Yes! My all time favorite apocalypse story -- the 1981 adaptation -- is finally coming out on disc.
The original story, and 1950's movie, is pretty weak and silly. Then the Beeb turned it into a rocking mini-series in 1981. I watch this shit about once a year... Totally addictive and creepy and fun all at once. Except low budget, so they only use the super cool disc gun once.
http://tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=7639
Amazon whore (a purchase here helps SFWP!) --
The Day of the Triffids<img src="
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Pocket Reviews from the cult pages at the Beeb:
This 1981 adaptation of John Wyndham's cult novel has always been fondly remembered. The world wakes up blind, with a few sighted survivors left to work out a future for humanity, and see off the threat posed by man-eating Triffid plants.
This version of the book is much more faithful than the controversial film version, and was the brainchild of Blake's 7 producer David Maloney.
It starred John Duttine and Emma Relph, but the show is stolen by the Triffids, clacking away menacingly in the background, picking off the occasional character when the plot needs a lift.
The Day of the Triffids feels like a science fiction hybrid of John Le Carre and the nuclear holocaust movie The Day After. Replete with Cold War themes of human survivability and community breakdown, this is a landmark of that glum drama-in-a-turtleneck that so characterised the early 1980s.
Preachy sequences about the need for social order and respect for knowledge remind us how deeply divided the world was then. But it is a credit to the series creators’ that Triffids retains considerable impact in the single superpower era.
Genetic mutation and the limits of scientific tinkering are very hot topics today, and Triffids develops the theme dramatically. Plant attacks may lack special effects value, but the show succeeds through subtler techniques of lighting, varied camera angle, solid acting and an excellent score.
And the apocalyptic vision of empty motorways looks positively divine!
This is the show that scarred many a young viewer's mind. The ominous clacking of the approaching carnivorous plants. The blinded population roaming Britain. The whip-lash tongue striking from off-screen. Yes, this was the stuff of nightmare, but unfortunately time has not been kind.
Now we are accustomed to the rapid fire editing and irony of modern Cult shows. That ‘Triffids’ explored its premise maturely jars with contemporary conventions. No ‘Coker The Venus Fly Trap Slayer’ shenanigans here, and it must be said I found that extremely refreshing!
Though production values have dated, full marks for an adult and intelligent adaptation of John Wyndham’s classic tale!
