The Tripods (TV series)

Britain 2089. Since the invasion of the Tripods the country has been locked in a pre-industrial age. The Tripods tyranny on Earth has endured for decades, courtesy of the "Capping" process which most humans undergo on reaching adolescence. The caps are essentially metal plates which are fused into the wearer's head by the Tripods through which the Tripods can send instructions or orders. The Capped are not 'possessed'. They can work as butchers, farmers, blacksmiths, carpenters, get married, etc as they might have done otherwise, but they are never truly independent entities. Once capped, no one is ever truly free. Little wonder then that on being tipped off by a local resistance figure, Will Parker (John Shackley) has no intention of being Capped. He plans to escape, embarking on a long journey. In time, he is joined by his cousin Henry (Jim Baker) and a French lad, Jean-Paul Deliet (Ceri Seel) nicknamed "Beanpole". ==Production==

The series introduced several minor changes from the book, notably the shape of the Masters and Tripods, which have tentacles (although the Tripods do have a mechanical claw-arm that they sometimes use) in the book; the Black Guard was introduced to serve as a tangible human antagonist as overuse of the Tripods themselves would be expensive to film and undermine their dramatic presence; gravity inside the Golden City was increased artificially, which is not mentioned in the TV series; the introduction of "cognoscs", spiritual life-forms vastly superior to the Masters themselves; and more other main characters, including love interests for both Will and Beanpole. The original texts have few female characters. John Christopher was asked about this for an interview on Wordcandy, replying that at the time of writing the series, it was generally accepted that girls would read books with boy main characters, but not vice versa. He also stated that he felt the addition of an entire family of girls to the TV series was somewhat "over the top". == Episode guide ==

Two series were produced between 1984 and 1985, adapting The White Mountains and The City of Gold and Lead. A third series, which would have covered The Pool of Fire, was scripted but never filmed. Series 1 (1984) – The White Mountains Series 2 (1985) – The City of Gold and Lead Unproduced third series A third series, based on The Pool of Fire, was scripted but cancelled by the BBC before production commenced. ==Filming locations==

The following is a list of fictional locations in the show, the series, the episode in which the location appeared, and the actual location (all in the UK except where shown): ==Reception==

In the book The Classic British Telefantasy Guide, Paul Cornell, Martin Day and Keith Topping wrote "The Tripods could have been one of the most impressive of all BBC Telefantasy productions but sadly, due to a mixture of lacklustre scripts, the inexperience of several of the young cast, some cheap special effects and a plodding snail's pace, it fell flat on its face. On a brighter note, the performances of John Shackley, Roderick Horn, John Woodvine and Pamela Salem were, at least, watchable." The reviews for the series were generally largely favourable. The Daily Express hailed it as "the most compelling imaginative teatime adventure story in years", while Broadcast described it as "strongly acted and beautifully shot. The overall sense is one of menace and adventure. Tripods is quite simply one of the best half-hours of the week". Not everyone was so kind however. "What I don't like about it is that it's a certain type of science fiction which is looking backwards instead of forwards", claimed author Brian Aldiss on BBC Two's Did You See...? Likening it to an advert for Hovis bread, he labelled it "a rather clumsy piece of engineering". ==Video game==

BBC Enterprises licensed a video game adaptation of the TV series in 1985. It was designed by Watermill Productions for the ZX Spectrum and published by Red Shift. ==Film adaptation==

Disney has owned the film rights to The Tripods since 1997. It was reported in 2005 that a cinematic version was in pre-production with Australian-born director Gregor Jordan signed on to rewrite and direct for Walt Disney's Touchstone Pictures label. In 2009, Alex Proyas was hired to direct a feature film adaptation of The Tripods and Stuart Hazeldine would write the screenplay starting with The White Mountain without Murphy & Touchstone. ==DVD and soundtrack==

A DVD release of the complete series 1 and 2 was released on 23 March 2009 (Region 2). A new soundtrack album, The Tripods: Pool of Fire Suite by original composer Ken Freeman inspired by the unmade third series of Tripods was released at the same time. The theme tune bears a slight similarity to that of the long-running BBC medical drama Casualty which Freeman also composed soon afterwards. ==References==