Should I read "The War of the Worlds"

[Andrew D. Gable]

(although the heat ray from the martians always cracks me and my friends up ... ooh lets stand here and become permanent chalk marks on the ground!)

Yeah, you'd think when the "eye" started making that sped-up, ominous rhythmic drone, they'd have booked their asses out of there. I would've. Not that it would've helped, but still. Although in the novel, the Heat Ray was invisible and all you saw were the flames it kindled...but an awesome weapon you can't see is a let-down in a movie.

I also don't like how the movie aliens looked NOTHING like the ones in the book (which were much more horrid)... but I digress. The movie has its own charms. It's always been a wonder to me that the 1953 version and Spielberg's version are the only two movies ever made of this. Except for Independence Day, which wasn't War of the Worlds, but stole the plot mercilessly.

 

[Tinker Gnome]

Heh, well it seems to be a unanimous yes. I guess I wll go and check it out tomorrow.

 

[Krieg]

Heck yes you should pick it up and read it, and after you are down try to find a copy of the 1970's album version by Jeff Wayne. There is nothing better than classic sci-fi combined with prog rock! (Not to mention the fact that is has some of the coolest art ever associated with WotW)

 

[David Howery]

there's also a War of the Worlds PC game, which is rather hard to find these days.... it's loosely based on the book, except that the Martians land in Scotland and quickly conquer all of it, while the humans have a chance to fortify the rest of the island and fight it out. The humans get to develop early versions of tanks, as well as burrowing vehicles, armored lorries, and a whole assortment of mines and artillery. The martians have several types of the famous three legged walkers, as well as a few other walking machines, and, later on, flying machines. The game runs mostly on a strategic level (on a big map of England), but the battles are fought in skirmish scale (and the martians look waaaaaaay cool). Having played the game several times, I found that you can win pretty handily as the humans (although it takes a long time), but playing as the Martians is frustrating as hell (the damn humans just build everything so damn fast....)....

 

[PhoenixDarkDirk]

You may also like The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comic books, as the second volume is largely based on The War of the Worlds with several other classic refferences, Wells and otherwise.

I just recently ordered a single-volume edition of The War of the Worlds, The Time Machine, and The Island of Dr. Moreau from the Science Fiction Book Club. I expect it to be quite good.

 

[Krieg]

The game that David Howery mentioned used the artwork from the Jeff Wayne album as the basis for the appearance of the martians & their equipment.

A fun little game, but pretty limited compared to most of it's RTS peers of the time.