Set in Edwardian England, this new adaptation of H.G. Wells’ seminal tale – the first alien invasion story in literature – follows George (played by Rafe Spall) and his partner Amy (Eleanor Tomlinson) as they attempt to defy society and start a life together. Rupert Graves is Frederick, George’s elder brother, and Robert Carlyle plays Ogilvy, an astronomer and scientist. The War of the Worlds tells their story as they face the escalating terror of an alien invasion, fighting for their lives against an enemy beyond their comprehension.
…’Partner,’ you say? Hmm. No, I’ll allow it. H.G. Wells definitely had Views on this entire ‘free love’ thing, which makes this insertion reasonable enough. Besides, they have to shoehorn a major female character in somewhere*, because Wells himself couldn’t arsed to do it in the original book. Might as well make a virtue out of necessity and do a clever meta-reference.
Moe Lane
PS: I do want to see what the BBC does with The War of the Worlds, mind you. This is, like, right in the BBC’s wheelhouse. It should be a snap; they could probably put a production together on the fly and out what they have lying around already.
*Actresses like to be in science fiction epics, too. And audiences like to see them! Hollywood groks this.
Wells put three female characters into his novel: the narrator’s wife, and the two women the narrator’s brother meets. The narrator’s wife spends most of the novel off stage, which is what provides the narrator what we used to call a motive back in the day when people had those in books.
Fair enough, but I mostly wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to use the word ‘arsed’ in a post. 🙂