butlerstc I watch it like once a month. Very well acted and perfectly cast. Its also a great drama, comedy, romance - and has a clever sense of self awareness. I always find new things in it whenever I watch - very thoroughly done. I can quote this movie almost line for line, "but everything is perfect now, and everything will always be perfect, so why does it matter when things weren't perfect?" I haven't read the book, so I don't know how much of the dialogue is drawn from it - but I love the dialogue. So simple and naive. I like how there are no "good guys" in this story, its just a character study. John Savage wasn't anymore more moral at the end of the day then the people in the perfect society were. He was naive too in his own way. He was kind of the opposite of the Ford worshipers - they suppressed their emotions and he was carried away by his... I also like the idea of trying to build a perfect society - this story is as close to a "Utopian" scifi as I've ever seen. Even though it is ultimately dystopian, it is not as bleak as dystopian stories usually are. I feel like the major flaw in this dystopian society was hierarchy. This is the tragic flaw of the otherwise perfect little social experiment they had going - is that it was ultimately still based on hierarchy and dominance and submission within its roles - just more refined and sleek so it wasn't as obvious and noticeable as other dystopian fantasies. This mini series is painfully underrated. One of my favorite movies/mini-series ever! S

Scott Amundsen This 1980 made-for-TV film is the first attempt to adapt Huxley's landmark novel to the screen. I read the book for the first time over twenty-five years ago, and recently had occasion to re-read it. Some books are so much their own identity that one can be excused for considering them possibly unfilmable; for me BNW was one of these until I stumbled across this odd but audacious effort.In the minute details, this telefilm is not as faithful to the novel as it might be; John Savage's backstory is moved from the center of the novel to the beginning of the film, and the low budget shows mostly in the wobbly sets and what can only be described as a valiant attempt to create the Brave New World on a shoestring budget. The futuristic society should have looked more like LOGAN'S RUN than a bunch of plastic sets, one of which is so obviously the interior of a 747 that it is almost laughable.Yet despite the technical flaws, this film has considerably more power than one would expect, mainly because of a splendid cast including the great Keir Dullea, the legendary Ron O'Neal, Bud Cort in yet another superb performance, the wonderful but underrated Marcia Strassman, and a carefully culled bunch of the finest character actors including such names as Jeannetta Arnette, Jonelle Allen, Kristoffer Tabori, Dick Anthony Williams, and Valerie Curtin.The script is merely serviceable; it works hard to be as faithful to the novel as possible, but some of what was sinister in the book comes across as merely silly on the screen. This isn't the fault of the actors, who mostly play their roles with the glaze of mindlessness that one envisions when reading the novel (the exceptions here are Cort, Williams, Tabori, Cobb, and Strassman towards the end). In fact it's the performances that bring across just how sinister the Brave New World really is.This is a clunky production and it is easy to get distracted by the cheapness of the sets and some of the silliness of the basic scenario, but for a television film it is surprisingly effective thanks to a well-chosen cast that performs brilliantly; performances such as are seen here were a bit rare in television in 1980. At the very least it is good enough to make me want to see the other versions as a comparison.

bradnfrank As others have said, this 1980 version of "Brave New World" is far superior to the 1998 version. But what nobody has mentioned, probably because they aren't even aware of it, is that the 1980 film exists in 2 different versions.This was originally produced as a 2-part mini-series, running 4 hours (including commercials). But at the last minute, NBC chopped it down to fit into a 3-hour time slot. Allowing for commercials, this means that more than half an hour was removed. When it was later aired on the BBC in England, it ran in its original full length, 2-part form.There are many collectors offering copies of this movie via the IMDb message boards, or eBay. Before buying, I suggest you ask which version they have. (I can personally recommend the copy offered by "deaks".)

firepanther7777 I don't know what the above person is saying. The television 1980 version of the book is not as bad as they said but it is a good representation of the book. It was so good that I brought a DVD copy of that TV movie!! The acting is OK. The production and special effect is adequate for at TV movie. The story is 3/4 accurate. The 2000 version version of the book for a lack of a better term is lame. Even Leonard Nimoy, Spock, couldn't help this truly lame version. The 1980 version gave us an pessimistic and dark look of the future showing test tube conception as well as the bleak viewpoint of natural conception and falling in love in a world of no love.