Last Sunday i made my way back by national express coach which is a first for me. Luckily i also had a 30% student discount card so overall my journey cost only £13 including the exchange stop which was more time by a bit than by train, but ten quid less. Good way to travel if you don't have to be anywhere quick.
I didn't really have a subject to post till this afternoon when i caught news that the BBC are producing a modern version of 'The Day Of The Triffids' for later broadcast this year. I'd heard a lot from my daad about this classic sci-fi film (that and V, but i'm not going to look at that shite).
Two major versions have really been made of this john Wyndham novel. The 1962 film cheekily casts american actor Howard Keel in the lead role of Bill Masen and from what i've read strays quite a bit from the original storyline to suit the american auidences. The other is often regarded the best against the original stimulus and was produced as a series by the BBC in 1981. Like a lot of the science fiction tv produced by the beeb at that time like Doctor Who and Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, these all seemed cheap and primitive in comparison to the production by large american studio companies (mainly down to using more expensive technology and techniques). Even though i've just seen a small clipping as i can't find any online copy of it, to me it seems much creepier than the film version. Maybe this has to do with me watching a lot of Doctor Who episodes from this time i don't know, but after i watched the film in its entirity i think i'll have to find out if the tv series is available on dvd. Also i'd like to get my hands on the original book pretty soon to pass the many long uni breaks, i think i can spare a few pints less one week.
Interestingly in the film version i was very surprised to see Carole Ann Ford crop up half way through as a french blindy (i won't spoil any more on the plot besides that the RNIB would do their nut in trying to file applications if this really happened). Even more funny to me was the fact she meets the main girl character called Susan who Bill Masen rescued from the mass of scrambling and panicking London folk. This is a real geek realtionship here because for those who don't know who Carole Ann Ford is she was the first ever known companion in Doctor Who playing Susan the granddaughter of the Doctor.
Which leads me swiftly onto 'The Seeds of Doom' a Doctor Who episode from Tom Bakers era. Besides it being Tom Baker in the role it is probably one of my favourite episodes and possibly the first i can ever remember watching back in the day on UK Gold. It looked cheap, the premise was strange and odd to me (especially why Tom had a habit of knocking out loads of guards throughout the story). But this afternoon it clicked to me like never before that in more cases than i probably know, Doctor Who has a habit of borrowing ideas from existing fiction and known folklore. Take these for a small smidgen:
The Brain of morbius - Frankenstein
State of Decay - Dracula
Tooth & Claw - Werewolves/The Hound of the Baskervilles
The Shakespeare Code - Carianites (basically witches from space)/lots of Shakespearian quotations..
Really this story encompasses what's creepy about 'Triffids', the apparent isolation from 'The Thing (From Another World)' and uncannily in the final climax the action sequences from 'The Quatermass Experiment'. And it does this brilliantly without coming off stupidly pastiche which is obviously down to the great writing of Robert Banks Stewart (who also wrote previous serial 'Terror of the Zygons') and the intelligent direction of Dougie Camfield veteran Who director.
So check these things out if you're interested, i certainly am or shall go to check out the book at least. Bonus - completely off subject, below is a vid link which really captivates my love for classic kids tv.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta7VHKGuoJY
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