I find this movie difficult to stay interested in, not because the sci fi plot is unbelievable, after all, that is why we watch sci fi movies. Sci fi flicks usually have a plot that includes an element which requires us to suspend disbelief, something far outside of currently accepted scientific knowledge. This element is usually inserted into the lives of human beings we can easily relate to. That is what makes it interesting and what allows us to engage in the story. We see people acting in ways we can understand to something which is beyond our understanding. But when these peoples' behaviors deviate drastically from what we all know as rational and sane, for me at least, it becomes hard to relate to them. When Victor Caroon alone returns to earth, the scientists are attempting to help him recover and to gain some understanding from him as to what occurred to him and the other two astronauts during the spaceflight. You would expect him to receive round the clock medical attention and monitoring, especially since he seems unable to communicate and does not respond to his own name. But he is often left with only one attendant. During this time he cycles between a semi-conscious fugue state and an agitated, hysterical state, with little ability to respond to anyone. He appears delusional and out of control. Then, for the first time, he gets out of bed and takes a couple of steps before going into one of his unresponsive fugue states, standing motionless staring straight ahead. At this point the doctor decides to leave the room, with the Judith Caroon there to watch Victor. You can guess what is coming next; he is going to overpower her and escape from the medical facility. Bingo. This is completely unbelievable. Victor had never demonstrated rational behavior since his return, and on several occasions he was agitated and out of control. To leave him alone with a single female whom he could easily overpower should he become agitated again, and to do so when he was out of bed and unresponsive to commands for him to return to bed, is ridiculous. We expect to suspend disbelief with respect to the sci fi element of the plot. But when we have to do so in order to explain the behavior of the "normal" people in the movie, the whole thing starts to become a joke. You cannot take anyone in the film seriously, though we are expected to. Too bad. Some b movie sci fi movies become cult comedy films because they lack the pretense of being taken seriously. This one doesn't even do that. The writers attempted to build suspense and tension by making nearly everyone in the film emotionally labile and immature. There is less drama amongst high school girls. Even the news reporter shouts at people he is trying to get information from. This is so overdone that, again, you cannot take anyone seriously. At one point when Dr. Briscoe and Victor's wife, Judith Caroon are theorizing about what might have happened to Victor, she says: "We're creatures of this earth, we live by its terms and conditions, that's all we're able to grasp". Too bad we can't grasp or believe the behavior of the characters in this movie. This is a remake of a 50s sci fi movie which could have been done better.

I saw the original when it went out live and have copies of episodes 1 and 2, and the Exclusive Films version made in 1955. By far the worst version is this 2005 version.I quite understand why the recording techniques in 1953 were not good, but did the BBC really give up trying to record episodes 3 onwards? And if it went out live in 1953, was it really so hard to achieve that in 2005? I realize that the director Sam Miller was probably told to recreate the atmosphere of the original broadcast, but I think he got confused between the poor technical abilities of that time and poor direction/poor script.I agree with Theo Robertson when he says "All in all this version of a Nigel Kneale classic is more of a nostalgic gimmick than anything else. If the BBC are thinking of doing a live version of 'Quatermass And The Pit' then my advice is don't. It'd be terrible to see the greatest SF drama in the history of television turned in to something like this." Absolutely, Theo.And the scene near the end with the guy describing "Turbine Hall"? What he actually said was: "If man has to destroy beauty in order to survive, perhaps he denies his right to do so. This is utter madness. Do you hear me? Utter madness". We hear you! Couldn't have put it better.That one scene sums it all up for me - diabolical script! But at least I now know why Indira Varma - "Judith Carroon" in Quatermass - got the part of "Suzie Costello" in Torchwood... she was kissing Doctor Who in Quatermass!

I'm an old fan of Quatermass and the Pit (watching the DVD now actually...) but I'm a bit surprised by the BBC4 experiment I saw a few late nights back. Not great, not bad, not much actually - it was very much all theatrics and really lacked any real bearing. Plus the ending just completely fizzled out..I sat there thinking "Huh? What have I missed?"Jason Flemyng, as good an actor as he is, was just not Quatermass material. As the head of a space program, sorry - he's just too damn young. He lacks gravitas and bearing and just seems as if he's always catching up rather than leading. Fun - to a degree - but ultimately disappointing

When I heard that the BBC were planning to re-make The Quatermass Experiment, I got quite excited. The original is lost forever (except for two episodes) and the film, although a fairly good version (sorry Nigel) is half as long as the original. Great, the BBC might beef this up with some good effects, a colour version to last and interest others in Nigel Kneale's much underrated genius. What planet was I living on? 'Here, let's remake Quatermass'. 'Good idea, ooh shall we spend some money on it like Dr Who? Make it something people will remember'? 'Nah let's cut an hour out, pretend CGi's never been invented, and do it live as a gimmick and instantly forgettable'! 'Oh, and then let's cock-up 'A For Andromeda' in the same spectacular style'! Unforgivable! My advice, buy the scripts in paperback and imagine yourself a better version!