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This mid-80s would-be SF epic is probably remembered more for its hype than
anything delivered on-screen. Promotional Blue Peter items and a Radio Times
front cover promised towering three-legged metal menaces from outer space, but
the prosaic reality largely disappointed. The starting concept seemed SF enough
- in 2090 the world is ruled by tyrannical robots the 'Tripods'; these invaders
keep the populace subservient by 'capping', a process that involves implanting
metal control circuits into the skull of everyone at the age of 16.
As John Christopher, author of the trilogy of source novels, conceded, beyond
the initial set-up (which he confessed to having stolen, largely unconsciously,
from a childhood reading of War of the Worlds) his adventure treks were inspired
by classics like Coral Island. 1980s audiences expected post-Star Wars (US,
1977) hardware, but instead got something reminiscent of a wartime chase epic
like The Silver Sword (BBC, 1957; 1971). With humanity, now deprived of
technology, having regressed into a rustic dark ages, Christopher thought the
stories almost mediaeval in style.
Infamously, the Tripods were largely conspicuous by their absence, with few
fleeting appearances in the first 13-week series. Tripod attacks happening in
the dark of night was one obvious workaround, but for a mid-80s television
series to fail so spectacularly to deliver on expectations seemed a betrayal of
its audience. This despite a decent co-production budget - there was picturesque
location work in Switzerland and the retro-futurist dressings were inventive if
drab.
Crucially, rambling events were stretched out to breaking point at 13 weeks.
Attempting (but failing) to compensate for the lack of Tripods, adapter Alick
Rowe invented the more immediate threat of an enslaved human army, 'the Black
Guard', to threaten young heroes Will, Henry and 'Beanpole' as they trekked
across Europe in search of the fabled Free Men resistance movement hiding in the
Alps.
It wasn't until episode five of the second series that events stepped up a
gear, with Will and German boy Fritz infiltrating the Trion City of Gold, where
young slaves tended to the three-legged reptiles the Masters. Viewers finally
got the SF hardware, gadgets, monstrous aliens and bizarre science-fiction
concepts they craved, but it was too little, too late, and BBC bosses cancelled
a concluding third series before the second had finished airing, making it that
rarest of beasts - a trilogy in two parts.
Alistair McGown
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