Did anyone try watch, as I did, the BBC’s new adaptation of John Wyndham’s The Day of the Triffids? This was one of the favourite books of my childhood, a cracking yarn in the HG Wells disaster tradition, and – more fool me – I was looking forward to it. Guess what? The producers, i.e. the BBC international conspiracists who see AGW as a religion, had tampered with the plot so that it conformed to their worldview. According to these morons, the triffids developed and got out of control because of global warming and because the wicked fossil-fuel oil companies had modified their genes. So, an old-fashioned morality tale about the problems of human nature descended into a zealous brimstone-and-treacle homily about ‘climate change’ and the horrors of capitalist greed. Brainwashing? John Wyndham, I am sure, will be turning in his grave!
TRIFFID HORRORS
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Even as a kid I never bought the idea of slow moving giant pansies being able to hunt anyone down.
It’s been a long time since I read John Wyndham but a quick google showed that The Kraken Wakes had the aliens melting the ice caps, causing sea levels to rise. London and other ports are gradually flooded, causing widespread social and political collapse. The same happens in many other countries – for example, the Dutch flee the Netherlands when it becomes clear that they had “…lost their centuries-old struggle with the sea”. The Crysalids is set in the future in a much warmer Labrador than today.
I doubt John Wyndham would be rolling too far.
Just as an exercise if you were scripting Day of the Triffids with the freedom to adapt it for a modern audience what would you write as the cause of the Triffids?
What would I use as the cause of Triffids? Doped up beeboids trying to grow extra strong Cocaine using tax payers money.
That well worn cliche “You could not make it up”; comes to mind! It has now reached a point where I am surprised when the Beeb thought police have NOT interfered or influenced a story. Also surprised they did not have a try at altering Hamlet. Yes, you know they would if they thought they could get away with it.
Doubt thou the stars are fire;
Doubt that the sun doth move;
Doubt truth to be a liar;
But never doubt man-made climate change.
There’s a start for them.
Its the BBC would you really expect anything else?
Agree with the criticism but it was a definite improvement on the excreable remake of Survivors. This one was actually watchable.
Surely it would have made more sense to have a genetic modification theme?
No, just make an adaptation of the classic tale without any modern themes. I can’t wait for Treasure Island with the added theme of how tough and unfair it is being a cross-dressing gay pirate with bigoted brutes all around…
It did.
I couldn’t be bothered to see another one of the BBC’s terrible re-makes of classic sci-fi made with a biased BBC slant.
H.G. Wells could well be proud of the BBC as he was all for new world order socialism and even eugenics. AGW is a ‘useful idiot theory’ that can or will be used for all these things if given time and enough elitist support.
I wonder when the pigs at the BBC will be rewriting the message held within nineteen eighty four so it tells a whole different story, one that they agree with?
I loved the book Day Of The Triffids and therefore thought the BBC TV programme would be good. How wrong I was. Bad script, unfortunate acting and total fudge in the story to the extent that I bet the actors who had to play the parts will now hang their heads in shame and not want to be interviewed over the next few days. The only consolation for the actors is that they got paid!
A truly monstrous lamentable programme.
Rather dissapointed as well. I seem to remember the original book wasn’t specific about the origins of the triffids – I think it was speculated they were Soviet creations – in the book I remember the triffids had an allegorical feel of creeping menace like such as the communism of the day.
Obviously the Beeb couldnt do that, so I can understand the changes however the thing that is most annoying to me was how dull and predictable they made it.
For example I’m not religious, but once you know the Beeboid drama mentality, the depiction of the crazy Nun going against all Christian tenets and sacificing the weak and helpless to protect the Nunnery was both bizarre AND predictable!
SPOILER!
As soon as they mentioned that triffids never attacked the Nunnery I knew what was coming for the next 20 mins, not being a dramatist but merely punter I dont think that is right!
Although ironically. the wild eyed craziness of being anti-technology and condemning people to suffer because of your believes reminded me more of the modern green movement 😉
I think the BBC creative mentality reminds me more of an example from another of Wyndham creations, the Midwich Cuckoos (Village of the Damned), I can just see all the blank eyed ‘creatives’ around the table churning this crap out 🙂
A fictional drama that suggests, horror of horrors, that nature is more powerful than humans? Or that big energy companies sometimes have nasty motives? BIAS!!!!!!!!
Oh no wait, its called fiction.
Fucking muppets, the lot of you.
Get it right Peter G. Biased fiction made on the back of classic science fiction paid for by forced subscription. John Wyndham didn’t use menaces, invasion of privacy, court appearances etc, the public chose to buy his books.
Muppet.
“A fictional drama that suggests, horror of horrors, that nature is more powerful than humans?”
That doesn’t surprise me personally, although you may want to have a word with the environment correspondents of the Beeb who uncritically take seriously the idea that politicians can control the Earths thermostat.
Yeah Peter G, but this fiction on the BBC was pretty awful. I was expecting a good bit of fiction but instead what we got was rubbish with a script and actors as wooden as a rolling pin, Eddie Izard being the second most wooden, the worst was the main actor, whose name I’ve already forgotton.
I thought the programme generally was quite dull and dire. That aside im quite comfortable to think that most people that watched it without an agenda (and that werent bored) would just see it as the BBC trying to modernise it than anything else you might suggest. To think otherwise is to be like a daily mail television critic