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'No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. '
So begins what is undoubtably the most famous of all alien science-fiction story. It provided inspiration for countless future science-fiction stories and films/television. The list includes V, Tripods and Independence Day. There is also a Music CD by Jeff Wayne which can be bought at any good music store and on the Internet. H.G. Wells was inspired to write the story after hearing about canals being spotted on the surface of Mars by astronomer Giovanni Shiaparelli. It was later discovered that Giovanni hadn't said canals but canali which has a different meaning. The story tells of an average Joe Public who lives in Woking, Surrey trying to survive the Martian Invasion.
On Oct, 30th 1938, Orson Welles made a radio broadcast of the story. Even though there had been a warning go out beforehand, not many people had caught it. As such, when they heard it, people started screaming and believing it was true. Panic set in as people believed it was true. Those people who panicked hadn't heard the announcement beforehand that it was a radio production. There were two other incidents following were people had believed it was true, one in November 1944, Santiago, Chile and the other February 1949, Quito, Ecuador.
In 1953, the first film updated the story which upset a lot of diehard fans. The story was set in fifties America, the alien craft became flying saucers. The death-rays stayed the same and so did the outcome.
In 1995, Independence Day came out which could be said as being influenced by War of the Worlds. The aliens were unconquerable, they used a form of death ray against the humans. The ships had force fields so they couldn't be attacked. The virus which wiped out the Martians in the original story became a computer virus.
March 2005, the first and only version based directly on the story will be released. It will be set in Victorian Britain and follow the story truthfully. If you like the original story and want to see a totally faithful version of it, this is for you.
June/July 2005, the Tom Cruise/Steven Spielberg production hits the cinemas. It had been planned to be released earlier but because of the 9/11 Terrorist Outrage, the filming was put off but now its back on. This version is not for the diehard book fans. It's been uptodated to present-day much like Independence Day. The characters are a New Jersey family not military so there's a little faithfulness. Tom Cruise won't be playing Ogilvy but he'll be the main character you can bet on that. The posters catchphrase is 'They're already here.' It gives the impression that the aliens are humanoid, it does seem cheapish having humanoid aliens. One bit of faithfulness you might like to know is that they're might be the presence of the Martian Red Weed.
August 2005, the third movie will be released. It is a CGI based version, set in the right time period. It is being financed and supported by Jeff Wayne who produced the musical back in the seventies. The graphics for the flying craft and the tripod look out of this world, pardon the pun.
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