Even the author thought this was a ridiculous addition. I'm watching it 25 years after its creation and it's dated and a bit slow and has some weird changes. But the 'family of girls' bit really derailed the series. What were they thinking?
Possibly they were thinking 'How can we pad this rather short book out, so that it's 13 episodes long?' Just a thought....I still think 'The Tripods' could work as a pair of movies.
Whit sad old loser'd be thick enough to don thon get-up?
I remember the sequence where Beanpole and the girl lovingly gaze at each other when they`re ploughing the field or something-er yuk!
shareThey added that because they needed to have a place for Will to get better after Beanpole cut out the button. In the book, they just find the herb that heals wounds.
shareEvery time they deviated from the books they made the show worse.
shareI'm halfway through series two at the moment. the "family of girls" bit is a lot less boring than the "castle" bit.
The family of girls bit had a lot of fun with the mother (very likeable), giving insight into life before the Tripods (a grampohone, etc) and different "levels" of vagrancy. Will they stay over winter, or won't they? Will the boyfriend denounce them to the Tripods?
The castle bits were just boring, without those redeeming features. Arguments between the various boys. Obvious "baddie" stuff from the spurned boyfriend.
I didn't realise the "family of girls" was an add-on. Much better than some bits that were actually in the book, it seems ...
Maybe they were overcompensating for the fact that there weren't that many female characters in the books?
When reading the books (not counting When the Tripods Came), you get the impression that the resistance group in the White Mountains doesn't include any females. At any rate, there is no mention of them. But it's logical that there would be some, as we saw in the TV series.
When Will becomes a slave in the Tripods' City (in the book), we learn from Will's Master that females are preserved in the Pyramid of beauty. This is also the case in the TV version, but we learn from Will's predecessor that women are also responsible for the cooking, the cleaning and the nursing.
It seems quite out of kilter when will and beanpole and seduced by the daughters eastender's "fat" pat: almost sordid?!
shareI think you forget that the original series of books was written at a time when there was a clear separation of the sexes for much of children's literature (mid to late 1960's). Also, the main characters are only 13 or 14 years old so sex (presumably) hasn't reared it's ugly head either to those characters or their target audience which (I must assume) was supposed to be under that age group. It's probably why shows like Jonny Quest also didn't have many female characters, because it was a boy's adventure show. It wasn't meant to appeal to girls...
shareEven the relationship between Will and Eloise is not the same as in the book. In the book, they are more friends, not falling in love, like on the series.
share