The Quatermass Experiment

As a seven year old when I first saw this on television (not ours, because we didn't have one in 1953) it was simply the most terrifying and funk-inspiring piece of horror on offer. Many elder citizens complained to the BBC that they had no right showing such diabolically upsetting images during family viewing times (despite the fact NOT that great a percentage of families HAD television then.....and only 9 inch screens at that, for the most part)

It was the first of Nigel Kneale's FOUR Quatermass tales and for its time, was extremely frightening, even on a small screen. A rocket ship returns to earth and crashes. Two of the crew are killed and a third found in a totally disorientated state. He slowly metamorphosises into a most unpleasant alien being, half cactus - half God knows what. Although only having the benefits of prehistoric special effects available to them, the thing was just horrific and much of the scare-factor was lost in its translation to the big screen a few years later (THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT). Precisely the same outcome was evidenced in the movie adaptations of Quatermas II and Quatermass and the Pit (FIVE MILLION YEARS TO EARTH)

Nigel Kneale's imagination and innovative writing places him right up there with Arthur C. Clarke. This show is a wonderful (and still deeply disturbing) memory. How many sci-fi flicks have since ripped off this man into monster concept? SPECIES 2 for example? (The less said about that turkey the better!)

I had "The Quatermass Collection" 3-Disc Set of the three BBC serials for quite some time but, being already familiar with their cinematic adaptations courtesy of Hammer Films, they weren't so much a priority. However, I decided to check them out now as a tribute to their creator - influential writer Nigel Kneale, who passed away only recently; with this in mind, I regret not picking up the fourth Quatermass serial (released as a 3-Disc SE and whose reduced 'film' version I had also missed on Cable TV a few years back!) and his THE YEAR OF THE SEX OLYMPICS (1968), both of whose DVDs are virtually impossible to track down now - but will probably order yet another Kneale-penned TV program, BEASTS (1976), without waiting for it to be discounted so I won't risk losing it as well (and, in any case, there's no better time than the present to sample some more of this incredibly talented scribe's work)!!

There's not much one can say about the first Quatermass serial, given that four of the episodes are no longer extant!; the scripts are available as a DVD-ROM but, with all the films I watch and the little time I have after work, it's not easy to find a spot wherein to read them (in fact, I've never checked out any of the DVD-ROM stuff on the discs I own - and, among these, is the full-length script of another 'lost' Nigel Kneale piece, THE ROAD [1963], available on the BFI's R2 DVD of THE STONE TAPE [1972])! Anyway, from the first two episodes alone, I can understand the impact this serial must have had - right from the atmospheric credit sequence, accompanied by an appropriately ominous score; it's all the more impressive when one realizes that, at the time, such programs where filmed live!

The cast is largely unknown but clearly proficient (Reginald Tate makes a reasonably effective Professor Quatermass): interestingly, here Duncan Lamont plays Victor Caroon, the 'monster'; he would later appear in an important supporting role in the 1967 film version of "Quatermass And The Pit"! Even from these episodes, however, I can see that there's a bit of padding involved - so that the films undeniably benefited from being more compact, but they also lost some psychological depth in the process!

THE KNEALE TAPES (John Das, 2003; ***), the 40-minute documentary from the TV series "Time Shift", is featured as an extra on "The Quatermass Collection" 3-Disc Set. It's a pretty good overview of Nigel Kneale's career - though no mention is made of BEASTS or THE WOMAN IN BLACK (1989), his adaptation for TV of the famous ghost story (which I saw as a stage play in London in 2002).

The program shows clips from several of Kneale's work - and I was especially glad to finally be able to watch samples from the notorious 1954 TV adaptation of George Orwell's 1984 (which has been announced as upcoming on R2 DVD a number of times but is still M.I.A. for the moment), as well as THE YEAR OF THE SEX OLYMPICS and QUATERMASS (1979), the fourth and final serial revolving around this leading figure in science-fiction lore. The interviewees include colleagues of Kneale's (including Christopher Morahan, director of THE ROAD) as well as younger admirers (such as noted film critic Kim Newman - who had moderated Kneale's Audio Commentary for the DVD of THE STONE TAPE - and the guys from "The League Of Gentlemen"), and they all show an obvious respect towards the man and his remarkably perceptive, indeed prophetic, legacy.

Other supplements on this set include: photo galleries for all three serials; the scripts of the 4 'lost' episodes of "The Quatermass Experiment" which, as mentioned earlier, are available as a DVD-ROM; excerpts from a conversation with Kneale and Rudolph Cartier (director of the three Quatermass serials) recorded in 1991; the title sequences of the two-part 'Omnibus' version of "Quatermass And The Pit" (1958-59) - shorn by about half-an-hour and whose previously-available DVD edition I had considered purchasing myself (without knowing it was edited!); and, as an Easter Egg, an amusing sample of an MST3K-style version of "Quatermass II" (1955)!

However, one of the most enjoyable extras (all found on the first disc of this set) is surely the 7-minute featurette, "Making Demons" - dealing with the special-effects work that the Quatermass serials involved, by the two men responsible; they talk about how these were devised while enthusiastically parading various still-extant cheapskate models and props, and they also touch upon their similar contribution to other seminal BBC productions (such as the afore-mentioned 1984 and the "Dr. Who" series).

After the world's first manned rocket returns to Earth with most of the crew missing, Professor Quatermass (Reginald Tate), head of the British Experimental Rocket Group and all-around boffin, finds himself embroiled in a 'closed-room mystery' that could lead to the extirpation of life on Earth as we know it. The series was the first original British sci-fi television program made for adults (adaptations of Capek's 'RUR' and Well's 'The Time Machine' had been made earlier) and set the standard for the generally excellent British sci-fi programming released over the next decade. The six part series, written by Nigel Kneale was broadcast live to an enthusiastic viewership at a time when less than 15% of British households had 'tellys', only two months after the televised coronation of Queen Elizabeth II (which also climaxed at Westminster Abbey) marked the debut of television as a major mass medium. BBC's plan was to record the broadcasts on 35mm film for rebroadcast and sale (a deal had been made with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) but the process was unsatisfactory and discontinued after the second episode (just as Quatermass gets his first real clue as to the whereabouts of the missing astronauts). Fortunately, Kneale's story was later made into a feature film by Hammer Film Productions (as 'The Quatermass Xperiment') so the resolution of the mystery can be watched (although I remain disappointed at not being to watch the original, as I preferred the BBC's two subsequent Quatermass series to their Hammer film incarnations). The story was also remade by the BBC in 2004 and, as the original was, broadcast live. The entire series had a budget of only 3500 £ but while frugalness is on display, the production is quite well done. The acting is great, especially Tate as the tetchy hard-driven Quatermass (unfortunately the talented actor died before he could reprise the role in 1955's Quatermass II). Too bad the last four chapters were never recorded, as Kneale's story was an excellent example of early 'realist sci-fi' and was one of the first teleplays to portray what was in fact an actual concern: what if a dangerous pathogen 'hitchhiked' back to Earth on a returning rocket. The show was made not long after the end of WW2, when the USA was eclipsing the U. K. as world's most powerful and influential democratic power, and British audiences would have appreciated the scene where the reporter announces that "This atomic rocket, the very first of its kind, is a tremendous technical advance...designed and built entirely by British brains and muscle". Even in its abruptly truncated form, Quatermass' first outing is well worth watching by sci-fi fans who can then follow the story to its conclusion though the Hammer version and wonder what the original was like. My rating is based on my impression of the original two episodes of the teleplay, what I have read about the series, and on Kneale's story as presented in the film version.

I sincerely hope the fly that landed on the camera during the recording of Episode 2, had a long and painful life.

The Quatermass Experiment shouldn't need an introduction, its influence can be felt from everything from Doctor Who to Red Dwarf, starting a long-standing British tradition of science fiction television. Broadcast live in 1953, sadly only 2 episodes remain due to the BBC not bothering to record the remaining 4 upon their live broadcast, the omnibus repeat doesn't even exist so what we are left with is a third of a serial and no ending (although the scripts for the remaining 4 are available on the DVD set). That being said, Reginald Tate is excellent in the role of Quatermass, an everyday middle-aged mathematician with a natural authority and short temper, he makes for such engaging viewing.

Regardless of its archival status, The Quatermass Experiment remains a landmark of British science fiction even to this day. Nigel Kneale's writing is a brutally effective combination of science fiction and poignant melodrama; helping to heighten a new range of gendered fears about Britain's postwar and post-colonial security. The technical aspects are exceptionally primitive due to its live broadcast nature, the locked-down direction making it akin to a stage play and everyone speaks in a high-class 50s English that can be laughable at times; but for all its flaws due to its age, The Quatermass Experiment remains an endlessly fascinating watch for any science fiction fan, offering up plenty of originality and dynamism that kindled our fascination with the extraterrestrial.

I don't review shows without seeing them. I think there is a couple of examples where I have commented on a film or show where I have bailed out halfway through, but I cannot think of a time where I have reviewed a series where the majority of it no longer exists. Indeed as someone very much of today it is weird to sit in this world where everything can be bought (or not) online within seconds, but yet here is a well-regarded classic sci-fi where 4 of the 6 parts simply don't exist anywhere.

I came to the two remaining episodes with no experience of the original television show; I had seen the movie versions of Quatermass 2 and The Pit, but those are different beasts in a way and the 2005 version of this didn't inspire me. Luckily the kindness of a fellow IMDb user meant I got a lend of the 3 DVD set of this show – thanks Theo, I appreciated the gesture! Anyway, in terms of the show I must say that my lasting feeling is one of annoyance that the rest of the show is no longer available because I was really getting into it by the end of the second episode. To modern ears the show is very talky but yet it works because it is very well written – some of the dialogue is clunky but mostly it captures a sense of place and the urgency and mystery of what unfolds is all there. The direction seems very stagey to me (which of course it was) but they make the most of limited sets and of course viewing it in context of the time is important.

What I only realised during the second episode is that the damn thing was being broadcast live! This made it all the more impressive because there were hardly any flubbed lines or problems visible to me and everyone gave strong performances. Tate is a solid Quatermass, not overly emotional but still driven. The support cast around him are all nearly as good although the further one goes down the cast list the less they have to work with (hence you get a few clichés in there – particularly on the London streets in the first episode).

Overall though, this is a great little snippet of television, even if it is hard to judge since only a third of it exists now. Important in its time, it still stands up well because it tells (or starts to tell) an interesting story in a manner that engages and intrigues. I look forward to getting into the next two series so that I can get a full story told to me.