John Christopher's The Tripods Trilogy

[garhkal]

For those who know what series of books i am on about, IF a TV network was to remake the BBC show (that covered the first 2 books, but rather lack lusterly imo) The Tripods, who would you have make/run it?
Which actors would you see getting for the lead roles?

[SGalisa]

I don't know about what network or who should redo the trilogy, but this time, if there is a next time -- whoever does a remake *needs* to do the entire 3-part story, not hang the entire audience at the end of part 2..! (or anywhere else in the middle..*grumble*)

Will's haunting words that ended that series "was it all for nothing" sure seemed to take on more of an impact than just what was intended for that moment in the storyline, itself. It morphed over into the real world, and made viewers wonder where the rest of the story (or stories) were.

Since I don't know mostly any of today's world of young actors/actresses, it will remain for the time being the wonderful trio who did Will, Henry and Beanpole -- Will and Beanpole especially. Beanpole, just because and Will, because he was a very handsome lad, and I often wondered if the same actor playing him 20 years later would look just as cute. Henry was basically the core star who started the entire journey, and sort of a quirky, but all three of them made the tripod carriers more terrifying than they were supposed to be to those who were capped.

[garhkal]

I would have loved to hear from the BBC their reasoning for NOT doing the third book.

[SGalisa]

I would have loved to hear from the BBC their reasoning for NOT doing the third book.

Short answer -- money and popularity.
Longer answer, during the airing of Tripods, Michael Grade, who "became BBC TV's director of programmes", basically controlled what aired or not on the BBC, and thus, the rest is history.
According to IMDb -- Michael Grade "disliked science-fiction and considered the programme an expensive ratings failure". (That could apply to both Doctor Who, which Michael Grade wanted to see off the air for a lingering, lonnnnnnnnnng while, and later Tripods, after that program slid in the ratings popularity scale).

When the Tripods series came to Tv, I read most of the info via the Doctor Who Magazines, which basically stated that there was much tension between the two shows (sci-fi fan base), even tho the cast of either series had nothing to do with the conflicts going on. Michael Grade seemed to want to bury DW, and Tripods basically became the first test replacement.

First season was a success for Tripods, but possibly because it was supposed to produce all 3 books of the Trilogy series. Well, NJ network (in the USA) even tried to promote the Tripods trilogy and get book 3 produced, but apparently there wasn't enough (financial) support to supplement the other income given to the series by the BBC. End result, total silence. The program never completed itself, and I'm not sure what the details really were, but bits and pieces of Michael Grade's comments can be found on the IMDb site under his Personal Quotes.

Spoiler:

Michael Grade, writer / producer
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0333529/

He is often erroneously referred to as the BBC One controller who cancelled the original series of Doctor Who (1963). Actually, he put it on an 18 month hiatus in 1985 and brought it back in September 1986...

We said, 'This will never run - it's complete garbage,' which shows you how wrong you can be. The pilot wasn't that good and the series improved but that was a terrible mistake. In the end we don't decide what's a hit, the audience decides. (On turning down the chance to broadcast The X-Files (1993) when he was at Channel Four, which he has described as the worst mistake of his career)

The Doctor's back, he has beaten me. ...Now of course the filmic quality, the production values that BBC Wales has put into the show has transformed it and I have to admit that I am now a keen viewer. (On Doctor Who (2005))

Ack! he turned down the X-FILES...!!!! That shows how supportive he is/was of this genre.

Whatever happens, if the series is remade, I'm only interested in seeing the last book finished. I really don't want to change the visuals from what's already been produced from the first and 2nd book. Book 3 can be treated as a stand-alone mini-series, because of the drastic time shift from the first 2. Even if the cast or storylines get changed, the basic characters should be there enough to figure out where book 3 eventually ends. Sadly, we're about 40 years beyond book 2 (book 3 occurs about 20 years after book 2), so getting the original cast together wouldn't work, unless everyone took a different character role -- and sadly too, none of the 3 young actors are acting any more. (Maybe they could do guest appearances, but that would be doubtful.)

Anyway, not to detract from Tripods, but in addition to Michael Grade's attitude about Doctor Who, he claimed the DW series was getting too violent, and needed a vacation to rethink about its future. Too violent??

Spoiler:

The truth about Doctor Who (1963) is that it was a target for a cut, because the show's not doing very well. It's overly violent. It's losing audiences. It's appeal is not what it was. It's not getting new generations of children. We needed time to take it off the air and get it right.

The people who make it have got rather complacent. The show got rather violent and lost a lot of its imagination, a lot of its wit, and was relying far too much on straightforward on-the-nose violence and had failed really to capture a new audience. There's no question of it being killed off. There is going to be another series next year. The problem with the programme was that it had been losing its appeal...

That same like-ability *appeal* argument is often debated about even in today's world of ideas. But if he thinks the 1980's DW series was too violent, what in creation does he think of TV in general under today's standards?? DW then, was tame -- much tamer than half of the gory sci-fi stuff that is out and out pure gore for sensationalistic effects, because today's imaginations aren't strong enough, or not satisfied enough..??
grumble...

[garhkal]

So like Sci-fi currently has a douchbag who hates Science fiction, BBC got one, and cause of that it was canned. Got it.