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 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 gave my friend Ange a loan of my old VHS tape of QUATERMASS AND THE PIT and because her video recorder decided to chew up the tape Ange bought me the BBC DVD trilogy by way of compensation . I hadn't even known the trilogy had been released via the BBC and I'm not entirely sure if I'd have spent my own money buying it since I had the PIT on tape until I lent it to Ange , and I wasn't too keen on QUATERMASS 2 but it also meant I'd finally get to see the two surviving episodes of THE QUATERMASS EXPERIMENT and if I didn't like them it only meant that I'd wasted an hour of my life

Hmmm I wouldn't say that I wasted an hour of my life because I've always wanted to see this TV drama ever since I saw the Hammer adaptation in the late 1970s but I have no doubt that this is the weakest of the BBC Quatermass trilogy . Fair enough you might laugh at the space sequences of QUATERMASS 2 and grumble that it's painfully overambitious but the German expressionist sequences in episode five make it a truly memorable piece of television even when watching it today . Watching the first two episodes of TQE there's very little than can be described as memorable

Perhaps I'm not being very charitable because that's the frame of mind you have to watch this in , but even so you'll probably be left unimpressed . You have to remember that there was still within the British psyche ( It was obvious in 1953 that we'd lost the peace ) so unlike a female audience on its original broadcast you can't really empathise with Judith Caroon's fear that her husband might not be coming home since we tend to live long uninteresting lives in the 21st century . You may also forgive the long drawn out manner the story is told since it's broadcast live and since it's very much a mystery the contemporary audience must be given time to wonder why are two of the crewman missing and how is Victor Caroon able to suddenly speak German ? The unfortunate thing is anyone who bought the DVD knows why and where the story is heading so it's not a piece of television that would have stood up to repeated viewings even if the last four episodes had been recorded for posterity

There are some other problems for an audience who aren't overwhelmed by charity and that is the production values . After the final episode TQE was broadcast it was decided at the BBC to set up a special effects team . In other words there was no special effects team during any of the six episodes broadcast and it shows . Without knowing this you'll be scratching your head wondering that there's something missing . There might be something of a novelty watching a sci-fi drama with zero effects involved but you can't help thinking you're watching something that has the production values of the average school play . It should also be pointed out how painful it is listening to very middle class actors trying to speak in BBC " Working class " accents - Mockney doesn't even begin to describe them

Still you should never look a gift horse in the mouth and I did thoroughly enjoy seeing an unabridged copy of QUATERMASS AND THE PIT and QUATERMASS 2 , not to mention an informative documentary on the writer Nigel Kneale entitled THE KNEALE TAPES so thanks very much for my gift Ange

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 was so impressed that this movie has stayed somewhere in the back of my mind for over 45 years. I was still at school and probably alone at home to be able/allowed to watch it. It took me quite some time to recover, even for a science fiction fan.

I have never seen it again, did not remember the title (for me it was just "the monster"), nor the actors, only that a spaceship came back with two of the crew dead, and the third one being contaminated by...what?

Since I recently discovered this great site, I decided to spend an hour trying to find it back, and I did. I have no idea how I would react seeing it again today but I would love to try. rd