I read this book nearly thirty five  years ago,it was good then.Now it's just a bit daft etc.They have changed the original book etc ,as always,the triffids were not  oil producing etc products,they came from space after the initial shower/meteor attack etc.
I gave up watching after 20 minutes,when the story was so askew from the book.

Though the original idea of everyone who watched the "meteor showers" etc being struck blind hours later is still quite chilling.However my taste in science fiction has evolved a bit from John Wyndam,no disrespect to him,his original books were good. Tinkering for TV is always fraught.

I watched....... but think I preferred the old version better..... more suspense... less gore Mind you.... I will probably watch part 2

aw Katty... I have heard loads of peeps say they read the book and as is often the way... it is superior.

I can't say I am a triffid fanatic.... I watched it the first time round cos it was on... and pretty much the same this time.

Eddie Izzard being in it helps.

It was very very similar to the remake of Survivor earlier in the year.

Easy watchin...  

The biggest benefit is that at least now the kids will understand my triffid references...  I can remember the blank looks on their faces when I compared my sons cucumber plants on his bedroom windowsil to triffids... they were clueless.

Yeah...  I am the same Baz...  I will watch part two also.

I find it all a bit depressing... I mustn't think too much about this like I did when survivor was on (I had it all planned out... get generator from hospital... get car, get petrol.. go live in country... LOL).


Completely random but... I nearly forgot I started this thread... I got distracted by a cheesecake... it was disappointing.... Mandarin flavour.. not as good as strawberry!

I found some of it confusing but will watch tomorrow as it had me gripped at the end!!

Salt water..as in sea water kills 'em all.. in the end.Well it did in the original book.Legs it!....

the bit when it did a triffid close up.... and it was revealed to be a large crocus?

Katty!   

Super Soaker pistols at the ready then!

No doubt that will be replaced by some heroic fantastic solution by the hero etc...hummph! I hate when a bloody good book gets "Americanised".
And  John Wyndam was very British.He also wrote the "Midwich cuckoos".

Yeah... I suppose them shriveling up once they got to Clacton on Sea would kinda take any credit away from the hero!

But salt water didn't kill them in the original book. That was in the film that was made later.
There is no way of killing them in the original book. The characters just hole up on the Isle of Wight and hope that one day they'll find the answer and be able to get back to the mainland..

Oh Arty,I'ved been conned by film and old memories lost..

oh... thats a bit grim!

No. In the original book they were bio-engineered and farmed in the Soviet Union and the seeds were dispersed when a Soviet plane was shot down.
Then they were farmed all over the world for their oil but it was vegetable oil - not oil for power and energy.
The meteor shower was after the triffids had been farmed extensively in Britain and was totally unconnected.
They just got loose after everyone went blind.

If you are a bit confused by the book and previous films, you can read a synopsis of the plot in the original book here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_of_the_Triffids

Arty,I obviously didn't pay enough attention when reading the book,it was at school etc.. However I did really enjoy the "Midwich cuckoos".
I ended up loving Issac Asimov and Heinlein etc,

I know it's very confusing isn't it?
The Midwich Cuckoos was made into at least two films called "The Village of the Damned" which also differed quite a bit from the original book and each other.

So basically it's a "Cold War" allegory ..and that,,,iniT!

Thanks Arty for the link - I only remember the 1981 series on bbc!

And Ditty - it did look like a purple crocus

I think a lot of Wyndhams were. It mentions that in the link I gave
Now it's been modernised into a "Global Warming" sort of message.

Oooh no! I've got some crocus bulbs in the kitchen that I was too knackered to plant - think they're biding their time and plotting a takeover?
I'm sorry I missed this show actually, because Dougray Scott is a bit of stuff..

I really enjoyed it last night (the film people the film!) well until I nodded off for 10 mins...

I can't take Eddie Izzard seriously and Mr Bug and I spent most of the film saying 'You'll need a tray' and 'Do you know who I am?' 'Geoff Vadar' and 'Death by cake' etc etc...

Can't wait for tonight's conclusion...

Loved the original film though.

I watched it and I thought it was the same principle, more or less, as Survivor from earlier in the year..  but with some dodgy old fashioned Dr Who type monsters as triffids

All about Power struggles when disasters occur,  with a  bit of the book thrown in to give a different slant to the tale.. was ok to watch but I preferred the previous one they made which was much truer to the book. Will watch part two tonight tho

I had to read the book for school  years ago and twas the only book I   enjoyed from the school reading list,  oh apart form Lord of the Flies..

Alas! The triffids were not convincing at all. They should have left 'em as crawling roots. Glad someone likened 'em to crocii, before that Mrs Crossy and I used the term "minge like!"

However, at least it was something new to watch at Christmas - makes a change from old films and endless repeats of American sit coms.

I really enjoyed it

Don't get me wrong. We thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to tonight. It's just that in the year 2009 one might have expected something more convincing than a minge on a Banyan tree.

I've no idea what that might look like - but it made me laugh

I can never look at this woman (education minister in Wales) without thinking she's got a minge on top of her head.

I agree Rexicles   it just would have been even better if they had made the triffids even more scary instead of  just blobs that wobble when they walk   the book was brilliant.

I shall still watch tonight though

omg....  am pmsl!

Nooooo ..... I am sticking with crocus!

Well at least it stuck to the book this time with the ending. No pratting about with sea-water in this version - they DID end up in the Isle of Wight.

But that stuff with the mask wasn't in the book and I still don't understand that bit.

Can someone explain?

I missed it!    I knew I was missing it.... but I had no choice... I was having a fight with a curtain rail, some hooks & a pair of curtains!

I was gonna say I will watch it on iplayer... but my family are saying don't bother, I didn't miss anything!

I think they look more like the venomous tentacula from the Harry Potter games.
Sorry - can't seem to post picture up here.

Yes... they do don't they...  

...with a crocus on top!

Amaryllis?

lol Deman... they are just so rude!!

Or is that just me being immature... dunno but they crack me up...

Dunno what you mean, ditty