Comment from Jeff Cannell
Time: December 4, 2008, 3:12 pm

Have you seen the early 80′s BBC serial. II watched it with my Son a month or so ago– Great stuff! The BBC radio adaption of Chrysalids is also quite good!

Thanks for turning us on to Wynham!

Comment from Parker
Time: December 4, 2008, 3:23 pm

No, but I’ll try to track it down, thanks Jeff.

Fixed that picture!

Comment from Michael Hoskin
Time: December 5, 2008, 8:07 am

Mmmmm…hope this works out. I used to be a Wyndham freak, but over the last two months I’ve read too much below average work of his (the Secret People, Sleepers of Mars, the Kraken Wakes) and that’s taken the edge off.

Comment from Martin Thomas
Time: December 8, 2008, 11:17 am

Good article but I can’t get excited about any BBC drama these days, unfortunately. The remake of Survivors is disappointing and I’ll be surprised if Triffids is any better. Sorry to put a dampener on things!

I loved the original adaptation though – time was when everything the BBC touched turned to gold.

Comment from Parker
Time: December 8, 2008, 11:26 am

Michael, you didn’t like Kraken? sniff

Martin, I’ll keep fingers crossed for a return to the golden age. I guess that good adaptation was around the time of my favorite version of Hitchhiker’s Guide, I really need to watch it.

Comment from Michael Hoskin
Time: December 9, 2008, 8:07 am

I wanted to like Kraken, Jeff, but I found the newscaster-style of relating information rather off-putting. It might be because the events of Kraken take place over the course of several years – I think the War of the Worlds would have been dull if Wells had allowed it to sprawl over a decade. I also became very aware of Wyndham’s low opinion of humanity in Chrysalids (which I accepted then) and I just can’t process a worldwide holocaust narrated by a protagonist who is unable to drudge up an emotion for all the lives lost.* I’m also a little wary of intensely-Imperialist fiction, likely owing to the John Buchan marathon I went on earlier in the year.

On the other hand, Triffids is still a favorite and I also like Seeds of Time & Chrysalids. But after three duds I don’t know how eager I am to track down Midwich Cuckoos.

(*= this is a frequent problem I have in all fiction, be it Star Trek or Marvel Comics – I hate it when scores of nameless people are killed off with little reaction or consequence in the narrative. Every fictional character’s death diminishes me, for I am involved in fictional mankind.)

Comment from dusty
Time: December 15, 2008, 11:24 am

i remember the 80′s bbc version from back when i was a kid, i’m a huge fan of the original movie, and the classic design of those “killer” plants. i hope this version makes its way over the pond quick like, i love me the triffids.