The Day of the Triffids (2009)

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General		Extras
Category	Sci-Fi Action	Deleted Scenes
Rating
Year Of Production	2009
Running Time	178:19
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (3:46)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Nick Copus
Studio Distributor	Power Anchor Bay Entertainment	Starring	Dougray Scott Joely Richardson Eddie Izzard Brian Cox Vanessa Redgrave Jason Priestly
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	Rental	Music	Alan D. Boyd

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (256Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    The Day of the Triffids, a science fiction novel by John Wyndham has been adapted for movies and television three times including a 1962 film starring Howard Keel, a 1981 mini-series and now this latest mini-series adaptation made last year in 2009 for British/Canadian television. This one takes a slightly different tack to the others; it is set in the near future and the Triffids have been found in Zaire's jungles some years before and have been used by mankind to solve global warming. The Triffids produce oil which is used as a substitute for fossil fuels. For those who are not aware, the Triffids are large meat-eating plants which can move under their own steam and can poison people. They have been kept confined so that they cannot move or eat people. The males are also kept segregated from the females to avoid the plants spawning. This works fine until the day some spectacular solar flares see most of the world's population blinded. This combined with some environment guerrilla tactics results in the Triffids getting free and starting to feed on humans.

    There are very few sighted people left, some who decide to try to fight the Triffids and help those without sight and others who decide to try and turn the situation to their own advantage. The key sighted characters are

• Dr Bill Masen (Dougray Scott) - A scientist whose mother was killed by Triffids and has spent his life to date trying to understand them. Lucky enough to be in hospital with his eyes bound during the solar flares.

• Jo Playton (Joely Richardson) - A radio reporter who was covering the solar flares but had been asked to go down into the underground to see why people down there were not interested.

• Torrence (Eddie Izzard) - A self serving criminal who survives a plane crash and decides to use the situation to his own advantage.

• Dennis Masen (Brian Cox) - Bill's father, who is also a scientist studying Triffids. They have been estranged for a number of years.

• Durrant (Vanessa Redgrave) - An aging nun running a country abbey who has an interesting way of dealing with the Triffids.

• Mgr Coker (an almost unrecognisable Jason Priestly) - An air force officer who tries to help the blind to survive.

    This is a high quality television production with some great effects and a excellent cast of British actors. The show is well written keeping the story moving along well, building the tension through the nearly three hour running time (over two episodes). There were some occasional moments when you were asking yourself 'Why would they do that?' but not enough for it really to spoil the show. Dougray Scott did well as the angsty lead, Joely Richardson was believable as Jo and Eddie Izzard was suitably oily and crazy.

    The presentation on DVD is exactly as it was shown on television including the next time on and previously on sections.

    Recommended.

Video

    The feature is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1. It is 16x9 enhanced widescreen. This is the original aspect ratio.

    The picture was reasonably clear and sharp throughout although there was some grainy sequences such as at 8:02 and also some background macro-blocking such as at 49:10. The shadow detail is average probably partially driven by the naturalistic lighting choices.

    The colour was quite good but the colour scheme reflects the downbeat nature of the show.

    There was also some minor aliasing such as at 7:20 and 41:09 in episode 2.

    There are no subtitles which is annoying as some of the dialogue is hard to work out.

    There is a layer change at 3:46 in episode 2 which is not very noticeable.
    

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio is very good except for the dialogue.

    This DVD contains two audio options, an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack encoded at 448Kb/s and an English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack encoded at 256Kb/s. The 2.0 track is the default so you need to actually choose the 5.1 to get it. Both are pretty good, but the 5.1 has quite a bit of surround usage.

    Dialogue is a bit difficult, with a combination of mumbling especially from Dougray Scott and dialogue being of too low volume. The subtitles are sorely missed at times..

    The dramatic score by Alan Boyd is surprisingly good for a television production adding significantly to the atmosphere of dread.

    The surround speakers are well used for music, rain, directional voices, explosions, gunfire and Triffid squelching.

    The subwoofer was also quite well used for explosions and the music.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

    The menu is still and silent.

Deleted Scenes (0:59, 1:34, 0:35, 0:30, 0:49, 1:32) 

    Six short deleted and extended scenes are included some of which do not have completed effects. Not much here really.

    It seems that our local disc is exactly the same as Disc 1 of the Region 2, 2 Disc set. The second disc in Region 2 includes a making of documentary and interviews with all the major cast members. The Region 2 is the pick. This show is also available locally on Blu-ray.

    The video quality is good.

    The audio quality is very good except for the dialogue.

    Only some deleted scenes in the extras department.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall