Reviews & Ratings for
"The Changes" More at IMDbPro »

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9 out of 9 people found the following review useful:
Very powerful and scary, 20 March 2005
Author: Steve from United Kingdom

I remember this from the 70's. I only saw the middle episodes but still had vivid memories of it years later. UK Gold recently screened the whole series and I finally learned what had happened. They don't make children's drama like this anymore, pity. One other thing I noticed, when a threat was dealt with, it was over. These days unless you see the bad guy die you just know he will be back to plague the hero's due to a lack of imagination by the scriptwriters. This series however fell into three subplots which followed on from each other as we followed Nicky through the often Violen and very menacing Changes caused by the Stone.

8 out of 9 people found the following review useful:
Freaked me, too, 12 March 2004
Author: petertuziak (petertuziak@hotmail.com) from Sydney, Australia

I saw this show in the late 70s on the ABC, I was only about 8 or 9 at the time. I remember vividly the scene where everyone goes wild and smashed up everything (notably cars), the comparative kindness of the Indian family compared with the stupid rednecks who seemed to dot the countryside and the big rock at the end. The Changes was very much a product of the environmental push that took place in the 70s. I would be curious to see how the show would be presented today. This show was one of many fine British television dramas for children from the 70s.

5 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
They should re-make this, 10 July 2003
Author: Glenn Walsh from Belfast

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I remember this from my childhood and like the first reviewer I was totally captivated. It dealt with some terrific ideas, but I always remember the opening credits where the girl's father smashed the TV with one of those ashtrays-on-a-stand. To me, a 10-year-old telly addict, that was horrifying! I read the book it was based on, 'The Weathermonger' and it was much better, with a developed story and a more plausible ending. WEE SPOILER... In the book, the supernatural force was revealed to be Merlin the wizard, no less. A re-make of this with a bigger budget (maybe even a feature) could be very successful today as we are even more techno-dependent than we were in 1975. Any producers reading this...

5 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Tea-time horror from the 70's, 27 January 2003
Author: Andy Fennessy (andyfennessy@yahoo.co.uk)

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

CONTAINS SPOILERS (not that you'll ever get to see it!)

This was a children's TV series consisting of ten twenty-five minute episodes first broadcast in 1975 on BBC1, and repeated a year later. I have very vivid memories of it, because it scared me half-stupid (and considering I have grown up believing, for instance, The Exorcist to be a comedy, that's saying something!)

Young Nicky Gore wakes up one morning to discover that everybody - her parents included - has gone mad. They are out on the streets smashing up cars, destroying televisions - any mechanical / electrical device you could care to mention, in fact. Deserted by her parents (who decide to flee to France) she is befriended by a group of Sikhs who, like her, appear to be immune from the cause of the madness - the "Noise", disturbing waves of sound which emanate from electricity pylons (or so I remember).

Various adventures in rural England ensue before Nicky - accompanied by various companions along the way (and at one point tried as a witch) - finds the source of the noise in a recently excavated cave system... This is the last episode and things get SERIOUSLY weird! She finds a large glowing red monolith which is crying out in a strange faraway voice "Muni targit! Muni targit!" (Latin for "I stop the World" I believe).

Apparently, it is a very confused supernatural force which has been reawakened by the excavation work, and sensed (I'm guessing here - it is twenty-seven years since I saw it and I was eight at the time!) that the natural order of the planet has been perverted (and indeed, polluted) by the inventions of man since the Industrial Revolution in the Eighteenth Century, and is attempting to revert the world to a time when people were more at one with their environment.

The denouement is something of a cop-out. Nicky prostrates herself before the ancient force, pleading with it to reverse the harm it has caused. And, um, it does so.

The world is free again to poison the land and seas, for superpowers to threaten each other with nuclear weapons, for s/he-who-dies-with-the-most-toys-wins mentalities... Civilisation, it may be concluded, is amoral, but once innocence is lost, it can never be regained. Will wisdom grow in parallel with progress, or are we merely rushing headlong into self-destruction? Thoughts to chew on, certainly.

Note: Much of the location work was shot in Bristol and the West Country.

2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
A spooky drama, 9 January 2006
Author: michael-stead from Bournemouth, United Kingdom

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I remember seeing this as a child, and I believe it may even have been repeated soon afterwards. It was quite hard-hitting bleak stuff for the children's slot, and very welcome because of that. David Garfield as a hard-bitten leader in the post-industrial dystopia gave a memorable performance. In fact in the years since it was last shown (an before IMDb or other internet sites made it easy to dig up these old shows) the only thing I had to convince myself that the show really existed (in the face of blank stares from my contemporaries) was David's performance. The title of the show was certainly unmemorable.

I imagine that at the time this was seen as a junior version of Terry Nation's 'Survivors', and was in the same mould as 'Ace of Wands', as a slightly unsettling half an hour of entertainment. This was in an age when every schoolchild grew up believing that at any minute the Russians and Americans would set off nuclear Armageddon, and so in some ways it was also rather like one of the Public Information Films of the time. I think that in these days of shouty Blue Peter presenters and the thunderingly moronic "Dic 'n Dom" it would be utterly out of place on CBBC.

As we 'know' everyone was bewilderingly racist in the 1970s . . . except that millions of children were introduced to Sikhism through 'The Changes'. The only people unaffected by the destruction of society were the rather noble band of Sikhs.

I suppose what was rather alarming about 'The Changes' would have been the juxtaposition with 'The Wombles'. In the latter a broken television set was the prompt for Tobermory to turn it into a new camera or automatic hot water bottle for Great Uncle Bulgaria. In the former it would be left discarded at the side of a wind-swept wasteland as the rest of society crumbled around it.

The end of the series was rather haunting, as the children who were the heroes found their way to a cave deep under a mountain in wales, where a huge pulsing white rocky crystal was sending out the waves of hate which had perverted the world.

So far BBC worldwide seem not to have considered this for release as a DVD. Perhaps the special effects would seem a bit dated today, but I am sure that as a piece of quality drama it would have lasted quite well.

seriously scary, 20 October 2006

Author: simonferdinand from Spain

I remember watching this series when I was 6 years old, and I found it absolutely terrifying. After the first episode, as soon as the title page appeared I begged my mum to change channel because I really thought the TV was going to explode, or everyone outside in the street was really going to freak out and smash up everything while it was showing. At that age I just couldn't take this sort of programme. I had nightmares about "the noise" and school lock-outs, power blackouts and people rioting in the streets for years after. Actually it was almost an omen for late 70's Britain in many ways.

I couldn't remember the name of the series, until one day just idly surfing the net I happened to search for: "disturbing BBC1 children's series 1970s" to see if a well-known search engine could help me find it, and here it was.

I don't know what made BBC programmers think this apocalyptic stuff was suitable viewing for kids: young teens maybe, after Top Of The Pops or something similar, but I was still at the Paddington Bear level.

But I must admit I'd quite like to see it again now that I'm 38!

The Changes - brief synopsis., 29 August 2006

Author: Karenjfarrow from United Kingdom

I remember watching this as a child during the 1970;s and it scared the livings daylights out of me!

It was very ahead of its time when it was made and was completely different to anything else around at that time. I can remember the lead actress walking down the street and everyone has gone crazy and they were bashing their cars, and then wandering around like nomads. can't remember the middle episodes much, just the lead character trying to find her parents I think. I vaguely remember her meeting up with other people. I remember the end episode where everything appears to go back to normal again, and the girl, Nicky I think her name was, emerging from some sort of cave or hiding place and there was a shot of a train running over head which indicated everything had returned to normal. It didn't really explain why everyone rebelled against all things electric etc and why it turned everyone crazy. It would be great if the series could be repeated again, and to see if it still held the power to scare children today. Its a pity that another series was not made at the time as I feel there was scope for another series, to see if the madness returned. What a great children's TV classic!

memory link, 11 July 2006
Author: hodges331 from United Kingdom

Hello, i was only 8 years old when i watched the changes, it invokes powerful memories as images of series remind me of Berkeley power station where my father worked most of his life. More recently i have been playing computer game called half life 2, and only just realised some of the in game environments have a similar feel and atmosphere to images that i remember from the changes episodes.

No wonder i like the game so much, desolate landscapes filled with electricity pylons making that buzzing noise. I hope the series will be released, it will be amazing to watch it again after all these years.

I would be very grateful for any feedback related to the comments i have posted.

People against technology? sounds intriguing, and this programme uses the theme as a storyline. One girl's quest to discover the cause., 6 June 2006

Author: alan-tuson from Leyland, England

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Almost 30 years ago, I watched the series but missed the last episode. I finally got around to watching the series again (from scratch) and wasn't disappointed. If you look through the basic "cheeseyness", and accept the fact that the programme was recorded all those years ago, you can be quickly drawn into the storyline. Basically as madness descends,people are rebelling against technology and destroy TV's cars toasters kettles etc. Schoolgirl Nicky Gore and her family leave home for safer shores but they are separated, and Nicky finds herself on a quest which will ultimately lead her to the source of the problems. If you are an eco-warrior you will find the message behind this series interesting, but you only get this message towards the end. Well worth the wait, I can recommend this, especially to anyone that is looking for something slightly different from the norm.

1 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Memorable Children's Drama That Has The Power To Disappont 30 Years Later, 26 September 2010
Author: Theo Robertson from Isle Of Bute, Scotland

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

THE CHANGES is one of these shows you watch as a child and you can remember elements all the way in to adulthood . I saw the first episode in January 1976 knowing nothing about and was disturbed as the characters quickly set about destroying any appliance that could vaguely be described as a machine . It quickly had me tuning in to every episode for ten weeks and the only show that had an effect on me at the time was DOCTOR WHO . I In short it's a show you don't forget in a hurry and one that in a world of videotape and VHS video you want to track down . Unfortunately once you do see it 30 years after its broadcast you might be rather disappointed

The first episode " The Noise " was just as I remember and is somewhat chilling as buildings collapse and psychotic crowds take to the streets to destroy machinery . The effect is somewhat diluted somewhat when you realise much of the footage is taken from the 1967 Hammer version of QUATERMASS AND THE PIT . Simiraly the impact is lessened when the psychotic crowds seem to be very liberal in working out what qualifies as " modern man made machinery " . You can understand someone smashing up televisions but is a bike getting beaten to death by a lynch mob is possibly a bit silly but writer Anna Home and director John Prowse rightly just concentrate on informing the audience a terrible event is occurring without going in to detail

Unfortunately both the writer and director throw a massive spanner in the works where Mrs Gore states that they" Must escape to France where I've heard things are still normal " Since the televisions and radios have been destroyed in a mass cull , and telephones too probably how would she know this ? The audience are also left scratching their heads a few minutes later when the Gores embark on their journey to France only to have the noise happen again leading to more machine mashing . Mr and Mrs Gore notice that Nicky has disappeared only to have Mr Gore state that he'll take his wife to France then he'll come back to England to find his daughter ! Nicky can't be more than a few hundred yards away but her parents will go to France then Mr Gore will go back to find her . T. I know this is a plot turn to set up Nicky being separated from her parents but when you're making a plot turn it's imperative to structure it so that it doesn't seem illogical . In fact throughout the whole episode the time frame and story structure hold together rather badly , so much so you'll swear that this fondly remembered piece of television from childhood has been heavily edited such is the disjointed nature

That said the story does pick up somewhat in the second episode though be it the story does seem somewhat slow in places . Nicky is given sanctuary in the second episode by a group of Sikhs . Halfway through the series Nicky and the Sikhs part ways as the protagonist goes and searches for her Aunt in the countryside and it as Nicky is accused of being a witch by a contemporary Matthew Hopkins who insists that Nicky be stoned to death . This is a very effective subplot and shows that you don't have to be graphic in order to chill an audience . Both the writing and performances tell the story without the need of cruelty .If you think it's somewhat lame in 2010 please remember it's a children's show from the mid 1970s

Despite the effectiveness of this segment where THE CHANGES falls down is in the denouncement which is every bit as clumsy and confusing as the opening episode . Nicky and Jonathon ( Who saved her from the Witch Finder ) go in to a cave and meet the cause of the noise that brought about the changes - a megalith . Apparently Mr Megalith has been annoyed at humanity so has tried to destroy civilization in Britain . He's able to read Nicky's mind and seeing what she has seen he decides he's been unjust so effectively destroys himself as Nicky and Jonathon make good their escape . It's confusing too since the two protagonists hear an airliner passing over head as they exit the cave . If a plane is flying over the sky does this mean that the changes never happened in the first place ? If not it's contradicted by Nicky mentioning her parents are still in France

In all honesty watching THE CHANGES again with an interval of over 30 years I was slightly disappointed . The main narrative is involving enough though the story is let down by both the opening and concluding episode . Someone like Russell T Davies can get away with writing a poor DOCTOR WHO episode by concentrating on an opening hook and emotional ending where as Anna Home's 10 episode saga seems to be the antithesis of this type of writing . That said if it compelled you to tune in every week as a child then that can only be viewed as a success and if you can remember it more than 30 years later then that's an even bigger success . It's also a children's show that would never be produced nowadays . Instead we'd get " soap opera lite " for teenagers so perhaps we should praise THE CHANGES flaws and all

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