Continuing my bleeding-edge of nerd culture theme, I've written for Den of Geek about the legacy of Quatermass, and how much British sci-fi TV owes to someone who, frankly, despised it: www.denofgeek.com/tv/quatermas... - ThreadSky

thebrainofchris.bsky.social • 7 days ago

Continuing my bleeding-edge of nerd culture theme, I've written for Den of Geek about the legacy of Quatermass, and how much British sci-fi TV owes to someone who, frankly, despised it: https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/quatermass-the-show-that-defined-uk-sci-fi-tv/

Comments

freeebooter.bsky.social•3 days ago

This show, and subsequent Hammer film, terrified me when I first saw it. They still make me break out in a cold swear like the one the copper gets in the Hob(b)'s End house. Kneale was such a complex character, blighted by a general bitterness at how his career developed, and yet he was a visionary.

freeebooter.bsky.social•3 days ago

Sweat! Grr

lostinmilbury.bsky.social•7 days ago

Great article!

alasdairstuart.com•7 days ago

EXCELLENT job:) I got myself the new version of The Stone Tape and the documentry on there marks a real sea change in how Kneale's perceived. The estate has always given the impression that he didn't like being notionally Manx. The documentary could be called 'Nigel Kneale: Manx as fuck.'

accordingtojond.bsky.social•7 days ago

@mrgeetsromo.bsky.social, they’re singing your song.

alasdairstuart.com•7 days ago

It's 20 straight minutes of 'Oh it's a bit weird here.' and me going 'YEP! YEP IT IS!' 'Kneale found his interest in genre fiction on this small, often motorbike soaked rock.' 'HE ISN'T THE ONLY ONE, MOTHERFUCKER!'

alasdairstuart.com•7 days ago

A few years ago I was trying to get a Professor Challenger's granddaughter thing off the ground. One iteration of it was 'Rebecca Quatermass, government science yeller, must work with her ex, freelance science yeller Victoria Quatermass to find out why a piece of Scotland has gone very weird.'

thebrainofchris.bsky.social•7 days ago

This sounds like 100% a thing that should exist in a just and fair universe.

alasdairstuart.com•7 days ago

Thanks buddy! A variant of it, unfortunately Quatermass-less, probably will:)

thebrainofchris.bsky.social•7 days ago

I have also done my bit to add to the QEU...

pgbellwriter.bsky.social•7 days ago

A great piece, and peculiarly apt as I sit down to start outlining a near-future techno-thriller.

thebrainofchris.bsky.social•7 days ago

Nigel Kneale is the only writer who gets to do his space aliens and satirical future dystopias spiel while wanking on about how much he hates sci-fi. I have decreed it.

englishmansdcc.bsky.social•7 days ago

Great article - shame you skip smartly over the 1979 series, I have an awful lot of love for John Mills' QM. And the prickly Kneale paperback still holds prime space on my bookshelf.

thebrainofchris.bsky.social•7 days ago

Yeah it was a bit of a whistle stop tour I'm afraid. Didn't find room to talk about the radio play, or the proposed Quatermass in WW II prequel either sadly.

englishmansdcc.bsky.social•7 days ago

Might rewatch the remake today - couple of hiccups in there but charming for them nonetheless. Thanks for the inspiration to do so (I'll save QM '79 for the weekend, that's a bit heavy going for midweek).

ewacat.bsky.social•7 days ago

co-signed, no one else can get away with it and still create something worth a damn

jpbradley.bsky.social•7 days ago

I'll take Kneale's disdain for science-fiction over every literary writer who comes in convinced they've 'redeemed' the genre.

danwhitehead.net•7 days ago

There are paperback editions of Kneale's original Quatermass scripts, with introductions by Kneale himself, and they are every bit as hilariously salty and cranky as you'd expect.

danwhitehead.net•7 days ago

The Doctor Who episode "Hide" was originally supposed to be a crossover, with Dougray Scott as Quatermass, but they couldn't get permission from Kneale's estate. You can see it as Matt Smith's Doctor geeks out meeting this guy, in a way that suggests we're supposed to know who he is by name.

angrydigit.bsky.social•7 days ago

Makes perfect sense, a homage to Kneale

thebrainofchris.bsky.social•7 days ago

Oh man! Can't believe I didn't know that!
Still, I could have filled the entire article exclusively with "Things Doctor Who has filched from Quatermass" and still have a whole bunch of unused material left over.

danwhitehead.net•7 days ago

The story itself is much more indebted to The Stone Tape, but it's a fun rewatch if you pretend it's Quatermass.

thebrainofchris.bsky.social•7 days ago

Yeah, The Stone Tape parallels were writ large (and obviously Gatiss is a massive fan) but now you've pointed it out that Quatermass similarities are a massive flashing neon sign.

danwhitehead.net•7 days ago

It's clear they've dropped in an all-new history for "Professor Palmer" to explain the Doctor's enthusiasm, but the unusual effusiveness with which he greets him (even for Smith's upbeat Doctor) really only makes sense if he's Quatermass.

thebrainofchris.bsky.social•7 days ago

"Massive." 🤔

swaefastide.bsky.social•7 days ago

Barbara! PHONE THE INSTITUTE!!!

squadronuk.bsky.social•7 days ago

Britain, The BBC and Nigel Kneale showed the world you can do good Science Fiction without a budget and special effects but with good writing, good acting and inventive production.

Bravo!

(My fave is the film version of QM2. The world’s biggest Chekhov’s gun. TV’s QM2 jumped the shark.)

squadronuk.bsky.social•7 days ago

The live broadcast remake of The Quatermass Experiment on BBC4 was a stunning event if you can find a recorded copy. That’s probably my favourite version of that story.

The Hammer version of The Pit is good but the original BBC version is probably best.

lordfishface.bsky.social•7 days ago

Elizabeth Sandifer had some clever things to say about how Quatermass is and (more importantly) isn’t reflected in early Who: https://www.eruditorumpress.com/blog/pop-between-realities-home-in-time-for-tea-2-quatermass

thebrainofchris.bsky.social•7 days ago

Ooh! That's some lunchtime reading sorted then!

lordfishface.bsky.social•7 days ago

She also wrote amusingly scathingly about the 1979 one with John Mills: https://www.eruditorumpress.com/blog/pop-between-realities-home-in-time-for-tea-24-quatermass-day-of-the-triffids-blakes-7-buck-rogers-in-the-25th-century-alien-sapphire-and-steel

peigibheag.bsky.social•7 days ago

I loved the films so much, they were class.

pennicat.bsky.social•7 days ago

I love Den of Geek, whose editor Rosie Fletcher is fabulous.

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