In this episode your Planet 8 crew takes a look at the big one...the war to end all wars...we're talking War of the Worlds! This sci fi classic, first conceived by H.G. Wells, has been adapted to radio and film most successfully, as well as TV and comic books. We will focus on the two motion pictures, the first released in 1953, the other in 2005, but we'll touch on other adaptations too.
Chief Engineer Bob gives us the lowdown on Wells' original novel and how it was adapted to a radio play by Orson Welles in 1938. Welles' broadcast caused hysteria across the country as people mistakenly thought the world was actually under attack by Martian invaders. Similar radio broadcasts of War of the Worlds occurred in other parts of the world too.
A number of film-makers tried to bring War of the Worlds to the big screen but it was George Pal who succeeded in 1953. His film still looks brilliant, in large part due to the Martian war machines, with their sleek manta ray-like design. We'll talk about just why this film has such a strong visual impact, and we might go off on a tangent or two, but hopefully it will be entertaining!
Next we take a look at Steven Spielberg's 2005 film, starring Tom Cruise. In some ways this adaptation was closer to Wells' novel, such as including the Martian tripods. The film also had scenes that paid homage to Pal's film. Di we love it? Like it? Well, listen and find out!
Before we finish, Recon Officer Karen shares more War of the Worlds related stuff: the Tripods novels of John Christopher, and Marvel's Killraven comics. It's a Martianpalooza!
We round it out with our Sensor Sweep, with Commander Larry sharing his newest treasure. This time it's a rather thick tome called The Fantasy Worlds of Irwin Allen by Jeff Bond, from Creature Features. Many of you will recall that Irwin Allen was the producer of Lost in Space, but he also was the man behind such TV shows as Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Time Tunnel, and Land of the Giants too. Allen also produced films, earning the title "The Master of Disaster" for such efforts as The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno, and The Swarm. The book is filled with amazing photos and tons of info on all of Allen's projects. It's the perfect read for fans of his work. It's sold out on the Creature Features site, but you might check secondary sellers to see if you can find it.
That's all for us this time. Please share your thoughts and feedback with us in the comments section, or at our other sites:
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Another great conversation, everyone.
ReplyDeleteI have to say, though, on the topic of Welles' famous, or notorious as the case may be, radio drama in 1939, the panic it supposedly caused was highly exaggerated. The 1949 version in Ecuador that Bob mentioned, however, did indeed have serious repercussions and even a body count, unfortunately. There's actually a great episode of Radiolab that I listened to many years ago which covers the various rebroadcastings of the radio drama and the effects it had on audiences.
Otherwise, when you guys talked about the guys asking obnoxious at convention panels, it reminded me of that SNL sketch with Shatner at a Star Trek Convention, as well as that scene in an episode of the Simpsons in which Homer rather masterfully deals with minutia geeks.
And yeah, that Tom Cruise can run. I think - and I'm absolutely not joking about this - he has a clause in his contracts that stipulate he has to have at least one scene in any movie in which he runs at full sprint. Otherwise, I agree with Bob that the Spielberg War of the Worlds isn't bad, but I totally agree with Karen about the ending.
-Edo Bosnar
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