So, I have a friend with Quatermass 2: Enemy from Space (1957), and Quatermass and the Pit (1967) movies, and may have a friend with Quatermass Xperiment Movie (1955) recorded. I understand the TV series expand on the Movies (Or the movies condense the Series?). How should I work these into my watching along with the TV Series (If they are available or I can find someone with recordings). This what IMDB tells me, other than 2005, which I assume is a remake Quatermass Xperiment (1953) TV Series Quatermass II (1955) TV Series Quatermass and the Pit (1958) TV Series Quatermass IV (1979) TV Series Quatermass Xperiment (1955) Movie Quatermass II: Exnemy From Space (1957) Movie Quatermass and the Pit (1967) Movie The Quatermass Conclusion (1979) Movie
I've only seen Quatermass and the Pit, both movie and TV, and both were great fun. The movie condenses a lot, of course, but is a well done production and the screenplay kept the story very well intact. The TV production fleshes out the characters far more, and gives a better ending and denouement due to having more time to work with.
There's talk of a new Quatermass movie, btw. Possibly from the revived Hammer Films. Could be interesting.
The BBC serials were the original versions, which were then remade as movies by Hammer Films (in much the same way that the first two Doctor Who Dalek serials were made into movies). Since they're two separate versions of the same stories, there's no real right order to watch them in. I suppose the ideal order would be to watch the serials first and then their remakes, so you could compare them. Unfortunately, only the first two episodes of the original Quatermass Experiment serial survive, and only in low-quality recordings. So the only full version of that story is the '55 film, which Nigel Kneale (author of the original serials) didn't care for because of the actor they cast in the lead. And the original serial was called The Quatermass Experiment; the movie remake was retitled Xperiment to advertise that it was given an X Certificate by the British Board of Film Censors (meaning only people over 16 were allowed to see it due to the horror content). The American release was called The Creeping Unknown. The second serial was Quatermass II and the second film was Quatermass 2; it was called Enemy from Space in the US. The movie version of Quatermass and the Pit was called Five Million Years to Earth in the US. The Quatermass Conclusion is not a remake like the others -- it's merely an edited-down version of the 1979 Quatermass serial for overseas release. And yes, the 2005 version was a remake of Experiment, performed live like the original serials, but restructured into a single 2-hour story (which actually only took 90-odd minutes, because the cast delivered their lines faster than expected).
That would be great, is there word of the kind of story, an original tale, or a remake of the existing stories?
I don't know. I was just reading an interview with the new head of Hammer who casually mentioned Quatermass among a list of properties they were thinking of reviving. Nothing definite, I'm afraid, and all very tentative.
I haven't seen all of them but Quatermass was awesome. Torchwood: Children of Earth owed a lot to the style of Quatermass and it's been by far the best Torchwood series to date.
Like most people my age, my first exposure to Quatermass was the 1979 serial. I was too young to watch it at the time, but it was repeated in 1984 as two feature length editions, and I saw it then. By which time, I was familiar with the story since I'd read Kneale's novel of it - although that has some divergent material. As for the first three stories, I managed to catch late night tv screenings of the three Hammer films - The Pit is the best one. I also had the three scripts, which were published in paperback in the 50s (I guess that was the equivalent of a video release in those days!) - and reissued at the time of the 1979 serial. In fact, I read them so many times, that by the time I finally got to see the original serials, I knew the dialogue off by heart! Interestingly, although Quatermass II and The Pit are pretty close translations of the tv scripts into play form, Experiment was quite drastically revised before being published. The DVD release has got pdfs of the original scripts and, though they're old and faded and rather hard to read in places, they're worth persevering with, because they reveal a lot of stuff that was omitted or altered for the published version.
I saw Quatermass and the Pit in the theaters in the early 60s. I was very young. I won it on DVD. I have not seen the TV show. Is it any good? Is it on DVD?
The original serial is apparently on YouTube. Someone posted a link to it in the "TCM genre movies" thread in this forum (since TCM showed Five Million Years to Earth last week). EDIT: Ahh, here it is:
I think I've only seen the b&w ones on late-night TV: Spoiler: Plot points the astronaut who mutates (Quatermass?); the one in Tube with martian locusts (Pit?) and the really naff but weird one in power station (Q2?) But they were all enjoyable in MST kinda way Anyone recommend any others?
The "Quatermass and the Pit" movie is in stonking full colour. It's also one of the best sci-fi films ever made. I'd say the original tv version is even better though.
I've only seen Quatermass and the Pit, which was great. I have the two surviving episodes of The Quatermass Experiment but haven't gotten round to watching them yet. Haven't seen the middle one but I hear it's the least brilliant of the trio. Seen none of the movies.
To greater or lesser degrees, all four of the Quatermass serials turn up in The X Files at one time or another...
There's also a reference to Quatermass in Rememberance Of The Daleks and Planet Of The Dead, so in a way Bernard Quatermass exists in the Doctor Who universe.
In many ways - particularly writing - the 1950s serials are far better than the films. But equally, you do have to be willing to accept production values that can seem amateurish to anyone born after 1980... or even 1960. Ironically, Quatermass and the Pit is easily the least dated production in both film and TV. (and irritatingly, the episodes of Quatermass II which would have most benefited from a bigger budget in the Tv version are effectively cut from the film version!).