The 1980s enjoys a privileged, some might even argue inflated position in the sci-fi pantheon. In the US, it was the decade that gave us two thirds of the original Star Wars trilogy, Back to the Future, Ghostbusters, Terminator and Tron. In TV land, Star Trek got a brand new Generation, Quantums Leapt, Knights Rode, and of course, Alf.
But on the other side of the pond, British science fiction television was doing things the way we British always have – for less money, and a bit more bleak. But it wasn’t all creepy John Wyndham adaptations and hostile alien invasions, the 1980s also delivered a couple of British space comedy classics, along with the most underrated series in sci-fi history.
The Day of the Triffids (1981)
Stream on: purchase-only on Sky Store, Google Play, Amazon (UK); disc import only (US)
For our money, still the only decent adaptation of John...
But on the other side of the pond, British science fiction television was doing things the way we British always have – for less money, and a bit more bleak. But it wasn’t all creepy John Wyndham adaptations and hostile alien invasions, the 1980s also delivered a couple of British space comedy classics, along with the most underrated series in sci-fi history.
The Day of the Triffids (1981)
Stream on: purchase-only on Sky Store, Google Play, Amazon (UK); disc import only (US)
For our money, still the only decent adaptation of John...
- 2/2/2024
- by Louisa Mellor
- Den of Geek
Alex Westthorp Sep 14, 2016
Did fantasy dramas Chocky, The Box Of Delights and Dramarama leave an impression on you as a kid? Revisit those nightmares here...
Spooky, always magical and occasionally downright scary dramas are the bedrock of kids' television. For me, the pinnacle of this sort of programme was reached in the 1980s. The decade saw a new approach to both traditional and contemporary drama by both UK broadcasters: ITV committed itself to regular seasons of children's plays with Dramarama (1983-89), a kind of youth version of the venerable BBC Play For Today (1970-84), which saw the 1988 television debut of one David Tennant. The BBC, building upon an impressive body of work from the early 70s onwards, produced some of its very best family drama in this era, embracing cutting edge technology to bring treats like The Box Of Delights (1984) and The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe (1988) to the screen.
Did fantasy dramas Chocky, The Box Of Delights and Dramarama leave an impression on you as a kid? Revisit those nightmares here...
Spooky, always magical and occasionally downright scary dramas are the bedrock of kids' television. For me, the pinnacle of this sort of programme was reached in the 1980s. The decade saw a new approach to both traditional and contemporary drama by both UK broadcasters: ITV committed itself to regular seasons of children's plays with Dramarama (1983-89), a kind of youth version of the venerable BBC Play For Today (1970-84), which saw the 1988 television debut of one David Tennant. The BBC, building upon an impressive body of work from the early 70s onwards, produced some of its very best family drama in this era, embracing cutting edge technology to bring treats like The Box Of Delights (1984) and The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe (1988) to the screen.
- 8/15/2016
- Den of Geek
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Here are 9 of the best 60s British sci-fi novels, featuring thrillers, alternative histories, apocalyptic tales and more...
Read our celebration of 8 amazing British sci-fi novels, here.
Arthur C Clarke once wrote: "Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying."
British science fiction of the 1960s gave readers both versions of that terror in novels set on Earth or in far away universes. For those writing about Earth, our own humanity was up for questioning like never before; are we on the path to our own destruction, or do we hold the key to our own salvation? For the novelists who threw all earthly troubles away and created entire universes in mind-boggling detail, they were still reflecting on the problems everyone faced back home: a generation who wanted freedom like never before, faith being shaken in the government, and big shifts in societal attitudes all contributed to an era where many talented writers felt they could best comment through the genre of science fiction.
Here's a look at ten novels that give a flavour of what an varied time it was in science fiction writing, with some authors remaining in the 'pulp' feel of earlier times to create fresh space adventures, and others beginning to experiment with form and literary devices to take Sf in an unexpected, and highly influential, direction...
The Drowned World - Jg Ballard (1962)
Ballard brought something very different to science fiction with his style of detached, literary writing which is cold and intelligent and uncomfortable. You may not like his characters but his visions of the future draw you in and stay in your mind. They feel as if they have a truth about them.
The Drowned World is the story of Dr Robert Kerans, a biologist who has been sent to work in the submerged remains of what was once a great city. But water has covered most of the world due to climate change, and although the tower blocks still rise above the lagoons this is a place that belongs to the insects, the lizards, and no longer to humanity. A strange lethargy, born of the heat, infects Kerans and his co-workers, giving them troubling dreams. It infuses the book, too, and makes this a vivid, sensual and disturbing novel.
Transit - Edmund Cooper (1964)
Our hero Richard Avery finds a glowing crystal in a park, and upon touching it is whisked away to some unknown location where he finds himself becoming the subject of experimentation. Placed upon a desert island with two women and one other man, he has to find a way to survive whatever nature, and his captors, throw at him. Thank goodness they are provided with cigarettes, booze and pornography, or else the whole thing would be unbearable.
Out of all the books on this list, this one feels most like a product of its time to me. It's like Kurt Vonnegut wrote an episode of The Prisoner - a page-turning survival story that's part wish-fulfilment, part social experiment, and it entertains brilliantly, never flagging, and never demanding that we take it too seriously.
A Wrinkle In The Skin - John Christopher (1962)
The title of the novel comes from a moment early on when chat at a dinner party turns to the subject of recent earthquakes - "One or two wrinkles in the skin of an orange - the orange very big and the wrinkles very small," says one character, dismissively, while enjoying the benefits of civilised society. But it turns out that the wrinkles aren't so small after all.
John Christopher was great at turning mundane moments into chilling ones, and there is a brilliant description of the stillness that pervades before the big earthquake hits. But afterwards Guernsey - the home of horticulturalist Matthew Cotter - is no longer a safe haven of polite people and fine dining. The survivors become desperate, and the story turns into a journey through an unrecognisable landscape that juxtaposes so sharply with that first chapter. It's a bleak read, and a worrying one; would civilization so easily collapse at the first sign of a mere wrinkle?
The Doomsday Men - Kenneth Bulmer (1968)
Carver is a Ridforce agent; he has been trained, using new technology, to enter the mind of murder victims and replay their last memories to the moment of death, revealing the killer. He runs the risk of losing his own thoughts and memories with each case, but Carver is good at his job, and the department trusts in his ability to find the truth. Until he enters the mind of a victim and finds a troubling memory - why is Carver's own teenage daughter, ensconced miles away in an expensive boarding school, present as a high-class prostitute in the victim's memories?
A police procedural sci-fi thriller, The Doomsday Men reminds me of Mad Men tied with Minority Report. Slick, full of manly attitude, and yet dealing with crimes within the mind in which nothing the protagonist sees can be trusted, it's a slippery fish of a read that ties itself into too neat a bow in the end, perhaps. Still, it's a heck of an adventure, involving a lot of corpses, double bluffs, and even a ticking bomb.
Pavane - Keith Roberts (1968)
Alternative history books are hard to do well, and almost impossible to do with as much delicacy and complexity as Pavane. It starts with one question - what if Elizabeth I had died earlier and the Catholic Church had reasserted its hold on England?
Jump forward a few hundred years and we have a country without electricity, without equal rights, and with a reliance on the steam train that dominates the first section of the novel and makes this feel, initially, like steampunk. But Pavane doesn't stay within one element of this alternative future; it gives us a number of wonderful characters throughout society and interweaves their stories to make an intricate pattern. Cause and effect is a complex business which doesn't always get a lot of consideration in science fiction. I can't think of a book that does it as well as Pavane.
Chocky - John Wyndham (1960)
In 2008 Dreamworks acquired the film rights to Chocky and it's not hard to see why it would appeal; the tale of a boy who has an imaginary friend that perhaps isn't imaginary after all, this is science fiction at its most personal and inclusive, filled with warmth for the situation and the family it describes.
If you're in the mood for a more optimistic read, then either Chocky or The Trouble With Lichen (the only two novels Wyndham wrote in the 1960s) will fit the bill perfectly. They have humour and decency, but they still manage to raise troubling questions about how humans often assume a mastery over the world, and why we struggle to overcome our own preconceptions.
Greybeard - Brian Aldiss (1964)
The worlds of future fictions often belong to the young and Greybeard is a very effective counterpoint - imagining a time when humanity ceases to reproduce after a spike in radiation, and there will be no more children to inherit the Earth. Instead there's only Greybeard and others like him, elderly men and women in a society reverting to feudalism and superstition as they die out.
The non-linear story documents Greybeard's life, revealing factions and forces that created this last generation. It's a reading experience of far more light, humour and beauty than this subject matter would suggest. It also reaches some really interesting conclusions about humanity. A world without children is not a new theme; a number of books tackle the same ground, but Greybeard is, I think, the most surprising and insightful of the lot.
The Hieros Gamos Of Sam And An Smith - Josephine Saxton (1969)
A boy walks through a strange land, perhaps a post-apocalyptic one, and yet it holds no threat for him. There are no wild animals, no radiation, and when he hears a baby crying in the wilderness he has no fear of approaching. The mother is dead, moments after giving birth, and the boy takes the baby girl, and begins to provide for her with no great sense of importance. The book follows the boy as he raises the girl, and we find ourselves examining the nature of life, of sex, of childhood and parenthood, afresh.
A short and marvellous book, I really can't think of anything else quite like it. It proves that science fiction is a brilliant genre for examining deep psychological issues precisely because it can be free from the demands of realism. Also, the ending is my favourite of all the books on this list.
A Fall Of Moondust - Arthur C Clarke (1961)
Hms Selene cruises the Sea of Thirst, a vast bowl of powdery dust on the moon. The trip offers a thrill to those who are tired of exploring Earth and can afford the ticket price, but these travellers get more than they bargained for when the Selene is stranded deep within the dust. Can rescuers reach them?
A race against time, it would have been easy to make A Fall Of Moondust into a claustrophobic, if predictable, tale of human interplay between the trapped tourists. But what I love is that Clarke doesn't do that. The poor victims play cards and form book clubs and provide the light relief at times, because this is a very serious exploration of how space tourism might look and what technological problems might await us on the moon. Published eight years before man set foot on a lunar landscape and found it wouldn't swallow us up in dust, this book is a good reminder of how visionary science fiction could be when dealing with unknowns, and of how far our understanding has come since then.
See related 8 amazing British sci-fi novels of the 1950s 15 scary novels to give you the creeps 10 strange novels of the British countryside 15 underappreciated books: sci-fi, fantasy, horror fiction 13 geeky beach read recommendations Books & Comics Feature Aliya Whiteley 1960s Sci-Fi novels 13 Jun 2016 - 06:00 A Fall Of Moondust Dune Transit The Drowned World The Doomsday Men A Wrinkle In The Skin Chocky Greybeard Pavane The Hieros Gamos Of Sam And An Smith...
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Here are 9 of the best 60s British sci-fi novels, featuring thrillers, alternative histories, apocalyptic tales and more...
Read our celebration of 8 amazing British sci-fi novels, here.
Arthur C Clarke once wrote: "Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying."
British science fiction of the 1960s gave readers both versions of that terror in novels set on Earth or in far away universes. For those writing about Earth, our own humanity was up for questioning like never before; are we on the path to our own destruction, or do we hold the key to our own salvation? For the novelists who threw all earthly troubles away and created entire universes in mind-boggling detail, they were still reflecting on the problems everyone faced back home: a generation who wanted freedom like never before, faith being shaken in the government, and big shifts in societal attitudes all contributed to an era where many talented writers felt they could best comment through the genre of science fiction.
Here's a look at ten novels that give a flavour of what an varied time it was in science fiction writing, with some authors remaining in the 'pulp' feel of earlier times to create fresh space adventures, and others beginning to experiment with form and literary devices to take Sf in an unexpected, and highly influential, direction...
The Drowned World - Jg Ballard (1962)
Ballard brought something very different to science fiction with his style of detached, literary writing which is cold and intelligent and uncomfortable. You may not like his characters but his visions of the future draw you in and stay in your mind. They feel as if they have a truth about them.
The Drowned World is the story of Dr Robert Kerans, a biologist who has been sent to work in the submerged remains of what was once a great city. But water has covered most of the world due to climate change, and although the tower blocks still rise above the lagoons this is a place that belongs to the insects, the lizards, and no longer to humanity. A strange lethargy, born of the heat, infects Kerans and his co-workers, giving them troubling dreams. It infuses the book, too, and makes this a vivid, sensual and disturbing novel.
Transit - Edmund Cooper (1964)
Our hero Richard Avery finds a glowing crystal in a park, and upon touching it is whisked away to some unknown location where he finds himself becoming the subject of experimentation. Placed upon a desert island with two women and one other man, he has to find a way to survive whatever nature, and his captors, throw at him. Thank goodness they are provided with cigarettes, booze and pornography, or else the whole thing would be unbearable.
Out of all the books on this list, this one feels most like a product of its time to me. It's like Kurt Vonnegut wrote an episode of The Prisoner - a page-turning survival story that's part wish-fulfilment, part social experiment, and it entertains brilliantly, never flagging, and never demanding that we take it too seriously.
A Wrinkle In The Skin - John Christopher (1962)
The title of the novel comes from a moment early on when chat at a dinner party turns to the subject of recent earthquakes - "One or two wrinkles in the skin of an orange - the orange very big and the wrinkles very small," says one character, dismissively, while enjoying the benefits of civilised society. But it turns out that the wrinkles aren't so small after all.
John Christopher was great at turning mundane moments into chilling ones, and there is a brilliant description of the stillness that pervades before the big earthquake hits. But afterwards Guernsey - the home of horticulturalist Matthew Cotter - is no longer a safe haven of polite people and fine dining. The survivors become desperate, and the story turns into a journey through an unrecognisable landscape that juxtaposes so sharply with that first chapter. It's a bleak read, and a worrying one; would civilization so easily collapse at the first sign of a mere wrinkle?
The Doomsday Men - Kenneth Bulmer (1968)
Carver is a Ridforce agent; he has been trained, using new technology, to enter the mind of murder victims and replay their last memories to the moment of death, revealing the killer. He runs the risk of losing his own thoughts and memories with each case, but Carver is good at his job, and the department trusts in his ability to find the truth. Until he enters the mind of a victim and finds a troubling memory - why is Carver's own teenage daughter, ensconced miles away in an expensive boarding school, present as a high-class prostitute in the victim's memories?
A police procedural sci-fi thriller, The Doomsday Men reminds me of Mad Men tied with Minority Report. Slick, full of manly attitude, and yet dealing with crimes within the mind in which nothing the protagonist sees can be trusted, it's a slippery fish of a read that ties itself into too neat a bow in the end, perhaps. Still, it's a heck of an adventure, involving a lot of corpses, double bluffs, and even a ticking bomb.
Pavane - Keith Roberts (1968)
Alternative history books are hard to do well, and almost impossible to do with as much delicacy and complexity as Pavane. It starts with one question - what if Elizabeth I had died earlier and the Catholic Church had reasserted its hold on England?
Jump forward a few hundred years and we have a country without electricity, without equal rights, and with a reliance on the steam train that dominates the first section of the novel and makes this feel, initially, like steampunk. But Pavane doesn't stay within one element of this alternative future; it gives us a number of wonderful characters throughout society and interweaves their stories to make an intricate pattern. Cause and effect is a complex business which doesn't always get a lot of consideration in science fiction. I can't think of a book that does it as well as Pavane.
Chocky - John Wyndham (1960)
In 2008 Dreamworks acquired the film rights to Chocky and it's not hard to see why it would appeal; the tale of a boy who has an imaginary friend that perhaps isn't imaginary after all, this is science fiction at its most personal and inclusive, filled with warmth for the situation and the family it describes.
If you're in the mood for a more optimistic read, then either Chocky or The Trouble With Lichen (the only two novels Wyndham wrote in the 1960s) will fit the bill perfectly. They have humour and decency, but they still manage to raise troubling questions about how humans often assume a mastery over the world, and why we struggle to overcome our own preconceptions.
Greybeard - Brian Aldiss (1964)
The worlds of future fictions often belong to the young and Greybeard is a very effective counterpoint - imagining a time when humanity ceases to reproduce after a spike in radiation, and there will be no more children to inherit the Earth. Instead there's only Greybeard and others like him, elderly men and women in a society reverting to feudalism and superstition as they die out.
The non-linear story documents Greybeard's life, revealing factions and forces that created this last generation. It's a reading experience of far more light, humour and beauty than this subject matter would suggest. It also reaches some really interesting conclusions about humanity. A world without children is not a new theme; a number of books tackle the same ground, but Greybeard is, I think, the most surprising and insightful of the lot.
The Hieros Gamos Of Sam And An Smith - Josephine Saxton (1969)
A boy walks through a strange land, perhaps a post-apocalyptic one, and yet it holds no threat for him. There are no wild animals, no radiation, and when he hears a baby crying in the wilderness he has no fear of approaching. The mother is dead, moments after giving birth, and the boy takes the baby girl, and begins to provide for her with no great sense of importance. The book follows the boy as he raises the girl, and we find ourselves examining the nature of life, of sex, of childhood and parenthood, afresh.
A short and marvellous book, I really can't think of anything else quite like it. It proves that science fiction is a brilliant genre for examining deep psychological issues precisely because it can be free from the demands of realism. Also, the ending is my favourite of all the books on this list.
A Fall Of Moondust - Arthur C Clarke (1961)
Hms Selene cruises the Sea of Thirst, a vast bowl of powdery dust on the moon. The trip offers a thrill to those who are tired of exploring Earth and can afford the ticket price, but these travellers get more than they bargained for when the Selene is stranded deep within the dust. Can rescuers reach them?
A race against time, it would have been easy to make A Fall Of Moondust into a claustrophobic, if predictable, tale of human interplay between the trapped tourists. But what I love is that Clarke doesn't do that. The poor victims play cards and form book clubs and provide the light relief at times, because this is a very serious exploration of how space tourism might look and what technological problems might await us on the moon. Published eight years before man set foot on a lunar landscape and found it wouldn't swallow us up in dust, this book is a good reminder of how visionary science fiction could be when dealing with unknowns, and of how far our understanding has come since then.
See related 8 amazing British sci-fi novels of the 1950s 15 scary novels to give you the creeps 10 strange novels of the British countryside 15 underappreciated books: sci-fi, fantasy, horror fiction 13 geeky beach read recommendations Books & Comics Feature Aliya Whiteley 1960s Sci-Fi novels 13 Jun 2016 - 06:00 A Fall Of Moondust Dune Transit The Drowned World The Doomsday Men A Wrinkle In The Skin Chocky Greybeard Pavane The Hieros Gamos Of Sam And An Smith...
- 5/16/2016
- Den of Geek
From Bananaman to Grange Hill, join us in a spot of TV nostalgia as we celebrate 50 great 1980s kids' TV theme songs...
There comes a time to turn away from the horrors of the world and retreat underneath the soft, comforting duvet of nostalgia. That time is Friday. That metaphorical duvet is below.
Here are fifty of the best kids’ TV theme songs (spread over two pages and in arbitrary order) of the 1980s. Some, like Alan Hawkshaw’s distinctive Grange Hill intro, are unarguable classics of the era, while others, like Mike Harding's Count Duckula, only started in the late-eighties and spent the rest of their run in the next decade.
Obviously, there being only 50 on this list, we may have missed out your favourite (deliberately or otherwise). Let us know if so, but remember that links may take a while to appear in the comments thread because...
There comes a time to turn away from the horrors of the world and retreat underneath the soft, comforting duvet of nostalgia. That time is Friday. That metaphorical duvet is below.
Here are fifty of the best kids’ TV theme songs (spread over two pages and in arbitrary order) of the 1980s. Some, like Alan Hawkshaw’s distinctive Grange Hill intro, are unarguable classics of the era, while others, like Mike Harding's Count Duckula, only started in the late-eighties and spent the rest of their run in the next decade.
Obviously, there being only 50 on this list, we may have missed out your favourite (deliberately or otherwise). Let us know if so, but remember that links may take a while to appear in the comments thread because...
- 7/29/2015
- by simonbrew
- Den of Geek
Halloween is traditionally a time for vampires, witches, werewolves and other such traditional figures from the horror genre. But here at Digital Spy, our most chilling childhood memories aren't associated with blood-sucking or witchcraft - they all come from the terrifying world of children's television.
Check out Digital Spy's full list of haunting kids' TV confessions below:
Simon Reynolds, Movies Editor - Orville
I remember being petrified of Orville the Duck, and years on I'm still struggling to comprehend exactly why I found him so scary. Is it the disconcerting nappy with giant safety pin? The high-pitched voice? Or possibly the fact that he's green for no apparent reason? I'm pretty sure that some form of Chucky-like horror movie evil is lurking behind those glazed, soulless black eyes.
David Moynihan, Editor - Chocky
In the 1980s, the primary school I attended used to sit all the kids down to watch...
Check out Digital Spy's full list of haunting kids' TV confessions below:
Simon Reynolds, Movies Editor - Orville
I remember being petrified of Orville the Duck, and years on I'm still struggling to comprehend exactly why I found him so scary. Is it the disconcerting nappy with giant safety pin? The high-pitched voice? Or possibly the fact that he's green for no apparent reason? I'm pretty sure that some form of Chucky-like horror movie evil is lurking behind those glazed, soulless black eyes.
David Moynihan, Editor - Chocky
In the 1980s, the primary school I attended used to sit all the kids down to watch...
- 10/30/2013
- Digital Spy
Side Effects; The Paperboy; The Host; Welcome to the Punch; A Late Quartet; In the House; GI Joe: Retaliation
Released amid declarations that he was to stop making feature films, Steven Soderbergh's terrifically enjoyable Side Effects (2013, EOne, 15) looks like a retrospective romp through the writer-director's career; from the Oscar-courting seriousness of Erin Brockovich to the genre thrills of Contagion and Haywire via the probing character insights of sex, lies and videotape. Soderbergh cites Adrian Lyne's watercooler hit Fatal Attraction as an influence, although I was reminded more of Basic Instinct 2 – and not in a bad way.
Jude Law stars as the slightly slimy shrink who overprescribes medication for Rooney Mara's depressive patient with potentially lethal results, the spectre of professional ruin and personal loss looming large.
In its early stages this appears to be a low-key indictment of heartless big pharma, a worthy exposé of the...
Released amid declarations that he was to stop making feature films, Steven Soderbergh's terrifically enjoyable Side Effects (2013, EOne, 15) looks like a retrospective romp through the writer-director's career; from the Oscar-courting seriousness of Erin Brockovich to the genre thrills of Contagion and Haywire via the probing character insights of sex, lies and videotape. Soderbergh cites Adrian Lyne's watercooler hit Fatal Attraction as an influence, although I was reminded more of Basic Instinct 2 – and not in a bad way.
Jude Law stars as the slightly slimy shrink who overprescribes medication for Rooney Mara's depressive patient with potentially lethal results, the spectre of professional ruin and personal loss looming large.
In its early stages this appears to be a low-key indictment of heartless big pharma, a worthy exposé of the...
- 7/27/2013
- by Mark Kermode
- The Guardian - Film News
Side Effects; The Paperboy; The Host; Welcome to the Punch; A Late Quartet; In the House; GI Joe: Retaliation
Released amid declarations that he was to stop making feature films, Steven Soderbergh's terrifically enjoyable Side Effects (2013, EOne, 15) looks like a retrospective romp through the writer-director's career; from the Oscar-courting seriousness of Erin Brockovich to the genre thrills of Contagion and Haywire via the probing character insights of sex, lies and videotape. Soderbergh cites Adrian Lyne's watercooler hit Fatal Attraction as an influence, although I was reminded more of Basic Instinct 2 – and not in a bad way.
Jude Law stars as the slightly slimy shrink who overprescribes medication for Rooney Mara's depressive patient with potentially lethal results, the spectre of professional ruin and personal loss looming large.
In its early stages this appears to be a low-key indictment of heartless big pharma, a worthy exposé of the...
Released amid declarations that he was to stop making feature films, Steven Soderbergh's terrifically enjoyable Side Effects (2013, EOne, 15) looks like a retrospective romp through the writer-director's career; from the Oscar-courting seriousness of Erin Brockovich to the genre thrills of Contagion and Haywire via the probing character insights of sex, lies and videotape. Soderbergh cites Adrian Lyne's watercooler hit Fatal Attraction as an influence, although I was reminded more of Basic Instinct 2 – and not in a bad way.
Jude Law stars as the slightly slimy shrink who overprescribes medication for Rooney Mara's depressive patient with potentially lethal results, the spectre of professional ruin and personal loss looming large.
In its early stages this appears to be a low-key indictment of heartless big pharma, a worthy exposé of the...
- 7/27/2013
- by Mark Kermode
- The Guardian - Film News
DreamWorks continues to develop an adaptation of author John Wyndham's 1968 science fiction novel "Chocky", for director Steven Spielberg.
Premise of "Chocky" focuses on a boy with an imaginary friend with whom he frequently argues.
As the boy's father gets increasingly suspicious, it becomes clear that an 'alien entity' named 'Chocky' has taken up residence in the boy's consciousness.
DreamWorks acquired the film rights to "Chocky" from Pollinger Ltd., the UK agency that handles Wyndham's literary estate.
In 1984, ITV in the UK aired a children's drama based on the novel.
Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "Chocky"....
Premise of "Chocky" focuses on a boy with an imaginary friend with whom he frequently argues.
As the boy's father gets increasingly suspicious, it becomes clear that an 'alien entity' named 'Chocky' has taken up residence in the boy's consciousness.
DreamWorks acquired the film rights to "Chocky" from Pollinger Ltd., the UK agency that handles Wyndham's literary estate.
In 1984, ITV in the UK aired a children's drama based on the novel.
Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "Chocky"....
- 7/29/2011
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
I was never much of a Torchwood follower so I can't speak to its quality, but this effective teaser for show's third series, the five part apocalyptic "Children of Earth," has got my attention. It reminds me a lot of th work of one of my favorite author's John Wyndham. With its aliens-communicating-through-children concept, it reminded me of "Chocky" and "The Midwich Cuckoos" (Village of the Damned) mixed with a healthy dose of alien apocalypse.
This trailer is currently being broadcast on American television in anticipation of the new series.
Synopsis:
An ordinary day becomes a world of terror, as every single child in the world stops. A message is sent to all the governments of Earth: "We are coming".
But as a trap closes around Captain Jack, sins of the past are returning, as long-forgotten events from 1965 threaten to reveal an awful truth.
In one epic story, told over five episodes,...
This trailer is currently being broadcast on American television in anticipation of the new series.
Synopsis:
An ordinary day becomes a world of terror, as every single child in the world stops. A message is sent to all the governments of Earth: "We are coming".
But as a trap closes around Captain Jack, sins of the past are returning, as long-forgotten events from 1965 threaten to reveal an awful truth.
In one epic story, told over five episodes,...
- 6/16/2009
- QuietEarth.us
A science fiction novel Chocky written by John Wyndham’s was recently picked up by Dreamwork. Now the word is that Spielberg is interested in directing the movie. So the film will probably take up after Tintin and Lincoln. The book tells the story of a boy who has a mysterious imaginary friend with whom he frequently argues. As the boy’s father gets increasing suspicious, it becomes clear that an alien entity has taken up residence in the boy’s consciousness. So the recent split in the production company might push the film on either side of the fence. They are also certain that this will be Spielberg’s next film, or something he might work simultaneously with Tintin in tow.
Chocky is sort unknown in many literary circles. But it surely...
(more...)...
Chocky is sort unknown in many literary circles. But it surely...
(more...)...
- 9/28/2008
- by John
- ReelSuave.com
The late John Wyndham’s Chocky has been optioned by DreamWorks for director Steven Speilberg who has named it his next directorial project.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film is about “a boy who has a mysterious imaginary friend with whom he frequently argues. As the boy's father gets increasingly suspicious, it becomes clear that an alien entity has taken up residence in the boy's consciousness.”
The announcement though comes during the very public breakup between DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures and this film may become one of several projects caught up in the tug of war.
Other films equally in limbo are The Trial of the Chicago 7, an Abraham Lincoln/Civil War epic scripted by Tony Kushner; Platinum Studios’ Cowboys and Aliens, with Robert Downey Jr. still attached; and The 39 Clues.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film is about “a boy who has a mysterious imaginary friend with whom he frequently argues. As the boy's father gets increasingly suspicious, it becomes clear that an alien entity has taken up residence in the boy's consciousness.”
The announcement though comes during the very public breakup between DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures and this film may become one of several projects caught up in the tug of war.
Other films equally in limbo are The Trial of the Chicago 7, an Abraham Lincoln/Civil War epic scripted by Tony Kushner; Platinum Studios’ Cowboys and Aliens, with Robert Downey Jr. still attached; and The 39 Clues.
- 9/27/2008
- by Robert Greenberger
- Comicmix.com
<img src="http://www.quietearth.us/img/c/chocky.jpg" align="right" hspace="10" vspace="2" class="pictureborder" />What the... I don't know how I missed this yesterday but Spielberg's picked up the rights to an amazing novel by one of my all time favorite authors called "Chocky." "Chocky" was written by British novelist John Wyndham, who's also responsible for some amazing novels including "Day of the Triffids," "The Chrysalids," and "The Midwich Cuckoos" (which we all know now as The Village of the Damned). News of the acquisition broke through <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3i7d59466b16c8ffd18d331d0f65a0b023">THR</a>, so needless to say their article is rife with more news and gossip surrounding Dreamworks' current problem with unfinished projects and their just-ended Par deal than it is with actual info about the project. No word on who's directing at this point but I for one wouldn't be totally unhappy if Spielberg took it on. I don't have quite the hate on for the director that some do. Indiana Jones is untouchable, I loved Minority Report,...
- 9/26/2008
- QuietEarth.us
“Legend has it, a Viking ship went down in Hell’s Bucket years ago. One of the Vikings was spared a grisly death by a shark who fell in love with him. Well, you know how it goes. One thing led to another and they had one offspring. Chocky.” Oops! Wrong “Chocky.” While it’s doubtful that Steven Spielberg ever saw Cabin Boy, the director is apparently interested in bringing another Chocky to the big screen. Word is that the Tintin Man is considering making the science fiction novel “Chocky" his next directing project, which DreamWorks has extended its option for. Spielberg would presumably move on to the adaptation after his work on Tintin was completed. “Chocky” is a 1968 novel written by the late author John Wyndham, a British science fiction writer who wrote the well-known “The Day of the Triffids.” The book tells the story...
- 9/26/2008
- UGO Movies
Steven Spielberg has yet another project that he's keen to make his next directorial gig -- according to The Hollywood Reporter, he's just snagged the rights to Chocky, John Wyndham's famous sci-fi novel.
Chocky is more famous in the United Kingdom than here in the States, as it was the basis for a television show in 1984. It centers on a young boy who has a rather tumultuous relationship with his imaginary friend. His father grows concerned that his son has not yet abandoned his imaginary friend for real ones -- and slowly, he begins to realize that the invisible friend is actually an alien consciousness that is residing in the boy's mind. It's old territory for Spielberg, right down to the government forces who are far too interested in the boy and his alien. Surely, Chocky is some reader's favorite book or childhood television memory, and I'm keen to...
Chocky is more famous in the United Kingdom than here in the States, as it was the basis for a television show in 1984. It centers on a young boy who has a rather tumultuous relationship with his imaginary friend. His father grows concerned that his son has not yet abandoned his imaginary friend for real ones -- and slowly, he begins to realize that the invisible friend is actually an alien consciousness that is residing in the boy's mind. It's old territory for Spielberg, right down to the government forces who are far too interested in the boy and his alien. Surely, Chocky is some reader's favorite book or childhood television memory, and I'm keen to...
- 9/25/2008
- by Elisabeth Rappe
- Cinematical
DreamWorks recently acquired the rights to the science fiction novel "Chocky" written by John Wyndham. Steven Spielberg is apparently interested in making this his next directing project (presumably after Tintin and Lincoln). The book tells the story of a boy who has a mysterious imaginary friend with whom he frequently argues. As the boy's father gets increasingly suspicious, it becomes clear that an alien entity has taken up residence in the boy's consciousness. Hollywood Reporter questions whether the potential split between DreamWorks and Paramount will push this film in one direction or another. They're also certain that this will be Spielberg's next film, possibly even something he works on concurrently with Tintin. "Chocky" was first published in 1968. While Wyndham is a well known sci-fi writer, the book seems to be quite unknown, but comments like this one put it in the spotlight. "The dialog is nothing short of brilliant; the...
- 9/25/2008
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Steven Spielberg has picked up the film rights to John Wyndham's sci-fi novel Chocky, says The Hollywood Reporter. The book revolves around a boy whose consciousness is taken over by an alien entity. The boy's father's suspicions are triggered when his son begins to argue with his imaginary friend. Wyndham's best known book is The Day Of The Triffids, which became a feature film in 1962. Spielberg hopes to make Chocky his next (more)...
- 9/25/2008
- by By Simon Reynolds
- Digital Spy
DreamWorks has acquired the dramatic rights to the science fiction novel "Chocky" from Pollinger Ltd., the U.K. agency that handles the literary estate of the late author John Wyndham.
Steven Spielberg is said to be keen to make the adaptation his next directing project.
"Chocky" tells the story of a boy who has a mysterious imaginary friend with whom he frequently argues. As the boy's father gets increasingly suspicious, it becomes clear that an alien entity has taken up residence in the boy's consciousness. With Spielberg's proclivity for exploring the darker aspects of childhood, the material is clearly in his wheelhouse.
But given Spielberg's recent exit from Paramount, here's a question: Who will actually produce the project -- Par or the new independent DreamWorks?
For months, speculation has been rampant about what some call a potential "bloodbath" over DreamWorks-developed projects under the just-ended Par deal. What would Spielberg attempt...
Steven Spielberg is said to be keen to make the adaptation his next directing project.
"Chocky" tells the story of a boy who has a mysterious imaginary friend with whom he frequently argues. As the boy's father gets increasingly suspicious, it becomes clear that an alien entity has taken up residence in the boy's consciousness. With Spielberg's proclivity for exploring the darker aspects of childhood, the material is clearly in his wheelhouse.
But given Spielberg's recent exit from Paramount, here's a question: Who will actually produce the project -- Par or the new independent DreamWorks?
For months, speculation has been rampant about what some call a potential "bloodbath" over DreamWorks-developed projects under the just-ended Par deal. What would Spielberg attempt...
- 9/25/2008
- by By Jay A. Fernandez and Borys Kit
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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