Quatermass II: An Exceptional Sequel—Part Two
By Greg Bakun
Two weeks ago, Hasslein Books 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 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.
Coming up: 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 time.
Labels: Greg Bakun, Guest Blog, Quatermass
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home