Internet Archive's in-browser video player requires JavaScript to be enabled. It appears your browser does not have it turned on. Please see your browser settings for this feature.

Quatermass IV(The Quatermass Conclusion)TV Series 1979

by: Euston Films forThames Television

Publication date: 1979

Topics: Quatermass, John Mills, Thames Television, Mini-Series, British, Sci-Fi, Series, Classic TV, Television, Thriller, Mini-Series, Nigel Kneale

Language: English

The 4th Quatermass TV series is a British television science fiction serial produced by Euston Films for Thames Television and broadcast on the ITV network in October and November 1979. Like its three predecessors,Quatermass was written by Nigel Kneale.

It is the fourth and final television serial to feature the character of Professor Bernard Quatermass. In this version, the character is played by John Mills. Influenced by the social and geopolitical situation of the early 1970s and the hippie youth movement of the late 1960s, Quatermass is set in a near future in which large numbers of young people are joining a cult, the "Planet People", and gathering at prehistoric sites, believing they will be transported to a better life on another planet.

Chapter One: Ringstone Round

Quatermass (John Mills), now living in retirement in Scotland, travels to London in search of his granddaughter, Hettie Carlson (Rebecca Saire), who has gone missing. He is shocked by the scale of the urban collapse that has struck the city – law and order has broken down and marauding gangs terrorise the litter strewn, decaying streets. Appearing as a guest on a television programme covering the "Hands in Space" project, a joint space mission between the United States and Russia, Quatermass is horrified when the two spacecraft are destroyed by some unknown force. Astronomer Joe Kapp (Simon MacCorkindale), another guest on the programme, invites Quatermass to join him at his home in the country where he has constructed a radio telescope. At the radio telescope, Kapp's colleagues report that they detected a powerful signal at the exact time of the incident in space. Quatermass is intrigued by the behaviour of a group of hippie-like youngsters known as the Planet People, who are travelling to various Neolithic sites from where they believe they will be transported to a better life on another planet. Quatermass suspects Hettie has joined them. Along with Kapp's wife, Claire (Barbara Kellerman), Quatermass and Kapp follow a group of Planet People to a stone circle of megaliths, Ringstone Round. As they watch, the Planet People assembled inside the circle are bathed in a bright light and disappear, leaving only a residue of white dust.

Chapter Two: Lovely Lightning

The Planet People's leader, Kickalong (Ralph Arliss), believes that the Planet People gathered at Ringstone Round have been transported, as promised, to the planet but it is clear to Quatermass and Kapp that they have been reduced to ashes. One survivor – a girl called Isabel (Annabelle Lanyon) who deliriously talks about "lovely lightning" – is found and is brought back to the Kapps' cottage. Making contact with NASA scientist Chuck Marshall (Tony Sibbald), they learn that thousands of young people have disappeared in similar incidents all around the world. Quatermass, aided by District Commissioner Annie Morgan (Margaret Tyzack), decides to bring Isabel to London for tests. As they make their journey, Quatermass speculates as to whether there is any connection between recent events and the decline in society. Reaching London, they are attacked by a gang. Quatermass is yanked from the car but Annie and Isabel manage to escape. Meanwhile, a large number of Planet People arrive at the radio telescope, congregating at the stone circle on its grounds. Working at a perimeter building, Kapp is horrified to see the light strike the area around his home – rushing home he finds his family gone.

Chapter Three: What Lies Beneath

Quatermass is rescued by a group of elderly people living in a scrap yard. At the hospital, the doctors are shocked when Isabel levitates off her bed and explodes in a cloud of dust. Elsewhere, the devastated Kapp is left alone in the ruins of his cottage and observatory. More and more young people are joining the Planet People, including the gangs that have been terrorising the cities and the soldiers assigned to keep them away from the Megalithic sites. Contact is restored with Chuck Marshall and with the Russians in the form of Gurov (Brewster Mason). Quatermass theorises that this is not the first time this has happened; Megalithic sites such as prehistoric stone circles are in fact markers where beacons have been left by the alien force for its next visit. Quatermass believes the force is a sphere of energy surrounding the Earth. The Russians and the Americans send a space shuttle, commanded by Marshall, to make contact with the force. Quatermass is sceptical; he believes they are dealing not with an intelligence but with a machine constructed to harvest human protein. The space shuttle is destroyed but not before Marshall reports a giant beam of light stretching in all directions. Meanwhile, the Planet People are gathering at Wembley Stadium in the tens of thousands. Annie and Quatermass travel to the stadium but are powerless to prevent the Planet People from gathering. When they are attacked, Annie drives their car into the underground car park beneath the stadium where she crashes the vehicle and is killed. The lightning strikes the stadium.

Chapter Four: An Endangered Species

Quatermass emerges from the car park to find the stadium empty. So many have now been harvested that the particles of dust in the air have turned the sky green. Kapp attempts to repair his equipment in order to contact the alien presence, but the Planet People destroy his efforts. They try to persuade him to join them but he refuses, convinced now that his family are dead. Quatermass, aided by Gurov, who has travelled to London from Moscow, assembles a team of scientists to find a solution. He deliberately selects old people for the task as they are immune to the effects of the alien force. Quatermass decides to set a trap. He plans to fake the presence of a large gathering of Planet People at Kapp's observatory and, when the force comes, to detonate a nuclear weapon. Quatermass does not believe this will be sufficient to destroy the alien machine but he hopes that it will damage it enough to make it go away. Kapp volunteers to stay behind with Quatermass to help detonate the bomb. The pair set up the trap and wait. Suddenly, Kickalong appears with a group of Planet People, including Quatermass' granddaughter, Hettie. Kapp tries to warn them away but is shot by Kickalong. The light appears, indicating that the alien force has arrived, but the shock of seeing his granddaughter among the Planet People causes Quatermass to suffer a heart attack. However, aided by Hettie, he is able to detonate the bomb. Later, according to Gurov, "The message was taken. It has not come again. We pray it will never come again".

Addeddate: 2016-02-11 18:31:13

Color: colour

Identifier: TheQuatermassConclusion1979

Run time: 3h 25m Total

Scanner: Internet Archive HTML5 Uploader 1.6.3

Sound: sound

Year: 1979

plus-circle Add Review

comment
Reviews

Reviewer: ChrisNash - - October 21, 2019
Subject: The last (original) Quatermass

Nigel Kneale's underrated final outing for his classic character. Great to have the whole series in good quality, but is there any chance of uploading The Quatermass Conclusion, the alternate theatrical version of the serial? This is of interest because it wasn't just a shortened version of the serial; it had alternate linking footage not found in the original. Hopefully, the widescreen version.

Reviewer: JT101 - - September 14, 2019
Subject: The Drama for Our World... or what's left of it...

Thank you, Nigel Kneale, for writing this prophecy. This is something that must be heeded worldwide before things get too out of hand.

Reviewer: Ben Coleman - - May 19, 2019
Subject: Prescient work from Kneale

"this is not a time to be young"

A fine work from the wonderful Nigel Kneale.

As our planet becomes less inhabitable, I hope that our children and their children won't have a similar experience.

Reviewer: Antkub100 - - August 4, 2018
Subject: Roll over Nostradamus

If we exclude the stone circles and alien harvesting from the story. We get post Brexit Britain, and presumably an independent Scotland. Well done Nigel on predicting the future. By the way the fourth and last segment in the Quatermass quartet is one of the better storylines.

14,960 Views

74 Favorites

4 Reviews