The Voodoo Factor

I vividly recall the opening sequence, with shots of a ship on which were only sprawled bodies. No memory of the plot, but as a ten/eleven year old I did feel that this was superior and decidedly sinister, with a deep mystery at its heart. The plot summary suggests that the series was fantasy - I had thought that the story involved more some sort of mutant tarantula or black widow, with human agency in spreading it for nefarious purposes. Anyway, there were several quite impressive TV SF serials and series at this time in the UK other than the famous Quatermass and A for Andromeda... I also recall a serial involving subsonic control (Undermind?), another one with radio telescopes and some sort of replication of people, and a series featuring dramatisations of Dick and other luminaries. To my mind even then these were superior to Dr Who and the like!

I remember seeing this as a child. It must have been the first fantasy show that I followed all the way through its run, definitely a must see. I remember that it was set on a ship which became a floating hospital as the infection or curse turned people into spiders, Just that idea scared me silly. I dare say that this would look as creaky and old as some of the other stuff from that era that I have managed to review if I could see it now but the image of a giant spider that was once a human lying on its back on a hospital bed has stayed with me since seeing it way back then. Couldn't say the same about anything I have watched on TV this year, and I have a good memory.So I rate it highly for that reason. There seemed to be a golden age of fantasy and science fiction on British TV through the fifties and sixties with many great series, mostly sadly lost now. Very few of the ones that do exist have made it to DVD.

I was eight years old when this was first shown and although young loved anything a little different and scary. This well and truly fitted the bill. Luckily my parents let me watch this programme and in particular I remember the "goddess" laying with all the spiders over her and the darkened outline of the "spider statue" which I believe contained jewels, scared me. Another part which is a bit hazy was of a couple in a room and one leaning against a door from which what I can only describe and tentacles came over the door and proceeded to go around the persons neck! For its time it was very good - the same era as A for Andromeda which also stays in my mind. Are there still copies around that can be purchased?

I remember this being vital Saturday evening viewing for a while when I was a child but was staggered to see it ran in 1959! (I was barely in school!) I can recall that I found the story hard to follow but vividly remember the spider that looked, my Father said, 'like a load of balloons tied together'. He could spoil things like that! It would surely look awful if I were to see it today.

Nevertheless for me, this show was an early introduction to SF that I followed quite avidly as a boy and I also remember - and you can make what you will of this - that I found the word 'factor' interesting and was determined to find out what it meant and try and use it in conversation (That must have been great fun in my infant school!. An early interest in words and writing that I pretty much keep up today.

I was lucky, as an eight year old , to have seen the first episode of this at an aunty's house - my parents would never have let me see it. After that, despite having been scared out of my wits, I made such a hullaballoo about wanting to see the rest of the series that they gave in and we gathered around the B&W telly every Saturday (?) evening to become frightened. I remember the ship and a huge spider in a woman's cabin and the voodoo chanting. There's not much more remaining in my mind apart from the frisson of utter, pleasurable terror that the series provoked. I also remember my mother jumping out of her skin at one point, but what caused it is lost in the mists of time.

I understand that the series is available, but I have no intention of revisiting it. I fear I would find it laughable now and I wouldn't want to lose my memories of its having petrified me nearly to death.