User Reviews

Out of the Unknown: The Machine Stops is set in the far future where humanity now live underground in small subterranean rooms in a vast network of tunnels that is maintained by machines & computers, the machines & computers provide everything for humanity including air, music, food & transport. The idea of human contact is almost obsolete as people communicate through the computer & there is no need to visit the surface of the Earth anymore, a young man named Kuno (Michael Gothard) tries to convince his mother Vashti (Yvonne Mitchell) that the machine may stop & that humanity has become to reliant on it...

Episode one from season two of this sci-fi series this was directed by Philip Saville & is apparently regarded as the best surviving episode from Out of the Unknown which I am not sure about myself but it's a worthy watch none the less. Adapted by Kenneth Cavander & Clive Donner based on the novel The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster first published in 1908 this was actually the oldest story to be adapted for the show although I suppose one could say it's theme about over reliance on machines is pretty timeless. However, having said that the theme that technology is bad & as a society we shouldn't be too reliant on it is hammered home at every opportunity through some fairly unsubtle & blunt dialogue but to balance that out the script does make it's points rather well. Generally quite thought provoking & still relevant to some extent even today the central social message The Machine Stops gets across is a fairly effective one. What will happen when the machine stops & the question of who will mend the menders when they need mending? Also, in answer to Vashti's question, because Peking is in reality nothing like Shrewsbury woman, that's why.

Originally broadcast in October 1966 the start of the second season of Out of the Unknown saw a change in duration, most episodes from season one ran about sixty odd minutes while season two episodes ran about fifty with the notable exception of episode four Level 7 (1966) which did run for an hour. Only four episodes still survive from the second season's thirteen episode run so there are huge gaps in the archive thanks to the BBC's wiping & junking policy of the 60's & 70's. The production design is quite nice, some of it predictably looks dated like the huge computer (I think my Samgung Wave mobile phone is more sophisticated) but I did find the scene in which Kuno drops something onto the floor & a section rises up so he wouldn't have to bend down to pick the object back up amusing & a nice visual image of how the machine caters for all of humanity's needs.

The Machine Stops feels like a stage play & may be a little slow for modern tastes but the core story is interesting & fairly intelligently put across, even the futuristic setting is quite well realised considering. Serious sci-fi fans should definitely watch it if you can actually find a copy which is easier said than done having never been officially released anywhere. The following episode, Frankenstein Mark 2 (1966) is yet another missing one from the BBC archive & is not known to exist.