Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible

It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

I can't honestly say I remember or had even heard of this 70's children's television series. So going into it I really didn't know what to expect. It seems to have sustained a good reputation from British kids who remember seeing it back in the day and I guess I can understand why, as it is a distinctive bit of television. Despite being aimed at children, it does have some slightly dark and serious themes running through it which suggests to me that maybe 70's children were treated with less kid gloves than they are nowadays. The story revolves around a mysterious event which creates a psychosis in the British population which manifests itself in an intense hatred of machinery. The cities are emptied as people flee to the country or overseas. A teenage girl gets separated from her parents in the chaos and is forced to go it alone.Having watched this ten parter, my feelings are overall a bit mixed if I am totally honest. While on the one hand, I do have to give the programme credit for introducing a somewhat unusual and ambiguous story to children with interesting themes such as racism, misogyny and ecological concerns, on the other hand it was a bit clunky in actual execution quite a lot of the time. The original set-up was somewhat hurried, with the girl being separated from her parents in a poorly thought out manner with the father figure deciding it would be easier to go to France and then travel back to find his daughter who was clearly still in the general vicinity! While at the other extremity, the ending involving Merlin's stone was, to put it mildly, a bit underwhelming, with the totally unnecessary daftness of an aeroplane being heard in the sky overheard no more than five minute after the stone decides to reverse its malevolent force because the heroine asked it to be more reasonable. In between it still has leaden sections too, with some under par acting not helping massively. But it is a TV production aimed at kids so you do need to cut it some slack and it was pretty progressive to have a group of Sikh characters enter the narrative in a major way, as even today ethnic groups aren't always very well represented on television. I also really enjoyed the witch-hunter story thread which I thought was handled well, with some good suspense levels. And overall, the sheer enigmatic quality to much of it was a welcome thing, even if the mystery was, as I said earlier, not exactly resolved terribly well. Overall, this is still a definite interesting curiosity and something worth seeking out for those with an interest in TV science fiction in particular.

THE CHANGES is one of these shows you watch as a child and you can remember elements all the way in to adulthood . I saw the first episode in January 1976 knowing nothing about and was disturbed as the characters quickly set about destroying any appliance that could vaguely be described as a machine . It quickly had me tuning in to every episode for ten weeks and the only show that had an effect on me at the time was DOCTOR WHO . I In short it's a show you don't forget in a hurry and one that in a world of videotape and VHS video you want to track down . Unfortunately once you do see it 30 years after its broadcast you might be rather disappointed The first episode " The Noise " was just as I remember and is somewhat chilling as buildings collapse and psychotic crowds take to the streets to destroy machinery . The effect is somewhat diluted somewhat when you realise much of the footage is taken from the 1967 Hammer version of QUATERMASS AND THE PIT . Simiraly the impact is lessened when the psychotic crowds seem to be very liberal in working out what qualifies as " modern man made machinery " . You can understand someone smashing up televisions but is a bike getting beaten to death by a lynch mob is possibly a bit silly but writer Anna Home and director John Prowse rightly just concentrate on informing the audience a terrible event is occurring without going in to detail Unfortunately both the writer and director throw a massive spanner in the works where Mrs Gore states that they" Must escape to France where I've heard things are still normal " Since the televisions and radios have been destroyed in a mass cull , and telephones too probably how would she know this ? The audience are also left scratching their heads a few minutes later when the Gores embark on their journey to France only to have the noise happen again leading to more machine mashing . Mr and Mrs Gore notice that Nicky has disappeared only to have Mr Gore state that he'll take his wife to France then he'll come back to England to find his daughter ! Nicky can't be more than a few hundred yards away but her parents will go to France then Mr Gore will go back to find her . T. I know this is a plot turn to set up Nicky being separated from her parents but when you're making a plot turn it's imperative to structure it so that it doesn't seem illogical . In fact throughout the whole episode the time frame and story structure hold together rather badly , so much so you'll swear that this fondly remembered piece of television from childhood has been heavily edited such is the disjointed nature That said the story does pick up somewhat in the second episode though be it the story does seem somewhat slow in places . Nicky is given sanctuary in the second episode by a group of Sikhs . Halfway through the series Nicky and the Sikhs part ways as the protagonist goes and searches for her Aunt in the countryside and it as Nicky is accused of being a witch by a contemporary Matthew Hopkins who insists that Nicky be stoned to death . This is a very effective subplot and shows that you don't have to be graphic in order to chill an audience . Both the writing and performances tell the story without the need of cruelty .If you think it's somewhat lame in 2010 please remember it's a children's show from the mid 1970s Despite the effectiveness of this segment where THE CHANGES falls down is in the denouncement which is every bit as clumsy and confusing as the opening episode . Nicky and Jonathon ( Who saved her from the Witch Finder ) go in to a cave and meet the cause of the noise that brought about the changes - a megalith . Apparently Mr Megalith has been annoyed at humanity so has tried to destroy civilization in Britain . He's able to read Nicky's mind and seeing what she has seen he decides he's been unjust so effectively destroys himself as Nicky and Jonathon make good their escape . It's confusing too since the two protagonists hear an airliner passing over head as they exit the cave . If a plane is flying over the sky does this mean that the changes never happened in the first place ? If not it's contradicted by Nicky mentioning her parents are still in France In all honesty watching THE CHANGES again with an interval of over 30 years I was slightly disappointed . The main narrative is involving enough though the story is let down by both the opening and concluding episode . Someone like Russell T Davies can get away with writing a poor DOCTOR WHO episode by concentrating on an opening hook and emotional ending where as Anna Home's 10 episode saga seems to be the antithesis of this type of writing . That said if it compelled you to tune in every week as a child then that can only be viewed as a success and if you can remember it more than 30 years later then that's an even bigger success . It's also a children's show that would never be produced nowadays . Instead we'd get " soap opera lite " for teenagers so perhaps we should praise THE CHANGES flaws and all

Hello, i was only 8 years old when i watched the changes, it invokes powerful memories as images of series remind me of Berkeley power station where my father worked most of his life. More recently i have been playing computer game called half life 2, and only just realised some of the in game environments have a similar feel and atmosphere to images that i remember from the changes episodes.No wonder i like the game so much, desolate landscapes filled with electricity pylons making that buzzing noise. I hope the series will be released, it will be amazing to watch it again after all these years.I would be very grateful for any feedback related to the comments i have posted.

I saw this show in the late 70s on the ABC, I was only about 8 or 9 at the time. I remember vividly the scene where everyone goes wild and smashed up everything (notably cars), the comparative kindness of the Indian family compared with the stupid rednecks who seemed to dot the countryside and the big rock at the end. The Changes was very much a product of the environmental push that took place in the 70s. I would be curious to see how the show would be presented today. This show was one of many fine British television dramas for children from the 70s.