H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds - Silicon Valley FReep-in for FReepers, FRiends, and FRamlies (Vanity)

Pendragon Pictures ^ | 3/1/05 | null and void

[Hetty_Fauxvert]

I could slink down as far as San Rafael for an adventure of that sort ... I hate going into the city, though.

Seems to me that the two movies are going to be sufficiently different that I could enjoy both of them!

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

The Incredible Shrinking Man.

This Island Earth...

The Fifties were the true Golden Age of science fiction films.

[james500]

If I remember correctly, the original movie
ended with a voiceover crediting "the littlest
of God's creatures" (Earth viruses)with saving
humanity. Will Spielberg avoid that and just turn
in "a fun rollercoaster ride" of a movie?

[Duke Nukum]

The 1953 version is still a great movie.

I'll probably see both the new versions eventually. The only problem I have with Spielberg is his tendency to make his movie endings poisonously sweet.

Sometimes it works for me, like in A.I. and other times it ruins the whole rest of the movie for me as in Minority Report.

Of course, Wells was an atheist and a socialist so if either version is true to Wells' anti-Christian subtext, no one should be surprised.

[Duke Nukum]

George Pal was the Man! Other then the 1953 WotW, the Time Machine was superlative and even with the mat paintings, When Worlds Collide was excellent too.

And of course, Forbidden Planet was another excellent film. Don't know anything about its director though.

[akorahil]

[Jonah Hex]

War of the Worlds has always been one of my favorites (books/movies/audio productions/etc.). It may never make it out here to Virginia, but I'd really like to see the Pendragon version.

[BibChr]

Hey! You left out two of THE BEST:

Forbidden Planet

The Thing

Dan

(c8

[martin_fierro]

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[null and void]

The book has surprising depth.

Wells is quite overtly anti-church, but in the end the Writer is marveling at God's wisdom.

There are no atheist in foxholes, and the Writer is no exception.

Besides being a great period piece, it's a great adventure, a great story of ordinary men in extraordinary circumstances, a good war story, an archetypal science fiction story, a tale of sin and redemption, and two love stories intertwined.

One ends up feeling sympathy and empathy for the somewhat snotty - 'no one would have questioned my intellectual superiority to his--I, a professed and recognised writer on philosophical themes' - Writer, who becomes all too human when his safe little world falls about his ears.

It is said that a conservative is a liberal who has been mugged. The Invasion is a mugging writ large.

It is his September 11, only much, much worse...

[null and void]

The Thing was OK, At the risk of sounding like a book snob, the story it was base on, John W. Campbell's Who goes there? was much scarier, in it's own quiet little way....

[null and void]

Thanks. All roads do lead to San Jose....

[BibChr]

Oh, it was more than okay. The driecting was unusual, it was very suspenseful! But I do agree about the original, which John Carpenter (in his weird way) more returns to. To dangle a preposition.

Dan

[martin_fierro]

All roads do lead to San Jose....

Naah.

Nobody knows the way there.

< |:)~

[null and void]

Using a preposition to end a sentence is something up with which I will not put!

[null and void]

Ping

[Betis70]

Chagrined to say I've never read the book, but I did catch the AMC showing of the old-school movie.

I'll have to read it prior to the new releases.

Has anyone ever heard the radio presentation?

[null and void]

Oh yeah. It was pretty good too!

BTW, the book is available in tape form. Great for listening to on commutes.

It's put out by Brilliance Corp. ISBN 1-56100-589-4. Unabridged and cheap...

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

http://www.blackmask.com/page.php?do=search&query=war+of+the+worlds

The above URL is free ebooks and you can use text to speech converter to write it to a CD.

[Betis70]

Wow thanks!