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Post by Necronmaniac on Feb 11, 2005 14:46:55 GMT
Sorry for the double post but I have just finished reading both interviews, and thought i would post my thoughts. Firstly am getting pretty hyped about this movie. Now ok there are plenty of things in that lot of interviews that you purists out there can get upset about but the important thing that i took from this is that they are going for as close to the book as they can. This is something that the george Pal film never did. This film was NEVER going to be a pin point adaption of the book, we all knew that, but it was important (to me at least) that they at least tried and got it as close to the book as they could. Ok so on to the main talking points. Obviously the fact they are not martians has already caused quite a stir but think about the book. If you changed every reference to the aliens as martians in the book to "them" or "the aliens" (in such a way that it fitted the context of the reference of course) and we were never told that they came from mars but otherwise the entire book remained the same, and despite what it sounds like we are not actually talking massive changes there, would the book suddenly become crap? would it become any less of a great story than it actually is? The short answer is no, so you have to then ask yourself, is the fact the aliens are from mars and are called martians ACTUALLY that relevant to the story as a whole? Again, the short answer is, no it isnt, so is it REALLY that important that they are not called martians in the film, again, no. Secondly, no black smoke: Well, a little disappointed here cos there would have been some good scenes for this but interestingly enough, a journalist who visited the set reported seeing drums labelled "black smoke" or some such and was told that the "bad guys" use it, also some extras were told to act as though they were choking in some scenes so i wouldnt rule out the black smoke just yet. Thirdly: Different ending. I am not sure what to make of this because spielberg says that their ending "neither mimics nor strays from the book". So if its not exactly the same but it doesnt deviate from it i suspect that the aliens will still be killed off from bacteria but perhaps the way it is the method of infection that is different? who knows. I feel therre is plenty to look forward to in this movie, the cellar scene is "straight from HG Well's" she says so that should be good to watch I am curious as to who will die since it looks from pics like Cruise and at least his daughter (Dakota) are therre, I wonder if this is where Cruise's son will be the one who is dragged away by the aliens? Since it seems like his son doesnt make it to the end of the film.
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Post by HTT on Feb 11, 2005 15:06:08 GMT
Well, prior to the interview I was skeptical but optimistic. After reading it:
What's going to be new and what's going to be an homage? Spielberg: They're going to have to see it and figure it out themselves. WHAT? We're supposed to figure it out ourselves?!?! And there we were thinking we new the story!
Spielberg: We have our own version of the ending that neither strays nor mimics the original book. So I think we've hit a very satisfying compromise. WHAT? An ending that doesn't stray from the book, or imitaites it? What's that supposed to mean? Either they die of a virus or not - what compromise is there…not an ID4 'puter virus by any chance...
Spielberg: This is funny, too. There are parts of it that are very funny. WHAT? PLEASE tell me this is a joke! Where's the humour in a tale about conquest and destruction…we're not talking Will Smith ID4 MIB humour are we…
Kathleen Kennedy: Clearly staging the action sequences - yes Steven is making that up, but so much of the story was inspired by what was in the book. WHAT? He's making it all up, and the rest is only inspired by the book??
Do you guys use the black smoke from the novel? Kathleen Kennedy: We didn't really stress that as an element, the tripods the red weed- that's been the predominate iconic imagery. We're going with the red weed... WHAT? No black smoke?!?!?
Kathleen Kennedy: I think they've been reinvented, but they're still inherently inspired by what Wells describes No they're not Martians. No they're not octopuses. No they're not Martians. WHAT? No martians?? Now you're taking the p*ss
So, as far as we can tell, it's WOTW without Wellsian Martians, no black smoke, a lot of invented action scenes, some inspired material, a new ending, and we have to figure it out ourselves. So, like we all thought, it's ID4 all over again…. Grrrrr!! HTT
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Post by Necronmaniac on Feb 11, 2005 15:17:00 GMT
I must be the only one who liked what i read.
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Post by themotile on Feb 11, 2005 15:43:56 GMT
Im still looking forward to it in a big big way, im just not looking forward to it because its War Of The Worlds, because it just not.
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Post by Necronmaniac on Feb 11, 2005 15:55:20 GMT
I dont quite understand why its not WOTW just cos it doesnt have martians in it, the 53 film DID have martians in it and yet it was NOT war of the worlds, i think this film is probably going to be more war of the worlds than the 53 film was even if it DOESNT have martians in it. War of the worlds is about certain themes and concepts, yes there are certain "iconic images" as she called them, that are associated with the book which i think are also vital to have in there, the tri-pods, the red weed and the heat ray are all essential elements, as are the themes of the book, without them, it wouldnt be war of the worlds. However, martians, black smoke and 1800's UK are not essential elements of the story.
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Post by themotile on Feb 11, 2005 16:26:09 GMT
The victorian era was disposable because that was the current time frame of Wells, if he would have written the book today it would have been todays time frame so thats fine. The black smoke and the martians are a different matter, they are some of the core elements of the book! They are MARTIANS for crying out loud! -(forgive the whiney tone there, just adding a bit of drama to an otherwise dull post )- They shoot cylinders from mars, its a core concept, its an ace concept. As was the black smoke, H G invented chemical weapons dude! It showed us to be the vermin we are with the martians just fumigating the place before they move in. Anyway she didnt say there was no black smoke just that it wasnt a center piece of the film and we do have extras accounts of having to pretend to "choke" also there are the reports of Al Sullivan of the hudson reporter of drums marked "black smoke". The sticking point with me is changing the martians to plain old aliens, thats just wrong. A further point, in the first trailer why did they imply they were from mars at the beginning with the red traffic light when Spielberg himself now says they aint martians? I wonder do they come from another planet but have a base on mars from which to shoot the cylinders?
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Post by Necronmaniac on Feb 11, 2005 16:33:30 GMT
I suppose its just a differnce of opinion on what is important and what isnt, i dont necessarilly think the story will suffer because they are not martians, but then if we all thought the same life (and certainly these forums) would be very boring wouldnt it? ;D
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Post by Rust on Feb 11, 2005 16:41:19 GMT
Well... just because they're not martians, don't mean that Mars won't have a part to play still. Maybe the red planet serves as an outpost for the aliens, you know, to study us. Maybe they've got planetary outposts all over the galaxy. But I don't see why Earth is so special then. Wouldn't they then have to be from the neighbourhood then?
But yeah, I don't see why they can't be martians. We've definitely learned more about the planet in the last 100 years, but that don't mean we know what's inside the planet. I say they should have made them live underground, inside Mars cloaking themselves from the infrared scans we've probably taken of the planet. We weren't as smart as we thought...
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Post by themotile on Feb 11, 2005 16:45:51 GMT
No of course it wont damage the story, i dont think anyone will say that this film will be bad in that sense but the further you take it from the book the less like the book it is, the 1953 version may have been pulp 50's sci-fi but it still had parallel's with the book running through it from the cylinder landing to Gene Barrys stumbling through LA "dead London" routine, you even had the cellar scene to a degree and if you get past the crapy god saved us theme the ending was just martians getting killed of by germs.
The more they take away from the core story the more it becomes a sci-fi movie that has borrowed from War Of The Worlds rather than and adaptation of War Of The Worlds.
Im sure it will be a very good movie none the less.
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Post by jeffwaynefan on Feb 11, 2005 17:00:30 GMT
some of that left a nasty taste in my mouth, including the no tentacles but hey, they tripods do have tentacles! (In a polite way) That will teach you to keep your gob shut ;D ;D and Im glad you know how to spell 'tenticles' correctly H_C
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Post by VES on Feb 11, 2005 17:30:07 GMT
Well, just read both interviews, and I must say, I'm rather dissapointed now. This doesn't seem to be War Of The Worlds so much as "Inspired By War Of The Worlds". But, as I've stated before in a previous thread, this is pretty much what I expected. *~sigh*
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SudsoneUK
Full Member
'No one would have believed...'
Posts: 60
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Post by SudsoneUK on Feb 11, 2005 17:36:54 GMT
Well, just read both interviews, and I must say, I'm rather dissapointed now. This doesn't seem to be War Of The Worlds so much as "Inspired By War Of The Worlds". But, as I've stated before in a previous thread, this is pretty much what I expected. *~sigh* I do think we should just wait until the film comes out and judge it then... they are hardly likely to give the films secrets out this long before it hits the big screen are they? We have had a Trailer and a TV Spot and a behind the scenes look on ET... and still no Martian FM, yet Spielberg says they are in the film. Of course they are... he's teasing us and I love it... I hope we don't get to see them until we are in the cinema watching the film. I do think a lot of what is coming out at the moment may be red herrings etc... This same hysteria happened on a Zombie forum I go on when they were close to releasing the Dawn of the Dead remake... Romero fans were going mental at some of the stuff coming out from the actors and director etc... but most of it turned out to be untrue or just a big joke.
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Post by jeffwaynefan on Feb 11, 2005 17:46:11 GMT
Never mind the new film being very loosely based on WOTW. Reading the interview I have just found out (as mentioned 4 times) that the 53 version was directed by George Powell - who the hell is George Powell.
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Post by VES on Feb 11, 2005 17:46:51 GMT
I do think we should just wait until the film comes out and judge it then... they are hardly likely to give the films secrets out this long before it hits the big screen are they? We have had a Trailer and a TV Spot and a behind the scenes look on ET... and still no Martian FM, yet Spielberg says they are in the film. Of course they are... he's teasing us and I love it... I hope we don't get to see them until we are in the cinema watching the film. I do think a lot of what is coming out at the moment may be red herrings etc... This same hysteria happened on a Zombie forum I go on when they were close to releasing the Dawn of the Dead remake... Romero fans were going mental at some of the stuff coming out from the actors and director etc... but most of it turned out to be untrue or just a big joke. Well, first off; they're not martian fighting machines, now they're just aliens. So we get alien tripods. Woo. *Swivels index finger sarcastically* I just get the feeling that yes, this will be a fun film. However, it won't be War Of The Worlds. The original idea that seemed to be put forth by Spielberg was that this was the same story with the same themes, just updated to contemporary times with new characters in the originals' place. Even the first teaser shown seemed to portray Mars as the point of origin of the invaders. (If you remember the shot of Earth with Mars of in the distance, as the shot faded to a traffic light.) Now, on one hand we have reports that the black smoke would indeed be used, and that apparently SS himself stated that the "Aliens"(Not Martians) would use gas weapons. Now whatshername states that this is not so. So, either we are, or aren't getting this in the film, or they really need to work on their communication skills. Or stop missing meetings, whatever. So which interview do we follow? If I were to only read SS and Cruise's interview, I would be happy; but after reading the second, I'm bummed.
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Post by jeffwaynefan on Feb 11, 2005 17:49:23 GMT
Guys, how much of the interview IS really accurate (what they said). As I pointed out above, even the interviewer can't get his facts right, saying the 1953 classic was by 'George Powell' instead of George Pal.
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SudsoneUK
Full Member
'No one would have believed...'
Posts: 60
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Post by SudsoneUK on Feb 11, 2005 18:13:22 GMT
Well, first off; they're not martian fighting machines, now they're just aliens. So we get alien tripods. Woo. *Swivels index finger sarcastically* I just get the feeling that yes, this will be a fun film. However, it won't be War Of The Worlds. The original idea that seemed to be put forth by Spielberg was that this was the same story with the same themes, just updated to contemporary times with new characters in the originals' place. Even the first teaser shown seemed to portray Mars as the point of origin of the invaders. (If you remember the shot of Earth with Mars of in the distance, as the shot faded to a traffic light.) Now, on one hand we have reports that the black smoke would indeed be used, and that apparently SS himself stated that the "Aliens"(Not Martians) would use gas weapons. Now whatshername states that this is not so. So, either we are, or aren't getting this in the film, or they really need to work on their communication skills. Or stop missing meetings, whatever. So which interview do we follow? If I were to only read SS and Cruise's interview, I would be happy; but after reading the second, I'm bummed. But hasn't Cruise referred to the invaders as 'Martians'? I'm telling you now, they're just playing games with everybody... I'm sure everything will be fine. ;D
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Post by themotile on Feb 11, 2005 18:57:02 GMT
(In a polite way) That will teach you to keep your gob shut ;D ;D and Im glad you know how to spell 'tenticles' correctly H_C Firstly I apologise for my dyslexia, Asheraven will tell you how hard it can be and I thank people like yourself for pointing out our shortfall, I will be extra careful now that I know you are spellchecking my posts. Oh hang on.....tentacles IS correct fancy that! Check the dictionary dude. encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/TentacleSecondly what the hell are you on dude? Wish I had kept my gob shut about what?
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Post by Necronmaniac on Feb 11, 2005 19:10:04 GMT
guys lets keep this friendly plz we dont want any more threads locking. I aint sure what H_C was on bout, but not taking the bate also helps
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Post by themotile on Feb 11, 2005 19:12:44 GMT
Agreed.
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Post by ArmoredTrackLayer on Feb 11, 2005 19:22:02 GMT
Oh god, Attack of the purists. I LOVE the original book, but come on guys. To say that he isn't trying is REALLY unfair. Tripods, red weed, dark story, the ruined house. The trailer, an absolute update of Maybury hill. geez. here is a list of all your gripes and what I think of them. And not in an angry bashing kinda way. #1 Theyre not from mars? Neither were the "Martians" in LXG, but no one really seems to complain about that much. Maybe as was said, mars is just a staging point for invasion. (If theyre not from mars, why do the show mars in the Teaser, and its predominate ON THE WEB PAGE) Mars has to be involved in some way. #2 Martians have no tenticles, where in the interview does it say that? It says that they are trying to keep the martians as close to Well's vision as they can, But they wont be octopuses. That doesn't mean no tenticles, that just means they Wont look like octopuses. #3 No black smoke, well I called that one a LOOONNG time ago, I think that the EMP is going to be the new version of the Black Smoke, and why the hell not, don't you think that Smoke is a bit irrelivant when we have gas masks and Anti Chem gear? #4 1887 and George "Powell" These could just be typos from the mag editor, or maybe the person being interviewed didn't know the book was written in 1897, now my Dad loves the book, and got all excited about the movies, but if you asked him when the book was written he'd probably have no clue, does that make him any less of a fan OF THE BOOK, no. At least they did enough research to realize the POLITICAL context of Wells book. So all I can say, you can't have everything. We got Tripods, politics, red weed, a dark brooding atmosphere, an invisible ray of heat, the ruined house, THE ROUTE OF CIVILIZATION, baskets, tenticles, people being eaten by the "Aliens", but yet everyone still nit picks this effort apart. Oh well, I support this, seeing as since day one, the studio has said this is a RETELLING of the story, as for direct from the book goes, thats why god created Tim Hines and Jeff Wayne. So don't worry all you purists, it will all turn out just fine.
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