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?