The Quatermass Experiment (2005) (TV)

User Rating:

5.0/10   

Director:

Sam Miller

Writers:

Richard Fell (adaptation)
Nigel Kneale (creator)

Release Date:

2 April 2005 (UK)

Genre:

Drama | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Plot:

A contemporary adaptation of Nigel Kneale's seminal 1953 science fiction serial. |

Plot Keywords:

Alien Possession | Rocket | Reporter | Infidelity | Spacecraft Accident

Cast

Jason Flemyng	...	Professor Bernard Quatermass
Adrian Dunbar	...	Detective Lomax
Mark Gatiss	...	John Paterson
David Tennant	...	Doctor Gordon Briscoe
Indira Varma	...	Judith Carroon
Andrew Tiernan	...	Victor Carroon (as Andy Tiernan)
Adrian Bower	...	James Fullalove
Isla Blair	...	Blaker
Paul Broughton	...	News Editor
Stephen Boxer	...	Colonel
Matthew Flynn	...	Charles Greene
Carsten Hayes	...	Ludwig Reichenheim
Jane Hill	...	Newsreader
Tracy O'Flaherty	...	Louisa Greene
Greg Sheffield	...	Boy

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

UK:12

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Trivia:

This production was originally broadcast only three weeks before the death of Sir John Mills, who had played Professor Bernard Quatermass in the ITV serial "Quatermass" (1979). His death leaves Jason Flemyng as the only one of the seven actors to have played the character who is still alive.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When they show Victor the film in the hospital, we are looking through the transparent screen towards Victor. But the countdown numbers at the start of the film appear the right way round to us so they'd be the wrong way round for those watching from the other side of the screen.

Movie Connections:

Remake of "The Quatermass Experiment" (1953)

A good attempt to recreate live SF

I can honestly say I've been a "Quatermass" fan most of my life. Ever since I saw "Quatermass Xperiment" at age eight(shown in the U.S. as "The Creeping Unknown"), I've seen and enjoyed almost all available versions of the series. If I say that this version is the weakest of the bunch, that's no slam, not at all! The acting was first-rate, the adaption nearly so; the only flaw here is one that almost everyone on the site mentions--the production budget. If BBC 4 needs a benchmark of how little money they can get away with spending to make a good SF thriller, this is the breaker. Even a brief look at the metamorphosed Caroon in the museum would been better than what we were supposed to have seen over the television monitors(that was fiberglass insulation being shaken by off-camera grips, to portray the "alien fungi", right? In soft-focus? That was pretty sad). To quote the late, great Casey Stengel, "Eventually, you've got to sell some steak along with the sizzle!" I hope that when they re-make "Quatermass 2", they give it a *slightly* bigger budget. Hell, I know _I'd_ watch it.