The Trouble with Triffids

The Day of the Triffids (Ken Hannam, 1981)

Been meaning to revisit Douglas Livingstone's adaptation of John Wyndham's 1951 book, The Day of the Triffids. The BBC six parter is largely regarded as a faithful adaptation to Wyndham's post-apocalyptic story, although I wouldn't know as I never had the chance to read it. What I do know is, it's way better than either the 1962 film and the BBC's other adaptation from 2009.

The triffids, a product of Cold War bio-engineering, are established in the mini-series as a highly valued plant commodity. Triffids produce an oil that's an invalauable fuel replacement for humanity. The fact that these large and mobile, flesh-eating plants with a venomous whiplike stinger, might pose as a very real threat to humanity someday, takes a back seat while mankind is living good.

A global event in the form of a "comet storm" (later hinted as a possible man made catastrophe) that leaves almost the entire human race blind, brings about the collapse of modern day civilisation. It's just prior to this apocalyptic event where triffid biologist Bill Masen, temporary blinded by one of the plants, wakes from his hospital slumber, removes his eye bandages and becomes one of the fortunate few to have their vision return after missing out on the celestial light show.

What makes this vintage slice of sci-fi television so endearing is its ability to convey a fantastical disaster with earnest sincerity; all on a shoe-string budget. Within six half hour episodes, the viewer is witness to a massive catastrophic event, societal devastation, gooners, tough moral dilemmas and a plague blight. The triffids themselves, are almost on the back burner in all this, but we know they're out there and thriving while humanity is brought to its knees. All achieved thanks to Livingstone's adaptation treating the viewer with a modicum of intelligence and not have to resort to epic hand-holding.

The cast do a more effective job with their performances than any flashy visual effects or Hollywood action hero theatrics in making this fantastically bleak premise feel somewhat believable. Intelligent dialogue and delivery goes a long way in conveying character developments when you have a very limited budget. John Duttine's portrayal of Bill comes across as relatable since we're witness to some agonising decisions he has to make in the series. Compassion and empathy can be fatal in this new world order, but they're attributes which profoundly separate us from being out right monsters.

As well as George A. Romero's zombie movies, Danny Boyle took obvious inspiration from the 1981 series for his game changer of a classic film 28 Days Later (2002) as there a few notable similarities to it: waking up in a hospital after a catastrophic scenario, and the possible threat from other survivors, e.g, the military, etc. Ironically, the 2009 adaptation did its hardest to channel the look and feel of 28 Days Later rather than its source material and still failed spectacularly. Victorian time traveller and film critic, Kim Newman, did not pull any punches with his review of it. I thought it lacked anything remotely serious or frightening in it. A good example is it even being outdone by the simple, yet chilling opening credits from its 1981 predecessor:

The Day of the Triffids (Opening Credits)

Ken Hannam, 1981