General / Off-Topic The BBC's war of the worlds is pants

Totally unnecessary relationship issue backstory, tripods too big and made of crystal, Martians tripod shaped, best bits of the story missing and replaced with heavy handed environmentally aware flash forwards.

They took a run up and managed to make a total mess of one of the best stories ever told.

You can see how good it could have been if they'd just skipped the extra's they crammed in and stuck rigidly to the book. Its like the Hobbit movies when it could have been like LOTR.

GRRR and other angry noises.
 
I found it alright, and sufficiently different to make it worth watching since its been adapted so many times. Its not perfect but its better than I was anticipating.

Its interesting too that the BBC cut a certain scene to make the tone different though compared to NZ.

Also, have you heard about the second War of the Worlds TV show being filmed?

 
I found it alright, and sufficiently different to make it worth watching since its been adapted so many times. Its not perfect but its better than I was anticipating.

Its interesting too that the BBC cut a certain scene to make the tone different though compared to NZ.

Also, have you heard about the second War of the Worlds TV show being filmed?


I've seen worse admittedly.

If you go through all the trouble of filming it set in Victorian England why not go the whole hog and just do it book faithful, very few stories stand that sort of test of time and remain classics let alone sci-fi where its almost unheard of. Don't mess with a winning formula.

Its like the difference between The Thing from another world and Carpenters The Thing in comparison to the original short story.

A lost opportunity, Kenneth Branagh said decades ago he wanted to make a book faithful version, but Jeff Wayne (the album guy) had the rights and stopped him.
 
I've seen worse admittedly.

If you go through all the trouble of filming it set in Victorian England why not go the whole hog and just do it book faithful, very few stories stand that sort of test of time and remain classics let alone sci-fi where its almost unheard of. Don't mess with a winning formula.

Its like the difference between The Thing from another world and Carpenters The Thing in comparison to the original short story.

A lost opportunity, Kenneth Branagh said decades ago he wanted to make a book faithful version, but Jeff Wayne (the album guy) had the rights and stopped him.

I too want a Victorian version, with Martians true to these illustrations:

152871


But an Edwardian setting was enough for me (for now at least).
 
Tom Cruise's version was the best version.

It was, except for the Martians which were rubbish. They should fling that budget at Mr Branagh and let him do a Peter Jackson "this book is a historical document" on it though. Now its no longer copyrighted everyone's having a bash so sooner or later someone has to get it right.

Hm. I expected to be very unimpressed.
Was pleasantly surprised. I enjoyed it, really drew me in.

I tried twice and fell asleep, its the Hobbit effect.

The books written as almost entirely character free, only Ogilvy actually has a name IIRC which was a deliberate thing by the author as the individual people are just not as important as what's happening around them. They are helplessly driven by events not actively taking a part.
 
I have found the first two episodes actually embarrassing. Production values were obviously not a priority. Just look at the debris-pile that was supposed to be burying the Spall guy for example - looked like a poor version of a kids fort. Seriously poor throughout.
 
I agree, at least it was the best so far.

Although I do think that, much like "Dune", there hasn't yet been a War of the Worlds movie/tv adaptation that truly lived up to the original material's potential.
I am optimistic about Denis Villeneuve working on an adaptation of Dune, though news has been pretty quiet on that front.
 
Totally unnecessary relationship issue backstory, tripods too big and made of crystal, Martians tripod shaped, best bits of the story missing and replaced with heavy handed environmentally aware flash forwards.

They took a run up and managed to make a total mess of one of the best stories ever told.

You can see how good it could have been if they'd just skipped the extra's they crammed in and stuck rigidly to the book. Its like the Hobbit movies when it could have been like LOTR.

GRRR and other angry noises.
Firstly you get narration from a woman. Then 'Amy' making 'scientific' proposals to Ogilvy. Then you get mention of the 'Socialist Society' or similar. Then you get a jump to Imperialist British Rule. Then you get disapproval of relationship outside wedlock (Well, that would be a church thing, wouldn't it.). Then you get a dung ball hovering above the landing site. No tentacled creature. No spinning mirror. No sounds of engineering from within the cylinder. Flash forward to the future etc etc.

The Jeff Wayne LP got me to read the book as a kid and I have read it countless times since, and what a book that is. The build up, the description, the atmosphere, the tension; amazing. The struggle with sanity, surrendering yourself to realise that your madness is as sane as every other survivor. Witnessing the body of the curate you punched out, to stay hush getting dragged away to be devoured. Working out the biology of the Martians and their evolution into brains with tentacle-like fingers. The narrator finally realising that the only intelligent 'voice' was from those that destroyed all that he loved, and toying with his own crucifixion for their survival. What a book!

But it's the BBC. See, what they did (look up what the writers put on the internet), was grab anything they could. They put words in his mouth: H.G. Wells was involved in the Fabian Society back then. It's also not unreasonable to propose that his book was in response to foreseeable troubles in Europe re empires. But the book was about Martian invaders destroying everything that human kind knew and was powerless to defend, through the eyes of a journalist. The book observes social class; not as an issue, but as noticeable things such as profession. Empire, or power, is discussed the book, but it's not shoved down your throat. It's written in the faith that the reader is able to judge without prompting. The book does questions our dominion over our planet, but it doesn't distract from the story, unlike the BBC who'll shoe horn patronising snippets (that most people roll their eyes at) at every opportunity.

I've waited so long for a faithful screen adaption of the original book. I'm still waiting.


Looking forward to next weeks episode, when it's Merged with 'The Time Machine' and New Dr Who turns up with Rosa Parks, Scooby Doo and Team Tardis
 
I too want a Victorian version, with Martians true to these illustrations:

View attachment 152871

But an Edwardian setting was enough for me (for now at least).

In the book Wells' describes fighting machine's as walking like a swaying milking stool, or something like that. I don't think that three legs would actually work, but I'm glad for artistic licence over reality in this case. I read somewhere that Wells got angered over some cover art.
 
In the book Wells' describes fighting machine's as walking like a swaying milking stool, or something like that. I don't think that three legs would actually work, but I'm glad for artistic licence over reality in this case. I read somewhere that Wells got angered over some cover art.

"Seen nearer, the Thing was incredibly strange, for it was no mere insensate machine driving on its way. Machine it was, with a ringing metallic pace, and long, flexible, glittering tentacles (one of which gripped a young pine-tree) swinging and rattling about its strange body. It picked its road as it went striding along, and the brazen hood that surmounted it moved to and fro with the inevitable suggestion of a head looking about. Behind the main body was a huge mass of white metal like a gigantic fisherman's basket, and puffs of green smoke squirted out from the joints of the limbs as the monster swept by me. And in an instant it was gone."
 
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