Quatermass

Quatermass #4

by Nigel Kneale

In space, the Russians and Americans squander billions on pointless projects.

On Earth, there is anarchy. Civilisation is breaking down.

Gangs of killers roam the rubbish-strewn streets. Fuel and food shortages have made the population desperate. Through the countryside bands of mystics calling themselves the Planet People chant their crazed beliefs.

Professor Bernard Quatermass, once a space pioneer himself, is an old man now. Disgusted and appalled by the state of the world, he has one final mission—to find and save his young granddaughter. She may have joined the Planet People. He follows as thousands of them converge on the ancient stone circle of Ringstone Round.

It is there that he witnesses an event that defies all sanity. For Quatermass it is the beginning of a long horror—a terrifying paranormal power has begun to afflict the earth.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Horror, Media Tie In, Tv

272 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published July 1, 1977

About the author

Nigel Kneale was a British screenwriter. He is best known for being the creator of Professor Bernard Quatermass. Kneale wrote four Quatermass TV serials in total between 1953 and 1979 as well as BBC radio docudrama retrospective "The Quatermass Memoirs" that was first broadcast in 1995. Kneale also wrote such programs as The Year Of The Sex Olympics, The Stone Tape and the 1989 adaptation of Susan Hill's novel The Woman in Black.

Reviews

[Matthew Kresal · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 1979, Nigel Kneale brought his most famous creation Professor Bernard Quatermass back to the screen for one final battle against an alien menace threatening the Earth both on TV (in a miniseries done in four “chapters” simply titled Quatermass) and on movie screens (in an edited down version of the TV story titled The Quatermass Conclusion). To promote this new Quatermass story, Arrow Books reprinted the script books of the first three Quatermass stories shown some twenty years before. They also got Nigel Kneale to write a novelization of his latest Quartermass story. It was to be Kneale’s only novel and it seems a shame Kneale didn’t write more prose.

Kneale named the novelization as the version of the story he was happiest with and it is easy to see why. For one thing Kneale is able to expand upon many of the characters in the story. Quatermass himself is explored in depth by Kneale as Quatermass flashes back throughout his life from a previous visit to Ringstone Round to his early days as a scientist right up to his life in retirement in Scotland. Kneale, who had complained that John Mills lacked authority in the TV version (which I dispute), gives the Professor a strong sense of authority from about chapter five (the beginning of the TV version’s second chapter) onwards while still giving the character a sense of vulnerability. Kenale even manages to work in references to the three earlier Quatermass stories including a scene which finds Quatermass in the remains of Westminster Abbey (the site of the conclusion of very first Quatermaass story, The Quatermass Experiment way back in 1953). Kneale’s characterization of Quatermass here is a remarkable insight into how Kneale, who had previously only written for Quatermass in script form, saw his most famous creation in writing for him.

Kneale also expands on the other characters in the story. Joe Kapp and his wife Clare are expanded on as well. Indeed Clare is fleshed out rather well, especially in the lead up to what was the end of the TV version’s second chapter. Kneale also expands on District Commissioner Annie Morgan, what she did during the first half of the third chapter of the TV version, and her relationship with Quatermass. Kneale even expands greatly on supporting characters such as the Planet People (who he fleshes out), the Prime Minister (who not only gets a name but a background and character arc), combative government minister David Hatherley (who turns out to be the Prime Minister’s nephew), the Pay Cops and the old people Quatermass meets in London. Kneale never goes for cardboard and instead fleshes out each of his characters to the benefit of the novelization.

Kneale also expands on the world and events seen on screen. Perhaps the biggest expansion comes in chapter eight (the tail end of chapter two and the beginning of chapter three of the TV version), as Quatermass wanders through a section of London riddled with gang warfare and makes some grisly discoveries along the way. It ties together the end and beginning of the middle chapters of the TV version and makes for unsettling reading as well. Kneale even manages to gives us glimpses and references to the world outside of the UK, which was barely mentioned on screen. We learn of Disneyland being struck and that Ireland is ruled by a protestant military junta that the Prime Minister fears will launch an invasion amongst other things for example.

There are little changes as well throughout the novelization. These range from additional scenes (some of which Kneale wrote for the screen but were not include such as the bridging of events during the final chapter of the TV version including the arrival of the Russian scientist Gurov in London), changes to the story order (which focuses the middle of the story on Quatermass alone without cutting back to Kapp doing very little which was a fault of the TV version) and other changes here and there. These expansions are often done in throwaway fashion but add greatly to the sense of a world falling apart.

Nigel Kneale himself said that this novelization was his favorite of the three versions of the fourth Quatermass story and it is easy to see why. Kneale brings out strong characterizations in this prose version that even expands on little seen supporting characters and he is able to expand on the world and events seen in it as well. Yet in reading all of that, something else becomes clear. That Kneale was a very good prose writer as well as an excellent scriptwriter and it’s a shame he didn’t do more prose. The Quatermass novelization stands as a testament not only to Kneale’s most famous creation but his skills as a writer as well.

[Tony · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is something about the whole dark feel of this corking little 'end of the world' story that keeps me coming back. Bought when aged 13 (in 1980) and re-read every year since.

It's a relentlessly grim, pedophobic tale that handles its apocalyptic vision very personally and unsentimentally. There ain't no happy endings for our (anti) heroes and it's all the better for it! Think Doctor Who meets The Road...

The 1970s TV adaptation is a lot of wobbly-scenery, hamming-it-up fun but I'd love to see a modern update for the screen.

I'm already looking forward to reading it again.

Brilliant.

[Chris The Story Reading Ape · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story, written before NASA existed and men actually did go into space, landing and returning from another planet, explored one possible problem we might encounter....

The movie 'Species II' copied the theme to good effect.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love Quatermass! Got this book which is as old as me from amazon after watching the TV show on youtube. Great classic british sic fi, hope I can hunt down the other books too!

[Mike Jennings · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this, along with The Quatermass Experiment, Quatermass 2 and Quatermass and the Pit back in 1979 when they were all issued in nice, new, Arrow paperback editions. I devoured the other three and (for some reason) never got round to reading this one. It kicked around in boxes in various attic rooms for so long that I eventually lost it and, in order to finally read it, I've had to buy another copy.

The one I bought in 1979 was brand new and cost me 95p. This (mint) copy has cost me £15 and from what I've seen elsewhere that was a bargain! A lesson learned there I think.

[Dark-Draco · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not hugely familiar with Quartermass as a TV programme, nor have I read any other books in the series, so I had no idea what to expect from this. What I did find was quite a tense, supernatural mystery set in a oddly dystopian world where the young have formed into roving gangs or ley-line following weirdos!

I love stories revolving around ancient sites and what they could actually be - and I loved this completely original idea. I also loved the fact that the it wasn't all completely explained - there's still some mystery left about who, or what, is behind the attacks or even what the purpose was behind them. There is no happy ending here either - characters die, in quite nasty ways, and there is nothing to imply that this broken world has really been healed at all.

A great little read - glad I picked it up.

[Hugo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kneale's effective prose expands this adaptation of his final Quatermass tale from its TV incarnation, a novel at once cynical and hopeful, adding much background to his dystopian vision of late '70s Britain (showing much cultural foresight, of the time and up to date), filling in character details to every character, large and small, and delving deeper into Quatermass's analytical and emotional mind. The Planet People - originally written as '60s hippies, but equally applied to the contemporaneous punks, or even the New Age 'crusties' of the mid-'80s - are an exploration of the increasing generation gap Kneale saw over his lifetime, and the alien threat remains elusive, unknowable, and never wholly explained.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quatermass was a scientist-hero brought out by the BBC in the 1950's. He battled the (seeming) supernatural with his scientific expertise, keen wit, and superior rational intelligence. This is a novelization from 1979 of what I believe was the last sequence. It's a very-Britich, very-'70s apocalypse story, quite well written and still a lot of fun.

[Timothy Keable · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nicely written bleak ending to the series.

[George Eraclides · Rating 2 out of 5]

Beam of destruction from outer space which Q stops by solving the mystery and destroying the alien. Any surprise? Time-filler.

[Herb · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an odd mixture of very good to bad ingredients. I like the futuristic setup with its many factions (the planet people, the pay cops, the badders, and several more which I wouldn't know how to name). The overall construction of the novel (the different acts if you like) seems good to me too. But then the many flaws! The sentences often seem unconnected and end half-finished (e. g. without verb). The dialogue is jerky. Explanations are missing or incomprehensible: I often didn't understand what was going on. The nature of the aliens remains unclear until the end. And as an aside, we really could do without the old Quatermass petting. Before N. Kneale had written such good teleplays, and now this tedious novel?

[Ian Banks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grim and unrelenting but compelling and very readable. My only qualm would be the joy the author fears from describing his mess of a future. The characters are very well-drawn despite many suffering the fate of having their life stories given out in vast dollops at a time rather than be interesting in their own right. The links to the other stories in the series are subtle and don't get in the way despite informing many aspects of the worldbuilding.

[Norman · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story of Quatermass in television film and book is a very long and complicated one. Nigel Kneale's creations are normally very complete and very convincing With this story I felt the post-apocalyptic type Britain scenario was drawn very well. The Gang warfare convincingly scary however the main thrust the main point of the story seems to be pretty thin on the ground and I didn't feel very well explained. However it was still a good read

[Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I saw the television program, I interpreted it as being anti-drug culture. Reading this book, I read it as anti-anti-intellectualism. It's more violent, and, hard to believe, even less optimistic than than the television show.

[Colin Sinclair · Rating 5 out of 5]

A bleak tale about a fractured world, spiralling into savagery and decay, as Professor Quatermass once again confronts the alien and unknown. Just the thing for light summer reading 0.o

[Deshan Tennekoon]

My god, this is bleak. Wonderful, but bleak. What a final outing for the Professor.

[Michael P. · Rating 1 out of 5]

So disappointed to see Quatgermass so helpless until the last quarter of the book and I just do not buy the ending from the time he is finally reunited with his granddaughter.

[Elizabeth Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a fan of the films, was happy to find a copy of this.

Incredibly bleak, disturbing and bitter-sweet story - very intense sci-fi horror, well worth a read.

Hoping to find the other three books.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better than expected

[Chuck McKenzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The fourth and final of Nigel Kneale's Quatermass serials is here presented as a novel (where the previous three were published in script form), and is possibly the most bleak and realistically awful of the lot. While once again dealing with themes of alien invasion and ancient Earthly legend (as with Quatermass and the Pit), the main focus of the book is a very human one, as Professor Quatermass searches for his missing granddaughter in a truly Dystopian Britain not too far removed from the one that exists today. Frightening, engrossing, and utterly heartbreaking. A brilliant and upsetting read.

[Don · Rating 4 out of 5]

The television scripts to Nigel Kneale's first six-part Quatermass serial for the BBC, since only the first two episodes were recorded for posterity. Nigel Kneale is stunning; he's one of the most character-based writers I've ever encountered in any medium - which is all the more impressive, since sci-fi television has not typically been known as a hotbed of such things, especially in the quintessential B-movie era of the 1950s. I wish that Kneale had written novels as well, but I don't think he has; I'll simply have to content myself with trying to track down more of his TV work, if I can.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nigel Kneale has been writing about Bernard Quatermass for decades. Each of the first three iterations of his story has had two incarnations: first as a TV mini-series and then as a movie. Two my knowledge this one, the fourth story in the series, has only had the TV version. So unless you can track down the DVD of that you'll have to read the book and imagine John Mills as the eponymous professor.

[Jonathan Oliver · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think, though I may be wrong, that this is Kneale's only novel. It suffers a little from being an adaptation - in that some scenes feel awkward in their realisation of what was on screen, and some of the editing doesn't catch parts that feel more like script notes or stage directions. However, it is a compelling story. Relentlessly bleak, but finely plotted.

[Devero · Rating 4 out of 5]

L'ultimo episodio della saga del Prof. Bernard Quatermass fu anche il primo che lessi. Presentato in forma di romanzo distopico, amara riflessione sulla natura umana, lascia aperta una speranza nel finale. Ricco di idee e di avvenimenti, mi è piacuto parecchio anche il film che ne hanno tratto.

[Kriegslok]

Apocalypse 1970's style. Loved the tv version and enjoyed the book. A classic in its genre! Huffity ... Puffity!

[Chip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice little apocalyptic Quatermass novel. Actual novel this time and not scripts.