From the BBC Television version

SOURCE: The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham (1954)

DESCRIPTION:"...He gave curious, if not very penetrative, attention to the three small, bare sticks which grew straight up beside the stem. He smoothed the short sprays of leathery green leaves between his finger and thumb as if their texture might tell him something. Then he peered into the curious, funnel-like formation at the top of the stem, still puffing reflectively, but inconclusively, through his mustache. I remember the first time he lifted me up to look inside that conical cup and see the tightly wrapped whorl within, It looked not unlike the new, close-rolled frond of a fern, emerging a couple of inches from a sticky mess in the base of the cup. I did not touch it, but I knew the stuff must be sticky because there were flies and other small insects struggling in it. " (The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham)

NOTES: Triffids are man-made, intelligent plants with long 12 foot stingers. Their poison is deadly to humans. The humans created the triffids for their oil which can be used to stretch petroleum farther. When falling stars burn out the retinae of the human race the blind make easy prey for the triffids. Simon Clark wrote a sequel, The Night of the Triffids (2001) in which the basic triffids over run the continents then mutate into an aquatic species and a giant species.

HISTORY: The triffids are man-made in the novel but Hollywood is never easy with long explanations so in1962 they just had the triffids come from outer space. And had them die when sprayed with sea water. maybe Howard Keel should have just sung "Oklahoma" to them. The 1981 BBC television version was lower budget but spot-on and still the best version.

1962 Film Poster

INTERESTING LINK

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