The Tripods

• Will Parker - John Shackley ( Voice actor: Stefan Krause )
• Jean -Paul " Beanpole " Deliet - Ceri Seel (Nicolas Böll )
• Henry Parker - Jim Baker (Matthias Nickolai )
• Fritz Eger - Robin Hayter ( Philipp Moog )
• Ozymandias - Roderick Horn ( Fred Maire )
• Eloise de Ricordeau ( first actress ) - Charlotte Long ( Antonia Haacke )
• Countess de Ricordeau - Pamela Salem ( Maddalena Kerrh )
• Duc de Sarlat - Robin Langford (Hans -Georg Panczak )
• Madame Vichot - Anni Lee Taylor (Dagmar Heller)
• Julius - Richard Wordsworth (Horst Sachtleben )
• Ulf - Richard Beale
• Master West 468 - John Woodvine ( Gernot Duda )
• Coggy - Christopher Guard (Hans -Georg Panczak )

The Tripods (Original Title: The Tripods ) is the television adaptation of the science fiction book series The Tripods Monster, which was written by John Christopher in the late 1960s. In 1984 and 1985 she was filmed by the British broadcaster BBC.

Action

The story about the Tripods is set in a post-apocalyptic world in the year 2089, in the obliterated most people and the largest cities are just devastated ruins. The people are ruled by an extraterrestrial civilization they only describe as the three-legged, one of which usually only the gigantic, three-legged machines can be seen with which these controls the entire planet. These machines remember in strikingly similar to those already HG Wells describes in his story War of the Worlds. The few surviving humans who live on earth obtained a metallic cap implanted in the scalp, which deprives them of any inspiration, creativity, and thus the possibility of revolution and violence by those rulers at the age of 14 years.

Both in the novels ( first book, chapter two ) as well as in the BBC series ( second season, first episode ) is found next to the view that the Tripods are alien invaders, the theory, the Tripods could arise from a man- have developed artificial intelligence. This intelligence was sometime been with the " illogical behavior and violence of their human creators " dissatisfied and have therefore taken control of the people. Only in the second season of the BBC series and the second book turns out by the meeting with the three-legged rulers, that this theory is wrong. The fourth band subsequently When the Tripods Came then describes explicitly the landing of aliens.

The story is about the English boy Will Parker and his cousin Henry, who want to escape the three-legged - ordination through the cap and one morning secretly pack their belongings and leave their home village. Your destination is the White Mountains in the south ( meaning the Alps), which are difficult to control for the three-legged due to the geographical environment. There are rumored to still be alive " free people". Hardly and come just over the English Channel, they learn the young Frenchman Beanpole (actually, Jean -Paul ), who was also not yet consecrated. As a young inventor and discoverer of the curious young Frenchman wants nothing to do with the cap - except as they can be disassembled for technical analysis. Beanpole joins the two young Brits and turns on the journey through France not only linguistically a great help out. In the course of the three boys have many exciting and dangerous situations they often barely escape until they run out over the destroyed Paris and the South of France with a lot of three-legged machines in the neck can reach the mountains to there in within sight of the long -awaited goal again to get captivity.

After sharp interrogation of - as it turns out later - free people who want to avoid infiltration by human spies the three-legged at all costs and spend as organs of the Tripod, the three travelers are ultimately taken up and learn from a planned counter-attack on the very well-protected city of the three-legged chair. For this, trained to free people through sport games - equipped with implanted but non-functional caps - to be elected to the city's three-legged chair, gather information about their organizations and weaknesses, and these bring out of town back to the resistance. Will is chosen to be the personal servant of a three-legged alien master, which gives him an opportunity to gather information and to enjoy a deep insight into the lives of the invaders. Again, after many experiences that rival the close outcome and the usual voltage of the previous trip in nothing and have, among others, the death of a master consequence, Will manages to be among urban alarm conditions at the end of the filmed series by the main sewer of the city to escape.

In unfilmed part now begins the struggle of humanity around the planet and free will.

TV Series

In the 1980s, the books were adapted by the BBC as elaborate television series. In Germany it was broadcast under the title The Tripods. The first season of the series ( Episode 1-13) corresponds to the extent of the first book in the series ( The White Mountains, 1967, German three-legged monster on Erdkurs ), as the second season ( episode 14-25 ) corresponds to the second book ( the City of Gold and lead, 1967, German the Secret of the three-legged monster). The project was canceled before the realization of the third season. The series had proved to be too time-consuming and costly.

In Germany the first twelve episodes of the series were first broadcast on ZDF from 6 April 1986. In 1988, the ZDF broadcast ultimately the entire series: the episodes 1-19 from 7 January to 19 May and the consequences of 20-25 from August 30 to October 4. Another broadcast was not made.

The effects of season 1

The consequences of Season 2

Book template

The trilogy is about an alien race, which assumed the dominion over the earth and mankind has thrown back into a pre-industrial era.

The trilogy consists of the following volumes:

• Three-legged monster on Erdkurs ( The White Mountains, 1967)
• The secret of the three-legged monster ( The City of Gold and Lead, 1967)
• The demise of the three-legged monster ( The Pool of Fire, 1968)

In the first part of the trilogy, the tripods provide a surveillance state (see Brave New World ) that prevents using mind control revolutions. In the second part, however, they symbolize the people who live in their ( cut off from the outside world ) cities and almost no personal bond of friendship have between each other. They visit each other very often.

1988 Christopher published a fourth volume, When The Tripods Came, the time playing in front of the trilogy and the conquest of the earth and the enslavement of mankind depicts, on which there are only hints in the other volumes. The book was written after the filming of the TV series - supposedly because the science fiction author Brian Aldiss had asked the question of how it should have been possible for the masters to overcome the technology of the 20th century. This book first appeared not in German. An unofficial fan - translation is an e-book entitled When the Tripods came the Internet ( Web sites, and file sharing networks ) into circulation. In July 2006, was finally published an official German translation under the title tripods. The arrival of the three-legged monster.

Under the title The Tripods are in the English-speaking world as a large number of comic books.

DVD Release

The first season was released in 2001 as the original English version of the commercial.

On 23 March 2009, the complete English-language first and second season was first released in a box set. This has according to the manufacturer much previously unreleased bonus material.

The Koch Media GmbH has acquired the rights for a DVD release in Germany. The release date of the first season was the 23rd October 2009. The second season was released on 28 May 2010.

On 25 March 2011 the DVD box set was released, the Three-legged ruler - The Complete Saga. It includes the first and second season in the German version on 6 DVDs and the third season as an audiobook on 4 CDs.

Audiobook

In June 2006, the first two volumes appeared Tripods I - Three-legged monster on Erdkurs (ISBN 3-491-24132-4 ) and tripods II - The Secret of the three-legged monster (ISBN 3-491-24133-2 ) in an abridged audiobook version. Part III followed in spring 2007. 0 The book was published in June 2012 in the trade. Spoken audio books by Torsten Michaelis. As a bonus, can be found on the audio books the original BBC film music by Ken Freeman.