

* SheIsAllGrownUp: Cloe's return.
* ShoutOut: Several, including one to Orwell's ''1984''.
* SiblingYinYang: Bray and Zoot, Jay and Ved, Slade and Mega.

* SlapSlapKiss: Lex and Major Brown, it's even in their foreplay.
* TheSmartGuy: Both Jack and Dal.
* StreetUrchin: KC.

* TeamSpirit
* TeenageWasteland: Type 2.
* TeenPregnancy: Trudy in Series 1, [[spoiler: Salene and Amber in Series 3]].
* TeensAreMonsters

* TribalFacePaint: The kids sure do love their face paint.

* TurnCoat: Multiple characters on different occasions.

* WillTheyOrWontThey: Numerous pairs.

* {{Youngsters}}: Half the list.

* LimitedWardrobe: During the first season only five people actually change their outfit, and of those only Zandra changes it more than once. The younger kids change their clothes in the second season but that's probably because the old ones didn't fit them. This is particularly {{egregious}} because in one episode we see Lex and Ryan have a wardrobe full of clothes and they live in a mall.

* FiveBadBand: The Technos.
** BigBad: Ram, the leader.
** TheDragon: Jay, who's essentially the military muscle.
** TheBrute: Ved, especially during the takeover of the city.
** EvilGenius: Ram, pulling double duty. Ved also fits later on as Ram starts mentoring him in computer science.
** DarkChick: Java and Siva, a sister team.

* VillainousLegacy: Zoot, the leader of the Locos in season 1, continues to effect events long after his death. These include the Chosen, a fanatical cult who revere Zoot as a god, and a straight-up resurrection of his old tribe in the form of the Zootists.

* CanadaDoesNotExist: Made in New Zealand, and starring an all-New Zealand cast with distinctive New Zealand accents ... but set in '''"The City"''', with absolutely no obvious landmarks anywhere. Not only that, but on the rare occasions early on in the show when old money from before the apocalypse was shown, it seemed to be British coinage.
** In particular, Lex tossing a 50 pence piece, and Ryan hoarding thousands in £50 notes- both shown in the first series
** Zoot's Police Car was a New Zealand/Australian model, but with blue insignia more typical of American police cars. They really went out of their way to avoid setting that show in a specific country.
** Also, in one episode, Jack finds a tape with footage of the President (presumably of the United States, given his American accent and other clues in the footage); later, he simply refers to the character on that tape as "The President" (not "The American President" as we would expect a non-US native to call him). This actually implies that TheCity is in American territory, despite the kids' mostly New Zealand accents and speech idioms.
** However, even though the actors all had fairly obvious NZ accents, it was put about on the (early '00s, now obsolete) Tribeworld Message board that Word of God stated that all of the actors were put through some kind of American accent training. Yes, they're still obviously from NZ, but when you look at some of the DVD extras, especially with some of the older actors, the NZ accent was somewhat toned down within the series' universe. Not a lot, but there's a definite if subtle difference.

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* ViewersAreMorons: Particularly egregious at times.

* CainAndAbel: [[spoiler: Java shoots at Ebony, but Siva [[TakingTheBullet Takes The Laser]] for her, then Ebony kills Java.]]

* {{CloudCuckooLander}}: Tai-San, especially in the first season.

** TheBigBad: Ram, the leader.

** TheEvilGenius: Ram, pulling double duty. Ved also fits later on as Ram starts mentoring him in computer science.
** TheDarkChick: Java and Siva, a sister team.

* GangOfHats: The various teenage tribes are identifiable largely by costumes and color schemes (Locos wear red and black; Demon Dogs wear silver; Mozquitos are all female and dress like dominatrices with insect masks, etc.), except for the main tribe, the Mallrats, who all wear very individualistic costumes, being a RagTagBunchOfMisfits.

* KilledOffScreen: during the takeovers of the Chosen, then the Technos, a lot of characters are either implied to be killed or otherwise mysteriously disappear, never to return. There are notable aversions [[spoiler: Zoot, Dal etc.]]

* TheQuisling: Ebony for the Technos in season 4. She doesn't quite realize this at first, and thinks they're equal partners. Then they move into her mansion, and in a later episode Ram reminds her that she's just a puppet before [[KickTheDog shooting one of his minions in front of her]].

* PostMortemOneLiner: After Ram executes a Techno mook for a random failure:
-->'''Ram:''' ...You're fired.

* ResemblanceReveal: The reveal of Java and Siva, Ebony's sisters in Series 4. The sisters unmistakeably look like Ebony, with a similar figure, facial features, poise and long, thin braids (and [[RealLifeRelative are in fact related in real life]]). Prior to the reveal, they spent several episodes wearing robot-like masks.

** Ebony to Java and Siva when they were with the Locos. Though the sisters had a volatile relationship even before the virus, they swore to start fresh and take care of each other after their family died. Java and Siva were uncomfortable being with the Locos because of their violent behavior and wanted to leave, but Ebony ratted out their intentions to Zoot and they were imprisoned with the intention of being executed. Even though they were later released, Ebony believed they'd died and barely batted an eyelash and continued on with her life as if they never existed. [[spoiler: their appearance in season 4 and first confrontation with Ebony was on of the few times Ebony showed real fear at that point.]]

* VikingFuneral: During Season 1, [[spoiler: Zoot, the psychotic leader of tribe Locos,]] gets a Viking-style sendoff as well. This is mainly because the local cemetary has been overrun by members of a hostile rival tribe, but also because (as [[spoiler: his brother]] Bray explains) "[[spoiler: Zoot]] thought of himself as a warrior chief."

* NotQuiteDead: The final episodes of season five reveal a bunch of the people who were thought to have died were really alive, and WordOfGod revealed at least one more who survived.

* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture