In September 1984, the BBC embarked upon a thirteen part sci-fi series, and scheduled it on Saturday evenings. No, not a new season of DOCTOR WHO, but the first season of an adaptation of John Christopher's 1967-68 trilogy, THE TRIPODS. (A prequel novel, WHEN THE TRIPODS CAME, was published in 1988.)

Poor reviews and poor ratings meant that the trilogy was never completed, but now Second Sight have released the first of the two seasons that were made.

The story is set in 2089, where towering three-legged machines known as Tripods stalk the landscape, and mind-control has reduced humans to little more than slaves of the Tripods.

The story opens on a Capping Day in the village of Wherton, where the village is celebrating a "capping". Man has been conditioned to believe this marks the change between childhood and adulthood, but in reality the caps are the devices through which the Tripods have subjugated mankind.

While Jack is being capped, Will and his cousin Henry (Jim Baker) are instructed to take food to the Vagrants, tramps whose capping has failed and who have been left simple but harmless by the process. However, one of these, Ozymandias (Roderick Horn) is faking it - he is uncapped and tells Will of a place where other Free Men live.

Will agrees to attempt the journey, but finds himself accompanied by Henry and, after Ozymandias is killed, the pair reach Rumney, looking for Captain Curtis of the Orion. After apparently being press-ganged, the pair cross the Channel and arrive in France and meet the lanky Jean-Paul (Ceri Seel), who they nickname "Beanpole".

In France, the group find a deserted and overgrown Paris before Will falls sick and they're taken in by a Comte and Comtesse, and their daughter Eloise (Charlotte Long, who was killed in a car crash shortly before the series aired).

John Christopher's novels are relatively brief, so it's unsurprising that Alick Rowe's adaptation features several changes and additions to the source material. The scenes at the Chateau, for example, provide Will with a rival for Eloise's affectations in the form of the Duc de Sarlat. It is Sarlat's dislike of Will that causes him to choose Eloise as the Queen of the Tournament, rather than it being the choice of all the knights as in the book. Unchanged, however, is the fact that this means Eloise is taken by the Tripods to serve them in their city.

While thhe first half of the season is based on the novel, albeit with several changes along the way, the second half adds several entirely new elements, including a stop at a vineyard (where they encounter a Scotswoman, her French husband and their six daughters) and a festival where they're forced to steal food.

The stay with the Vichot family in particular helps give Henry and Beanpole more of the action since Will is the main focus in the first half of the season (understandable perhaps, since the novel is told by him in the first person, but this helps redress some of the balance).

Of course, the group eventually make it to the fabled White Mountains, and join the Free Men, where they learn what's being planned to overthrow the Tripods, which sets things up for season two.

I'd expected to find a 13-part season based on a relatively brief novel to be slow and full of padding, but that wasn't the case. It could have done with being a couple of episodes shorter, but overall the pacing wasn't too bad at all.

The Tripods are quite well done as well, at least for 1984. Occasionally they fall short - skimming across the Channel and the daytime chase scenes towards the end - but since we don't see everything at once, they work most of the time. However, despite the series' title, scenes involving the metal monsters are a little thing on the ground.

Cramming all thirteen episodes on two discs helps keep the price down, but this also means intrusive layer changes, which is unfortunate. Extras are non-existent and it's a shame that the title sequences at least weren't cleaned up a little, although I suspect we would have had to have an actual BBC release for that to have happened.

Nevertheless, an enjoyable slice of mid-80s UK sci-fi that holds up pretty well. BACK TO THE TOP

THE TRIPODS: SERIES ONE

Adapted by ALICK ROWE
from THE TRIPODS TRILOGY by
JOHN CHIRISTOPHER

Directed by GRAHAM THEAKSTON
and CHRISTOPHER BARRY

Starring JOHN SHACKLEY,
JIM BAKER and CERI SEEL

SECOND SIGHT TELEVISION
(CERTIFICATE U)

REGION: 0 (PAL)


RATING: 7/10