Mar 27, 2021
Out of the Unknown: Lambda 1 (2.3, BBC, 1966)
"Of course, there are other things we could talk about, if you'd prefer. The principles of Tau physics, say."
"Oh, for God's sake Eric!"
"No, seriously, I've never properly understood them. Yet they tell me that in just a few years now, Tau will have made all other forms of transport obsolete. They also tell me there are still unresolved problems to interest the psychologist."
"In Tau?"
"Well, aren't there? After all, it's something pretty new. Men have travelled over the surface of the Earth, above it, and under it, for thousands of years now; but this is the first time in human history that man has actually gone through his world."
#Out of the Unknown#Lambda 1#Colin Kapp#Single play#1966#BBC#Bruce Stewart#George Spenton Foster#Ronald Lewis#Sebastian Breaks#Charles tingwell#Kate Story#Mary Webster#Jessica Dunning#Michael Lees#Geoffrey Frederick#Geoffrey Kenion#Tony Wager#Michael Danvers Walker#Peter Fontaine#Jan Conrad#Andy Ho#Danvers Walker#Oh this is hard sci fi... Real abstract ideas time. A hell of a thing to attempt on a BBC budget and hugely demanding in terms of effects#And post production. The result is... Variable. The film inserts (mostly nightmare like hallucination sequences) are deeply impressive and#Quite unlike anything else from this era in tv; the model work however is really quite sad in its hopelessness. Ron Lewis rocks up again#This time as a steady hand as all around him succumb to panic (quite the opposite of his previous appearance). Cast are fine and the idea#At the centre of this is both fascinating and complex (and very technical; Kapp was an electrical engineer before he became a writer) but#The script is rather soggy with vague technical infodumps that become more and more confusing and the production doesn't always live up to#What the script is attempting... A good effort but shaky execution.. Still I think it'd be difficult to ever do this type of sci fi justice