Perry Kate Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined

Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Tayloriona Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

bob the moo I don't review shows without seeing them. I think there is a couple of examples where I have commented on a film or show where I have bailed out halfway through, but I cannot think of a time where I have reviewed a series where the majority of it no longer exists. Indeed as someone very much of today it is weird to sit in this world where everything can be bought (or not) online within seconds, but yet here is a well-regarded classic sci-fi where 4 of the 6 parts simply don't exist anywhere.I came to the two remaining episodes with no experience of the original television show; I had seen the movie versions of Quatermass 2 and The Pit, but those are different beasts in a way and the 2005 version of this didn't inspire me. Luckily the kindness of a fellow IMDb user meant I got a lend of the 3 DVD set of this show – thanks Theo, I appreciated the gesture! Anyway, in terms of the show I must say that my lasting feeling is one of annoyance that the rest of the show is no longer available because I was really getting into it by the end of the second episode. To modern ears the show is very talky but yet it works because it is very well written – some of the dialogue is clunky but mostly it captures a sense of place and the urgency and mystery of what unfolds is all there. The direction seems very stagey to me (which of course it was) but they make the most of limited sets and of course viewing it in context of the time is important.What I only realised during the second episode is that the damn thing was being broadcast live! This made it all the more impressive because there were hardly any flubbed lines or problems visible to me and everyone gave strong performances. Tate is a solid Quatermass, not overly emotional but still driven. The support cast around him are all nearly as good although the further one goes down the cast list the less they have to work with (hence you get a few clichés in there – particularly on the London streets in the first episode).Overall though, this is a great little snippet of television, even if it is hard to judge since only a third of it exists now. Important in its time, it still stands up well because it tells (or starts to tell) an interesting story in a manner that engages and intrigues. I look forward to getting into the next two series so that I can get a full story told to me.

ackstasis My experience with television sci-fi is limited to 'The Twilight Zone (1959-1965)," so I figured I might as well start at the beginning. The 1953 BBC serial "The Quatermass Experiment (1953)" was probably the first adult science-fiction TV series, and last night I watched the first two episodes. I must confess that I'm a little disheartened – not because they weren't enjoyable, but because the final four episodes are now considered lost (having been broadcast live). Audiences in 1953 need only have waited until the following Saturday to learn of the secrets harboured by returning astronaut Duncan Lamont (Victor Carroon), but I would never find out {admittedly, I did jump straight onto the internet to complete the story, but it's not the same}.After Britain's first manned rocket returns to Earth with only one of its original crew, Dr. Quatermass (Reginald Tate) begins to wonder what happened up there. Curiously, it seems as though the surviving astronaut has taken on some of the physiological attributes of the missing crewmen. Though episode two finishes at this early stage, some online research revealed that the Lamont character eventually mutates into some sort of plant-like extraterrestrial organism, a prospect that would, I suspect, have astounded and fascinated me. The serial, which unfolds with minimal special effects, must surely have had a strong influence on everything from 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)' to 'Alien (1979).' At least the series was followed by "Quatermass II (1955)" and "Quatermass and the Pit (1958)," so all is not lost.

rd080795 I was so impressed that this movie has stayed somewhere in the back of my mind for over 45 years. I was still at school and probably alone at home to be able/allowed to watch it. It took me quite some time to recover, even for a science fiction fan.I have never seen it again, did not remember the title (for me it was just "the monster"), nor the actors, only that a spaceship came back with two of the crew dead, and the third one being contaminated by...what?Since I recently discovered this great site, I decided to spend an hour trying to find it back, and I did. I have no idea how I would react seeing it again today but I would love to try. rd

uds3 As a seven year old when I first saw this on television (not ours, because we didn't have one in 1953) it was simply the most terrifying and funk-inspiring piece of horror on offer. Many elder citizens complained to the BBC that they had no right showing such diabolically upsetting images during family viewing times (despite the fact NOT that great a percentage of families HAD television then.....and only 9 inch screens at that, for the most part)It was the first of Nigel Kneale's FOUR Quatermass tales and for its time, was extremely frightening, even on a small screen. A rocket ship returns to earth and crashes. Two of the crew are killed and a third found in a totally disorientated state. He slowly metamorphosises into a most unpleasant alien being, half cactus - half God knows what. Although only having the benefits of prehistoric special effects available to them, the thing was just horrific and much of the scare-factor was lost in its translation to the big screen a few years later (THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT). Precisely the same outcome was evidenced in the movie adaptations of Quatermas II and Quatermass and the Pit (FIVE MILLION YEARS TO EARTH)Nigel Kneale's imagination and innovative writing places him right up there with Arthur C. Clarke. This show is a wonderful (and still deeply disturbing) memory. How many sci-fi flicks have since ripped off this man into monster concept? SPECIES 2 for example? (The less said about that turkey the better!)