[19] The budget was £1.25 million (£7.22 million in 2020), making it one of the most expensive undertakings Euston had attempted at that time. Quatermass (also known as Quatermass IV, or The Quatermass Conclusion for its intended international theatrical release) is a British television science fiction serial produced by Euston Films for Thames Television and broadcast on the ITV network in October and November 1979. [19] Kneale disliked the depiction of the Planet People, as his inspiration had been angry punks rather than hippies (as evidenced by his portrayal of Kickalong as a gun-toting lunatic who commits multiple motiveless murders). This product uses the TMDb API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDb. [7] Writing in the listings magazine TV Times to promote the serial, Kneale said, "Quatermass is a story of the future – but perhaps only a few years from now. Quatermass EZTV Series. [39], The story was novelised by Nigel Kneale, his first book since his Somerset Maugham Award-winning short story collection Tomato Cain was published in 1949. A team of scientists search for the origin and purpose of a mysterious capsule found on a building site. Pavements littered with rubbish. Kapp attempts to repair his equipment in order to contact the alien presence, but the Planet People destroy his efforts. It was this version of the story with which Kneale was most pleased. [2], The notion of bringing Professor Quatermass back for a fourth adventure dated back to at least 1965 when producer Irene Shubik asked Kneale to contribute a new Quatermass story for the first season of the science fiction anthology series, Out of the Unknown. Questa pagina è stata modificata per l'ultima volta il 9 dic 2018 alle 13:34. [21] The reviewer in The Daily Telegraph found Professor Quatermass "far too unheroic and unresourceful to carry much interest" while The Times found the serial to be "a so-so affair". In this version, the character is played by John Mills. 6 of 11 people found this review helpful. Young people are forming gangs and dominating the wrecks of cities like London. A young man, Paul Carlson, is on a trip and spends the night at Count Dracula's castle. Official Sites Twenty years after Quatermass And The Pit aired on the BBC, Nigel Kneale's creation Professor Bernard Quatermass returned to television screen (albeit on BBC's competition ITV) yet again. [21] Episode two was promoted in the TV Times with a full-page article by Kneale introducing the new series and looking back on the original 1950s serials, as well as a lifestyle piece with Barbara Kellerman moving house, while episode four was promoted with a full-page profile of John Mills. [29] She died in 2007. (uncredited), executive in charge of production (4 episodes, 1979), second assistant director (4 episodes, 1979), third assistant director (unknown episodes), construction coordinator (4 episodes, 1979), follow focus cameramen (4 episodes, 1979), first assistant editor (4 episodes, 1979). [13][16] Kneale was dubious about having to craft both a television serial version and a film version of his tale, feeling that "in the end we had two versions, neither of which was the right length for the story". The series begins with Professor Quatermass arriving in London to look for his granddaughter, Hettie Carlson, and witnessing the destruction of two spacecraft and the disappearance of a group of Planet People at a stone circle by an unknown force. [6] Much of the setting for the story was influenced by contemporary political events such as strikes, power cuts, the oil crisis and developments in the space race, especially the planned Apollo-Soyuz missions and Skylab. The hippy-like youth culture is an embarassing stereotype which was probably out-of-place even when it was made, and the pessimistic outlook (common in early 70's sci-fi) had been supplanted and outmoded by the Flash Gordon-style antics of Star Wars and it's ilk.But it's ultimate failing was it's inability to capture the wonder and horror of its TV predecessors - I still find the original tv version of Quatermass and the Pit utterly chilling. [26] Commenting on the script, Haggard described it as "a tremendous re-assertion of the importance of people, ordinary people, and how necessary they are in fighting evil". [4] Production designer Arnold Chapkis constructed several large and elaborate sets, including those for the megalithic standing stones at Ringstone Round, the Kapps' radio telescope and observatory, and the decaying urban landscape of London; Kneale quipped about the radio telescope set that "it probably would have worked if they'd just aimed it properly!". It's very much a story of Age versus Youth and significantly it's the older people who are impervious to the malign alien influence". [17] During the rewrites, Kneale transplanted the action at the conclusion of part three from Stonehenge to the more easily available Wembley Stadium. | [21] Unlike the original BBC Quatermass serials, which had used stock music tracks, the new serial had a specially composed soundtrack by Marc Wilkinson and Nic Rowley which made particular use of the nursery rhyme "Huffity, Puffity, Ringstone Round" devised by Kneale in his scripts. It may be black and white, stilted in its way, studio bound and overlong, but the revelation of its central idea sends a shiver up my spine just thinking about it. [4] Again, this did not progress beyond the initial negotiation stage. Since then, we'd seen 'flower power' and hippies, so all I did was bring them into the story. [3] Nothing came of this but the prospect of Quatermass making a reappearance arose again when, following the success of the film version of Quatermass and the Pit in 1967, Hammer announced it was in discussions with Kneale for a new Quatermass adventure. Elsewhere, the devastated Kapp is left alone in the ruins of his cottage and observatory. [41] In July 2015, Network Distributing released the series on Blu-ray disc for the first time, and simultaneously released the series as a remastered DVD set. Prior to Quatermass, he had directed the acclaimed Dennis Potter drama serial Pennies from Heaven (1978). [14] When asked about what differences there were between the Euston Films version and the version originally envisaged for the BBC, Kneale remarked that "the BBC version would have been much more in the studio, whereas the Euston Films version was entirely shot on 35mm film with a great deal of it outside. In January 2015, BBC Radio 2 broadcast an interview with Hammer Films CEO Simon Oaks, which included news of the development of a new Quatermass series for television. When one of them goes missing, the other begins to search for her. In un prossimo futuro una buona parte dei giovani è attratta da un culto religioso, il "Planet People", che li convince a radunarsi presso antichi siti archeologici quali Stonehenge, con la convinzione che da lì sarà trasportata su di un altro pianeta dove potrà vivere una vita migliore. But the strangest Earth children are the "Planet People", following plumb-bobs to sacred sites, waiting to be "taken up". A separate screenplay by Nigel Kneale for theaters, parallel to the 1979 Quatermass four part mini-series. Visit our page and we'll give you one. At the hospital, the doctors are shocked when Isabel levitates off her bed and explodes in a cloud of dust. He investigates this force, believing that Hettie may be in danger. [37] He was similarly unimpressed with Simon MacCorkindale, noting that "We had him in Beasts playing an idiot and he was very good at that". Nel frattempo Kneale venne persuaso a tornare a lavorare per la BBC, scrivendo alcune sceneggiature quali: The Year of the Sex Olympics (1968), Wine of India (1970) e The Stone Tape (1972). Russian plot? Looking for something to watch? | [35] This view is echoed by filmmaker John Carpenter who said, "Nigel was very embittered about the way of the world, as was shown, I think, in The Quatermass Conclusion". In dystopian Britain, Professor Quatermass realises that alien intelligence lies behind mass youth disappearance. [2], ITV intended Quatermass to air in September 1979 as the flagship of its autumn season; advertising posters announced, "Earth's dark ancestral forces awaken to a summons from beyond the stars. Belfast black with smoke and rage. The scripts were taken by Euston Films and Kneale, then working for Independent Television, was commissioned to rewrite the scripts into two versions: a four-part television serial and The Quatermass Conclusion, a 100-minute film, intended for international theatrical release. View production, box office, & company info. He then returned to the United Kingdom, where he played the character of Harry Harper in Casualty between 2002 and 2008. [20] Post-production was completed in mid-February 1979. He is murdered. Quatermass Conclusion - La Terra esplode (Quatermass) è una miniserie televisiva britannica di fantascienza in quattro episodi da 60' ciascuno diretta da Piers … [32], Following Quatermass, writer Nigel Kneale developed the sitcom Kinvig (1981) for London Weekend Television. [2], L'idea di riportare in televisione il personaggio del professor Quatermass per una quarta avventura, si deve alla produttrice Irene Shubik che, nel 1965, chiese a Kneale di scrivere una nuova storia per la prima stagione della sua serie antologica di fantascienza, Out of the Unknown.