Just perfect...

Dreadfully Boring

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

The John Wyndham sci-fi novel THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS has long been a favourite of mine; it's a fantastic piece of writing, up there with the calibre of H. G. Wells. Sadly, the story has never translated particularly well to the screen, and it says something that when you search for the title on the IMDb the two results that first come up are the 1963 film - which changed so much from the book that it was almost unrecognisable - and the 2009 BBC adaptation, which was so terrible it's not worth mentioning.However, this 1981 miniseries version of the story is the most authentic one out there, and seen today it's actually very good. Sure, this production suffers from the usual problems of the era, from the cheapness of the cameras making it look at times like an amateur film, and the occasional stodginess of the narrative, to the stilted dialogue and some bad acting (Emma Relph is a particular disappointment). But THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS overcomes these problems to provide exciting, fast-paced entertainment.There are six episodes here and the first one is the worst, unwisely throwing in tons of back story and exposition which makes the pace crawl along. Things pick up in the second episode, and all of the major plot points from the book are covered here and in detail. I particularly liked the way that writer Douglas Livingstone kept all of the important subtext from the book, Wyndham's musings on the importance of society and the like, and incorporated it into the backdrop here. The rubber triffids make for an acceptable menace, and the filming locations are all fine; overall it feels realistic throughout, and I particularly liked the handling of the blind population and the late introduction of the ruthless soldiers. I'm a huge fan of BBC TV from the 1980s and this is another string to the bow of a production company that could once do no wrong.

When I was a child in 1984 I think I saw the first rerun of this adaptation and I was terrified. When I brought the DVD a few years ago my perspective changed dramatically. All it is are a bunch of BBC darlings not acting very well and running away from Garden centre props who sound like Skippy The Kangaroo. I also find it amusing that it was filmed mainly in trendy parts of North London. Hampstead, Belsize Park, Primrose Hill and Camden Lock. Cleary the majority of actors and producers lived round that neck of the woods. Hey it' s good budget reductions. If you're from that part of London you will know what I mean! But hey 80s nostalgia is 90% of the time a mistake when it is rewatched in the noughties.

This movie was...well...pretty goofy. The soundtrack is practically taken out of an episode of Mr. Rogers, and the kids laughing in the audience at the beginning of the film is a bit weird. I got a kick out of the football fans trying to sing their cheer about "the famous arsenal," but all the rest of this movie was coated in moss and overgrowth. Maurice Colburne does an awesome job, though.Unlike a lot of Hollywood productions, this film actually stays somewhat close to the book it's based on. John Duttine (Bill) I could've sworn was in "Jesus of Nazareth." If they could've had some more scenes with people wandering the streets it would've felt more like a catastrophe. Ditch the soundtrack and it's a decent film.

In my memory it was a good series... Twenty years later I saw the day of the triffids tv adaptation again and i must say that it was a disappointment...... it looked a filmstudent project ;-) I like the idea and story so I hope that someday a new version will be made.