History YMMV / TheTripods

** Along with the lack of proactive female characters, there are almost no references to non-white humans, let alone any appearance of them. All of the primary characters are English, French, or German.

* GirlShowGhetto: The novels have almost no female characters at all, because at the time they were written it was generally accepted that girls would read books with boy main characters, but not vice versa. The TV series tries to compensate, somewhat awkwardly:
** At one point in the first season, the three boys meet an entire family of girls, who all adore them and want to marry them, but the trio then leaves them behind.
** In season two, a few female members of the Freemen take part in the plan to join the Games, but are immediately killed off.
** Will and Beanpole encounter a couple of bridesmaids on their way to the Games, who are very eager to help the boys out, in exchange for a tumble!
** Female Games champions are also chosen to serve in the city, but immediately segregated from the boys and not seen again. It's stated that female city servants perform only "cooking, cleaning, and nursing".

* InferredHolocaust: Realistically speaking, the fate of Hans in ''The City of Gold and Lead''. He is alone and disabled on an island, that is NOT self-sufficient, with no means of traveling to the mainland. The Capped mainlanders have no reason to care about him or render assistance. It's painfully obvious that he will starve to death, and, given his expression as Will and Beanpole are leaving, he clearly knows it.

* ScrewedByTheNetwork: The BBC executives of the era (1980s) really hated science fiction. And along with ''Series/BlakesSeven'', the ''Tripods'' series was one of the series' to get the ax. This was also the struggle period for ''Series/DoctorWho'' which would be put on hiatus twice, the second time being the effective cancellation of the show in 1989. All of these shows got cancelled without closure [[spoiler:although the end of ''Blake's 7'' effectively serves as closure in retrospect, many, including leads Paul Darrow and Michael Keating, wanted the show to continue]]. Out of the three, The ''Tripods'' series really suffered the worst insult from being cancelled two installments into what everyone knew to be a trilogy- made worse by the series-original ending of [[spoiler:the Freemen being wiped out by the Tripods while the protagonists were away]] ending it on a ''massive'' cliffhanger completely absent from the books.

* GirlShowGhetto: The novels have almost no female characters at all, because at the time they were written it was generally accepted that girls would read books with boy main characters, but not vice versa. The TV series tries to compensate, somewhat awkwardly.

* MonochromeCasting: Along with the lack of proactive female characters, there are almost no references to non-white humans, let alone any appearance of them. All of the primary characters are English, French, or German.

* {{Squick}}: When Ulf is running the security detail in the castle where Ruki is being kept prisoder in ''The Pool of Fire'', Will notes how he often coughs into a polka dotted handkerchief. Later on he discovers that the handkerchief started out completely white.

* ScrewedByTheNetwork: The BBC executives of the era (1980s) really hated science fiction. And along with ''Series/BlakesSeven'', the ''Tripods'' series was one of the series' to get the ax. This was also the struggle period for ''Series/DoctorWho'' which would be put on hiatus twice, the second time being the effective cancellation of the show in 1989. All of these shows got cancelled without closure [[spoiler:although the end of ''Blake's 7'' effectively serves as closure in retrospect, many, including leads Paul Darrow and Michael Keating, wanted the show to continue]]. Out of the three, The ''Tripods'' series really suffered the worst insult from being cancelled two installments into what everyone knew to be a trilogy.

* ScrewedByTheNetwork: The BBC executives of the era (1980s) really hated science fiction. And along with ''Series/BlakesSeven'', the ''Tripods'' series was one of the series' to get the ax. This was also the struggle period for ''Series/DoctorWho'' which would be put on hiatus twice, the second time being the effective cancellation of the show in 1989. All of these shows got cancelled without closure [[spoiler:although the end of ''Blake's 7'' effectively serves as closure in retrospect, many, including leads Paul Darrow and Michael Keating, wanted the show to continue]]. Out of the three, The ''Tripods'' series really suffered the worst insult from being that it was cancelled two installments into what everyone knew to be a trilogy.

* ScrewedByTheNetwork: The BBC executives of the era (1980s) really hated science fiction. And along with ''Series/BlakesSeven'', the ''Tripods'' series was one of the series' to get the ax. This was also the struggle period for ''Series/DoctorWho'' which would be put on hiatus twice, the second time being the effective cancellation of the show in 1989. All of these shows got cancelled without closure [[spoiler:although the end of ''Blake's 7'' effectively serves as closure in retrospect, many, including leads Paul Darrow and Michael Keating, wanted the show to continue]]. Out of the three, The Tripods series really suffered the worst from cancellation being that it was cancelled two installments into what everyone knew to be a trilogy.

* ScrewedByTheNetwork: The BBC executives of the era (1980s) really hated science fiction. And along with ''Series/BlakesSeven'', the ''Tripods'' series was one of the series' to get the ax. This was also the struggle period for ''Series/DoctorWho'' which would be put on hiatus twice, the second time being the effective cancellation of the show in 1989. All of these shows got cancelled without closure [[spoiler:although the end of ''Blake's 7'' effectively serves as closure in retrospect, many, including leads Paul Darrow and Michael Keating, wanted the show to continue]].

* SerialNumbersFiledOff: The Tripods are inspired by the fighting machines from ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds'', as is the appearance of the Masters as giant tentacled heads.

* GirlShowGhetto: The novels have almost no female characters at all, because at the time they were written it was generally accepted that girls would read books with boy main characters, but not vice versa. The TV series goes a bit over the top in compensation with the three boys meeting an entire family of girls, and in season two Will and Beanpole find themselves a couple of very willing bridesmaids while on their way to the Games.
* HarsherInHindsight: It's bad enough when we learn that Eloise's reward for wining the contest is to serve the Tripods in their City. It's even worse when we learn that she serves them [[spoiler: as a stuffed specimen.]]

* SerialNumbersFiledOff: The Tripods are inspired by the fighting machines from ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds'', as is the appearance of the Masters as giant tentacled heads.

** In the Prequel, it is stated that law enforcement in the United States are given the order to shoot the Capped on sight. Fast forward to the Rodney King incident, the death of Michael Brown, the death of Freddie Gray, the Ferguson unrest, the Baltimore protests, etc.

** In the Prequel, it is stated that law enforcement in the United States are given the order to shoot the Capped on sight. Fast forward to the Rodney King incident, the death of Michael Brown, the death of Freddie Gray, etc.

* GirlShowGhetto:

* TakeThat: ''When the Tripods Came'' is supposed to have been inspired by an actual critic complaining that the Tripods could only scan in the visible light region.

* SerialNumbersFiledOff: The Tripods are inspired by the fighting machines from ''TheWarOfTheWorlds'', as is the appearance of the Masters as giant tentacled heads.

* SerialNumbersFiledOff: The Tripods are inspired by the fighting machines from ''TheWarOfTheWorlds'', as is the appearance of the Masters as giant tentacled heads.

* CompleteMonster: Many of the Masters. They program their slaves to howl and shriek with pain when beaten, for their enjoyment.

* HarsherInHindsight: It's bad enough when we learn that Eloise's reward for wining the contest is to serve the Tripods in their City. It's even worse when we learn that she serves them [[spoiler: as a stuffed specimen.]]