ChristineCB

BBC's good DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS mini-series has been announced for Region-1 (North America) release in Nov, 2007.

And I JUST got this from a great trading partner recently! Oh well... isn't that always the case?!! When it rains, it pours...

knobbykins

They keep repeating this on BBC3 but i only ever notice it's on when the series is half way through!
Is it any good?Got to be better than the film version(which is still addictive to me!)

When the king's off his arse nobody sleeps!

ChristineCB

The opening is, of course, the now-obligatory man-alone-in-hospital scene, and then the discovery of other humans and finally some recognition that all these people are in trouble and/or desperately needy. Criminally needy, even.

It is a much deeper, more detailed story than the movie. No drunken jerk in a lighthouse, bullying his wife. No, there are plenty of bullies (and worse) around, and we meet those by the halfway point.

You've probably seen the portions where our character is leaving the city, and driving into the countryside.

Up to this point, by the way, Humans menacing Humans is the biggest threat, and our main character's pleas that survivors should be careful of the triffids is minimized if not ignored. Oh well... he warned them!!

I applaud the movie's choices in some ways - it excises huge portions of the story in favor of brevity and the Lighthouse Couple (yawn), but it's pretty hard to sit thru the movie once I've had access to this mini-series' DVDs.

Inevitably, I'll hear the Great Unknowings comment about TRIFFIDS as a 'rip off' to 28 DAYS LATER. I just hope the DVD will have a nice Date Stamp on it as if those people could read the original broadcast's date anyway.

If there is any grounds to criticize this miniseries, it's the Triffid Gun, sort of a ninja-triangle affair. Quite cute, and should get some real chuckles. Let's just say these special-effects rival the Dam Busters' anti-aircraft effects, and be kind with that assessment.

rskershaw

The Triffid Gun is unfortunate, as is Emma Relph's acting (whatever happened to that actress?). Also found it amusing that they flame gun triffids surrounding the farm without the farm catching fire. But it is a classic, some scenes still a bit unnerving. The 70's Quatermass ('Conclusion'?), shown frequently on ITV4, is still very eerie. The depiction of youth out of control is perhaps more topical than ever (and relates to Britmovie's current debate on the subject).

clitheroekid

Snap!

Pip

As a huge fan of the John Wyndham novel and one of those boring old farts who believes that film and TV adaptations should be faithful to the original story, the Beeb's series scored very high with me - a million times better than the cruddy don't-waste-your-time-on-it 1962 Triffids movie. Watch and enjoy the Beeb series and read the book!

Pip

ChristineCB

Knob, I was reminded that the mini-series doesn't quite start with the Alone In Hospital... actually, it starts with the afternoon before, as our central character is hearing that his next morning will get his bandages off, and he's listening to doctors and nurses talk about the forthcoming meteor show as darkness falls.

The series also brings up a conspiratorial explanation for those 'meteor showers' later on, as if the world's blindness was a man-made accident with satellites or even an attack.

There's also an education about the history of the triffids and their first hopes for usefulness.

image45

Me too, however since I bought a copy of the official BBC DVD release a few years ago I do not get too if I find I have missed any of the BBC3 broadcasts

"Seya next time!"

knobbykins

DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS and DRACULA are my 2 most favouritest books ever!!!!
I read them both in my teens and every horror/apocalyptic novel now has to reach this benchmark.If there's anybody out there who've not read either do yourself a big favour as neither have been filmed very faithfully,in fact TRIFFIDS is almost unrecognisable once Masen leaves the hospital so any of you film producers looking for a corker need look no further!!!

When the king's off his arse nobody sleeps!

knobbykins

Gonna end up buying this,i think,after all the thumbs-up it's getting.(By the way,after your use of my name in the familiar i've noticed Knobbykins backwards is snikybbonk!!!! BEAT THAT!)

When the king's off his arse nobody sleeps!