Out of the Unknown: Come Buttercup, Come Daisy, Come...? is set in mid 60's Englnad where Henry Wilkes (Milo O'Shea) owns & works in a fishmongers, he lives in a nice inner city house with his pretty wife Monica (Christine Hargreaves) who seems to be suffering from severe anxiety & sporadic bouts of depression brought on from some sort of stress. Doctor Chambers (Desmond Jordan) feels that the unknown cause of this stress is the answer to curing her anxiety & depression, while questioning Monica it becomes clearer & clearer to doctor that the strange & domineering garden full of bizarre tropical plants that her husband Henry loves so much & spends so much time looking after is at the root (ha!) of all her problems. Why does Henry feed his plants diced Rabbit? Why does Henry talk to them like they are human? Why do the plants react to Henry's voice like little children wanting attention? How did the young boy injure himself & why is he now so scared of the garden? Why is there no animal life living in the garden? Who is the mysterious Mr. Pringle whom Henry brought the tropical plant seeds off? Just why is Monica so afraid of the garden?
Episode six from season of the British produced television sci-fi drama series Out of the Unknown this horticultural themed offering was directed by Paddy Russell & apart from the seemingly random & ambiguous subplot about carnivorous killer plants there's very little sci-fi or fantasy in Come, Buttercup, Come Daisy, Come...? at all & the majority of the script by Mike Watts which was one of only two original stories not adapted from a pre-existing work seems more suited for dull soap opera dramatics. While much of the first season of Out of the Unknown was blatant sci-fi being set in the distant future or in space or dealing with time travel & the like Come Buttercup, Come Daisy, Come...? was set on contemporary Earth featuring real people with real life problems like marriage difficulty, gambling issues, work problems, mental disorders & health fears with any typical overt fantasy element coming in as almost an afterthought, I suppose the makers of Come Buttercup, Come Daisy, Come...? were going for for a more down to Earth relevant approach that the viewers could relate to with a smattering of sci-fi horror to hold their interest. The little speeches that Henry has about not wanting to hurt plants & that they have feelings sound equally daft & amusingly quaint although one suspects anyone voicing such an opinion like that these days would surely be taken away in a straitjacket. Watching Come Buttercup, Come Daisy, Come...? back in 1965 when it was made it would have been contemporary & modern while watching it now in 2010 some forty five years later it's definitely now a period piece & should be treated as such since it hasn't dated well. The good little wife at home scenario this paints is rather old fashioned to be honest. The killer plant angle isn't as good as it sounds, they don't really do anything & a ending that is left wide open for interpretation doesn't help clear things up or make the point of Come Buttercup, Come daisy, Come...? any clearer.
Originally broadcast during November 1965 the illegal copies doing the rounds out there looks appalling, for instance the opening title cards are literally unreadable they are so blurred. The plants themselves look like foam & despite a few reasonable creeping vines & roots effects don't look terribly impressive. The acting is alright & the production values are decent enough even if it is a little stage play like at times.
Come Buttercup, Come Daisy, Come...? is an alright time waster, it does feature some amusing dialogue & a few killer plants but the majority of the sixty minute duration is bogged down by dull soap opera drama that isn't as interesting as the killer plants but for some reason gets much more screen time.
Episode six from season of the British produced television sci-fi drama series Out of the Unknown this horticultural themed offering was directed by Paddy Russell & apart from the seemingly random & ambiguous subplot about carnivorous killer plants there's very little sci-fi or fantasy in Come, Buttercup, Come Daisy, Come...? at all & the majority of the script by Mike Watts which was one of only two original stories not adapted from a pre-existing work seems more suited for dull soap opera dramatics. While much of the first season of Out of the Unknown was blatant sci-fi being set in the distant future or in space or dealing with time travel & the like Come Buttercup, Come Daisy, Come...? was set on contemporary Earth featuring real people with real life problems like marriage difficulty, gambling issues, work problems, mental disorders & health fears with any typical overt fantasy element coming in as almost an afterthought, I suppose the makers of Come Buttercup, Come Daisy, Come...? were going for for a more down to Earth relevant approach that the viewers could relate to with a smattering of sci-fi horror to hold their interest. The little speeches that Henry has about not wanting to hurt plants & that they have feelings sound equally daft & amusingly quaint although one suspects anyone voicing such an opinion like that these days would surely be taken away in a straitjacket. Watching Come Buttercup, Come Daisy, Come...? back in 1965 when it was made it would have been contemporary & modern while watching it now in 2010 some forty five years later it's definitely now a period piece & should be treated as such since it hasn't dated well. The good little wife at home scenario this paints is rather old fashioned to be honest. The killer plant angle isn't as good as it sounds, they don't really do anything & a ending that is left wide open for interpretation doesn't help clear things up or make the point of Come Buttercup, Come daisy, Come...? any clearer.
Originally broadcast during November 1965 the illegal copies doing the rounds out there looks appalling, for instance the opening title cards are literally unreadable they are so blurred. The plants themselves look like foam & despite a few reasonable creeping vines & roots effects don't look terribly impressive. The acting is alright & the production values are decent enough even if it is a little stage play like at times.
Come Buttercup, Come Daisy, Come...? is an alright time waster, it does feature some amusing dialogue & a few killer plants but the majority of the sixty minute duration is bogged down by dull soap opera drama that isn't as interesting as the killer plants but for some reason gets much more screen time.
