The BBC goes 'Tripods and Triplanes' !!!!!

['Warspite']

A period version of War of the Worlds is currently being filmed by the BBC:

https://uk.yahoo.com/movies/bbc-anno...093347399.html

The BBC are filming WOTW but instead of setting it 'modern', they are finally doing a period British version. The Beeb series moves the action from 1899/1900 to around 1914/18 so the Tommies wear will khaki and not scarlet. Anything to do with the upcoming Tripods and Triplanes I wonder???

Previous filmed versions were set in contemporary America (Gene Barry 1950s and Tom Cruise 2005 versions) while Jeff Wayne's album stayed in the Victorian age but was audio only.

In the book the Martians were not invincible (as in the US movies) and could succumb to artillery fire. One got its head shot-off at Weybridge, one or two more are rammed and sunk by HMS Thunderchild in the Thames Estuary and the author is also told of another which was blown up when the Waltham Abbey powder mills were detonated underneath it as it walked over.

Barry

[Baxter]

Do you remember what the Martians did with their human captives? I seem to recall that they ate them but maybe that was in the Canadian "documentary".

[Naharaht]

You are correct, Gary, the Martians ate their captives in the original book version of the story.

[David Manley]

You are correct, Gary, the Martians ate their captives in the original book version of the story.

"They did not eat, much less digest. Instead, they took the fresh, living blood of other creatures, and injected it into their own veins. I have myself seen this being done, as I shall mention in its place. But, squeamish as I may seem, I cannot bring myself to describe what I could not endure even to continue watching. Let it suffice to say, blood obtained from a still living animal, in most cases from a human being, was run directly by means of a little pipette into the recipient canal. . . ."

ewwwww!

['Warspite']

"They did not eat, much less digest. Instead, they took the fresh, living blood of other creatures, and injected it into their own veins. I have myself seen this being done, as I shall mention in its place. But, squeamish as I may seem, I cannot bring myself to describe what I could not endure even to continue watching. Let it suffice to say, blood obtained from a still living animal, in most cases from a human being, was run directly by means of a little pipette into the recipient canal. . . ."

ewwwww!

Correct! They were a species of vampire, a good twist.
A friend of mine was a great WOTW fan and once gave me a hand annotated map he had made for me. It is possible to walk the area around where the Martians landed and still see nearly all the buildings which H.G. Wells refers-to in the book.

Another fact which people miss is that Wells 'invented' poison gas (the 'black smoke') and tanks (the Martians) at least 15 years before they were invented in real life.

Finally, as war gamers, we should be aware that H.G was the grandfather of wargaming for his book 'Little Wars' published in 1913. We owe him!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Wars

[Baxter]

I remember playing with toy soldiers and metal guns that fired matchsticks when I was a kid. I never realised HG Wells was responsible though. Thanks for posting.

['Warspite']

I remember playing with toy soldiers and metal guns that fired matchsticks when I was a kid. I never realised HG Wells was responsible though. Thanks for posting.

Three authors were war gamers, H.G. Wells, Robert Louis Stephenson and G.K. Chesterton. Stephenson's rules were found after his death but have not been understood.

[Stumptonian]

I have been hoping that someone would do a version of WotW in the original time period ever since I read the Classics Illustrated version back in the early '60s.
(I also wish they would send the Jeff Lynne production over here)

I hope they produce it in a version we can play in North America.

[BellMW54]

I have been hoping that someone would do a version of WotW in the original time period ever since I read the Classics Illustrated version back in the early '60s.
(I also wish they would send the Jeff Lynne production over here)

I hope they produce it in a version we can play in North America.

Actually, there WAS a 3-hour version that came out in 2005 by Pendragon Pictures that DOES present it in its proper period. Sadly the production is rather low budget and can't match the quality of a Hollywood or BBC film, but it does hold rather faithfully to Wells' story.