… are a million to one, he said.
OK, if you got that quotation, then you know I’m a big fan of War of the Worlds, the original 1950s movie and the book by H. G. Wells. In fact, I would say the first page of that book should be remembered as one of the finest examples of the use of the English language in literature. It’s magnificent.
I also read the scifi blog io9, and they link to a very cool collection of pictures showing different covers for the book over the ages. They’re a hoot, especially the one with, for some reason, our favorite starship on it. Weird.
io9 does stuff like this every now and again, and if you’re a geek like me, you should be reading it.
June 28th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
My old man used to play the musical in the car on long road trips. You’ve now put that tune in my head - thanks. I’ll be walking around going “ooh laaa” for the rest of the day.
June 28th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Seems the other side likes that line, too …
June 28th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
Wonder if anyone paid Paramount for using that image of the Enterprise?
June 28th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
One of my favorite podcasts is a show produced by WNYC called “Radio Lab” (http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab) hosted by sometimes-NPR-science-writer Robert Krulwich and WNYC producer Jad Abumrad. One of this season’s shows was devoted to “The War of the Worlds” (http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/episodes/2008/03/07) including some fscinating insights into the original broadcast and subsequent recreations of the “hoax”. A must-listen for the fans of Wells and Welles.
June 28th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Pity you weren’t in the UK when Jeff Wayne was doing the tour with his musical version BA …
June 28th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
http://drzeus.best.vwh.net/wotw/0201.html
this was my favorite cover. Seems like a Japanese Demon or at the very least a giant Medieval japanese samurai face guard is attacking earth.
http://drzeus.best.vwh.net/wotw/0262.html
this was the copy I owned in my early teen years.
I would love to see a period piece of War of the Worlds done for TV. All this modern settings just doesn’t do it for me.
June 28th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Travissimo: It’s not a japanese demon, it’s Nibbler!
June 28th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
Wow! I, too, am a huge fan of War of the Worlds. I have a facsimile edition of the original serial from Pearson’s Magazine. It includes a number of passages that are not usually found in later editions. Many Wells fans are not aware, for example, that the action explicitly takes place in 1901 and not in 1897 when the book was published. It also mentions people fleeing London in motorcars, something they could not have done in 1897 because such vehicles were still illegal in Britain at the time.
I was just looking at the first two pages and there are parts of them that still send chills down my spine even now, fifty years after I first read them:
(Gulp!)
June 28th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
I love this movie… mostly because the aliens land where I grew up (20 years before it was developed), and proceed to destroy it.
If any of you are interested, there was a very good DVD release of this a couple of years back. They found an old print (actually 3 prints, for the 3 colors), and were able to do a beautiful transfer to DVD. It’s the best I’ve ever seen… so good in fact that you can see the wires in a few scenes, but it doesn’t detract at all. It also has a commentary by the leads, which is more nostalgic than technical, and fun to hear.
Enjoy!
–David
June 28th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
I lost my Jeff Wayne version when the house burned down; is it available on CD? It was all great, except for the very end, which had this stupid tacked-on bit that didn’t make any sense.
Maybe someday we’ll get the right movie version.
June 28th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
Check out Youtube for videos on the War of the Worlds Live Concert. It is rumoured that they may do another concert tour in 09 but don’t know if it is England or Australia. I am waiting and may go overseas to see the show. Awesome…
btw. Welcome to Canada. Dedicated to bring Tim Horton’s to every corner near you.
June 28th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
I liked the version Alan Moore wrote for League of Extraordinary Gentlemen volume 2.
June 28th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Re. Zucchi.
It is indeed on CD but also on DVD for the Live concert but only region 2 unfortunately. Don’t think you can get a copy very easily though, don’t see any available items on Amazon UK.
June 28th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
Science fiction book covers are cool. There’s an art exhibition in Bergen, Norway, that displays “mutated” science fiction book covers where the words have changed to make a new story:
http://svennevenn.blogspot.com/2008/05/mutert-boksamling.html
Maybe I’ll go there and take some more pictures. The artist’s web site is down at the moment.
June 28th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
Some of those Martians were awfully cute.
June 28th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
@ Spankermatic: same here!
I love that album (CD)!I had on original “hi-fidelity” vinyl version a while back that got stolen with my other vinyl, but I was able to find the mp3 version recently. It’s a bit oddly split into 12 parts, but the audio quality is great. A permanent fixture on my ipod.
I wasn’t aware that Mr. Wayne toured with that show. I would love to see the tour hit the states….but then again, nobody comes to Salt Lake City
Zyg
June 28th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
We had a little party at the house last year just to listen to the CD. Very fun.
Thunder Child!
June 28th, 2008 at 5:46 pm
I recently bought the Jeff Wayne version through iTunes… I immediately had the tune in my head as soon as I saw the title….
June 28th, 2008 at 6:19 pm
i have some fighting machines inspired creations on my web site:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/kinetic-arts/sculpture/sculpture.htm
2nd and 4th pieces specifically.
June 28th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
My late father worked in the continuity department on the Byron Haskin production of War of the Worlds. He might have also been working for Technicolor at that time.
He said it was a conscious decision in the production to show the actual Martians in a shadowy, fleeting and fragmentary way. Only in one scene do we see a whole Martian face for a few seconds.
The Martian arm at the end of the movie was the arm of a studio receptionist who had the skinniest arms they could find. Dad said her arm was covered in makeup (latex?) and all she had to do was relax it on the hatch while a special effect technician worked a little novelty shop rubber air bellows at the end of a tube embedded under the makeup to show the slowing pulse rate. (The original toy was a joke novelty to make dinner plates move under a table cloth.)
The sound of the Martian death ray building up a charge and firing was a combination of several sound effects including a garage door spring. He also worked on some other SciFi films directed by George Pal. Space artist Chesley Bonestell gave some technical advice on War of the Worlds but didn’t get screen credit. Animated sequences of Bonestell’s landscapes depicting other planets, opens the film. The film also has excellent Air Force color footage of the Northrop YB49 Flying Wing!
June 28th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
The thing about H.G. Wells is that a few of his books were really prescient: “The War In The Air” and especially “The World Set Free.”
Read is here:
http://www.online-literature.com/wellshg/worldsetfree/
That book predicted nuclear warfare (sort of, the bombs exploded for days) and the forced peace that it would bring. Love or hate nuclear weapons, it is an undeniable fact they have prevented world war because of the Mutually Assured Destruction doctrine. Wells foresaw this.
Anyway, I would much rather see ‘Set Free’ made into a film than another remake of “War of the Worlds” because a lot more time needs to pass until the classic original is revisited and updated. Sorry, the version with Tom Cruise just didn’t do it for me.
June 28th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
2X2L . . . calling CQ . . . 2X2L . . . calling CQ . . . 2X2L . . . calling 8X3R . . . Come in, please . . .
June 28th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
> Many Wells fans are not aware, for example, that the action explicitly
> takes place in 1901 and not in 1897 when the book was published.
Explicitly? I’ve been online with long debates with other fans saying that the invasion was during to opposition of 1901 based on a simple astronomical progression where Wells mentions a few and one assumes this was on the next. I would love to have a copy that says this right out.
This is one of my favorite “movie posters”:
http://www.hiero.ru/2085992
And, yes, WotW is one of my favorites. I can recite most of that opening from memory, has a dozen copies, read it regularly and, in fact, many of my best dreams have Martian war machines.
I also searched long and hard for the “sequel”, “Edison’s Conquest of Mars” by Garrett Serviss. It sucked as a piece of fiction but I had to have it anyway.
Oooolaaaaa!
June 28th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
2X2L calling CQ . . . 2X2L calling CQ . . . 2X2L calling CQ . . . New York. Isn’t there anyone on the air? Isn’t there anyone on the air? Isn’t there anyone . . . 2X2L
June 28th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
“War of the Worlds” is certainly one of my favorite H.G Wells stories.
Of it, I own “The Complete War of the Worlds”, which features the novel in it’s complete form, the Orson Welles broadcast (both the script and the CD. Incidently, the line mentioned is in that broadcast tol), and a bit of history concerning the story (such as it’s influences and other broadcasts made).
I also own the LA Theater Works version, which features many cast members of Star Trek, like Leonard Nimoy and Gates McFadden.
And I also have the story as part of another book “The Works of H.G Wells”, which features six of Wells’ major works (the only one I didn’t get into was “The Food of the Gods”).
Incidently, the line that appears in the original story is given by Ogilvy, an astronomer.
“The chances against anything man-like on Mars are a million to one.”
Have I achiever proper geekness?
June 28th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
For those interested in an online illustrated version of War Of The Worlds, go here:
http://www.unmuseum.org/graphicclassic/wow/cover.htm
It’s like a comic book using computer graphics.
June 28th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
I read that seven books in one collection too, and War of the Worlds was definitely his best out of them. The others were pretty interesting overall. I’d never heard of First Men in the Moon or Food of the Gods before- odd books, but not really bad.
One thing that bothered me about it was that he seemed to describe the setting in slightly more detail then necessary. I get this feeling a lot from English authors writing about England. They feel like every reader has to know exactly where every single part of the town is relative to everything else, whether it hurts the flow of the story or not.
June 28th, 2008 at 10:46 pm
A good free audio book version is at Librivox.org
http://librivox.org/war-of-the-worlds-solo-by-h-g-wells/
June 28th, 2008 at 11:28 pm
Ad Hominid:
That’s interesting, I hadn’t realised that the magazine version was substantially different from the book version. But I don’t think it’s true that cars were illegal in Britain, then or previously — just very rare. There were lots of restrictions (such as the man walking in front waving a red flag!) but these were lifted in 1896 (so before WOTW). Hence the first London-to-Brighton run was held that year, to celebrate: http://www.vccofgb.co.uk/lontobri/history.html
June 29th, 2008 at 12:26 am
Chip says: “…it was a conscious decision in the production to show the actual Martians in a shadowy, fleeting and fragmentary way. Only in one scene do we see a whole Martian face for a few seconds.”
A decision that George Pal took considerable heat over from the VP of production, Don Hartman. I’m glad Pal stuck to his guns because he was right!
For the rest of this, Chip, I’m afraid that your memory has eroded with time. I’ve just finished writing and formatting a 28,000 word chapter on WotW for “The Saucer Fleet” (the longest chapter in the book at 42 pages) so I have a bit of insight on the following:
> The Martian arm at the end of the movie was the arm of
> a studio receptionist who had the skinniest arms they
> could find. Dad said her arm was covered in makeup
> (latex?) and all she had to do was relax it on the hatch
> while a special effect technician worked a little novelty shop
> rubber air bellows at the end of a tube embedded under
> the makeup to show the slowing pulse rate. (The original
> toy was a joke novelty to make dinner plates move under
> a table cloth.)
Wow, this is a new one on me! The Martian in Pal’s movie was built by Charlie Gemora in the art department. He was a sculptor and the best latex caster they had. The arm was mechanical and the three fingers were operated by pulling on cables that ran up the arm. The alien was originally built nearly seven feet (210 cm) tall. That’s why the arms are so long, since that’s the way that Al Nozaki (the art director) designed it. When Pal and Haskens came down the day before shooting the scene to check out the setups, they were shocked. They had blocked out all the scenes based on a 4 foot (120 cm) tall alien! Gemora worked all night, helped by his 12 year old daughter, to build a new short alien. There was no time to build new arms, so they used the extremely long, thin ones from the tall version. The two Gamoras operated the alien in the film. Charlie knelt on a dolly cart with the latex body over his torso, and stage hands pushed him into and out of the shot (that’s why the Martian seems to glide across the screen). From there he could work the arms while his daughter operated the air bladders from below the set.
> The sound of the Martian death ray building up a charge
> and firing was a combination of several sound effects
> including a garage door spring.
Actually, it was the “E” string of an electric bass guitar being plucked.
> Animated sequences of Bonestell’s landscapes depicting
> other planets, opens the film.
This is correct. Bonestell did work with the studio artists to do new versions of these paintings with the animation overlays. All of them, and most of Cedric Hardwicke’s narration about those planets came from the Bonestell/Ley book “Conquest of Space.”
> The film also has excellent Air Force color footage of
> the Northrop YB49 Flying Wing!
This is also correct, but it was first used in the Paramount newsreel feature “The World of Tomorrow.” That film also contained footage of a mechanical digital computer that Pal used in his two earlier films “Destination Moon” and “When Worlds Collide.” Ray Harryhausen also used it in “Earth vs. the Flying Saucers.
- Jack
June 29th, 2008 at 12:33 am
The most scary monster is this one here:
http://drzeus.best.vwh.net/wotw/0016.html
For the 1938 Mercury Theatre radio dramatisation by Orson Welles go here:
http://sounds.mercurytheatre.info/mercury/381030.mp3
June 29th, 2008 at 12:56 am
Eh. I hung around io9 for a bit. Too many woos and ideologues. Some of the writers insisted on finding political meaning in everything under the sci-fi sun. I run away from people like that because it can only lead to manifestos, double-plus-unthink and open mike poetry nights at the local espresso bar.
WotW: As a kid, I used to doodle the Martian war machines from the 1953. One of my SF favorite movies growing up along with When World Collide and Forbidden Planet.
http://www.diet-smith.ca/war_worlds_pal_8_x.jpg
Wicked!
June 29th, 2008 at 1:18 am
Quiet Desperation says: “As a kid, I used to doodle the Martian war machines from the 1953. One of my SF favorite movies growing up along with When World Collide and Forbidden Planet.”
Forbidden Planet is the second longest chapter in my book (and the one I’m currently formatting). Almost as much on Robby in there as on the C57-D. WWC is in “Spaceship Handbook.”
- Jack
June 29th, 2008 at 1:27 am
Geis says: “I also searched long and hard for the “sequel”, “Edison’s Conquest of Mars” by Garrett Serviss. It sucked as a piece of fiction but I had to have it anyway.”
It’s available from as a new reprint from Apogee:
http://www.apogeespacebooks.com/Books/Edison.html
I actually sort of enjoyed it. Being written in the last gasp of the 19th century (1898) it was incredibly prescient: spaceships that were not driven by reaction motors (they were electric, being invented by Edison, after all), disruptor guns, asteroid mining, alien abductions and a bunch more stuff.
- Jack
June 29th, 2008 at 1:59 am
Hey, there’s even one with everybody’s favorite telescope:
http://drzeus.best.vwh.net/wotw/0207.html
June 29th, 2008 at 2:09 am
“Edison’s Conquest of Mars” was posted on Project Gutenberg early this month. See: http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/21670
June 29th, 2008 at 2:28 am
I went to see the live musical version of The War of the World’s in Belfast last tear. It was marvellous
Definitely worth seeing/hearing if you can. The bands were really tight. Both the “rock” section and the orchestra section were brilliant, and they meshed on stage brilliantly. The backdrop visuals and the Richard Burton talking head were good as well. I’ll be going again if it goes on tour in the UK in the future.
June 29th, 2008 at 3:28 am
It’s fun how they put Enterprise on everything scifi. My son got a toy lightsaber for birthday, and it had the funniest package ever. It had Nasa’s shuttle, saturn, guys who KINDA look like Darth Maul and Qui Gon, a jedi-like guy, who looks a lot like Ray Romano, The Death Star, The Enterprise flying around a building, that looks like the one on the surface of Yavin.It’s so funny, I just had to save it.
June 29th, 2008 at 3:28 am
Favorite starship on it? But I couldn’t find the Serenity on any of these book covers????!!
Concerning War of the Worlds. Am I the only one who thinks that Spielberg made a huge mistake when he decided to skip the martian aspect from his version? I think that any decent version of the WotW has to include Mars, or else if feels… wrong.
OOOOOOOOlaaaaaa…
June 29th, 2008 at 5:53 am
War of the Worlds (1950s) and Independence Day (1990s)…
The exact same film but with different special effects. Even the Nuke scene is nearly identical in each film! Check it ouT.
Oh, and Bill Pullman wasn’t around then to play the President!
June 29th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
>>>Jack Hagerty - “Chip, I’m afraid that your memory has eroded with time..”<<>>Jack Hagerty - “This is also correct, but it was first used in the Paramount newsreel feature “The World of Tomorrow.” That film also contained footage of a mechanical digital computer that Pal used in his two earlier films “Destination Moon” and “When Worlds Collide.”<<<
Those last two my dad also worked on. Bonestell also contributed to “Destination Moon” with a great lunar landscape matte.
June 29th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Well then - I stand corrected on that point. I recall my Dad (who was there) saying that - but either he didn’t remember correctly or perhaps it was an earlier “test that proved unsatisfactory, so they went with the mechanical arm.
June 29th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Chip says: “Well then - I stand corrected on that point. I recall my Dad (who was there) saying that - but either he didn’t remember correctly or perhaps it was an earlier “test that proved unsatisfactory, so they went with the mechanical arm.”
It’s possible that he saw Gemora’s daughter in there working the air bladders and figured she must be an employee. She is one of the talking heads on the “making of” feature in the current DVD release and describes how she had to squeeze in under the creature to work it. Your dad may have just presumed that she was working the arm directly.
- Jack
June 29th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Zucchi says: “I lost my Jeff Wayne version when the house burned down; is it available on CD? It was all great, except for the very end, which had this stupid tacked-on bit that didn’t make any sense.”
Both the original release, and a re-mastered release (from 2005) are both available. Here’s the amazon link, although I’m sure it’s available all over:
http://www.amazon.com/Jeff-Waynes-Musical-Version-Worlds/dp/B0009MAPUO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1214770092&sr=1-1
The tacked-on piece was supposed to bring the story “current” for audiences in the late ’70s, but nearly everyone I’ve talked to (including myself) just finds it wincing. Incidentally, the guy doing both voices is Jeff Wayne’s father.
I bought a CD of the original as part of my research for the chapter. It’s a great scam to write a book and buy all of the cool movies and albums (that you’ve always wanted anyway) and be able to legitimately declare them as business expenses for “research materials.”
Interesting sidebar to this. I had never heard of this musical before I started researching the chapter. I bought the CD set, as I said, and became quite entranced by it. Two years ago when my father died, my mom said I could go through all of his old vinyl to see if there was anything I wanted. What do I find but a pristine copy of the original release! Sort of lessened the pain a little.
- Jack
June 29th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
I love War of the Worlds book covers, they always—well, usually—have tripods on them! I bought the 1964 Whitman Publishing edition with the cover by Shannon Stirnweis when I was a kid in the sixties. I think it was a weird book that had a stiff cover that covered cheap paperback pages. I love the 50s movie, but the Spielberg version has grown on me. I have always thought that when the tripods were on screen it was one of the greatest sci-fi movies I have ever seen.
June 29th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
The awesome! Not “havesome”, I have never liked this Wells piece. Though I have assume the idea of germ adaptation to hosts (and/or perhaps the later host coadaptation in the form of the adaptive immune system) was new at the time.
But despite that I have a worn copy of Cameron’s Classics Illustrated. But as the swedish translation.
Btw, it’s a pity the swedish copy was a 3 comic set, as they redrafted and cluttered the original cool front page. Anyone know why the brazilian ed is mirror reflected? The left handed actions of all three soldiers really sticks out.
June 29th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Chip: “The sound of the Martian death ray building up a charge and firing was a combination of several sound effects including a garage door spring.”
Jack Hagerty: “Actually, it was the “E” string of an electric bass guitar being plucked.”
Chip: I can’t ask my dad now but do remember on a number of occasions him mentioning that several combinations of sounds were used for the Martian machines including a whacked spring. The bass guitar string was very likely that thumping sound heard before the ray blast.
I’m looking forward to reading “The Saucer Fleet” - looks like a cool book.
June 29th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
H. G. Wells is one of the founding fathers of science fiction, and has not been surpassed by many writers since. I have found that the best science fiction tends to come from Britain, Germany, Poland and Russia.
June 29th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
“Oh, and Bill Pullman wasn’t around then to play the President!”
And neither was Monica. Some things are better for age.
If you mike a 5/8″ nylon line near one end and crank up the tension on it to about 1000 pounds, you can pluck it and get the Photon Torpedo sound from classic Trek. It makes the behavior of heavy guitar strings visible as higher harmonics are absorbed by the string more rapidly than lower-frequency ones, and you can watch the acoustic “wave” travel the line.
As might have been said by the sound guys with Fritz Freleng, “We make sounds you think don’t happen in real life, but that you desperately wish did.”
June 29th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
Ijon, I recommend C.J Cherryh. A complete future history is part of her “Merchanter” universe, and on a practical timeline, too.
June 29th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
I first saw the movie when I was three. For a least a couple of years I was terrified of overhanging street lamps. Am I alone on this one?
June 29th, 2008 at 10:05 pm
I had a vinyl of the War of the Worlds soundtrack when I was a kid; I used to listen to it over and over, driving my parents nuts. When I went to Maker Faire this year, I saw this amazing sculpture that instantly got that song stuck in my head:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/foobarbazquux/2491035663/in/set-72157605047332574/
June 29th, 2008 at 10:29 pm
“The tacked-on piece was supposed to bring the story “current” for audiences in the late ’70s, but nearly everyone I’ve talked to (including myself) just finds it wincing.”
I was first about 8 years old when I started listening to my Dad’s LP of the musical, and I always got a chill when I heard that last bit. I was living only a small distance from:
“Tracking station fourty-three Canberra
Come in Can-berra !”
I always wondered what the Martians had done to Tidbinbilla…
June 29th, 2008 at 11:15 pm
travissimo: I’ve still got that 1987 “screaming humans running at you” version of the book.
And I would also love to see a film version true to the original :]
June 30th, 2008 at 1:12 am
Chip says: “I can’t ask my dad now but do remember on a number of occasions him mentioning that several combinations of sounds were used for the Martian machines including a whacked spring. The bass guitar string was very likely that thumping sound heard before the ray blast.”
While most of the alien sounds in that movie were done with oscillators and custom filtering circuits (much like the Barrons did for “Forbidden Planet”), the heat ray sound was a combination of lots of electrically amplified acoustic sounds. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if a large spring was among them. I do know that the main “skritching” sound was steel wound electric guitar strings being scraped by the pick back and forth rapidly with many different takes overlaid, some played backwards.
“I’m looking forward to reading “The Saucer Fleet” - looks like a cool book.”
Thanks, me too! After more that five years on it, I just want to get it out the door! If you’ll allow me a shameless plug, here’s the description page for it:
http://www.arapress.com/saucer.html
Scroll to the bottom and see who I sweet-talked into doing the Foreword!
- Jack
June 30th, 2008 at 1:17 am
Karen says: “When I went to Maker Faire this year, I saw this amazing sculpture that instantly got that song stuck in my head”
Cool! I was at MF too (our rocket club had a “make-it, fly-it” booth). I had the exact same thoughts when I saw that sculpture. For those that can’t tell from the photo, it’s about 30 feet/10 meters high, the “head” swivels and the eye pulses red.
- Jack
PS - We’ll be there again next year. Be sure to stop by!
June 30th, 2008 at 7:02 am
Anybody else read “War of the Worlds: Global Dispatches”? It’s a collection of “writings” from famous writers, leaders, etc. of that era as they “witnessed” the Martian invastion. Mark Twain reports on the battle for the Mississippi River, probably near New Orleans. Teddy Roosevelt has an entry, Einstein, etc. Interesting alternate history read. I still remember when my teacher played the LP of the Orson Welles broadcast to us in 5th grade. Spooky!