The Tripods Episode 18 PART 1

[@sha11235]

That beginning with the Tripod entering the city, going up on a platform, and finally squatting down was great.

[@MrGeorgepip]

The instructor is my uncle!! How cool is that!

[@sha11235]

+Tristan Brown Yeah, you mentioned that already. What else did he do? Or I can look his name up on imdb.

[@Ozymandias1]

When this was broadcast it was not as blurry and pale as this video on KZbin. That unfortunately happens when you digitally capture old VHS videotapes. The colours were more vivid back then. It was amazing to see.

[@pauloliver6813]

The production values, however, are first rate. I'd forgotten how good.

[@soeffingwhat]

The Actor who does the Voice of Will's Master is the grey haired Doctor in An American Werewolf in London.

[@tonysmout8071]

I agree first rate production values couldnt of been cheap to make an esp I think maybe the cost of an esp is the reason we didnt get a 3rd seris

[@Icaras]

Tony Smout They weren't, that's why it was a co production between Australia's Channel 7 and the BCC. While the lack of a 3rd series is sad, it did drive me to find and read the original trilogy and the prequel novels. Damn good books.

[@sha11235]

+Paul Oliver They did a great job.

[@MachDoch74]

i used to live in east germany, the book was not available/forbidden, and then the bbc had no money to go on.. i never know the end. lausy tv station ;-)

[@davidalvin9256]

You know, I was just rereading the Tripods trilogy (book two is AWESOMEST) and read the last comment here about no girls -- that is the series' big weakness, true, but I think it's also its big strength; since the book series is told entirely in first person (Will's perspective), including girls or women as main characters would limit Will's effectiveness -- Henry, Beanpole, and Fritz later are roughly his age and would have shared loosely the same life experiences, so he'd be able to (mostly) filter their experiences through his authorial voice, which is getting adapted here to the small screen :)

[@sha11235]

+David Alvin In the book, there were no girls either. In fact, all the slaves in the book version were boys. Here there are some girls, like that cleaning woman Will meets.

[@davidalvin9256]

+sha11235 , I was aware of that. And I imagine in adapting the series to television excluding rep's of 60% of humanity would be nigh unacceptable!

[@sha11235]

+David Alvin I don't understand. You are saying that it wouldn't be right for women to do cleaning, cooking, and nursing in the city because it is chauvinistic?

[@davidalvin9256]

+sha11235 Now I don't understand. I was making a comment on the series itself as opposed to the trilogy (THAT I make a point of re-reading every year). Been a while since I've watched the series, I admit.

[@sha11235]

Well, you couldn't have the series be like the book-told from only Will's point of view. You'd have the actor John Shackley be in every scene, which would be hard on him.

[@sha11235]

The boys were all told to leave their crowns there? Also, they all took them off for the trip. Were they told to do that too?

[@davidalvin9256]

+sha11235 According to "The City of Gold and Lead", it was sashes not crowns they took off -- their symbols of victory in the Games. The boys are told to take them off after they leave the Tripod, if I remember aright ...

[@sha11235]

Yeah, I know, they were belts, actually. They change into the clothes for the city and Will asks about his belt and is told to put it with the rest of his old clothes because he doesn't need it in the city.

[@micaylab1]

Does Anyone else agree that The Instructor Guy Looks and is Behaving like Freddie Mercury in the 80's?👨🏻

[@kayakpadler1776]

That was my first thought on first seeing him

[@sha11235]

The instructor seems to change his tone when they get to the Choosing Room.

[@MrGeorgepip]

The instructor dude is my uncle, I will ask him why his voice changed.

[@sha11235]

+Tristan Brown It was his attitude that changed. I think it also was that now they were in the Choosing Place he didn't want the slaves showing disrespect for the Masters. And thank you so much for your information. I liked his performance and was a big fan of this series when it aired in the mid 80's on PBS here in America.

[@sha11235]

I wondered why two of the Masters took two slaves each. Guess they were entitled to do that.

[@davidalvin9256]

+sha11235 In "The City of Gold and Lead" (the book this episode derives from) Will refers to only a limited number of Masters being able to take slaves, and all of them didn't even avail themselves of the right. So it's not implausible that some Masters were entitled to more than one, just as others could take one and others none.

[@sha11235]

Yeah, although I don't remember any Master in the book taking more than one.

[@davesmith-rs1yo]

Someone a wee bit smarter than me could do a excellent editing job of this. Compact both seasons down to say six episodes each would make it very watchable. Its just to long.

[@pauloliver6813]

hmmm...so all these bumpkins from a hybrid pre-industrial upbringing just casually put on a space helmet and seem rather under-awed by it all...

[@williamjameslehy1341]

The Capping stifles all normal human curiosity.

[@soeffingwhat]

Jacob Hoss Paul Oliver Yep, what Jacob Hoss said. Fritz says "the others simply accept with admiration"... meaning that the capped ones believe everything the Masters/Tripods do is right no matter what. THey ask nothing, they just believe and accept it without question.

[@soeffingwhat]

Jacob Hoss Another thing is, that surely if the Air is unbreath-able to Humans, then the Suits they were should be entirely covering their entire Bodies. Skin and Flesh breathe as well.

[@Icaras]

soeffingwhat Why do you think the games are yearly? You serve the tripods for life, but nobody said that life was a long one...

[@soeffingwhat]

Icaras01 True that.

[@soeffingwhat]

But if they have to wear helmets then surely they should be wearing all over body suits? Our skin breathes air too after all.

[@NicoleFrenk-h4x]

Sometimes Will’s idiocy is getting on my nerves.

[@someguysyoutube1166]

I thought they had gas mask

[@sha11235]

It is probably some sort of oxygen mask that you would wear as a slave. In the book, the mask basically filtered out the Master's poisonous air into human air. Here that is not the case.

[@carolinelynch2823]

No girls there.

[@sha11235]

+Caroline Lynch There are girls in the city. Watch the episodes.

[@ronaldkusatz4319]

Schülerausflug auf einen anderen Planeten inclusive their illnesses there!!!

[@v8infinity8]

the 80s was the worst time for soundtracks tho- this one is awful- so was the soundtrack of the al pacino movie scarface from same era- thank georgio morodo (spell check) for that one! lovin this series in spite of it !

[@JackWolf10]

It holds a special place in my heart. In some ways I think it helps add the the atmosphere of unsettling modern technology within a simple 19th century looking world.

[@sha11235]

Well, the city here is different than the one in the book. There it is more leaden and there is no Power Elite nor Black Guards. Also, the time they used was Master's time, meaning the day was divided up into 9 periods and each period was a ninth itself. So they would say to time, "It is 2-7, for example." Also, the technology in the city was not taken from the ancestors, but was the Master's own.