The Tripods - Series 1 (DVD)

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Advantages:	great tv series
Disadvantages:	Not what you may expect

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Great science fiction series come in all shapes and sizes, some become run away successes, some last a series or two, some just one. I’ve loved them all, Doctor Who, Blake’s Seven, Star Cops (a great series that should have lasted longer), and many more. But besides Doctor Who there’s only one other science fiction series I actually remember from my younger days, not so much the series, but the actual adventure, and that is The Tripods.

~~Back Ground~~
The Tripods is a trilogy of books by John Christopher: The White Mountains, The City of Gold and Lead, and The Pool of Fire. It was turned into a TV series in the mid eighties and later John Christopher wrote a prequel: When The Tripods Came. The TV series, made by the BBC, came in 25 minute episodes, it was one of the most expensive productions made by the BBC, using a huge cast, and lavish sets. It was shown on Saturday nights on BBC 1, in the slot previous occupied by Doctor Who. A second series followed and though a terrific adaptation, poor ratings meant that the third and last series was never made, leaving the story two thirds told and un ended, resulting in it never being able to be sold abroad, and disappointing a number of fans (well me anyway).

~~The Tripods Series One DVD (region 0)~~

~~Details~~
Made by the BBC in association with Fremantle International and Channel 7 Australia in 1985, It stared John Shackley, Jim Baker and Ceri Seel. It was produced by Richard Bates and directed by Graham Theakston, it was based on the first book, The White Mountains and adapted by Alick Rowe. 13 episodes make up the first series and are presented on two discs, No inlay card (with mine anyway) and no extras. Cost?, I bought my copy for the very reasonable price of £7.99 but it was on sale, the usual price comes in at around ten pounds more.

~~Plot~~
Set in earth’s future, we find that the world has been taken over by giant machines called Tripods, so called because of their three legs. The world now seems to have regressed in time, people live in smaller communities, no cars, machinery or electric - the simple life. We soon find out that, as children reach a certain age they are capped by the tripods, the resulting effect is that all the passion and curiosity and ambition is inhibited.

Our hero Will isn’t sure about being capped and is contacted by a vagrant, it turns out that he was never capped and searches out people who don’t want to be capped, in order to join a resistance movement against the Tripods, unfortunately for Will the resistance live in the white mountains in France, and he will have to make the long journey without help. Henry, Wills cousin, decides to go with Will and they soon meet another like minded, boy, who they christen Beanpole, together they attempt the perilous journey, avoiding the tripods, and trying to stay alive...

~~My Opinion~~
I really liked this series as a kid, I think the whole family watched it, the idea is great, perhaps not the most original but certainly thought provoking.

The series isn’t quite what you’d expect, having heard the concept, and perhaps after seeing one of the tripods, you’d think that the series would be about the resistance, about them fighting the tripods, lots of little attacks and such like. Well you, like viewers in the eighties were, will be disappointed, in the whole 13 episodes, 300 minutes worth our heroes only encounter the tripods five times.

As a science fiction fan, and that its insinuated that there’d be lots of tripod action, the series will leave you a bit miffed, another reason why so many people turn off, the irony is that as the second series continued, and eventually finished, this was what the viewers were getting and is possible what the third series would have been more of the same. Fans of the books were also unhappy as the series was padded out a lot, a few lines about a vineyard were turned into two episodes, and slightly unnecessary ones at that, so a few disappointments. (Thanks for the pages about the series, on the BBC website, for some of these facts).

The thing is that, this series isn’t really about the Tripods, they’re just a plot device to tell a story about three boys on a journey, and if you accept this fact first you’ll enjoy a really good and entertaining series, which, if you see the second series will evolve into what you expected, in the first place, and then sadly end with no conclusion. Well I suppose there’s got to be a catch somewhere.

There is an innocents about the series, the characters at least, as they simply don’t know things, no television, living in a small, fairly isolated village and the fact the tripods keep mankind in the dark, means that they don’t know much.

So the journey they make is about growing up, and learning about what happened and who the tripods are, and also about the relationship between the boys, and about survival. But don’t go away thinking that its all a bit of a con, you do see the tripods in most episodes, and there are a couple of deadl(?) encounters.

I watched the series when it first aired, and again a few years ago on UKgold, and it wasn’t quite what I remembered, but I did like it. When I bought this, I gave it to my wife to give me at Christmas, and on Christmas day we watched a bit, and didn’t stop, I kept asking my wife what she wanted to watch and she kept saying to carry on with it. It is very engrossing, each episode ends on a cliff-hanger, and of course you’re dying to see what happens next.

The saddest part is that, not only was the third series not made, but it looks unlikely that the second series will be available on DVD, I don’t know if it had a video release, I read there was a problem with the rights or some such.

Its a nice series, its a little different, and enjoyable.

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