matt’s

Since a blog looks so much better when you have some images and stuff in it (see mattins blog for example), I thought I could post a YouTube video. Unfortunately though this requires writing a bit about it in the first place.

When I was a child I used to watch a TV show, “The Tripods” or “Die dreibeinigen Herrscher” in German, on German TV channel ZDF in 1984 and 1986, each Thursday at 16 o’clock right after the news show “Logo”. I clearly remember those days because there was no program which had such an impact on me like this one. I was absolutely thrilled.

The story goes like that: In a not so far future, the world is attacked and taken over by aliens which use huge three-legged machines to travel on Earth. Every human gets “capped” by the aliens when he turns fourteen, which means he gets a little metal plate implanted into his head which controls ones behavior. People lose their aggression but they also lose their creativity and curiosity which throws them back to the early industrial age. The capping day is a ceremonial occasion and most children are happily looking forward to being capped, but two young boys decide to escape. The story tells their adventurous getaway from the English island over the channel to France where they meet a new friend and finally to a place which no Tripod can reach: the White Mountains, the Alps, to team up with the Free Men and to fight against the Tripods.

(Click on “Continue reading” below to read on.)

Will, one of the three protagonists, lives in a small village in England and gets observed by Ozymandius who pretends to be a vagrant, a person who became mad because the capping procedure did not succeed. Actually Ozymandius is a recruiter from the White Mountains who’s not capped at all. He searches for new candidates to join the Free Men and eventually convinces Will to flee. When he prepares his provision, Will gets caught by his cousin, Henry, who joins him.

The show is (sometimes very laxly) based on three books written by John Christopher (which is a pseudonym of English author Christopher Samuel Youd) and was produced by the BBC in the early eighties. Unfortunately, the third and last book was never transformed, so the story remains unresolved for those who only saw it on TV. Moreover, there is a fourth book which precedes the story and resolves how the Tripods came to Earth. If you like the story, you should really consider reading it - the English original version is quite easy to read since it was written for children -, and if you prefer to listen to it, there is a German audio book available, too.

The great music was written by Ken Freeman. As a boy, I especially loved the closing theme. Whenever an episode was over, I listened to the music and looked out of the window to the forrests, scanning the horizon for a Tripod to arrive. It gave me the creeps each time back then and it also did when I heard the music again years later.

Reportedly the rights were sold to Disney. Year by year rumors come up that a Tripods movie will be produced. I really hope that this show will experience a revivial, although I do not think that it can catch the special charm it had back in 1984/86.

There are more episodes available at YouTube. If you don’t mind to see some spoilers and want to get an impression how the story continues you could have a look of a great three minutes clip with even more great music by Ken Freeman.

Great memories.

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