Tripods

The Tripods is series of novels written by Samuel Youd (under the pseudonym "John Christopher") beginning in the late 1960s. The first two were the basis of a science fiction TV-series, produced in the UK in the 1980s (it was aired between September 1984 and December 1985). more...

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The story of The Tripods is post-apocalyptic: Humanity has been conquered and enslaved by the "Tripods", huge metallic-looking alien entities. Human society is reminiscent of Middle Ages. Humans are controlled from the age of 14 by cranial implants called "caps", which leave them with a life of modesty and serenity by preventing curiosity and creativity, not to mention any traces of dissent. The caps cause them to adore the "Tripods" as their saviours.

Disney has owned the rights to The Tripods since 1997. It has been reported that a cinematic version is in pre-production with Australian-born director Gregor Jordan signed on to rewrite and direct for Walt Disney's Touchstone Pictures label.

Books

The White Mountains (1967)

The story begins in a small village in England A.D. 2167. Will, the narrator, is 13 not quite a year short of the time when he will be "Capped". His cousin, Henry, is of a similar age, but one month younger than Will. Although neither understands how the Caps work, they know that the Capped appear to worship the Tripods, who rule the Earth, and that they are unquestioning and uncreative. Feeling uncomfortable with the idea of losing their creativity, the two follow the advice of a mysterious vagrant who goes by the name of "Ozymandias" and undertake a long journey to the "White Mountains" (actually the Swiss Alps, literally translated from the French Mont Blanc). After crossing the Channel, they join forces with a young, inventive French boy, Jean-Paul (Henry Anglicizes his name to Beanpole, owing to his tall, thin stature, and he is so referenced for the rest of the series), and head for the Alpine region. The boys go through the remains of Paris, abandoned and ravaged by some ancient war, and finally arrive at the General Quarters of the human resistance, having while en route, and mostly by sheer luck, destroyed a Tripod.

While written for a young audience--being rather short (under two hundred pages) and having an unsophisticated vocabulary--the book is swiftly plotted and filled with narrow escapes, except for a brief period during which the boys live at a manor owned by a wealthy French count. Will forms a strong relationship with their preteen daughter, Eloise, and is heartbroken when Eloise is chosen "queen of the tournament" at an athletic competition that the count hosts for knights living in the surrounding countryside, for Eloise must then go off to serve the Tripods in their domed city. (The Tripods, it turns out, actually have three cities: one in Germany, one on the Chinese coast, and one on the Panama Canal.)

Read more at Wikipedia.org