The Day of the Triffids

Imagine my surprise one day in 1990 when I turned on Arts & Entertainment Network expecting to see the 1963 movie "The Day Of The Triffids." Rather surprised it would turn up on A&E, I still was thankful for the bit of luck. Never would I have guessed it wasn't "The Day Of The Triffids" I knew.

While I still like the generic monster movie version, this apparently made for TV adaptation is much more faithful to the novel. The movie is forced to sacrifice a lot of the human commentary in exchange for a resolved ending. This TV version keeps the focus on the character interaction, and, through their reaction, commentary on society. As with so many British TV shows, "Day Of The Triffids'" few faults are monetary.

Near as I can tell, in the United States, there were very few chances to see this production, which is a real shame. As, also, I have yet to hear of it ever being released on home video formats. A&E seemed to be the only outlet. And, I only know of 3 times it aired. Once in 1990, and twice again in 1991, which was when I taped it, and, I'm glad as I did, as I've yet to see it air anymore. However, A&E's broadcast quality was terrible at that time, notoriously dropping out signal. Plus, A&E always ran it over the course of 2 separate days, never advertising when the next part would be broadcast, and, the next part wasn't always in a logical fashion. One time, they showed it over two consecutive weekdays, once over a Saturday and Sunday weekend, and once Part 1 one Saturday and Part 2 the next Saturday. So, some company needs to release this rare gem, hopefully on DVD.

This is the best ever version of this famous science fiction novel. Even the choice of John Duttine as Bill Masen is very close to how I imagined him to look like. An average 36 year old man, who is lying in hospital, with his eyes bandaged up. This was the result of a Triffid sting. In the 1962 film, we do not find out why Bill Masen has this treatment! The triffids themselves are spot on! in detail and you see the sting lash out about 10 feet long.That is how John Wyndham describes them. So the BBC and Douglas Livingstone ,got this spot on! and we see Bill Masen as a child experiencing his first Triffid in his back garden. This DVD that I now have, has been eagerly awaited by myself. The opening music, is composed and conducted by Christopher Gunning. and is very stirring. every part of the dialogue was also as spoken in the book, (Yes I have read the book) and I know just how the story should unfold on the screen. It is a pity that widescreen TV's did not exist in 1981! as this would of been a great widescreen production. This series was in 6 parts by the way. You get a collector's booklet and all 6 parts on the DVD! Number BBC DVD 1152!

A vivid adaptation of John Wyndham's classic novel. Nearly everyone in the world has been blinded, and humanity is at the mercy of the triffids, a genetically engineered breed of carniverous plants. The last time this was shown on television was back in 1987, when I was in Grade 6. I taped each episode and watched the serial so many times I knew the script off by heart. Regrettably, it was taped over a few years ago. I enjoyed the programme so much I read the novel, which I still have (in fact I have two copies), and I've also collected John Wyndham's other books. "The Day of the Triffids" was the first story that got me thinking about the end of civilisation. For once television can't be blamed as a medium that stops people reading.

When an asteroid shower passes over the earth, most of the world stops and watches the "once in a lifetime" spectacle. However the vast majority of the world find themselves blinded. This leaves the world at the mercy of the Triffids – a strange species of plant that can move and attack humans, but whose value as an oil resource has seen them farmed and controlled around the world. In a London hospital, Bill Masen is confined to his hospital bed with his eyes bandaged up after a Triffid sting at work. The day after the shower, Bill wakes to find everything quiet with seemingly nobody around to take the bandages off. He stumbles out into the day to find the population blind and, with society quickly crumbling, Triffids seem like just one of the problems to contend with.

I quite liked the film version for what it was but it was quite different from the book. This BBC mini-series though, is much more faithful to the source material and produces three hours of television that are more about the people than the plants of the title. If you consider the six episodes, the Triffids are not present throughout and sometimes they are no more than yet another thing in the background. The main thrust is actually about the breakdown of society, the choices the seeing survivors have to make at the early stages and the later stages. As such it is a very British piece as of course there is the polite indecisions and stiff upper lips that see survival accompanied by a certain amount of shame and frustration.

Hannam's direction is good as he works well with the sets and effects he has available to him. He has a good script to work with that puts food for thought onto the table consistently, while he also maintains a fairly constant sense of fear in relation to the lack of everything we would expect. In this regard the early episodes were the stronger. Of course the effects are limited but the Triffids themselves are actually pretty good and, if walking, man-eating plants did exist then I imagine they may look like this. The sets are quite cheap and have dated as badly as the clothes etc but this is not really a problem since the material is what is interesting, rather than the effects. The cast mostly work well, with Duttine solid in the lead with Relph doing OK work alongside him and Colbourne a strong presence with a character that asks a lot of moral questions of the viewer.

Overall then, better and more faithful to the book than the film version. It looks dated and of course the effects are not brilliant but it is the complexity of a crumbling society and the choices to be made that keep it interesting more than the action of Triffid attacks.

I remember watching this when i was a child and still enjoy it as much now as i did then,the breakdown of morals were shown very quickly with the main character trying to save a girl from being raped and it made me think what would happen if there was no more law and order and the sighted could do whatever they wished.OK the triffids are very 1980's (but that is when it was made so what do you expect) But if they made a remake now it would be all CGI and no story (war of the worlds being a major case).All in all i would have to say get it (not the rubbish film but the bbc version) settle down on a Sunday afternoon and go back in time to when a programme had to keep you hooked by the story line and not the special effects and maybe make you worried about your garden at night lol.