FruitBat ([info]al_fruitbat) wrote,
@ 2008-11-28 00:25:00
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Oh dear...
The BBC is remaking The Day of the Triffids

The problem is the fundamentals here - it's not the inevitable yoof characters they'll impose that'll kill it. What will kill it is the inability of the BBC to deliver intelligent drama any more. They won't be able to deliver the science, they won't be able to deliver the bleakness, they won't be able to deliver the misguided bigotry and most importantly they won't be able to deliver the ending.

Triffids is not about 6 foot plants with stinging whips, it's about the decline of authority, the natural unpleasantness of the human race in extremis, and the need for everyone to think for themselves.

I'm betting the BBC right now are going "Ooh, low budget popular SF which we could resurrect for a cheap prime-time 'Dr Who Lite' series". This will fail dismally, with people laughing about "that shit TV show with the oh so scary plastic plants"

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[info]secondhand_rick
2008-11-28 01:35 am UTC (link)
It is billed as a "fast-paced, futuristic and electrifying take" on Wyndham's work.

I just hope they cast some decent celebs in it!

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[info]bateleur
2008-11-28 07:12 am UTC (link)
Triffids is not about 6 foot plants with stinging whips

It isn't.

It will be.

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[info]undyingking
2008-11-28 08:46 am UTC (link)
I posted a while ago about a play of it we had here where the triffids themselves didn't actually appear at all. I thought that was pretty effective, but I can't see that approach appealing strongly to the BBC.

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[info]amuchmoreexotic
2008-11-28 08:17 am UTC (link)
Oh man, Triffids are the vegan alternative to zombies.

It could be good if they drop the contrived "everyone goes blind because of orbital weapons" idea and instead make the blindness due to a sudden massive release of toxic triffid pollen.

Also, make the triffids run fast!

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[info]percyprune
2008-11-28 09:10 am UTC (link)
I thought the last attempt at Triffids (with John Duttine) to be very respectful, if a little ploddy by modern standards.

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[info]lathany
2008-11-28 01:07 pm UTC (link)
I thought that the eighties series was decent enough. Why can't they re-make Tripods which was pretty dire and a long way from the books? I've always been suspicious of this urge to remake the good series rather than the bad.

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[info]denalyia
2008-11-28 01:35 pm UTC (link)
Coincidentally, I had a conversation with a friend last night about the original programme. I've never seen it, and he was highly recommending it for viewing. It sounds like, from what you've put here, too, that he could be right. :)

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[info]cardinalsin
2008-11-28 07:55 pm UTC (link)
They seem to be doing a decent enough job remaking Survivors. I mean, it isn't superb, but they are certainly managing to do bleak/human-nature-as-basically-nasty. And not much in the way of yoof either!

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