BBC Links - The Day of The Triffids

[fiat_knox]

The Day of The Triffids - Episode 1

If you're outside the UK, this might not play for you, which is seriously yah boo sucks. I hate when a TV company gets all regional like this, because it robs the company of the chance to sell its products to foreign audiences for the sake of giving the local crowd exclusive access.

Anywaqys, if the link does play, go for it. It's Brilliant. It's also a two - parter, with Ep 2 tonight. Eddie Izzard and Vanessa Redgrave star in it.

Comments

[the-magician.livejournal.com]

because it robs the company of the chance to sell its products to foreign audiences

I think that for BBC programmes, it's precisely the opposite. They want to sell their programmes, either to BBC America (with ads!) or to other regional broadcasters (like Australia, Canada, Spain etc.)

And in some cases it's licensing. For example, when The Young Ones was shown first in the US, they cut out all the bands playing because the licensing for the music would have be be negotiated separately as the BBC pays for a blanket licence for music for TV broadcast in the UK. (At least that's how I understand things, I've been wrong before ...)

[fiat-knox.livejournal.com]

Most shows sell abroad through word of mouth. Twenty years ago, shows like Star Trek: TNG crossed the pond in bootleg videos and, later, DVDs. Word of mouth was a strong promoter: far more effective than today's carefully stage - managed global releases.

It still is far more effective in promoting a good show than any of the usual marketing techniques. Companies need to leak previews of shows to foreign audiences, just to gauge their reaction. It seems to me that too many times, a show folds mid-season because the company has stopped listening to the grapevine audience and listened only to their own incestuous little focus groups.

But that's just my opinion. Regardless, what do you think of this adaptation of the Wyndham novel?

[the-magician.livejournal.com]

There are indeed leaked copies of shows (usually episodes of series) that are used to prime the market (or so I believe) but the main sales are done at big industry conferences, in places like Cannes.

Nowadays I get most of my US TV via torrents, and then sometimes buying the DVD boxset.

Most of the series that fold in the US mid-season do so because their audience figures drop below some threshold which means the advertising revenue is lower than the programme costs (plus a profit margin) ... sometimes if they are close to the syndication episode count, they will run a few extra episodes so that they can sell the entire series to cable or to make up a full season box set.

It's been so long since I've read the Wyndham, I can't really talk about the adaptation. However I felt the plants in this version were silly, Eddie Izzard was menacing (though the lifejackets bit was unlikely to the point that my credulity snapped), and between the voice over and the continual focussing on the street sign, it was obviously aimed at people with lower intelligence and attention span.

And *why* did every London policeman have a gun? What happened to change the world that much? It can't have been the Triffids or the win against climate change ... so why are they armed? Perhaps we'll find out in the next episode ...

... but those plants were still 1980s Doctor Who at best.

The long shots of London etc. were nicely done.

But I would have thought there would/should have been a lot more sighted people left (students, tube workers, tube riders, doctors in operating theatres, night workers) ... and that the obvious places to loot wouldn't be *a* pub and *a* warehouse, but supermarkets, DIY shops, pharmacies etc.

The acting was good enough though.