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Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Man in the Funny Hat" data-source="post: 2397784" data-attributes="member: 32740">Wanted to address a couple of things people have brought up. First, fixing the van:The car part that was replaced on the van is called the solenoid. It's part of the system that starts the car. I'm not a mechanic but as I have come to understand it, you turn the ignition key to "start", a small amount of electricity is passed to the solenoid from the battery. The solenoid puts that electricity through its wound copper wire coil creating a magnetic field, moving a metal contact into position so it can pass a much larger amount of electricity from the battery to actually turn the starter motor. If the solenoid is subjected to EMP the idea being suggested in the movie is that it results in the solenoid being burned out. Solenoids burn out occasionally IRL anyway (I can recall at least once when the solenoid on one of my own cars burned out) and the result is - your car won't start. Second, the Red Weed:Now it's been a while since I've read WotW but as I recall the PURPOSE of the Red Weed was never explained and Wells never wrote as if it had a "purpose", It just was. When initially mentioned it was in the context that all the vegetation on Mars was probably in shades of red, rather than green like most of Earth. Also, it was briefly questioned whether the Martians had brought these seeds intentionally or they had simply been carried with them accidentally. It was further mentioned in this initial paragraph about the weed that there were a number of red, martian plants that had sprung up but really only the one vine-like plant managed to take a solid hold and started to proliferate over large swaths of the countryside especially near water. I can remember making the connection when I first read the book that the appearance of the Red Weed might have coincided with the use of the Black Smoke or Vapour (that goes unmentioned in either movie version even though in many ways I'd have thought it would be every bit as effective on film for being scary).  Reading it again later I realized that I had been mistaken and it was simply another weapon for the Martians to use, probably more efficient in many ways than the heat ray - but it was specifically a mortar-like weapon that fired cannisters of some kind so they would likely have limited ammunition for it.  The black smoke has always been the more prophetic element of the story by predicting the use of chemical agents in WWI although everyone only seems to remember the heat ray, probably because it's much a more sci-fi-ish weapon.</blockquote>

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