Out of the Unknown: Tunnel Under the World is set in England & start on June the 15th as Contro Chemical office worker Guy Birkett (Ronald Hines) & his wife Mary (Petra Davies) wake up, the both discuss having the same nightmare about being caught up in a huge explosion but cannot explain it. While having breakfast both Guy & Mary note how many annoying adverts are forced upon them, from adverts on the radio to in the morning paper to cars with loudspeakers broadcasting advertising slogans. Guy goes to work & a man named Swanson (Timothy Bateson) tries to make an appointment to see him, then at home later that night while trying to fix a broken light switch Guy notices that the floor is metal covered in paper. The next morning & Guy has to relive June the 15th, this time though Swanson manages to talk with him & the reality of lies that they have been living becomes horrifyingly clear...
Episode eight from season two of the British produced television series Out of the Unknown this was directed by Alan Cooke & is an ambitious twist on aggressive advertising & how it dominates our lives, once again like many episodes from this series the topics, ideas & concepts presented here are still very relevant in todays society as advertising is even more prevalent than it was back then. The script by David Campton was adapted from the story by Frederick Pohl & focuses on how intrusive & annoying it is to be constantly bombarded by advertising, from the irritating musical jingles & slogans to the brand name allure that states you have to have a certain brand of product while at the same time paying over the odds for the privilege. It all feels far too close to home actually & you can see where the makers of Tunnel Under the World are coming from. Besides the point that we are being swamped with annoying advertising there are some truly audacious sci-fi themes & ideas here from mind transference, robots, the whole CCTV culture (even though the bad guy's can't be bothered to place cameras in their underground offices for some reason) & two killer twist's that almost come out of nowhere. The first twist which reveals the shocking identity of the towns population is quite good but the second one which reveals the even more shocking & rather absurd origins of the town itself is so daring & audacious that it works, it's certainly a memorable twist that I didn't see coming at all. All in all I really liked Tunnel Under the World as it mixes a social point about how annoying & intrusive big money advertising has become with some truly outlandish sci-fi concepts that including two killer twist's at the end. I liked it, it's as simple & straight forward as that.
Originally broadcast during December 1966 it's ironic that the BBC who made Tunnel Under the World is a totally commercial free television station & maybe this was a little dig at it's competitors? The special effects are pretty good only let down by some wobbly cameras & a really rubbish looking robot thing at the end. A giant spanner keeps turning up in the background towards the end which just looks so out of place but in context with the twist ending when revealed makes perfect sense, the thing is though when it did turn up I just kept thinking to myself 'how the hell is anyone meant to use that thing?'. Apart from a two & a half minute clip of episode twelve Satisfaction Guaranteed (1966) nothing else from Tunnel Under the World onwards for season two is known to exist. The acting is solid, despite having to relive the same day several time Ronald Hines puts in a good performance especially during the rather shocking (for him particularly) ending.
Tunnel Under the World is a really ambitious sci-fi drama with some wild concept's & while it has dated in terms of production the story is still relevant & could easily be updated to a modern setting. One of my favourite episodes from the series thanks to a great double twist ending & it's attack on annoying & intrusive advertising.
Episode eight from season two of the British produced television series Out of the Unknown this was directed by Alan Cooke & is an ambitious twist on aggressive advertising & how it dominates our lives, once again like many episodes from this series the topics, ideas & concepts presented here are still very relevant in todays society as advertising is even more prevalent than it was back then. The script by David Campton was adapted from the story by Frederick Pohl & focuses on how intrusive & annoying it is to be constantly bombarded by advertising, from the irritating musical jingles & slogans to the brand name allure that states you have to have a certain brand of product while at the same time paying over the odds for the privilege. It all feels far too close to home actually & you can see where the makers of Tunnel Under the World are coming from. Besides the point that we are being swamped with annoying advertising there are some truly audacious sci-fi themes & ideas here from mind transference, robots, the whole CCTV culture (even though the bad guy's can't be bothered to place cameras in their underground offices for some reason) & two killer twist's that almost come out of nowhere. The first twist which reveals the shocking identity of the towns population is quite good but the second one which reveals the even more shocking & rather absurd origins of the town itself is so daring & audacious that it works, it's certainly a memorable twist that I didn't see coming at all. All in all I really liked Tunnel Under the World as it mixes a social point about how annoying & intrusive big money advertising has become with some truly outlandish sci-fi concepts that including two killer twist's at the end. I liked it, it's as simple & straight forward as that.
Originally broadcast during December 1966 it's ironic that the BBC who made Tunnel Under the World is a totally commercial free television station & maybe this was a little dig at it's competitors? The special effects are pretty good only let down by some wobbly cameras & a really rubbish looking robot thing at the end. A giant spanner keeps turning up in the background towards the end which just looks so out of place but in context with the twist ending when revealed makes perfect sense, the thing is though when it did turn up I just kept thinking to myself 'how the hell is anyone meant to use that thing?'. Apart from a two & a half minute clip of episode twelve Satisfaction Guaranteed (1966) nothing else from Tunnel Under the World onwards for season two is known to exist. The acting is solid, despite having to relive the same day several time Ronald Hines puts in a good performance especially during the rather shocking (for him particularly) ending.
Tunnel Under the World is a really ambitious sci-fi drama with some wild concept's & while it has dated in terms of production the story is still relevant & could easily be updated to a modern setting. One of my favourite episodes from the series thanks to a great double twist ending & it's attack on annoying & intrusive advertising.
