Have You Been Watching...? Out Of The Unknown: The Machine Stops

 

Out of the Unknown was a BBC sci-fi anthology series broadcast between 1965-1971, comprising 4 series. The first two in black and white and the last two in colour. As seems to be the case with numerous BBC gems, the series is mostly missing from the archives, but thanks to the BFI, we have a DVD set featuring all the surviving episodes, and a few reconstructions of others from remnants of footage, telesnaps and even scripts.

Fortunately, one of those episodes that survived the mass junking is The Machine Stops, adapted from the short story by EM Forster (better known perhaps, for Maurice, A room With a view, Howard’s End and A Passage to India) . I have selected this episode, which was from the second series, for inclusion on “Have you been watching…?” due to it’s pertinence to today’s society, even though the original story was first published in 1909.

The story apparently predicts numerous things we take for granted today, the internet being one, social media being another. In this story, and indeed episode, people live alone in pods, communicating via screen. They all live underground due to the inability to live on the surface. Everything is controlled and provided “The Machine”, a human made construct very similar to today’s World Wide Web. People’s only activity is learning from The Machine.  New ideas are few, indeed people take others ideas and pass them off as their own (sound familiar?). Travel is permitted, but no one likes to travel. Walking even seems to be a chore and their multi-useful chair moves around the pod for them.

The story concentrates on the relationship between Vashti and her son Kuno, who live on opposite sides of the world. The relationship is cold, and more functional than loving. Vashti appears to have children just to ensure the species continues, rather than to love and inspire.

However, Kuno is different. He is bored of their current existence and seeks more, even venturing outside. As time progresses, he comes to the knowledge that The Machine is breaking down, civilisation as they know it will come to an end.

The Out of the Unknown adaptation stars Yvonne Mitchell (Crucible of Horror/The Corpse, the Trials of Oscar Wilde) as Yashti, and Michael Gothard (For Your Eyes Only, Lifeforce and The Three Musketeers) as Kuno, and was directed by Philip Savile (Life & Loves of a She-Devil). It’s an absolute gem to watch. Given the clear budget restraints of 60s BBC, what they have managed to achieve with this one-off story is nothing short of phenomenal. It’s a work of art. The set designs are clever and multi-functional, if occasionally suffering from wobbly-set syndrome, and the outside location work wonderfully conveys Kuno’s reactions to this new world he has found. It’s movie quality stuff, coupled with 60s psychedelia. The script, with such few cast, is long and talky, but never boring and certainly worth paying attention to.

The episode was submitted to the fifth “Festival Internazionale del Film di Fantascienza”, the fifth International science-fiction film festival in Trieste in July, where it won first prize.

If you can look beyond the budget restraints, you will find here a film that will enthrall you and show you the perils of “online life” as predicted over 100 years ago.

Year – 1966

Series count – 4

Episode count – 20 surviving (including reconstructions) out of 49

Availability – DVD (7 disc boxset – deleted in February 2022)