War of the Worlds

[Jem'hadar]

The official web site of the upcoming War of the Worlds movie is up for those interested:

http://www.waroftheworlds.com/

It has some trailers & movie clips and an online game.

[Poolshark]

I'm still not convinced that taking this story out of the Victorian Era is a good thing.......and I want my Martians to be saying "Ooooooh-laaaaaa"



Cheers

Tas

[REG]

.......and I want my Martians to be saying "Ooooooh-laaaaaa"

What does that mean???

[Poolshark]

REG:

You never heard Jeff Wayne's musical version of WOTW????

If not, get it and listen....then you'll understand!

Cheers

Tas

[REG]

"Ooooooh-laaaaaa laaaaaa laaaaaa laaaaaa laaaaaa laaaaaa laaaaaa laaaaaa laaaaaa means I loooooove yoooooouuuuuu."

Not a big fan of WOTW.

Definitely not a fan of Tom Cruise.

[Dan Gurden]

REG; Kind of wondering, if you dont like WOTW or Tom Cruise? Surely the topic header was a bit of a warning as to what this thread would be about?

poolshark; Fear Not. Speilberg has simlpy taken the story and remade his own movie based on it. Kind of like the 1950's War of the Worlds movie, and from the trailer very similar to Independance Day...

Word in the magazines (Empire, etc) is that his version will not feature a war between Earth and Mars, but instead another planet??? This has yet to be seen. If you do a quick check on the IMDB, Speilberg has dropped the word 'The' from the title, so he seems to agree that his film is 'A War of the Worlds'

The Very good news however is that there is a second War of the World film released in 2005, one that snuck in under the radar and was due a release this month in the US, so I guess it will be straight to DVD for us in the UK.

This version is a classic version, set in England, in the Victorian era and is faithful to the book, so its the story we know and love. I figure that there is room for both, and at least there is both.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0425638/

And lastly, as for the sound of the Martians. It is indeed best exemplified in the Jeff Wayne album, or even in the more recent 'Ulla-dub-ulla' remix album. However this is taken directly from the novel, spelt 'Ulla'.

[Poolshark]

Hi Dan, you stickler for spellings......mine was phonetic! (I always think that should be fownetik)

Ah well....

Cheers

Tas

[REG]

REG; Kind of wondering, if you dont like WOTW or Tom Cruise? Surely the topic header was a bit of a warning as to what this thread would be about?

Well, I'm not a devoted big fan. But I've seen the original ... once. I've also seen the syndicated TV series that featured Adrian Paul (before he became "Duncan MacLeod" of Higlander: The Series).

[Evan van Eyk]

Well I think it is a good idea to move the story forward in time and exchange the martians for another species. Back when Wells wrote it, Martians where something imaginable by the people - but today we simply know that there is no life on Mars at all - and even if we had long received signals and hints before they would attack us.

If you look at the original story I think it is ok to put it forward in time, just because when written it was also set in the same period.

[C5]

It depends whether you want to have a movie that is faithful to the novel, no matter how impossible or outdated it is, or something viewers can more easily relate to...

Being a big fan of the Victorian SF (and of Wells), I'd much prefer something closer to the book. I hope I'll be able to get this other movie somewhere (thanks for the info, Dan, BTW).

[Dan Gurden]

Well, I'm not a devoted big fan. But I've seen the original ... once. I've also seen the syndicated TV series that featured Adrian Paul (before he became "Duncan MacLeod" of Higlander: The Series).

This would explain why you hated it so much.

That was a diabolical version. And the TV series had even less to do with the concept, and is therefore beyond consideration as War of the Worlds...

You should give the classic source a try, along with the concept rock album by Jeff Wayne. If you are not a convert by the end of either of those sources, then I promise to leave you alone.

[Dan Gurden]

If you look at the original story I think it is ok to put it forward in time, just because when written it was also set in the same period.

I had read a review that said pretty much the same thing. I will paraphrase here;

Its worth remembering that the original was written as a parable of the British Empire, hence its setting during the 'golden' Victorian age. Lets face it, we were hardly saints when we ran the empire, and treated people pretty badly. War of the Worlds takes place in England for precisely that reason, it was simply a wake up call to ask us how we would like being treated as second class citizens (or worse) in our own land...

By this token, the closest modern example is now the USA, as the strongest superpower with a cultural empire that spreads through the world riding roughshod over local culture (burger bars, entertainment, shopping, and currently foreign policy, but thats another arguement for elsewhere)... The parable is now still valid.

It all depends on whether this is the route that Speilberg will take.


I know I will be watching this movie, and the trailer certainly seems spectacular, so it may be good, but the oddity is, that the version I am most looking forward to is the lower budget, faithful version, because I have seem Aliens invade modern day america and fail on many previos occasions (original WotW, ID4, Mars Attacks, Plan 9, The Thing, etc), so to me the faithful retelling is the new improved version.

[Hugh Casey]

Word in the industry is that the trailer for Peter Jackson's King Kong will be attached to WOTW.

I may have to see it just for THAT!

[IceGiant]

And I'm really not entirely sure why we needed another Kong movie. You can only retell THAT story so many times.

[Hugh Casey]

Perhaps, but PJ is one person that I trust to tell it WELL!

And, besides, the original is one of my FAVORITE movies... I'd like to see an update!