History Literature / TheDayOfTheTriffids

* BabyFactory: One of the most horrifying aspects of the plot's entire setup is that they cannot ''possibly'' help the vast majority of the population, who have been blinded. Eventually even the ''"Good" faction'' of people led by Beadley sadly concludes that all of the blinded men are a drain on resources and thus a complete write-off. Conversely, Beadley's openly stated position -- grudgingly accepted even by the ''protagonist'' -- is that blind women of childbearing age will be kept alive and in polygamous relationships with the remaining sighted men, to try to repopulate as quickly as possible.

* BabyFactory: One of the most horrifying aspects of the plot's entire setup is that they cannot ''possibly'' help the vast majority of the population, who have been blinded. Eventually even the ''"Good" faction'' of people led by Beadley sadly concludes that all of the blinded men are a drain on resources and thus a complete write-off. Conversely, Beadley's openly stated position - grudgingly accepted even by the ''protagonist'' - is that blind women of childbearing age will be kept alive and in polygamous relationships with the remaining sighted men, to try to repopulate as quickly as possible.

* RevisedEnding: See KillItWithWater above.

* AdaptionExpansion: Brutally shows the horror of those first few days in two scenes; one shows an ocean liner, helplessly adrift, and the second an aeroplane pilot begging for someone to talk him down, as the entire crew is blind. The plane crashes near Mason's ship, but we never find out what happened to the liner.
* AmericaSavesTheDay: Embraced in the movie version.

----

While the Triffids rapidly break free of their farms and begin wiping out the blinded population, Masen and Playton become entangled in the squabbles of other sighted survivors leading to their unwilling separation. They are finally reunited at a small estate in the English countryside, taking up farming in an fenced enclave surrounded by hordes of Triffids. When a despotic new government appears on the scene, they join a colony of more freedom-minded individuals on the Isle of Wight, researching for the day they can defeat the Triffids and reclaim the Earth for humanity.

The novel has been adapted for film three times, first by a very loosely-adapted 1962 feature film; then by a 1981 BBC miniseries which, while low-budget, is quite faithful to the original work; and [[Series/TheDayOfTheTriffids once more by the BBC in 2009]]; again the plot deviated a great deal from the original.

The novel has been adapted for film three times, the first being a loosely-adapted 1962 feature film, the second a 1981 BBC miniseries which, while low-budget, is quite faithful to the original work, and then [[Series/TheDayOfTheTriffids once more by the BBC in 2009]]; again the plot deviated a great deal from the original.

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dayoftriffidsbook.jpg]]
->''"When a day that you happen to know is Wednesday starts off by sounding like Sunday, there is something seriously wrong somewhere..."''
-->--Opening line of ''The Day of the Triffids''.

* AmericaSavesTheDay: Coldly deconstructed in the original, where ApatheticCitizens who assume that aid will come from the United States as it did in WW2 end up triffid fodder.

* AttackOfTheKillerWhatever

* ItCanThink: The exact level of intelligence of the genetically-engineered triffids is a subject for debate, with the protagonist rubbishing the idea that they're intelligent —- after all, dissections haven't found anything remotely like a brain. Others aren't so sure. One man points out that the triffids escaped from their farms within ''hours'' of everyone going blind. In another scene a triffid is waiting outside the very door which a person would run out of if they heard someone driving down the road. Much like the Velociraptors in ''Film/JurassicPark'', they're also smart enough to avoid an electrified fence...and to force it down when the electrical power is off. They even have a crude form of communication by drumming their branches against their trunk, though whether this is a crude but effective "hunting call", or an actual complex "language" is unknown. Overall, they seem to have ''at least'' the same basic intelligence level as a pack of dogs.

* SleptThroughTheApocalypse

* AcquiredPoisonImmunity: [[spoiler:the revelation of how humanity can take Earth back from the triffids. Small doses of triffid venom, combined with eating triffids, can help immunize people from the venom.]]

* BabyFactory: a non-enforced version appears in the Isle of Wight, where blind and sighted women live in great houses together, having children with any man ''they'' choose, and taking care of the children communally. [[spoiler:The New York community has women basically treated as slaves, forced to have many multiple pregnancies.]]
* BigApplesauce: seems to be an utopian community, protected from triffids thanks to blocked bridges. [[spoiler:The utopia part is a lie: there is a segregation system between white sighted people and the rest and slavery runs rampant in northern Manhattan (where factories manned by blind people, those who made the mistake of complaining about the system and those who are too weak run 24/7) and some other places (where the workers are forced to work non-stop to cut trees for ethanol or to mine coal) and many women are forced to become a BabyFactory. Being the child of New York's leader won't save you, and in fact he will send you to that destiny because of his relation to you.]]
* CallBack: the beginning is a call back to the beginning of the original novel: both characters wake up unable to see anything, and think that when the situation is similar to what is going on then, something very bad is happening.

* KillItWithFire: there is a special anti-triffid squad armed with flamethrowers, always ready to go at the first signal of one or more triffids making their way to the Isle of Wight, or when there is an expedition to Britain.

* LaResistance: a group with bases somewhere in the East Coast and in the Great Lakes is opposed to the semi-fascistic New York regime.

* NothingIsScarier: at the start of the novel, it is completely dark, and David only has a lamp without mirrors to see the path. He can't see the triffids that he knows are coming, which adds to his nerves.

* TheNightThatNeverEnds: the novel begins at 9 AM in summer, and when the main character awakens it is as dark as midnight in winter. [[spoiler:A combination of very dense clouds and an asteroid cloud passing between the Sun and Earth is the cause. Later in the story, when the clouds leave, there is light, but the sun looks like it is dying.]]
* UniversalPoison: the triffid venom is shown '''not''' to be this. A lecture in the first chapter tells that it is not an instant killer, but the antidote has to be injected into the carotid artery very soon.

* AmericaSavesTheDay: Coldly subverted in the original.

* TheGreatPoliticsMessUp: Averted in the book, kind of; Wyndham liked to throw in a bit of exposition about the Soviet Union for the benefit of future generations too young to recall the Cold War. Illustrated neatly by a scene in the first chapter when a shady individual claiming he can supply triffid seeds to a British firm points out that dealing with the suppliers directly might be difficult; in the book, this is the cue to pause the action for about half a page of exposition. In the 1981 TV adaptation, the company executive sums it up with one sentence:
--> "You mean they are behind the Iron Curtain."

** The blind, who are shuffling around mindlessly pawing at things and wailing -- they were sighted a few hours ago and with no experience in living without it or anyone to help, they're stumbling around in the dark.Subverted towards the end of the book by the original inhabitants of the farmhouse.

* ScreamingWoman: Janette Scott in the movie. And despite that famous line from "Science Fiction / Double Feature" in ''TheRockyHorrorPictureShow'', she doesn't actually do any fighting.

--> "Because they are behind the Iron Curtain."

The book's narrator is an Englishman named Bill Masen, who details how some years previously the eponymous carnivorous plants mysteriously began to appear all over the world, eventually proving to be capable of movement and possessing the ability to attack humans with their poisonous stings; Masen's own theory is that they were deliberately bioengineered in the Soviet Union and then accidentally released into the wild, but [[LeaveThePlotThreadsHanging the truth is never revealed]]. Whatever their origin, the plants are also discovered to produce a high-quality vegetable oil, and so an entire industry grows up around farming them. Masen works as a researcher on a Triffid farm, and ends up in the hospital after a Triffid stings him on the face. His eyes thus bandaged, he misses a bizarre meteor shower that lights up the night skies all over the world.

* GoneHorriblyWrong: The Triffids are implied to have been genetically engineered, and made to survive in very inhospitable environments.

* MainliningTheMonster: Triffids are initially culled because their predatory habits pose a threat to humans, but when it turns out they can be exploited as a source of a high quality oil, they are captured, have their stingers removed, and farmed instead.
** Even worse, when it turns out that the oil quality improves if the sting is not removed...

* ZombieGait: The blind, who are shuffling around mindlessly pawing at things and wailing -- they were sighted a few hours ago and with no experience in living without it or anyone to help, they're stumbling around in the dark.Subverted towards the end of the book by the original inhabitants of the farmhouse.

* {{Irony}}: Bill Masen comments with David about the irony of triffids being both their greatest enemy and their greatest source of fuel.

The book's narrator is an Englishman named Bill Masen, who details how some years previously the eponymous carnivorous plants mysteriously began to appear all over the world, eventually proving to be capable of movement and possessing the ability to attack humans with their poisonous stings; Masen's own theory is that they were deliberately bioengineered in the Soviet Union and then accidentally released into the wild, but [[LeaveThePlotThreadsHanging the truth is never revealed]]. Whatever their origin, the plants are also discovered to produce a high-quality vegetable oil, and so an entire industry grows up around farming them. Masen works as a researcher on a Triffid farm, and ends up in the hospital after a Triffid stings him on the face. His eyes thus bandaged, he misses a bizarre meteor shower that lights up the night skies all over the world. Come morning, Masen learns that the shower has struck blind everyone who viewed it. (He later speculates that the shower was actually a malfunctioning orbital weapons system, but again no proof is to be found one way or the other.) Wandering through a disintegrating London, he meets and quickly falls in love with a sighted novelist named Josella Playton (who missed seeing the "meteor shower" because she was sleeping off an [[PoisonedChaliceSwitcheroo unfortunate party experience]].) While the Triffids rapidly break free of their farms and begin wiping out the blinded population, Masen and Playton become entangled in the squabbles of other sighted survivors leading to their unwilling separation. They are finally reunited at a small estate in the English countryside, taking up farming in an fenced enclave surrounded by hordes of Triffids. When a despotic new government appears on the scene, they join a colony of more freedom-minded individuals on the Isle of Wight, researching for the day they can defeat the Triffids and reclaim the Earth for humanity.

The novel has been adapted for film three times, the first being a loosely-adapted 1962 feature film, the second a 1981 BBC miniseries which, while low-budget, is quite faithful to the original work, and then once more by the BBC in 2009; again the plot deviated a great deal from the original.

!!Examples specific to the 2009 remake:
* AdaptationInducedPlotHole: The compressed timeline and the promotion of Torrence to chief villain leave a bit of an error on Coker's story. [[spoiler: The original storyline contrasted the actions of Coker trying help those affected and those of the Beadley Group who wanted to make a fresh start away from London. However in this version Torrence and Coker either completely remove or disrupt the Beadley group (Its never made clear). Coker manages to get away from Torrence and sets up an effective base for survivors on the Isle of Wight. Which he can't have done because the Beadley Group is not there to help. Plus the Original Book/series took over the space of years. In this version he somehow manages to do it in weeks.]]
* AerosolFlamethrower: Bill Mason uses one in the warehouse scene.
* AnimalWrongsGroup: The dangerous male Triffids (who can release spores, vastly increasing triffid numbers) are released by a ''plants''' rights activist.
** How dumb are they? They get attacked by the triffids so they knowe that they are dangerous. And when everyone is blinded what do one of them do? ignore all the blind people and open the doors to lethally dangerous plants. Takes TooDumbToLive to another level.
* ApocalypseHow: Killer plants and a solar storm. Performs a relatively mild Class 1.
* BadassAdorable: Susan and Imogen -- two cute little girls in CoolShades, [[CoolHat helmet and red beret]], packing [[MoreDakka automatic weapons]].
* BlackCloak: The triffids draw on the creepiness of this trope by having purple cowl-like hoods which they unfurl cobra-like before striking.
* TheCaligula: Torrence after he takes over London.
* TheCharmer: Torrence is a pretty charismatic leader though not quite the ladies' man he fancies himself to be.
* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler:The masks used by the tribesmen in Zaire are not to protect their eyes from Triffids, but are a means of making them immune to their sting. Also Bill's triffid recording makes itself useful on several occasions.]]
* ChessMotifs: Chess pieces on a map of London show the expansion of Torrence's empire.
* [[CombatTentacles Combat Roots]]: These are used even more than the stingers.
* {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s: Triffoil conceals knowledge of how dangerous the triffids are.
* CoveredInGunge: The bodies of those killed are covered in triffid venom.
* DullSurprise: Dougray Scott as the hero was a particular offender, delivering lines like "we have to warn everybody" with all the urgency of someone reminding their wife to pick up milk on the way home.
* EvilBrit: Averted, due to it being set in Britain. But also, kind of toyed with, given that the EvilBrit is EddieIzzard.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: When Torrence realises the airliner is going to crash, while everyone else panics he calmly grabs every lifevest he can find to cushion the impact, including taking one from a child.
* FauxAffablyEvil: Torrence cheerfully maintains his mask of polite normality whilst plotting everyone else's downfall.
* FromNobodyToNightmare: Torrence
* GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke: The triffids are stated to be genetic engineered to have more oil but this made them more aggressive. Kind of ruins the "nature will find a way" aesop when the apocalypse was because of genetic engineering.
* GreenAesop: Exploited killer plants eat humans and TakeOverTheWorld - it's begging for it. Earlier adaptations came before mainstream environmentalism and avoided this, but the 2009 TV drama [[{{Anvilicious}} beats you over the head]] with it a few times.
* GunAccessories: The torches attached to the weapons wielded by Torrence's mooks are fully justified -- for those who still have their sight, [[DarknessEqualsDeath being able to see an enemy]] that doesn't use sight is one of the few advantages they have.
* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler:Troy]]
* HopeSpot: Mason's father develops a Triffid which will produce sterile spores. [[spoiler:It gets destroyed in an attempt to free him from its grasp.]]
* HumanSacrifice: [[spoiler: How the group led by the nun keeps the triffids at bay. They tie up their old and infirm for the triffid to eat and in return triffids have learnt to keep their distance from the buildings.]]
* IdiotBall: [[spoiler: Mason's father plays a recording of a wild Triffid in a room connected to his captured Triffid's cage. It reacts badly.]]
** The survivors who follow Torrence decide to stay in London. Because an entire city filled with rotting corpses isn't going to cause a lot of outbreak of disease? Or you know, attract a horde of Triffids who ''eat the dead?!''
* ImmuneToBullets: Well difficult to kill at least, more so than in the TV series.
* KickTheDog: After Jo broadcasts a message warning people about Torrence's reign and does a bunk, Torrence empties his pistol into the guy manning the radio station.
** Torrence's first scene where he's awake involves him [[spoiler: realizing that everyone else on the place is blind, it's about to crash and then deciding to steal everyone's lifejackets so he can cushion himself from the impact with them.]]
* LargeHam: EddieIzzard plays Torrence with evil relish.
* LaserGuidedKarma: the plant rights activist releases the triffids from the farms. And then gets eaten by them.
* LastStand: Subverted; Torrence sees himself in this light, often shown admiring statues or paintings of UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill, but he's just a sociopath with delusions of grandeur.
* LineOfSightName: We never discover Torrence's real name -- he took it from Torrence Lane, where the airliner he was in crashed.
* LittleStowaway: [[spoiler:Susan tags along on Bill's mission to bag a male triffid.]]
* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: [[spoiler:When Torrence [[TheStarscream takes over Major Coker's organisation]], he has TheDragon take Mason and Coker out to the woods to be fed to the triffids, then tells Jo they've been killed by a triffid attack.]]
* ManipulativeBastard: Torrence, subverted however in that he always slightly overdoes his lies so Jo and Bill can see through him.
* ParentalSubstitute: Susan and Imogen adopt Bill and Jo as mum and dad.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Jo tells Torrence that without the Triffids he's nothing. He yells at her to shut her face and threatens to shoot her.
* SharpDressedMan: Torrence loots a Saville Row suit and wears it from then on.
* {{Sociopath}}: Guess who.
* SuspiciouslyAproposMusic: Amusingly inverted -- Jo and Bill are doing a DanceOfRomance after being apart for so long; the music they are dancing to contains the lines: "Mother Nature and me are the best of friends."
* TownWithADarkSecret: [[spoiler:The convent is protecting itself by sending out expendable members of the community to be eaten by triffids, thereby keeping them docile.]]
* ShoutOut:
** Several shots are almost identical to iconic scenes from ''Film/TwentyEightDaysLater'' -- which itself, while not an official adaptation of ''[=tDofT=]'', openly reused several plot-points.
** Torrence in the airliner crash is probably a reference to a similar crash in the 1962 movie (though no-one survived that one). Likewise Susan's Sterling submachine gun is a modern version of the Sten gun wielded by Janette Scott in the movie's publicity material.
* VerticalKidnapping: An armed {{mook}} feels [[DroolHello triffid venom drop on his shoulder]], then a triffid that's climbed a tree yanks him screaming into the air.
* VillainousBreakdown: Torrence goes progressively more insane as the film progresses. He's completely gone by the last act.
* WeaksauceWeakness: [[spoiler: The triffids ignore anyone that has a bit of triffid venom in their eyes for some reason.]]
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Bill and Jo hook up with a group of survivors lead by a low ranking government officer and an Army Colonel (Who like their original book counterparts planned to leave London). Torrence leads a quick raid kidnapping Bill and Jo. But we never find out what happened to this group.
* WhileRomeBurns[=/=]SoundtrackDissonance: A man is shown playing the violin while panicked policemen who've lost their sight fire blindly at civilians and [[UnfriendlyFire fellow officers]]. After he's finished playing, the man calmly walks to the balcony and [[DrivenToSuicide throws himself off]].

* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: The U.S. specifically states that it has no satellite weapons that will ''directly'' wage biological warfare on human beings. Even though most other countries are unwilling to even do that, the terms used quite strongly suggest that this is a denial of the "ExactWords" variety.

* ZombieGait: The blind, who are shuffling around mindlessly pawing at things and wailing -- they were sighted a few hours ago and with no experience in living without it or anyone to help, they're stumbling around in the dark. Possibly leads to UnfortunateImplications if it looks as if only sighted people can possibly think of ideas about working together. Subverted towards the end of the book by the original inhabitants of the farmhouse.