My first exposure to the exploits of Professor Bernard Quatermass was the apocalyptic Quatermass in 1979, which I've already discussed at length.Originally created by writer Nigel Kneale in the paranoia-fuelled 1950s, Quatermass - an intellectual professor defending the Earth from extraterrestrial threats through the use of brains rather than brawn - is an obvious precursor of The Doctor (who shares many of the same traits and convictions, despite being an alien himself).
Kneale wrote three original Quatermass serials for television: The Quatermass Experiment (an astronaut returning to Earth unknowingly carrying an alien creature which is continually mutating); Quartermass II (aliens take over a research plant on the South Coast); and Quatermass And The Pit (workmen in London unearth an old, crashed spaceship and release 'psychic ghosts').
I discovered all three of these stories through Arrow's script books, published in the late '70s, almost certainly released to cash in on Quatermass, and while I have yet to actually see the original BBC broadcasts, I've managed to catch the Hammer remakes of The Quatermass Experiment (which has a lot of simularities to Doctor Who's The Lazarus Experiment) and Quatermass And The Pit.
Quatermass II sounds like a Jon Pertwee-era Doctor Who story and Quatermass And The Pit, my favourite of the original trilogy, would work with any incarnation of The Doctor as an investigation into a mysterious, ancient, alien lifeform found buried on Earth.
The Quatermass Memoirs is a double-CD from the BBC's Classic Radio Sci-Fi series of CD releases.
It is a five-part documentary about the origins of the character, intercut with genuine 1950s news broadcasts, exerpts from the original serials, recollections and anecdotes from Nigel Kneale and an original mini-play by Kneale, set in the 1970s, wherein Bernard Quatermass, having retired to the wilds of Scotland (as mentioned at the start of Quatermass), discusses his life with a young journalist.
The Memoirs were first broadcast as part of a season about 'The Fifties' on Radio 3 in 1996, and while some of the old news clips are a bit scratchy, the whole drama-documentary is an informative, inspirational and terrifying reflection of a time when the world was gripped by fear of nuclear holocaust.
Quatermass And The Pit, my favourite of the original trilogy, would work with any incarnation of The Doctor as an investigation into a mysterious, ancient, alien lifeform found buried on Earth.
ReplyDeleteHave you forgotten The Daemons? ;)
As for The Lazarus Experiment, I think the homages there were deliberate too, as well as a sly Spider-Man reference in the finale.
"Have you forgotten The Daemons? ;)"
ReplyDeleteI'm ashamed to say I had :(
Tsk tsk! :P
ReplyDeleteI'm not hugely fond of The Daemons as I think there's a bit too much in there (The Master doesn't need to be involved, for example), but the Quatermass-flavoured stuff is a good fit for the Doctor, as you suggest above.