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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 8563420" data-attributes="member: 27780">Polyhedron Issue 93: March 1994part 5/5Into The Dark: James goes for a highly specific theme this time, with a deep dive on The Quatermass Experiment series. Originally TV serials, then adapted into films, they're a fairly dark set of sci-fi mysteries where clever science is as much a cause of humanity's problems as it is a solution. The kind of thing that might seem slow and clunky compared to what you can do with modern editing and special effects, but still have plenty of thought-provoking ideas. Well worth looking at to see what fears about the future have changed and what remain the same. The Creeping Unknown kicks things off with a relatively simple mystery, as an alien organism infects an astronaut and they have to figure out how to stop it before it transforms him completely and spreads to others. In the meantime, his horror at his own situation is communicated quite effectively with minimal dialogue. The serial and film are quite different in how they characterise Prof Quatermass, but both are valid and interesting watches. Enemy From Space makes the lead a little more sympathetic than the first one, and ups the stakes considerably, with the aliens infiltrating the government instead of being kinda obvious. This makes it much creepier as a watch. Five Million Years to Earth didn't do too well commercially, but it's James' favourite, giving it a full 5 stars for it's complex and thoughtful plot about the nature of human aggression and conception of evil. But no, the masses prefer another vampire or werewolf with flashy transformation sequences over taking a good look at their own flaws and maybe working to improve on them. The Quatermass Conclusion finishes the otherwise excellent series in a muddled and unsatisfying way. The basic concept isn't as strong as the others and shooting for a TV and a movie version simultaneously just makes the pacing even more uneven and messy. Only really worth watching for the sake of completism. A pretty good issue, with plenty of interesting worldbuilding for multiple systems. It looks like Dave Gross might actually be bringing some long-term improvements to this place after too many years of railroading cheesiness being the norm. Of course, he'll only be here for a couple of years before being promoted, and I haven't looked ahead to see who replaces him or what changes they'll bring. But I'll do my best to enjoy it while it lasts.</blockquote>

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