War of the Worlds

[Mr Prophet]

What did I tell ya? Why don't ya peeps listen to me?

Being correct doesn't make you right. It just means that you live in the same suburb of incredibly stupid and WRONG as Steven Spielberg.

Admittedly, it's a much nicer neighbourhood than my abode; Penury Crescent in the once-desirable district of Moral Victory...

[D.C.]

It's no big deal, though... Even if they were martians I don't think it would be neccessary to go into the aliens origins, instead focusing on the unprepared response to an invasion.

[LordAnubis]

Being correct doesn't make you right. It just means that you live in the same suburb of incredibly stupid and WRONG as Steven Spielberg.

Admittedly, it's a much nicer neighbourhood than my abode; Penury Crescent in the once-desirable district of Moral Victory...

I am truly sorry for offending you, My Lord. I know you are omniscient and all-powerful, whereas I am a mere mortal with the intelligence of a common housefly.

Get off your high-horse, Prophet, and stop throwing around fifty dollar words like you know what they mean. Earlier in this thread, I questioned the logic of having the invaders being from Mars given our current/modern scientific understanding of Mars. Yes, it's sci-fi; yes, it's possible they could have the means of subverting our probes of their planet. It's also possible they could reside underground. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I merely questioned the logic of having them still be from Mars in this remake.

Note, a remake is a not an exact copy of the original; it's merely a remake. Some remakes are equal to the original, some are better, and some are worse. Battlestar Galactica is a remake of the original series. In the original, the Cylons were reptilian organic aliens who, through their own design, evolved into robotic beings. In the remake, they were made by humans and evolved into...well, whatever they are now. Different components being used in a common basic plot. In this case, Speilberg, who is infinitely richer and more creative than you, given your lack of prominence in the literary and cinematic circles of the world, and his incredibly powerful and successful presence in the film industry, chose to alter the original plot, much like the makers of the new Galactica did, and make it more believeable by having the aliens being from another planet that isn't Mars.

How does this change alter the basic underlying plot? Do you understand what the book was about? Do you understand the purpose and intent of the story? It's NOT about Mars; that is a totally irrelevant fact or point. Our planet is invaded by a species from another world who intend to wipe us from existence. Where they are from and why they are here is irrelevant. WHat they look like, who their leader is, what kind of interests rates they have on their homeworld, whether they wear boxers or briefs, or which side of the road they drive on is totally irrelevant. The fact that they are here and kicking our asses is the only thing that is relevant. The fact that they can die is relevant.

So, in short, I would rather live in my suburb of incredibly stupid and WRONG with Mr. Speilberg than live in the exclusive gated community of pretentious self-righteous lunacy that doubles as an intellectual black hole on weekends like others not worthy of mention.

[Mr Prophet]

I am truly sorry for offending you, My Lord. I know you are omniscient and all-powerful, whereas I am a mere mortal with the intelligence of a common housefly.

True. But self-awareness is a good thing.

Get off your high-horse, Prophet, and stop throwing around fifty dollar words like you know what they mean. Earlier in this thread, I questioned the logic of having the invaders being from Mars given our current/modern scientific understanding of Mars. Yes, it's sci-fi; yes, it's possible they could have the means of subverting our probes of their planet. It's also possible they could reside underground. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I merely questioned the logic of having them still be from Mars in this remake.

That's fifty pound words; I get hosed on the exchange rate.

Note, a remake is a not an exact copy of the original; it's merely a remake. Some remakes are equal to the original, some are better, and some are worse. Battlestar Galactica is a remake of the original series. In the original, the Cylons were reptilian organic aliens who, through their own design, evolved into robotic beings. In the remake, they were made by humans and evolved into...well, whatever they are now. Different components being used in a common basic plot. In this case, Speilberg, who is infinitely richer and more creative than you, given your lack of prominence in the literary and cinematic circles of the world, and his incredibly powerful and successful presence in the film industry, chose to alter the original plot, much like the makers of the new Galactica did, and make it more believeable by having the aliens being from another planet that isn't Mars.

In what way is it more believable to have aliens that aren't from Mars? Let me be clear here, I understand why they might want to change some of the details. I understand why they might decide to make the aliens be from somewhere other than Mars, but it does not, in any way, shape or form, make it more believable.

And I shudder to think of anyone holding up the new Battlestar Galactica as an example of a successful remake. It wasn't worse than the original - that woudl be very hard to do - but unless the series really picked up from the mini, it certainly wasn't good.

How does this change alter the basic underlying plot? Do you understand what the book was about? Do you understand the purpose and intent of the story? It's NOT about Mars; that is a totally irrelevant fact or point. Our planet is invaded by a species from another world who intend to wipe us from existence. Where they are from and why they are here is irrelevant. WHat they look like, who their leader is, what kind of interests rates they have on their homeworld, whether they wear boxers or briefs, or which side of the road they drive on is totally irrelevant. The fact that they are here and kicking our asses is the only thing that is relevant. The fact that they can die is relevant.

The fact that they need to come down here is relevant. The fact that their technology, although awesomely superior to our own, is still sufficiently limited to require them to send non-returnable invasion capsules is relevant. The invaders in War of the Worlds are not an army of occupation, but a colonisation force from a dying planet, with the resources to get here and not much more. Their weapons and technology are superior to humanity's, but they have to fight a war on terms we are familiar with. They do not have ships that can park in orbit and blast Earth from the sky with high-precision lasers and they do not have much in the way of medical facilities, apparently.

Their minds are reputedly immeasurably superior to our own, but ultimately what the story was about is the fact that they are as fallible as us. The further away the aliens come from, the more sophisticated and advanced we have to assume their technology to be, the less sense it makes for them to be here and the less believable any denoument will be, except of course if they end with the aliens winning. The trailer seems to have maintained the concept that the aliens have been watching us; that they looked up from their dying world and saw Earth in the heavens above. Now, maybe these aliens sent probes, but did they not take air samples? Soil samples? The occasional probe to see if the locals woudl make good eating? Did they not notice the teeming germs?

Maybe the climax of the film will be changed and it won't be a bug that kills them, but the longer-term the invasion plan has to have been, the harder it will be to swallow any ending which destroys the aliens, be it act of God or act of Cruise.

So, in short, I would rather live in my suburb of incredibly stupid and WRONG with Mr. Speilberg than live in the exclusive gated community of pretentious self-righteous lunacy that doubles as an intellectual black hole on weekends like others not worthy of mention.

Which, if you read my post with the slightest fragment of critical discernment, you might realise was more or less my point. I personally feel, for reasons of tradition as much as those outlined above, that the aliens should be Martians, but I don't make a million bucks a movie. Speilberg does. I accept this.

[Spaceminx]

I've got mixed feelings about this. When I first heard about it I thought it was great as finally we'd have a version that's faithful to the book but no, we get a modernised, Americanised version as bloody usual. The book is wonderful but I don't think this version will be.

[Xzyl]

I've got mixed feelings about this. When I first heard about it I thought it was great as finally we'd have a version that's faithful to the book but no, we get a modernised, Americanised version as bloody usual. The book is wonderful but I don't think this version will be.

You may want to keep a look out for this version instead.

Synopsis of Timothy Hines' H.G Wells' The War of the Worlds
http://www.eveofthewar.com/synopsis2...79d1f9104b77a1

Trailer *Warning its a really rough cut of unrealted scenes.

http://static.howstuffworks.com/mpeg/wowteas1-hires.wmv

[D.C.]

The new teaser trailer for War of the Worlds has been released at http://www.apple.com/trailers - It's pretty damn awesome...

[TechnoBoY]

The new teaser is exciting! Wow! I cant wait!

[D.C.]

I'd like to see the trailer on the big screen. I wonder what movie it's attached to?