Quatermass [Hardcover]

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.