the tripods series 2

The story of "The Tripods" is loosely based on the concept presented in "The War of the World" (the novel, not the radioplay nor the movie): aliens from another world invade Earth with their three-legged war machines. Unlike H G Wells original, the aliens in The Tripods do not succumb to our bacteria, but eventually gains control of the world, partly because of the "cap".

The "cap" is a mind control device, installed on the top of the head, so that people become placid and peaceful and think well of the Tripods. In the first episode of the show, the effect of the cap is all to apparent as the one year older friend of Will and Henry (two of the three "boys" you remember) gets capped by a Tripod. When the process is over, the friend is distant, boring and... well, grown up, all within 24 hours. This scares the hell out of Will and Henry, who know that they will be capped next year.

About this time, they hear from Ozymandias, a vagabond, that there are uncapped free men at the White Mountain across the channel. So Will and Henry sets off on an epic journey to find the free men. That journey is covered in the first Tripods series. To Will and Henry, the fear of getting capped is basically the fear of having ones dreams and will ripped out of your head.

The "Tripods" are the giant three-legged war machines of the alien masters. Although iconic, they are not much more than a tank or a bus. The Masters are explored in the second series, as the free men tries to infiltrate one of the master's cities. The third series would presumably take the fight to the Tripods.

There are four Tripods novels, all rather short and all written under the pseudonym John Christopher. The first three were written in the sixties. "The White Mountain" roughly correlates to series one. "The City of Gold and Lead" is roughly covered in series two. The third book, "The Pool of Fire", would have been covered by series three, but BBC axed the show (and, as I gather, not from falling ratings but from a new management who didn't think that sci fi could be serious television - remember that BBC in those days were public service and not particularly interested in ratings).

"When the Tripods came" is the fourth book. It is a prequel that was written much later, late nineties I think, and it takes place in our time, roughly 100 years before the TV series and the first three books, and it ties up a lot of questions open in the first three books.

I have many fond memories of the show. It's a pity that BBC axed the show and it's a pity that series two was never released on DVD. The book - and the TV series - is a good youth story of coming of age and a nice adventure epic. But honestly, the TV series are old and it shows.