Greg Bakun continues his compelling look back at Quatermass II.
Last week, we published the first part of my review of the engaging
serial Quatermass II.
The first 2 episodes had been a very enjoyable experience and it is a
wonderfully historical piece of British television. I watched the
episodes late into the evening so the room was dark apart from the
flicker of the TV which was emitting the spooky black & white
images of a vintage piece of BBC history. Would the viewing of
episodes 3 & 4 be as enjoyable as the first two installments? In
a word, yes!
The
Food TX: 5/11/55
At
a hearing to discuss findings on a mysterious synthetic food
refinery, Quatermass suddenly points out to Broadhead that one of the
members in the room has the
mysterious mark on his face. Both Quatermass and Broadhead give too
much information and Quatermass leaves to return to Fowler’s office
as Broadhead finishes up. Quatermass and Fowler get anxious as they
await Broadhead’s return. After waiting a bit longer, Quatermass
and Fowler return to an otherwise empty boardroom, they find
Broadhead slumped over. He had succumbed to the gasses from a meteor
left behind by the aliens. Soon a ghoulish group of medics arrive,
also with marks, who want to attend to Broadhead. This is a chilling
scene as you would expect the medics to be helpful but here they are
portrayed as zombies who want to collect someone just converted to be
like them. Quatermass and Fowler are fearful for their lives and are
not even sure if returning to Fowler’s office will be safe. After
they leave the board room, Fowler gets Quatermass in touch with Ward.
Ward has actually been able to get into the facility and still has a
pass.
With some persuasion from Quatermass, Ward takes both him and
Fowler to the plant. They are able to hide from patrolling guards
because there is a family who travelled out to that area for a
picnic. The guards have gone out to meet the family to get them to
leave the area since they are trespassing. Once inside the plant,
Quatermass checks the medical facility to see if Dillon is in there.
Dillon is no where to be found. As they start checking on other areas
in the factory, the workers under the influence of whatever is in
control suspend all work. Ward disappears. The next time Ward appears
is during one of the most iconic shots of any of the Quatermass
serials. Ward is covered with a black sludge like substance which is
burning him. It has completely covered him and he has moments to
live.
One
thing interesting about the shot of Ward covered in the sludge. Most
of that scene was filmed on location
about a month before the live broadcast. Then it cuts back to the
live feed in studio where Derek Aylward who played Ward had to be
completely covered again for only a couple more minutes until the
episode ends. He must have loved that!
Back
at Quatermass’ laboratory, Pugh realizes there is something
approaching the Earth.
The
Coming
TX: 12/11/55
Ward
is left behind to die. We also find out that gunshots that were
helpful to Quatermass and Fowler as a diversion to get away were used
on the family who were trying to have a picnic. Quatermass
asks Fowler to go back to the Ministry to do some searching while
Quatermass contacts a reporter who he wants to tell this story to get
the word out. While Quatermass and news reporter Conrad discuss the
facts of what Quatermass had seen, Fowler is attacked at the ministry
by a hidden meteor in a filing cabinet that detonates its gasses.
Quatermass and Conrad go to a pub in the worker’s village where
people of the village are relaxing and celebrating a wedding
anniversary. While Quatermass and Conrad start to annoy the group
with their line of questioning, a meteor smashes through the ceiling
of the pub and nearly takes someone out. Armed guards appear, with
marks, and try to retrieve the meteor. Conrad touched it and has
become immediately contaminated. Eventually, Quatermass and Conrad
split to different directions. Conrad returns to the pub. He is dying
from what the contamination has done to him. In a very passionate
phone call to someone at his paper, he tries to explain everything he
learned today so a story could be done to warn humanity. He then
dies. Quatermass smuggled himself back into the food facility. There
in disguise, he walks freely into one of the dome units. He sees what
is really happening. There are things alive in the dome. They can
only breathe the atmosphere in the dome……
Due
to the Kneale’s and Cartier’s controversial production of
Nineteen
Eighty-Four,
the BBC was keen to make sure viewers were warned about the themes
and imagery they would see in this serial. At the beginning of The
Coming
there is a BBC warning: "In
our opinion it is not suitable for children or for those of you who
may have a nervous disposition".
Both Kneale
and Cartier hated this warning. Kneale was angered because he wrote
an adult thriller for adults.
In
the previous article,
I mentioned that atmosphere plays a very large part in the story. I
felt that everything had a bleak look to it. I thought that was the
same this week such as the scene when the family was at their picnic.
It should be a happy setting but the scene is unsettling even before
the guards show up. There is nothing relaxing or nice about the area
they chose to have their picnic. Once the guards show up, it becomes
tragic as it is all too clear that this scenario will turn fatal for
the family. We don’t see the murders happen on screen. We only hear
the gunshots which allow Quatermass and Fowler to escape but it is
obvious the gunshots are the family’s fate. It is only after this
that we see the family’s car pulled into the food facility and a
lifeless arm is hanging out the window. It is becoming obvious at
this stage that this is not some random entity but an intelligent
group that are focusing on putting controlled people in power, such
as the people at Broadhead’s hearing, to achieve their goal of
invasion. What I find interesting is the way these controlled people
are portrayed on screen. If not done right, this could be a fine line
between creepy and comical. Luckily it is actually quite powerful and
disturbing. These “zombies” speak like they are not in control of
their bodies or how they speak to others. They have blank, glossy
stares on their faces. To be honest, they are frightening. Great
examples of this are the scenes at the beginning of The
Food
where the members of the hearing speak. It is unnerving and the same
can be said of the guard in the scene in the pub during The
Coming.
I think what contributes to these performances is the black &
white gloomy picture.
Being
a fan of vintage British television plus having a keen interest
in television
restoration, I wanted to give my thoughts on the DVD release. For
many years any of the Quatermass serials were just stories I read about on this page.
I
hate to sound old-fashioned
but people don’t know how good they have it these days. If there is
some vintage television they want to see, it’s probably out on DVD
or they could possibly find it via You Tube or Torrents. I heard
about Quatermass for the first time over twenty years ago but only
got to know more about it through the site listed above. At that
point, it was mouth watering to read details about these stories and
how cool they must have been to watch; especially for me Quatermass
and the Pit.
Over the years Quatermass
and the Pit
has been released as an omnibus VHS, then DVD released by Revelation.
Then
in 2005 one of the greatest
DVD releases of all-time came out. The Quatermass Trilogy of The
Quatermass Experiment,
Quatermass
II,
and Quatermass
and the Pit.
This was restored by the same folks who restore the Doctor
Who
stories. They went back to the original film negatives and did the
best possible restoration based on the quality of the source
material. Quatermass
II
looks a lot better than I thought it would. Of course like many fans,
I had a bootleg PAL VHS copy of this serial. Although for a bootleg
even then it looked quite good; it was obvious there were issues with
the picture on the source material. There is a lot of stair-stepping
with the picture and an overall murky look to it. The one thing I am
really happy to see fixed on the story is the half a second of black
between each camera shot done in studio. The switchers used to switch
between camera shots were mechanical. When this was shot at Lime
Grove studios, the switcher used was faulty. Thus, putting black
between the shots. It drove me crazy! I almost couldn’t watch it
that way. That has been fixed and I am so happy. The viewer warning
prior to The
Coming
also was sourced from the master version of that BBC ident so the
quality is superb.
Packaging
wise, the DVD set comes with a 47 page booklet on everything you
wanted to know about the production of the Quatermass serials.
Written by Andrew Pixley, it has all sorts of minute details that you
would have thought had been long lost by the time he came around to
do these viewing notes. The only thing that lets down this set is the
cover. It looks like a cover for a cheesy sci-fi triple feature. It
completely undermines all the hard work, restoration and research
that went into making this release.
If
you are an American and have been wondering about getting a region
free DVD player in
order to get DVDs from the UK, this DVD set would be an essential
purchase.
To
see my article of the first 2 episodes of Quatermass II, you can go
here:
Next
week: we come to the end
of Quatermass II with the final two episodes of the serial. The
Frenzy and The
Destroyers. The
Frenzy may just be one of
the best episodes of any Quatermass serial or any TV show ever. Find
out why next week.
Greg Bakun is a seasoned connoisseur and
reviewer of British television. You can read more of his articles and
reviews on his site From the Archive: A British Television Blog or listen to him drink wine on the Doctor Who podcast The Others. Oh, you can follow him on Twitter too.
