At the age of fourteen you are Capped, to become a man, or young woman.

If you don't know anything about the trilogy, let me explain: the Tripods were vast three-legged machines that controlled the minds of the adult human population by way of a Cap fitted to the skull to suppress emotion, creativity and curiosity. It was certainly a plus that the original books were republished by Puffin Books in 1984 thanks to the television series (individually and as a single paperback trilogy), and with the reprinting of The Tripods: The Pool of Fire (also originally published in 1968) viewers finally got to read the final part of the trilogy to discover the fate of the three lead antagonists: Will, Henry and Beanpole. However, even this failed to keep the flame burning: the first two books - The White Mountains and The City of Gold and Lead (the latter originally published in 1968) - were transferred to our television screens the third instalment, sadly, never made it, due to a rather ridiculous decision to cancel the show following end of filming of the second series, which concluded with those famous last words spoke by young Will Parker after discovering the hideout of the uncapped to be in ruin, 'Has it all been for nothing?'Īnd so fans were left with a cliffhanger that would never be resolved - at least, not on screen. It was to be a landmark in special effects design and superb model work. Of course, there had once been a televised version of The Tripods, jointly produced by the BBC in the United Kingdom and the Seven Network in Australia, with music supplied by Ken Freeman. So was Proyas really serious about working with writer Stuart Hazeldine on the film project? Were the reports even true? Just where are the updates now? It had been suggested that the character of Beanpole would be a girl, and that the Tripod machines themselves could climb the Eiffel Tower.

Only as far back as 2009 several websites had reported that Australian filmmaker Alex Proyas ( The Crow, Dark City, I, Robot) was linked to a possible adaptation.

Isn't it just frustrating when news of a movie based on a popular series of novels seemingly dies out and no one, not one single person, knows why?įor years there had been rumours of a transition from book to screen for 1967 novel The Tripods: The White Mountains, written by John Christopher (pseudonym for Samuel Youd).

The White Mountains by John Christopher