Have updated my Pentland Ferries review after travelling on their new catamaran car ferry in July. T...
Have updated my Pentland Ferries review after travelling on their new catamaran car ferry in July. Thanks to everyone who put me "in the red"!
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Mention the name "Quatermass" to people who were around in the 1950s and you often get rewarded with tales of folk who abandoned pubs and missed out on church services to watch three separate six-part SF series during the 1950s. Prior to 1953, the BBC had tried hard to avoid showing programmes of an SF nature, but a gap in the schedules during the summer of that year provided a convenient opening for a young staff writer named Nigel Kneale to write the first of what would be three stories involving alien threats to Earth, "The Quatermass Experiment".
In 1953, memories of the V-2 rocket offensive against London were still fresh in the minds of many. The Space Race that was to occupy the thoughts of many around the world, not just those in America and Russia, had not yet started in earnest, although both sides were developing bigger and longer-ranged rockets based on material captured in Germany at the end of WW2. In 1953 it was not known whether it was possible to launch a man into space and return him safely - this feat was still eight years in the future.
Although Kneale did not know it at the time, he was writing the first of a trilogy which would influence writers for generations to come, and still remain as probably the finest three SF stories to emerge anywhere in the world. The three, included on this three-disc DVD set, are "The Quatermass Experiment", "Quatermass II" and "Quatermass and the Pit". Also included is an impressive documentary about Nigel Kneale's SF work during and post-Quatermass, a shorter doc about the making of the 'Demons' in "The Pit", and a recording of a programme showing the director of the three Quatermass series, Rudolph Cartier, in conversation with Kneale.
The three series can be neatly summed up as follows:
1953: "The Quatermass
Experiment" - an alien threat in the here and now; 1955: "Quatermass II" - an alien threat that has been here for some time; and 1958 "Quatermass and the Pit" - an alien threat that has been here for 5 million years.
Shot in black and white, each half-hour segment is faithfully transferred to DVD, complete with marks on the film and in one part, a fly walking across the lens. Camera technology back then was crude and panning created slightly fuzzy shots, although the majority of the programmes can still be viewed perfectly.
Leaving behind the first rocket experiments but firmly rooted in the austerity of the early 1950s, Kneale's "The Quatermass Experiment" dealt with the near-future British Rocket Group's (and its head, Professor Bernard Quatermass) first manned mission to orbit, three astronauts planning to circle the Earth several times before returning. The programme begins with a problem in the spacecraft - contact has been lost for several hours. The rocket eventually plunges back to Earth, crashing in southern London, but there is only one crew member inside when it is opened up....
Unfortunately, only the first two episodes of "The Quatermass Experiment" were recorded on film, and are included in the DVD - the remaining four are included as scripts, of poor quality, it has to be said - some pages are barely legible. My advice would be to track down a copy of the old Arrow paperback serialisation of the book, using the script itself (or even dare I say it watch the later Hammer movie version to get the rest of the story - although the ending is slightly different). These two surviving episodes are themselves poorly reproduced although that is due to the equipment used at the time - even so, they are worth watching to see just how good this initial attempt at adult-aimed SF was back in 1953.
This first series proved extremely popular and a second was commissioned in 1955. "Quatermass II" had a new actor in the title role, Reginald Tate having died whilst waiting for the new scripts to arrive. John Robinson took over at short notice. Before learning of the DVD, I had been under the impression that "II" had either been lost altogether or had been wiped from tape in line with the BBC's 60s policy (as with many early Dr Who recordings). Not so - my favourite Quatermass story (I had read all three script books as a child!) was alive and well in its original format, the main reason why I purchased this DVD!
"II" dealt with a different threat, one that had been around for several years. In a time when secret military and government establishments were springing up all over the UK, and even employees of the BBC were told to sign the Official Secrets Act, Kneale decided to use some of this paranoia and mystery in his next Quatermass drama.
Again set in the near-future for 1955 ('1965' was apparently suggested in some pre-release material), "II" deals with strange, small objects falling from the skies, equally odd chemicals that provoke violent reactions from those who come into contact with them, and a strange refinery-type complex that was built in a remote area of the Thames Estuary, a whole village being demolished to accommodate it. Quatermass investigates after his daughter's boyfriend is affected by one of these small objects, and encounters government departments penetrated by an alien influence, a 'new town' whose inhabitants have worked to build a plant so odd that they don't know anything about it, least of all what it actually does, and a conspiracy of silence that blocks the Professor at every turn, one which even manages to infiltrate his own Rocket Group.
Strong stuff for 1955 indeed. 'Special effects', such as they were, had improved in the two years following "Experiment", and the model work for the BRG rocket and the alien plant are impressive for the time. The story is excellent, the acting little short of wonderful (although the actress who plays the daughter suffers from a severe stiff upper-class lip, and was apparently forced upon Kneale to his displeasure) and if re-done today in a contemporary setting, would still hold up enormously. The only down-side is the scene on an asteroid, where the surface is clearly blank blankets stretched out over boxes - but we can forgive the early BBC budgets not allowing much else....
The appeal of the first two series saw Kneale write the third and last of the black and white trilogy, "Quatermass and the Pit", which was shown in Christmas 1958 and January 1959. Whereas the first two series had dealt with threats that had manifested themselves only recently, Kneale wanted the third alien invasion to have started way back in Earth's history - five million years, to be precise. So the last and arguably the best of the b&w Quatermass series was born - and the one that sticks in the minds of those who have seen it. There is a Hammer movie version - and the best adaptation of the three - but the TV version is still the best one to see, building up the atmosphere and the tension in a way only a three hour long programme could.
"Pit" opens with a building site in London - echoes of a time when bombsites were finally being redeveloped - and the discovery of a human skull. Archaeologists dig deeper and find a huge tube-like object hidden deep underground. Quatermass is brought in and suspects it is a spacecraft of some kind. The military think it is a left-over V-weapon launched by the desperate Nazis at the end of WW2, especially when the discovery of several alien-looking corpses inside the structure spreads panic around the site. However, through recorded history, strange things have been seen and stranger noises heard around the area, whilst the discovery of the object heralds the start of events that will shake the entire City of London to its foundations....
"Pit" is one part SF, one part horror and one part mystery, I suppose - but works equally well whichever way one looks at it. Andre Morell (who had starred as Winston Smith in Kneale and Cartier's BBC adaptation of "1984" in 1954) starred in the title role, the third and the best to play the role. It benefits from better effects, sound and film stock, whilst the acting is top-notch. The Hammer movie adaptation is very good, but I would advise anyone to see the BBC version and compare the two. Hammer might have had the edge in budget, but the small-screen version is absolutely excellent in terms of atmosphere and build-up.
The DVDs come complete with a very well researched and written booklet describing the background and production of each of the three programmes - this is worth a read in itself.
Although in black and white, and lacking the production values of today, in terms of acting and story, the 1950s Quatermass trilogy beats today's SF hands-down, as long as you're not expecting a quick visual thrill such as "Star Wars" or "Starship Trooopers". Watch these and see for yourself....
10/10
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Production Year: 2007 - Science Fiction - Director: Francis Lawrence - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Alice Braga, Charlie Tahan, Dash Mihok, Will Smith, Salli Richardson, Willow Smith
Production Year: 2007 - Science Fiction - Director: Francis Lawrence - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Willow Smith, Dash Mihok, Will Smith, Charlie Tahan, Salli Richardson, Alice Braga
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![The Quatermass Collection - The Quatermass Experiment / Quatermass 2 / Quatermass And The Pit [DVD]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78518020.jpg "The Quatermass Collection - The Quatermass Experiment / Quatermass 2 / Quatermass And The Pit [DVD]")
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