Triffids

Something of dilemma about whether to watch the second part of the new Day of the Triffids show, having missed Part 1.

Normally I'd be iPlayering my way through the first episode, but I was sort of intrigued to see what they'd done with the plotline and London scenes, so shamefully I skipped straight into Part 2.

I noticed the opening credits said 'Written by' someone that wasn't John Wyndham, and then referenced his book a little later. I did think that was a little bit 'the wrong way around' for something so iconic. But then the plot modernisation was a bit odd too.

Wyndham (to my recollection) doesn't explain how the plants originated, except that it could have been some form of off world experimentation. A good device.

In this one, we have scientists (I assume in Part 1) creating plants to be used as bio-fuel. Except they are carnivorous. Oops. A bit of a blooper there. Wouldn't it be better to use the plants to do what they are good at? Use sunlight and CO2 to grow? No, let's chuck them a few cows to eat before we turn them into fuel.

I get the idea of modernising the story, but not if the end result has a flaw that makes the rest of the story like a few Survivors offcuts.

I did like the scenes in the Abbey, with Vanessa Redgrave dispatching various sacrifices to the woods. There was enough creepiness around this to create some proper darkness. Eddie Izzard made a suitably insane villain and I suppose reminded us that this was wholesome ensemble Sci-Fi rather than a dark tale of apocalypse.

A circular reference here could be that this was the planet that first messed with the plants. After they have taken over they could shoot off to invade somewhere else where Wyndham's original story can play with greater authenticity.