The Day Of The Triffids to return to BBC next year
- Thread starter msmalls74
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I only watched the ending of it but it seemed quite good, the triffids were definitely passable.
It was competely implausible when they believed Eddy Izzard was a good guy though. Anyone could tell just from looking at him he was up to no good or soon would be.
It was competely implausible when they believed Eddy Izzard was a good guy though. Anyone could tell just from looking at him he was up to no good or soon would be.
meh, didnt do a great job of the scale, yes its telly and therefore lower budget , but millions of blind dont turn into a couple of groups of 20 in a day .. if theres a sense of time passing they havent conveyed it very well
all a bit wooden so far and about on a par with the Survivors remake.
all a bit wooden so far and about on a par with the Survivors remake.
Watched the first 45 minutes... A lot of "oh dears" so far...
Eddie Izzard waking up... Doesn't ask a single question about why the plane is in trouble - "oh dear"...
Just gets into a cubicle full of inflatable vests - "oh dear"...
Happens to crash land (in all the world) right next to the lead characters - "oh dear"...
And comes out of a plane crashing into a city at X hunderd miles an hour, alive, with stupid looking comedy character clothes in tatters and trouser legs missing - "OH DEAR!!!"...
How do these writers have the guts to put this stuff to paper, yet alone get it put to film?
Then news lady comes out of the underground, wonders around for a minute or two before bumbing into our hero and proclaims, "I thought I was the only one"? What in the 2 minutes you've looked love? - "oh dear"...
Our hero and news lady go to the Triffid farms, and of they go into the middle of the farm for no reason other than to risk their lives - "oh dear"...
Anyway, let's see how the next 3/4 of it goes... Hopefully less "oh dears"... But so far seems a typical dumbed down, over proccessed BBC production
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Watched the first 45 minutes... A lot of "oh dears" so far...
Eddie Izzard waking up... Doesn't ask a single question about why the plane is in trouble - "oh dear"...
Just gets into a cubicle full of inflatable vests - "oh dear"...
Happens to crash land (in all the world) right next to the lead characters - "oh dear"...
And comes out of a plane crashing into a city at X hunderd miles an hour, alive, with stupid looking comedy character clothes in tatters and trouser legs missing - "OH DEAR!!!"...
How do these writers have the guts to put this stuff to paper, yet alone get it put to film?
Then news lady comes out of the underground, wonders around for a minute or two before bumbing into our hero and proclaims, "I thought I was the only one"? What in the 2 minutes you've looked love? - "oh dear"...
Our hero and news lady go to the Triffid farms, and of they go into the middle of the farm for no reason other than to risk their lives - "oh dear"...
Anyway, let's see how the next 3/4 of it goes... Hopefully less "oh dears"... But so far seems a typical dumbed down, over proccessed BBC production
Have just chased up the production details, and the script writer, producer and director have all been in the biz long enough to be able to make this one work, with credits ranging from 24, through to Cadfael and even Boon.
Why have such simple idiotic ideas been allowed go unnoticed?
Don't know... It's as if they treat the characters and story as an alternative reality where it doesn't have to make sense or be realistic?
More daftness listed:-
- They go to the triffid farm where X hundreds/thousands of triffids were. They have escaped killing everyone there. Not a SINGLE triffid was still there just by random, or sitting by the person it had killed, feeding - in the end that's why the Triffids kill, they then sit there feeding for X days or weeks... But no, these new Triffids have other agendas, like getting out of the way of our heroes so they don't appear in the episode too soon...
- And then we have ninja tree triffids attacking from the air and scooping folks up...
- Why cart Mason anc Coker mile and mile away to kill them? What's wrong with a back alley? Other than to allow the Triffids to get involved?
Silly ill-thoughtout writing!
And what the hell is the point of Eddie Izzard? We need some other protagonist in a world where virtually everyone is blind, dieing, the world is crumbling and the triffids are on the rampage? Is that backdrop not enough for the writers to work with? When did we lose the ability to write good solid sensible scripts where the events and characters have some thread of common sense and realism to them?
It's akin to the Survivors series. The new one rushes around and they feel they need to add some big bad organisation to maintain interest? Why not like the original concentrate on the characters and the simple day to day events which in themselves are more than interesting (& realistic) enough? We don't need helicopters with soldiers flying around to maintain our interest, if the script is good enough.
I've got a horrible feeling they're not even going to bother with the "diseases" from the book, and 1981 TV series... I fear they'll instead be rushing around making room for Izzard to ponce around on screen.
Frustrating!
For anyone who hasn't seen the 1981 BBC version, watch it. Yes it has lower/older production values, but boy is it far more believable and solid...
ps: Was Izzard in a toilet cubicle with inflatable vests surviving a plane crashing into city worse than Indiana in a fridge surviving an a-bomb? Close call!
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Soldato
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That was the biggest pile of poo going and cant believe they screened it, if thats where my TV Licence money is going i'm not going to pay it in the future. It was like someone said lets make a copy of 28 days later but with plants and make it look like we had a 50p budget'
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Haha, the invasion of the pot plants, was it celery? I wonder what Eddie Izzard’s eyebrows will do next. Seriously what happened to the original story, can’t the BBC leave anything alone. Tonight’s episode will be watched whilst reading a book.
Soldato
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Bah! I forgot to watch it. HD version don't seem to be on iplayer yet.
At least it has Joely Richardson in it, and the bird who was the CIA agent in Spooks. 
Another serious wtf moment for me.
Mason makes a massive deal about putting the safety glasses on the security guard at the start, emphasising how dangerous the stings are. Then offers his own glasses before being stung and very nearly blinded/killed.
Then a day later he returns to a shattered triffid farm after being lucky his eyesight is saved, and wanders around casually with the reporter without bothering to put masks/glasses on. Has he suddenly lost his memory and common sense?
Another serious wtf moment for me.
Mason makes a massive deal about putting the safety glasses on the security guard at the start, emphasising how dangerous the stings are. Then offers his own glasses before being stung and very nearly blinded/killed.
Then a day later he returns to a shattered triffid farm after being lucky his eyesight is saved, and wanders around casually with the reporter without bothering to put masks/glasses on. Has he suddenly lost his memory and common sense?
All the triffids had gone though hadn't they?
Thought it was quite good as long as don't take it seriously - it is about walking plants after all.
This is it... The moment characters (or events) start getting to unbelievable, you stop believing and stop caring...
I recall in the original series I think a whole episode (approx 30 minutes) was spent with the Jack Coker scenario, and it was well thoguht out and quite moving. Especially when food was running low and disease setting in... All that will no doubt be glossed over in preference to Izzard committing some dastardly deed...
Dugray Scott's monotonous voice over is dire! There's soooo many "oh dear" moments (all discussed above) and they've spent all that money creating an empty CGI London but none on CGI crowds, instead making do with just 20-30 people for a city of 7.5 MILLION!
I wonder if our Zombie survival guide would be effective against the Triffids - Large, slow moving, kill with a head shot?
Edit - Where's all the people that were on the Tube, in Cinema's, asleep (after a night shift), in a corridor, in a windowless room (store rooms, toilets etc) - that must add upto more than the 30-50 odd we see.
I wonder if our Zombie survival guide would be effective against the Triffids - Large, slow moving, kill with a head shot?
Edit - Where's all the people that were on the Tube, in Cinema's, asleep (after a night shift), in a corridor, in a windowless room (store rooms, toilets etc) - that must add upto more than the 30-50 odd we see.
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In the 1981 adaptation, it was basically anyone who looked at any of the main event - which went on for sometime - later their vision went...
This one implies that there was a bright event for a few tens of second, and that's what blinded people...
Can't wait for tonights episode to see how bad "jumping the triffid" gets!
Found a cracking review of the first episode.
Some highlights:
Oh, and LOL about the scene where the security chick enters the triffid orchard armed with... a truncheon?!
How the hell is that supposed to be useful against triffids? 
Some highlights:
But first off I’d like to say that it was with some relief that what’s contained in the first half of this story isn’t massively divergent from what’s in the Wyndham original work. That includes the characters of Bill Masen and Jo Playton (Joely Richardson), and their chance meeting under the most extreme of circumstances.
The only significant difference from the source material that I noticed, and there may be others, is that instead of the Cold War undertone of the 1951 book, the modern focus on climate change is centre stage. The Triffids are grown for an oil substitute they make, which has saved the planet from global warming but with unforeseen circumstances. Mutated by genetic engineering to produce the oil, the Triffids become increasingly mobile and aggressive, which isn’t exactly normal for a plant.
The only problem with this new twist is the lack of logic that’s applied to them being ‘green’, because they don’t use photosynthesis – they’re carnivorous! So presumably animals had to be reared to feed them? How green is that? Not very, but perhaps I wasn’t meant to think too deeply about this. On the same basis the Triffids are also self defeating. Because once they’ve eaten everything then they’ll die, presumably?
The only significant difference from the source material that I noticed, and there may be others, is that instead of the Cold War undertone of the 1951 book, the modern focus on climate change is centre stage. The Triffids are grown for an oil substitute they make, which has saved the planet from global warming but with unforeseen circumstances. Mutated by genetic engineering to produce the oil, the Triffids become increasingly mobile and aggressive, which isn’t exactly normal for a plant.
The only problem with this new twist is the lack of logic that’s applied to them being ‘green’, because they don’t use photosynthesis – they’re carnivorous! So presumably animals had to be reared to feed them? How green is that? Not very, but perhaps I wasn’t meant to think too deeply about this. On the same basis the Triffids are also self defeating. Because once they’ve eaten everything then they’ll die, presumably?
Oh, and LOL about the scene where the security chick enters the triffid orchard armed with... a truncheon?!
How the hell is that supposed to be useful against triffids?
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Found a cracking review of the first episode.
Some highlights:
But first off I’d like to say that it was with some relief that what’s contained in the first half of this story isn’t massively divergent from what’s in the Wyndham original work. That includes the characters of Bill Masen and Jo Playton (Joely Richardson), and their chance meeting under the most extreme of circumstances.
The only significant difference from the source material that I noticed, and there may be others, is that instead of the Cold War undertone of the 1951 book, the modern focus on climate change is centre stage. The Triffids are grown for an oil substitute they make, which has saved the planet from global warming but with unforeseen circumstances. Mutated by genetic engineering to produce the oil, the Triffids become increasingly mobile and aggressive, which isn’t exactly normal for a plant.
The only problem with this new twist is the lack of logic that’s applied to them being ‘green’, because they don’t use photosynthesis – they’re carnivorous! So presumably animals had to be reared to feed them? How green is that? Not very, but perhaps I wasn’t meant to think too deeply about this. On the same basis the Triffids are also self defeating. Because once they’ve eaten everything then they’ll die, presumably?
That same review suggests Izzard is great in it? His whole character (thus far) is a waste! What/why is he in it? Other that to mess up the original simpler/better premise?
Watch 5 minutes from the original TV series. Notice one main different between it and its modern counter part.
People will actually talk about things in a meaningful way. There's no rush to zoom around onto the next scene (of Eddie Izzard trying to look evil)... More dread and dispare is instilled by his chat to the father in one minute than any number of CGI back drops shown in the new one...
And no ninja Triffids required to instill a feeling of true threat...