I’ve been meaning to write about this for ages. A For Andromeda was famously first a BBC science fiction series from 1961 starring Julie Christie. Sadly, as is the way of these things, barely any footage remains of the original seven part series, with the exception of a recently recovered copy of part six. Those who saw it said it made quite an impression.
The series was followed by a book adaptation, co-written by series writers John Elliot and Fred Hoyle. I guess that it’s Hoyle that most interests me since he’s quite an interesting chap. An astronomer, he became very well known in the fifties with a series of ground-breaking radio talks which included the first usage of the phrase “Big Bang” to describe the beginning of the universe.
The book tells of a signal being received by earth-based observers – the signal being sent by an alien intelligence and providing instructions for something to build. It’s a fascinating piece of work, and seems to share plenty of ideas with Carl Sagan’s later Contact.
This year has also seen a new TV version of A For Andromeda, adapted by Richard Fell who also (re)made the Quatermass Experiment last year. Unfortunately, we don’t have an opportunity to compare this remake with the earlier version. It’d be fair to say that I was a little disappointed however, with the tension not quite working for me.
The book’s pretty good though, and worth hunting out.