The Tripods BBC TV series undergoing treatment

Another childhood series is making its way to the big screen. The TV adaptation of The Tripods was something I watched with glee and much unease when I was a kid, it was a series that really did hit me as one of the first programs to play around with my emotions so easily. Parts of it were genuinely terrifying, and the series was utterly compelling.

Now, according to Coming Soon, it’s moving to the big screen with a promising name behind it:

Australian-born director Gregor Jordan (Buffalo Soldiers, Ned Kelly) will rewrite and direct the adaptation of John Christopher’s The Tripods Trilogy for Touchstone Pictures, reports Variety.

…and for those of you not familiar with the storyline:

…set in the 21st century…Tripods have conquered Earth and enslaved the human race by implanting a mind-controlling device in the heads of everyone over 15. The books tell the story of a boy and two of his friends who race to overthrow the Tripods before they must undergo the capping ritual.

The capping ritual was where the villagers would sit and watch as the teenager would stand beneath a tripod and its mechanical arm would lift them inside. When they were returned they had the device planted onto their heads and would obey the Tripods as slaves. An eerie scene to watch on television when you were of the same age and undergoing the same process through schooling and the adults around you.

Would you believe that the books were first published in 1967? Incredible for me to realise that looking back on the BBC series now. Please Mr Jordan, treat it well.

** Update **
Empire are just carrying this story with a couple of additions that are quite interesting. Apparently this is an old project with an existing script which Jordan (Director, not the model) will rewrite (something I didn’t know). They hint that the plan is to film all three books as a trilogy – now before anyone gets on their high horses, I mean as three separate movies, I realise the three books are already a trilogy!