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This double bill CD collection contains two John Wyndham stories
which were adapted for BBC radio in the '80s - The Chrysalids
and Survival.
Ten-year-old
David is a happy, ordinary boy, untroubled except for occasional
strange dreams about a mysterious city - until he befriends
Sophie, who is unlike anybody he has met before: she has six
toes. But in the ultra-religious village of Waknut, all abnormality
is abhorred as an offence against God, and he must keep her
secret to himself. When he learns that he, too, is 'deviant',
he realises that differences can be very dangerous indeed...
The
Chrysalids was first broadcast in 1981 and examines the
inhabitants of a religious village where the residents believe
that in order to follow God's word they need to preserve absolute
normality among their people, plants and animals living in
their surrounding area. Anything with even minor mutations
are considered "blasphemies" and the handiwork of the Devil.
Individuals not conforming to a strict physical norm are either
killed or sterilised and banished to the Fringes, a forbidden
area still rife with animal and plant mutations.
The
main story follows the experiences of a ten-year-old boy,
called David, who befriends a young girl called Sophie with
six toes. For fear of what the villagers will do to her, David
keeps her secret hidden but he can't do so for long. It
soon becomes apparent that David, and others of his village
have a hidden mutation of their own - they have telepathic
abilities.
David
begins to question why all who are different must be banished
or killed. As they mature, David and his fellow telepaths
realise that their unusual mutation would be considered a
"blasphemy" and they carefully conceal their abilities. That
their mutation cannot be directly detected allows their unusual
abilities to remain undiscovered for a time. Eventually the
group is exposed and David, his cousin Rosalind and younger
sister Petra flee to the Fringes.
This
story starts off as though it is set in our civilisations
past, but it soon becomes apparent that it's set in the future
- and that the mutations are the cause of a nuclear war that
has long since past.
On
a technical point, some of the scenes are almost impossible
to listen too without clapping your hands over your ears.
The problems? Well, sobbing and screaming children really
aren't the thing to listen to through headphones at full blast.
While
the story is interesting enough, I couldn't help thinking
that it would have been much more powerful if it had been
half the length - scenes to have a tendency to drag on here
and there.
Set in the future the human race witnesses the first auto-piloted
space flight. When the ship meets with an accident, one of
the passengers is killed and the others are cast adrift in
space. They have enough supplies to last for three months
- but the only woman on board, Alice Morgan, is pregnant,
and needs extra rations. Then food starts to go missing from
the larder. What lengths will the passengers go to in order
to survive...?
Survival
was originally broadcast in 1989 and is a shorter, but much
sweeter tale than The Chrysalids. As a radio drama
this works much better - it's certainly easier to relax and
enjoy than the earlier story.
When
the spacecraft malfunctions and food starts to run out the
passengers have to make the decision whether to die together
or slowly kill one person at a time in order to feed the rest
of the starving people.
As
a production there's little to fault it. The vocal talents
of the cast are first rate and the music and sound effects
make it sound as though it were recorded much more recently
than it was.
The
two stories are split over two CDs, with The Chrysalids
spread over disc one, and half of disc two. To be honest I
found Survival a more palatable tale. The Chrysalids
just seemed to go on and on and some of the voice acting was
pretty annoying - there's something about the way adults pretending
to be children always seem to over do it.
John
Wyndham fans will love this collection, as will all lovers
of classic sci-fi tales.
Pete
Boomer
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£12.99
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£7.99
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£8.99
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£10.99
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£12.91
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£9.67
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All prices correct at time of going to press.
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