Tag: war of the worlds

MTV to remake War of the Worlds. …But which one?

Interesting question, isn’t it?  There are two strong possibilities, one wild card, and one probably-not. Although any one of the four has promise.

  • The most obvious to go with, of course, is the 1950s George Pal War of the Worlds. It’s almost certainly what MTV expects their audience to recognize without too much prodding.  Problem there, of course, is by now that look is thoroughly retro.
  • Then again, so is the other obvious possibility, which is to go back to the source material and start from scratch. I like that idea, if only because it’s so rare that people don’t try to update the story for the modern age.  Just go with it. Do a period piece.  Throw the real League of Extraordinary Gentlemen into it, if you want something even more explicitly steampunk*. Heck, that’s pretty much what Allan Moore did, right?
  • The wild card? The Spielberg version. Which, you know, I liked, in spite of itself. But I don’t think that that might be the take that MTV is really looking for here.
  • And the probably-not is also a real dang shame: they could redo the TV show.  Which I ALSO liked, in spite of itself.  I even liked the bit where suddenly they went into low-grade dystopia-land in the second season, just because.

Continue reading MTV to remake War of the Worlds. …But which one?

Some critically important scholarship on the Martian Invasion.

You will be shocked to hear that H.G. Wells did not actually give a good date for the Invasion, but this line of speculation seems sound. It all comes down to basic astronomy and when certain church renovations took place. As usual – and yes, I’m going to make you click through. Ken Hite did the scholarship; he should get the clicks for it.

Interestingly: if you had asked me when the Martian Invasion took place I would have said “1938.” Well, more accurately I would have said “193…8? 1939? Whenever the radio program was… wait, sorry, you mean the original one? I dunno, some time in the 1890s?” It’s really interesting, the way that this particular intellectual property operates. I’ve read the original book more times than I’ve listened to the radio show, but the radio show is what I associate with the concept. And yet the visual image that I get when thinking of “War of the Worlds” is unambiguously from the 1950s flick*.  Guess this demonstrates the power the IP had on popular culture, eh?

Moe Lane

*I actually didn’t mind the Tom Cruise remake, but it was no first-season War of the Worlds TV series. Then again, what was?