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(aka 'The Day of the Triffids; the TV Series')
Directed by
Ken Hannam
UK / Australia 1981
The very TV nature of the
mini-series gives The Day of the Triffids a quiet manneredness that is
entirely removed from Hollywood end of the world movies. The series is shot with
plain lighting and non-melodramatic effect. (More than anything one suspects
that the remake of The Day of the Triffids was inspired by the success a
few years earlier of the British TV series Survivors (1975-7), a very Wyndham-esque
tale about ordinary people trying to survive in the aftermath of a plague that
has wiped out most of the rest of the world and where the survivors have
fragmented into diffuse, self-contained and often warring communes). The
contrast is no better demonstrated than placing The Day of the Triffids
up against the film that came out the same year – Mad Max 2 (1981), which
revolutionized film treatment of the post-holocaust and turned the venue into an
action movie setting, a vision that could not be further removed from the sober,
social perspectives that The Day of the Triffids takes. Excerpt from The SF, Horror and Fantasy Film Review located HERE |
Theatrical Release: September 10th, 1981
DVD Review: BBC Warner - Region 1 - NTSC
DVD Box Cover |
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Distribution | BBC Warner Home Video - Region 1 - NTSC | |
Runtime | 2:39:10 | |
Video | 1.33:1
Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 6.27 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s |
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NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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Audio | English (Dolby Digital 2.0) | |
Subtitles | English, None | |
Features |
Release Information: Edition Details: • 12-page
liner notes |
Comments: |
The only thing this package has going for it is the series content. The DVD appears to have been cheaply transferred - it is on a dual-layered disc but is interlaced and not especially sharp for a TV series of less than 30 years ago. The optional subtitles are in an unusual font that I don't think I've seen before (see below). It has a fair share of noticeable artifacts and I think I'd give it only a 4/10 for image. Audio is fairly clean. The only supplement beyond the 2.5 hours of the mini-series are 12-pages of liner notes by Andrew Pixley (Note: his essay contains spoilers and shouldn't be read prior to viewing). The DVD inferiorities didn't hinder my enjoyment of the show and I can now understand the 7.9 score on IMdb. The whole flesh-eating plants thing is cool but this BBC series takes it a step beyond the sci-fi mastery. I think it's more like Wyndham's novel in that the social aspects are more deeply explored. Very entertaining - I wish it was longer. It's a shame the DVD wasn't transferred with some more care. |
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