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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 109395" data-attributes="member: 23">Having reached the end of Chocky and whizzed through Chocky's Children, I'm now coming to the end of the final series, Chocky's Challenge.Notably, rather than the "by John Wyndham" subtext in the first series, the second and third series is "based on characters created by John Wyndham". Which means that TV scriptwiters are now in charge. While they do capture the tone of the original series fairly well at times, the tweaks that are made are to the detriment of the franchise. For one thing, there's less time devoted to the adults. Increasingly as the series has gone on, they are their role is to interact with the kids. The kids themselves have become something of a team of mini superheroes, with the adults there to support them and Chocky at their beck and call.One of the best things about the original series was the mystery of Chocky herself. Did she exist? And even if she did, why should anyone believe it? Now she appears several times an episode revealing herself to anyone who is interested, even if they are doubtful, sceptical or downright dangerous. As an example of this, in the penultimate episode of the final series, one of the villains of the piece despatched one of the meddling kids and then called for Chocky who then duly appears just in time to get captured. Compare this with the first series where Chocky only manifested at the end and disappeared when there was a risk of her existence being discovered.The whole point of the original ending is that the lesson was learnt: Chocky wouldn't reveal herself to anyone - even those she chose to help her. This played out well at the start of the second series where it was Matthew who realised that Albertine was one of Chocky's chosen children and not even Albertine herself knew. But in the third series she's pretty much just hanging out with all the kids and anyone else who wanders in .Long story short, the latter series are lacking in subtlety and mystery.The rotation of the main cast is interesting. James Hazeldine and Carol Drinkwater appeared in the first episode of Chocky's Children when Matthew went to stay with his cool bohemian aunt. The two were then were written out until Hazeldine returned at the very end, with Matthew, Albertine and Albertine's father becoming the leads.The final series has built on this theme. Matthew and his dad appeared in the first episode of two, but it's Albertine and her dad who have become the leads, with a supporting cast of various kids to cheer and adults to boo. It's still enjoyable, but not as rich, engaging and stimulating as the original.All the same, I'm glad I've rewatched and I'm looking forward to diving into the final episode.</blockquote>

Verification: Who played JR Ewing?