It is always with a bit of trepidation that I approach the film or tv version of a book I liked, wondering whether it will come over so well on the screen. "Chocky", I am glad to say, is one that did and does.
I first read it not long after it was written, and always liked it. Its theme, which has seen quite a bit of use both before and since, is that of "first contact" with an alien being made by a child. 12-year-old Matthew Gore starts hearing "voices" from an alien life form, and the rest of the book is largely his and his adoptive parents' attempts to come to terms with the phenomenon.
The characters, though perhaps better educated than the average, are basically a pretty ordinary lot, and are completely bewildered by what is going on. Matthew's mother, in particular, takes a very good part as she is driven almost hysterical in her attempts to deal with what is happening to her son, and one of my regrets about the sequels is that she did not appear in them. The father manages to stay a bit calmer, and gradually comes to accept that Chocky is real and not a psychiatric phenomenon, but he too is as out of his depth as one might expect in such a situation. As for Matthew himself, to my mind he looks and acts a bit younger than his supposed age, coming over more like a bright ten-year-old, but then his original was a 1950s (or at most early 1960s) twelve-year-old, not a 1980s one, so perhaps the makers of the serial were being true to their source.
In this they were consistent. The serial sticks very closely to the book, which means that it is all very low key and "cosy", with almost no melodrama until we get to the kidnapping at the end, and even that is played down, without violence or much sense that Matthew is in danger - though the parents are convincing as they worry about their missing child. Otherwise, the focus is how matthew's involvement with Chocky impinges on his otherwise pretty normal sort of life, with his teachers raising their eyebrows about the sudden enhancement of his academic and artistic performance.
All in all, the was a good read, and the serial is a good view. If you like it unpretentious and enjoyable, grab this dvd.
I first read it not long after it was written, and always liked it. Its theme, which has seen quite a bit of use both before and since, is that of "first contact" with an alien being made by a child. 12-year-old Matthew Gore starts hearing "voices" from an alien life form, and the rest of the book is largely his and his adoptive parents' attempts to come to terms with the phenomenon.
The characters, though perhaps better educated than the average, are basically a pretty ordinary lot, and are completely bewildered by what is going on. Matthew's mother, in particular, takes a very good part as she is driven almost hysterical in her attempts to deal with what is happening to her son, and one of my regrets about the sequels is that she did not appear in them. The father manages to stay a bit calmer, and gradually comes to accept that Chocky is real and not a psychiatric phenomenon, but he too is as out of his depth as one might expect in such a situation. As for Matthew himself, to my mind he looks and acts a bit younger than his supposed age, coming over more like a bright ten-year-old, but then his original was a 1950s (or at most early 1960s) twelve-year-old, not a 1980s one, so perhaps the makers of the serial were being true to their source.
In this they were consistent. The serial sticks very closely to the book, which means that it is all very low key and "cosy", with almost no melodrama until we get to the kidnapping at the end, and even that is played down, without violence or much sense that Matthew is in danger - though the parents are convincing as they worry about their missing child. Otherwise, the focus is how matthew's involvement with Chocky impinges on his otherwise pretty normal sort of life, with his teachers raising their eyebrows about the sudden enhancement of his academic and artistic performance.
All in all, the was a good read, and the serial is a good view. If you like it unpretentious and enjoyable, grab this dvd.