The Day Of The Triffids to return to BBC next year

Calabi · 29 Dec 2009 at 22:39

It was a lame piece of rubbish. The dialogue was total a total phone in. The oh no will he kill the girls or wont he trick which was so poorly done I laughed and its been done a million times before.

Eddy Izzard was playing it like he was in a coma.

Kainz · 29 Dec 2009 at 22:42

I think I preferred the first episode lol. I see the BBC have it out on dvd and blu-ray soon lol

NeilF · 29 Dec 2009 at 22:45

clv101 said:
Jezz, what a miserable bunch you lot are. Guess what, it's not 1981 or even 1957. Get over it. If you don't like it turn the TV off and do something more interesting instead.

It's not as if anyone forced you to watch or there aren't many many other things you could be doing.

I think people are frustrated at the missed opportunity. Effort and money thrown into producing something mediocre and forgettable, when it could easily have been something outstanding and memorable...

Will people be talking about this Day of the Triffids in nigh on 30yrs? I think it will be forgotten about in 30 days TBH... Shame

Anyway, I'm about to watch the second episode, so here's hoping it's better than the first one...

Vampire · 29 Dec 2009 at 22:53

Someone's just sent me a link - the whole of the BBC original is up on Youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/show?p=itKHxWtBYQw&pl=6B9DC40745570167

Tombstone · 29 Dec 2009 at 23:40

One of the things that puzzled me was why was Coker suddenly an American?

As far as I remember, Coker wasnt American in the book, nor was he american in the original tv series, so why this decision to change the character to being an american for no seeming reason at all?

Admittedly its not something which has a big effect plotwise but nevertheless I find it puzzling why there is the need to alter the nationality of a character just for the sake of it. Something wrong with having him as a British guy??

Sankari · 30 Dec 2009 at 00:02

NeilFawcett said:
I think people are frustrated at the missed opportunity. Effort and money thrown into producing something mediocre and forgettable, when it could easily have been something outstanding and memorable...

Exactly. That and the waste of their ever-increasing license fee.

NeilF · 30 Dec 2009 at 00:24

Tombstone said:
One of the things that puzzled me was why was Coker suddenly an American?

As far as I remember, Coker wasnt American in the book, nor was he american in the original tv series, so why this decision to change the character to being an american for no seeming reason at all?

Admittedly its not something which has a big effect plotwise but nevertheless I find it puzzling why there is the need to alter the nationality of a character just for the sake of it. Something wrong with having him as a British guy??

American audience/sales...

Damn that Coker was a good shot with those leaflets... Flying along in a plane and drops all the dozen or so sheets of paper out of the planes window right to feat of the heroes! Jolly good shot!

Seen it all now...

First episode - Oh dear...
Second episode - Oh dead, oh dear...

Watch the 1981 series - It's nearly 30 years old now, and will seem someone out of date with its slower pace and lower production values. But it's a far better piece of TV!

Tefal · 30 Dec 2009 at 01:03

Meridian said:
Close:

But no: I hereby bet you that the two main characters are one white man and white woman. But yes, there will be a disproportionately high number of blacks. But no Arab-looking people. Obviously there will be disabled: almost everyone is blind, remember.

M

Didn't they use triffid oil to replace fossil oil in the book too?

(it's been ages since i read it)

Tefal · 30 Dec 2009 at 01:21

Evangelion said:
Pointless and irrelevant novelties like a pile of inflatable vests in a plane toilet should be immediately recognisable as something so dumb they can only be the product of the 21st century.

I don't think it's pointless, it's just to quickly establish the fact he had no issue nor hesitation in removing people life vests to save himself.

You occasionally need quick and plain gestures like that in film because you can't really have the characters do a monologue in their head every time you need to point something out about the other.

qqg3 · 30 Dec 2009 at 01:26

Evangelion said:
That's the whole point: things don't need to be quick, and there is time for building plots.

The trouble today is lazy producers and scriptwriters who can't be bothered spending time, effort and money on a decent script. Just look at Doctor Who: reduced to single and double episode features instead of the five or six episode stories of the past. And guess what? It doesn't work. There's no tension, no buildup, no cliffhanger, no character development, no drama. The entire plot has to be flat-packed and squeezed into a tiny space, so everything needs to happen at once.

I agree completely.

Take a look at the US series Dexter, a brilliant series because no one has been lazy.

"Just" 12 episodes per season*, but they all feature a primary story arc. This is built up, built right to the very climatic season finale.

It proves good television can be had if effort is put in, I really hate all the rushing about that is done nowadays. The worst offenders are Hollywood films; but that is a whole other point.

*(as oppose to an average of many US series of say 20)

Sankari · 30 Dec 2009 at 01:48

Tefal said:
Didn't they use triffid oil to replace fossil oil in the book too?

(it's been ages since i read it)

No, they used it as a vegetable oil substitute (I am not kidding). Presumably the world was facing a margarine crisis.

Tefal · 30 Dec 2009 at 01:50

I do agree this would have been lovely spread out over time nice, slow and well developed.

BloodyL · 30 Dec 2009 at 02:42

clv101 said:
Jezz, what a miserable bunch you lot are. Guess what, it's not 1981 or even 1957. Get over it. If you don't like it turn the TV off and do something more interesting instead.

It's not as if anyone forced you to watch or there aren't many many other things you could be doing.

I'm not forced to watch it, but I am forced to *pay* for it, the BBC is accountable to us, not the other way around.
If they want to squirt money down the loo on weak arsed productions like DotT and Dr Who then I have every right to be unhappy about it.

So, how did you find the Cow&Gate formula clv101, was is pre-chewed enough for you?

BloodyL · 30 Dec 2009 at 02:44

Evangelion said:
No, they used it as a vegetable oil substitute (I am not kidding). Presumably the world was facing a margarine crisis.

Try our new Triffid formula in our

I can't believe it's not better.

Sankari · 30 Dec 2009 at 02:50

BloodyL said:
Try our new Triffid formula in our

I can't believe it's not better.

Genius!

Azagoth · 30 Dec 2009 at 06:07

Evangelion said:
Believe me, I've seen enough. I'd rather have my leg chopped off with a spade than watch any more.

Aren't you living in Oz now, have you paid the TV Tax in order to complain? Like said above, if you don't like it what's stopping you from changing the channel?

Sankari · 30 Dec 2009 at 06:23

Azagoth said:
Aren't you living in Oz now, have you paid the TV Tax in order to complain? Like said above, if you don't like it what's stopping you from changing the channel?

Yes I'm living in Australia. So what? I hate to see my favourite books mangled by cheapskate, uncultured cretins who can't be bothered to do it properly. That production was funded by the license fee I paid during my five and a half years in the UK and even if I hadn't paid a penny, I have every right to complain.

Did you miss the part where I said I wouldn't be watching any more of it?

xb8browney · 30 Dec 2009 at 07:20

I really liked it.

ianh · 30 Dec 2009 at 07:35

So..............Many...........Oh Dears!!!!!!!

Older girl shooting "I've got to practice wearing my goggles" (at last, some common sense) then 5mins later going Triffid hunting without wearing them (oh dear!) - At least the Triffid EXPERT wore his, oh no, thats right, HE took them off too!

No explaination of why the Triffids didn't attack them after they'd had poison put in their eyes at the end (are they now immune???) with nothing about the african guy (who, what, why?)

Crockers amazing plane Leaflet drop - didn't realise the USAF practiced precision bombing using leaflets!

Jo deciding the best thing to do at night is walk through a foggy forest where you can't see 30ft infront of you.

EVERY forest shot had to be smoky with a huge backlight!

Poor acting from Dougray Scott (wooden would be a complement) and Eddie Izzard (terrible bad guy).

This could have been soooo much better, instead it's been turned into a Hollywood "don't think about anything just look at the pretty CGI and action sequences"

Cosimo · 30 Dec 2009 at 08:38

BloodyL said:
Try our new Triffid formula in our

I can't believe it's not better.

LOL. Well here we were again, unadulterated dog poo, script writing and attention span for teenagers. A failed attempt at Hollywood production, you’re the BBC not Hollywood moguls. We only managed to see it through to the end because of distractions such as coffee table books and conversation. I wonder how much that little lot cost to make, maybe someone got bored with the book and just made it up.