Brave New World

When it aired in 1980, I wondered what the heck happened to the promised BNW miniseries with a one-night broadcast that left so much out.

Almost three decades later, due to the miracle of the Internet, I saw the entire version as broadcast by the BBC & then bought the DVD. I totally loved it. The cartoonish Gil Gerard Buck Rogers-ish special effects and the superficial characterization, much disdained, totally fit the "soulless streamlined Eden" of the book.

Btw, back in 1980, I was fortunate enough to buy the PB tie-in, which I still own.

Please put this on official DVD!

When I saw this television film back in 1980, I was captivated--so captivated that I almost immediately went out and read the source material, the Aldous Huxley novel. I loved the book and its prescient look at the future of mankind and now, decades later, I decided to watch this television adaptation once again. Well, I sure was surprised, as I really didn't love the film nearly as much as I once did--much of it due to the really annoying way that John the Savage talked. I found it wearisome after a while hearing him talking in Shakespearean lingo...something not as ever-present in the book. Much of it could be because it was so obvious since the film was a bit overlong. As for the rest of the story, it generally was well done at showing the vacuousness of the future engineered society--and the use of drugs, genetics and sex to keep everyone dumb and happy. It does look a tad dated but overall it's still much better than the ultra-bland later Leonard Nimoy version of the story. And, the story itself is so good even a lower-budgeted TV version like this one is worth your time.

If you are interested in seeing it, the film (and the worse Nimoy version) are available to watch on YouTube.

This movie was revolutionary because it showed what medical science could lead us to one day. The movie was based off the book and the book was written in 1931, so you can see Aldous Huxley's vivid imagination of what the world would be like hundreds of years down the road following the perfection of cloning. Stem cell research is not all bad but continuing practicing to clone could very well lead us down the "Brave New World" path. Now I don't fully believe that the world will turn out that way, but if you researched the origin of any of the greatest technology we have today you will see that the ideas for them started with a vision. Those visions, along with dedicated practice and increasingly advanced technology, have helped us get to the point we are now. I just thought this movie was interesting because it gave us a glimpse of what our world might be like in 2540, if not sooner. Scientists are working vigorously on stem cell and stem cell related studies and now that Obama has just allowed the practice to continue, it is only a matter of time before it is perfected.

This is naturally a low-budget TV version, but it's long enough to go into the themes of the book in some depth, and follows the plot and dialogue accurately enough. It gives the impression of a theatre version really, with the cheap sets and costumes: or maybe the original Star Trek is closer to it, with the pyjamas. So you never forget that it's an adaptation of a novel; which I realise must be a problem for those expecting Blade Runner or something. I thought everyone did a commendable job on this given the limitations of the budget, and while it's not great cinema, it captures the spirit of Huxley's work, and in particular it was nice to hear the Shakespeare quotations very nicely done.

As others have said, this 1980 version of "Brave New World" is far superior to the 1998 version. But what nobody has mentioned, probably because they aren't even aware of it, is that the 1980 film exists in 2 different versions.

This was originally produced as a 2-part mini-series, running 4 hours (including commercials). But at the last minute, NBC chopped it down to fit into a 3-hour time slot. Allowing for commercials, this means that more than half an hour was removed. When it was later aired on the BBC in England, it ran in its original full length, 2-part form.

There are many collectors offering copies of this movie via the IMDb message boards, or eBay. Before buying, I suggest you ask which version they have. (I can personally recommend the copy offered by "deaks".)