I have no problem at all with people enjoying the book or the 82 series but to say they are way better because you don't have to have as many 'leap of faiths' is puddled.
OK... I'm sitting here with my morning cup of coffee, and I'll give it another go...
"Puddled?" - The problem many people have (in this thread) ARE the 'leaps of faith' the new adaptation expects of the audience. When they get too many or too great in nature, you just lose all faith or belief in what you're seeing (or reading). Even my partner commented on some dafter aspects of the new one (which is unlike her), "why would they do that?", "why don't they do....instead?" etc etc...
Daft situations, daft events, or characters doing daft things, over and over, are far too common in this modern adaptation, especially when compared to the 1982 one. Hence people using the 1982 TV series (or the book) as a measuring stick.
In the book & 1982 TV series, once you've taken your leap of faith with the premise (genetically modified plants and the comet/meteor storm) I don't really recall any further far fetched scenarios or suggested behaviour. ie: Events are tangable, and behaviour believable. The version we saw last week does not share this. Instead we see extremely far fetched scenarious (over and over), and people behaving in bizarre ways (over and over).
I'm sure all of us in this thread would have liked a good solid retelling of this classic story, be it that it had followed the original story to the letter, or wondered off the path (as this one has), but with either scenario, we want intelligent sensible story telling, and we didn't (unfortunatelly) really get that.
Then we get to someone who has never even read the book, or can't recall the 1982 TV series that many people are talking about, wading in with their opinion - criticizing the original book and TV series, and having a dig at those individuals singing its merits. How can you have a fair opinion on something you've not read or can't recall seeing? I have no idea? OK, you don't like the two leaps-of-faith (the triffids or comet/meteor show) it asks of you, but I think you'll find there's a lot more to the book (& 1982 TV series) than that... But you wouldn't know of course...