Day Of The Triffids (1981)
Apocalyptic nightmare. It's Winter of 1981, the BBC deliver on a golden platter a Sci-Fi/Horror classic that'll send the kiddo's into nightmares. Jaws had aired on British tele, complete with Ben Gardeners decapitated head (SQUEEEEE!). What we need in this same "dark-age" is something to traumatise the kiddo's for years! Behold, the John Wyndham classic novel, if you'd hadn't already guessed, DAY....OF THE TRIFFIDS!....TA-DA!
This forgotten classic is the truest to the book out of three, the 60's movie & yes,....the BBC 2009 version.. HOW can it not be my favourite(?) Besides, they nailed the Horror in the head with this version!
When we first see our protagonist, Bill Mason, he's in hospital having been blinded (looking at you 28 Days Later!) by a Triffid whilst working on a Triffid farm. Yes, we had them under control for a few decades after they appeared out of nowhere, though everyone blames a Russkie, Cold-War experiment gone wrong. We could have easily exterminated them but for our traditional, Human greed. You see, the Triffids provide an essential oil. I'm beginning to think Ridley Scott was influenced by the book at least. Any-who, the World goes blind after a meteor/Guy-Fawkes display goes wrong & the Triffids think "Hooray! The shackles of our oppression are gone" & go on a vengeful, all you can eat buffet, rampage! Meanwhile, anarchy in the U.K. by the Human-race also begins!
We get four separate "survivors" in this, who want to restart the Human race in their image. We get the cold, stiff-upper lip, logic colony that Bill & Jo consider joining. The Christian C Of E colony that is wiped out by the Triffids & a mysterious plague. Jack Cocker's Isle Of Wight & Channel Island colony's which favour tolerance for all. And, a large Brighton colony, run by the "Council", which favours militaristic/conquest goals,
"Red-haired" Torrence
Back to the Triffids. They're swarming & we get a picture of a losing battle once the scene gets rural. The Triffids have won a one-sided battle/war & we are greeted with disturbing images of littered bodies for miles around. Jack & Bill witness the result of this carnage complete with it's victors swarming for "tea", as they drive through the countryside in jeeps.
As a result of Jack Coker's otherwise noble Bob Geldolf style, dystopian-World efforts, Bill & Jo are separated & Bill & Jack go their separate ways. Jack to find any remnants of Humanity left in this Triffid-occupied/plague-infested nightmare, & Bill because he's in love & wants to find Jo, (oh aw.). On the way he picks up a future adopted daughter in Susan, her brother/family being a Triffid victim.
War of the Triffids..
Most of this post-apocalyptic nightmare is set in London which is a concrete desert of purgatory. The tragic cries of sobbing women in the background, like eerie banshees.
We are scared..... witless (expecting another phrase?) by near-deserted streets, with desperate groups of blinded people struggling to survive pathetically in this literal, dark Hell.
Bodies lie strewn across this stone wilderness, desperation rules alongside anarchy comfortably.
Though, not everyone is out for numero uno.
Whilst "heroes" Bill & Jo enjoy a nice evening sipping fine wine & cheese in a newly built apartment, playing Classical records, amidst the desperate cries of the afflicted, Jack Coker, on the other hand, tries to save the blinded from starving, unaware of REAL threat on the horizon!
Reaper on the horizon..iWe're waiting....decide to go it alone, with a blind family, under siege from the Triffids in a fancy mansion. Episode 6 is, like the book. Set 6 years in the future to show us the events of post-Triffid Earth. Britain is now a creepy alien jungle, complete with bogs, swarming with Triffids. London, as Jo questions in episode 2, is reminiscent of the dead, ancient Aztec, & Inca cities in South America's Amazonia. Mankind's folly?
We're waiting...
Battles between their fort & the Triffids are now common-place with Bill & Jo's new home constantly under attack from their plant /monster oppressors. Most of the victories are won but the Triffids are relentless & almost come close to wining at one point, threatening their new-born, seeing, children at one point! But, another, Human oppressor is on the horizon.
Oh, c'mon! You must have seen this coming (?!) Watch Survivors! Were it not for the Triffids there would have been someone. After a fab surprise from Jack about the Isle Of Wight/Channel Island colony's kicking Triffid butt. Alas we get Torrence (showing his true, trigger-happy colours against defenceless blind-folk via episode 4). The "Council" think it's their duty to assimilate other colony's, whether they want to or not. For dominion over potential other Human threats, abroad. After all this he wants to start a war. Sigh, some things never change..
Susan is to be taken for..."militaristic reasons". The blind couple who own the mansion are merely second-class citizens thus have no rights despite Bills polite objection. So, what a jolly nice time to introduce these jerks to the Triffids, proper! So let's just get these clowns pissed, vandalise their tank, & road-runner the heck outta there! Let them both "love" it out & become jolly good friends. Isn't that lovely? What follows is Bills "Churchill-type" speech about one day defeating the Triffids as they Speedy Gonzales it to Jacks more democratic, island colony's.
Okay. So I suppose this is the time I yap on about why I love this interpretation of Day Of The Triffids so much. Never mind that this gave me nightmares as a kid for years afterwards, this is as close to the book as you can get. I desperately feel the need to apologise to one of my teachers, Mr Wright, for not taking the book seriously despite having already seen this BBC version! In adulthood the book was just as much an amazing addiction with chapters deliberately being reread! This wasn't released on VHS, it was years until, (finally, at last!) the DVD was released. No more disappointed trips to the library! The cold-British logic of a post-apocalyptic World is disturbing. Add to the mixture the Triffid all you can eat buffet of the Human race & you have a recipe for classic Horror!
Feel free to check this classic out. To me it's like a well-written, Doctor Who six-parter that never was. Seriously, look at the beginning credits! Does that not provoke a nightmare or two? If you don't own a couch get one, you'll need it to hide behind...
Thanks for your Braille attention,
Borgduck
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