Friday, 25 September 2015

The Tripods (1984) Episode 12


 
The boys are on trial even though it is clearly understood that they will be capped regardless of the verdict. Their situation appears to have been made worse when Daniel arrives, and the council releases the teenagers to the Black Guard, who is returning back to central headquarters, where it is again understood they will be capped.

 
JL - Christ, we're five minutes in and it's been pure padding.

 
JL - Pig flaps hat lady is stern. She can drop the attitude, she hasn't even got a speaking part.
 
 
 
 
JL - Daniel turns up, just to be a sly little bitch.

 
IB - This is so boring. Will gives a very badly acted speech that the French Guy repeats in his own language. Word for word.

 
IB - Perhaps the bad acting is intentional, and is therefore good?

 
JL - Silence! I hate existentialism.
 

IB - 'You are subversives!'

 
JL - Always!
 

IB - Prince Harry's in the crowd. The town architecture is great. I wonder where it was filmed.
 

JL - Try Tripod-pedia.

 
Placed in a cage on the back of a horse-driven cart they manage to overpower Daniel and on the way back to Black Guard headquarters, and leave for their real destination: The White Mountains.

 
IB - Beanpole tried his best to be nicey-nicey in French: 'nous sommes amis, oui?'


JL - Er, no. Daniel's staying quiet.

 
IB - That's brutal! They garrotte Daniel against the bars of their cage while the music swells to emphasise.

 
JL - Bon D'accord, mon ami! It's ok, they got his key so they didn't have to go all the way and behead him. It is a kid's show.

 
IB - Nothing is ever made of whether the Vichot family suffered for helping the runaways when the Black Guard boyfriend got rescued.
 

JL - If he did. He could still be there, all emaciated in that cart. Just good looking bones.
 

IB - Henry is unaware he's started a fire in a room full of gasoline.
 

JL - It's like those cartoons with 'acme' stamped on the side of a rocket. Labelled for the viewer. They certainly manage to distract the Tripod with a huge explosion. What's going on all of a sudden? There's a plot, and things happening, and not a turban in sight.
 
 
 

With only two days left before they can reach the Resistance hideaway, they begin to doubt if they will ever make it, or if there really is a group of Free Men waiting for them. Travelling through the rubble of an old village, they see a mine car and get in it for a ride downhill through a trench, not seeing what is at the end of the line: a Tripod waiting menacingly that does not witness their approach.

 
JL - Henry's being a Debbie Downer. He's come all this way and only now does he doubt the Freemen even exist. Clever.
 

JL - Christ, not another chemin de ferre.
 

IB - How the hell did they not see that Tripod standing there from miles away?
 

JL - 'Like a fat man a Tripod cannot see his feet' Talking of fat, there's only one man for the job then!



 
The boys wait to see if the machine will move, but it never does and with them now freezing in the cold weather they put together a plan. One of the Tripod's feet is hanging precariously over soft rock near the trench, and by setting off below the Tripods foot the grenades they picked up in Paris they can cause it to fall over. The plan works, and after the machine topples a glowing green door opens, so Henry throws their last grenade inside, causing a green slime to ooze out.

 
IB - Henry builds on his Superman pose in the rail cart and actually becomes a super hero. This sequence is brilliant. Notice how awesome the trio are compared to when they first met.
 

IB - And so we see the metal eggs from earlier in use. A green liquid oozes out of the open hatch. Bits of Master? Henry says he saw a face.

 
JL - Considering series two, he must have been hallucinating.

 
IB - 'They carry people!'

 
JL - Yeah, weird people made out of green goo.

 
IB - 'you saved us, Henry!' Yes, 'I suppose I did' (smile) Bless!

 
On the run again they finally see the White Mountain - just before a whole legion of Tripods head in their direction.
 

IB - The White Mountain! Hooray! Success! Shaking of hands! It's all jolly decent.

 
JL - And then - oh noes! Loads of Tripods! Red ones with laser cannons! Wicked! This is the most action intensive episode so far.
 

IB - Is the red Tripod the equivalent of a Special Weapons Dalek? Or precursor, seeing as this came first and Who ripped off the idea.

 
JL - These twelve episodes have flown by, which is a good sign you're enjoying something... or not paying full attention.

 


 
 

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