The Day Of The Triffids to return to BBC next year

Where did all the heavy/assault weapons come from? They're not that prevalent in the UK :o

The story just seemed to be badly thought out idea after badly thought out idea. Lots of inconsistencies (e.g. if you can avoid being blind by not looking at the sun, the half of the world that was asleep at the time would be fine). Far too much deus ex machina, which was used practically every 5 minutes to get out of situations. Whilst you can forgive occasional use, using it to get out of every scene becomes incredibly tiresome.

The central idea that carnivorous triffids produce a crude oil substitute was also annoying... that they require meat to produce the oil was just laughable. Where are they getting the meat from? From cows grazing on grass? So the energy is going sun > grass > cow > triffid > oil > your car. Modern biofuels (e.g. ethanol fuel produced from sugar cane) are already more efficient than that convoluted process.

I like my sci fi to be reasonably intelligent, but this didn't have the production value of The Day After Tomorrow to get away with a shockingly bad concept.

All in all, I think the reason people are moaning is that it could be a good idea. It had promise, but it was a spectacularly failed opportunity.
 
dmpoole said:
I think you ought to read what I wrote again and come back and apologise.
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Trying to... So let's try and see if/where I messed up?

So you said:-

Even at my old age I can't remember how the original went, I certainly never read the book so I thought it was awesome on TV.
Triffid 2, Son Of Triffid or Triffid, The Return - I can't wait.
Let's face it, it's about plants eating people, how much crapper can it get?
To take the original as a work of art and say the remake has spoiled it makes me wonder about some people.
​

So I replied:-

So... you can't remember how the original went... You've never read the book... But it's as crap as it can get?

Quality!

Makes me wonder about some people.
​

So, surely as I originally suggested, you said:-
"I can't remember how the original went"
"I certainly never read the book"
"it's about plants eating people, how much crapper can it get?"

So surely everything I stated was correct? You've not read the book, you can't even recall the far superior (& more faithful) 1981 adaptation, but you're willing to classify it as "crap"? And have a dig at people who care to suggest the latest adaptation is rather poor in comparison?

Still seems like ignorance to me? What am I missing? Help me out here?
 
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Robbie G said:
Yes they are. Police at airports have automatic weapons.

Other stuff like APCs etc. - once everyone's blind / dead how hard can it be to gain access?
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OK so they have MP5s at a few locations (airports, parliament, new scotland yard)... :o
 
arknor said:
most military places have atleast regular rifles.

even most of the cadet places have an armory
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......................of air rifles, and mabye at some of the regional HQ's, the odd .22

Neither me you or the queen would be able to get into a police or forces armory.

And even if we could, just how many MP5's and various other sub machine guns do you think the police have?
 
If they did get them from the police, would have been cool to see them raiding and looting the place. Would have been a bit like mad max I suppose.

I suppose what I would have liked to have seen is more about the end of the world/apocalypse. More about what people were doing, how people were surviving etc. It was just a very light weight piece of television, when it could have been very cool, if they had either focused a bit more on certain aspects or if they had had more episodes.

I suppose we have been spoilt by the likes of Lost, Heroes et al.
 
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Robbie G said:
[loser dude]

Springs to mind :p.
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LOL, nice try mate, but it fails because I am actually married and my wife is a good looking woman. :D

Ziggy you can find terrible pictures of any woman to try and prove a point.

Try these on for size

[scrawny wench in unflattering underwear]

[hideous closeup of bony face]
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No chance. Drop her down the nearest plughole and find a real woman.

When she walk down the street, I bet skeletons nudge each other and point, saying "Oooh, isn't she skinny!"
 
Meridian said:
Most of it does, but about 10% keeps coming back on "classic" editions. But mainly I mean what you see in book stores: just because it's "New" on-line doesn't mean that it's still in print - there are warehouses full of these things. Book shopping on-line is a pale shadow of book shopping at a proper shop. It's far easier to tell if a book you've never heard of will be worth reading for one thing.

M
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I totally agree. I'm an avid second hand book shopper myself. But old skool SF never dies; it always finds a way to come back in a new edition.

:)
 
daz said:
The story just seemed to be badly thought out idea after badly thought out idea. Lots of inconsistencies (e.g. if you can avoid being blind by not looking at the sun, the half of the world that was asleep at the time would be fine). Far too much deus ex machina, which was used practically every 5 minutes to get out of situations. Whilst you can forgive occasional use, using it to get out of every scene becomes incredibly tiresome.

The central idea that carnivorous triffids produce a crude oil substitute was also annoying... that they require meat to produce the oil was just laughable. Where are they getting the meat from? From cows grazing on grass? So the energy is going sun > grass > cow > triffid > oil > your car. Modern biofuels (e.g. ethanol fuel produced from sugar cane) are already more efficient than that convoluted process.

I like my sci fi to be reasonably intelligent, but this didn't have the production value of The Day After Tomorrow to get away with a shockingly bad concept.

All in all, I think the reason people are moaning is that it could be a good idea. It had promise, but it was a spectacularly failed opportunity.
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The plot failed because it departed from the original. That's the whole thing in a nutshell. It departed from the original. DOTT works perfectly as Wyndham wrote it. But the moment someone starts to play silly numpties with the plot, it falls over in a heap.

In the book, the triffids' oil was used as a substitute for vegetable oil (which makes perfect sense) not crude oil (which doesn't). The 1981 series faithfully retained this original premise which is one of the reasons why it's so believable.

The 2009 version tried to "update" the plot to be "more relevant" and failed because some things just don't work if you change them. I guess nobody had bothered to think through the logic, either.
 
NeilFawcett said:
Still seems like ignorance to me? What am I missing? Help me out here?
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How can a book about human eating alien plants be any better?
I don't have to read it to know that it can't be anymore realistic or dafter than the film that was made.
It's about plants that move at 0.005 mph but still catch up with people who can see (or perhaps they slithered faster in the book).
It is a daft story but made an enjoyable TV adaption.

I bet you're one of those who thought the original film of War Of the Worlds was a lot better than the remake with Tom Cruise but the book was way better.
NO IT WASN'T.

And the original The Day The Earth Stood Still was better - no it wasn't.
 
dmpoole said:
It's about plants that move at 0.005 mph but still catch up with people who can see (or perhaps they slithered faster in the book).
It is a daft story but made an enjoyable TV adaption.
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The people were blind, so the triffids had all the time they needed. There was no need to play catch-up.
 
dmpoole said:
So everybody in the original book was blind?
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Not everyone, but nearly everyone. The triffids shuffled around and zapped the slow-moving blind people. They also they set ambushes and "herded" groups of blind people towards waiting triffids.

In the original film (I do remember now) there were people who could see who still got eaten by the Triffids.
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Yep, that also happened occasionally. They would typically wait by a door and whack them in the face as they emerged.
 
Robbie G said:
Yes they are. Police at airports have automatic weapons.
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Sorry to be pedantic but the regular armed police (those above) don't have any "Automatic" weapons, only single shot versions of the MP5/G36 etc. Only the bodyguard types are allowed them (not even co19 are allowed automatic weapons) and any armed forces types.

As for the other weapons all military/police weapons are kept in safes/armouries (even those inside police ARV's) which are very secure so unless someones just run off and left the door open you aren't getting any weapons from them. The show was pretty realistic in that the PM's convoy (I think it's that what was hit) that Eddie Izzard took the weapons from would have had a lot of weapons readily available as the bodyguards carry theirs and don't store them.
 
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Evangelion said:
Yep, that also happened occasionally. They would typically wait by a door and whack them in the face as they emerged.
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So my original statement was true - it is a daft story to begin with.
Man eating alien plants waiting by doors to whack people when they came out.
I enjoyed it though cause I'm a bit thick.
 
dmpoole said:
How can a book about human eating alien plants be any better?
I don't have to read it to know that it can't be anymore realistic or dafter than the film that was made.
It's about plants that move at 0.005 mph but still catch up with people who can see (or perhaps they slithered faster in the book).
It is a daft story but made an enjoyable TV adaption.

I bet you're one of those who thought the original film of War Of the Worlds was a lot better than the remake with Tom Cruise but the book was way better.
NO IT WASN'T.

And the original The Day The Earth Stood Still was better - no it wasn't.
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So I was correct in every point I quoted you on? You're calling a book and series (the 1981 BBC one) crap based on not having read it or remembering anything of it?

Wow! Quality argument... You can assume I give it all the merit and consideration it's worth ----> .

ps: FYI, of course they don't catch up with (sighted) people! But don't let that simple ignorant mistake in your argument stop you from making more... You seem very adept at it.
 
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ianh said:
Sorry to be pedantic but the regular armed police (those above) don't have any "Automatic" weapons, only single shot versions of the MP5/G36 etc. Only the bodyguard types are allowed them (not even co19 are allowed automatic weapons) and any armed forces types.
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I bow to your greater knowledge about airport police arsenals, but maintain that there would be plenty of ways to get MP5s etc. (whether auto or not) in that scenario.
 
dmpoole said:
So my original statement was true - it is a daft story to begin with.
Man eating alien plants waiting by doors to whack people when they came out.
I enjoyed it though cause I'm a bit thick.
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No... Just your final statement appears to be true...
 
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