Why the Call?

[corradus]

That foghorn sounding call the Tripods make...

Why do they do it? What purpose does it serve? Surely an advanced civilization will use some means of radiowave communication or something and not need to 'holler out' to each other, so I am not sure that's what it's for. A friend of mine thinks it's a terror tactic of some kind, but if that's the case why wasn't it used more in the movie? I think we hear it maybe four times overall and almost none of those times when it could have scared someone...

What do you guys think?

[Lensman]

1. Because Spielberg wanted to scare the bejeezus out of the audience.

2. Because the aliens wanted to scare the bejeesus out of us "cattle".

Seriously, I think they wanted to condition us to run whenever we heard that noise. It would make flushing "cattle" out of hiding a lot easier.

Altho it's not impossible it was a warning for other Tripods. After all, all modern ships of any size are equipped with radar, but they still have foghorns. Just because you've *got* radar doesn't mean you're allways watching it closely.

And I'm not at all sure we know there were never any people around when they "honked". After all, nearly the entire movie was seen from Ray's point of view. If the tripod was a ways off, we probably wouldn't be able to see people who were on the ground near it.

[sunnyrabbiera]

well the tripods in the book made sounds, but that was more of a communication thing in my mind.
the honk in the movie is a different matter in my mind, it was both a warcry and a call to the troops.

[Commandingtripod]

If your in a ship in a thick fog and you hear a fog horn, your not always going to be able to tell which direction it's coming from (I think - unless you're glued to the radar screen)

Anyway, if you are a human and your running from these tripods, you'd (or more like myself) would be unable to tell which direction it would be coming from if I couldn't see it.

A pretty good scare tactic.

[Lensman]

Fog may make it difficult to locate the source of a sound, but at the least it serves as a warning there's a ship nearby which other ships need to watch out for. If foghorns couldn't at least accomplish that, we wouldn't use them.

sunnyrabbiera said:

well the tripods in the book made sounds, but that was more of a communication thing in my mind.

Yes, Wells' Martians' Tripods used sirens to communicate at ranges presumably too far for their telepathy to work.

I doubt Spielberg's aliens' Tripods were using sonic communication; their horn always sounded the same so apparently wasn't carrying a message. Besides, if they are using such advanced tech as EMP bursts and whatever that lightning effect was, I doubt they would restrict themselves to anything as primitive as sirens for communication. The data transmission rate of that would be quite low. Radio is *much* more efficient.

[sunnyrabbiera]

aye, so the movie "honk" was probably a war cry, and in cases like the basement scene it was probably a warning to the troops to come home to the tripod

[Leatherhead]

We SAW them use it for communication. In the basement when the Martialiens are looking for Ray, and the others. WHile they are looking, that horn sounds and the search is cut off. the Martialiens then return to their posts.

[sunnyrabbiera]

Or lets go for the obvious:
the aliens had lots of gas

[Lensman]

leatherhead2 said:

We SAW them use it for communication. In the basement when the Martialiens are looking for Ray, and the others. WHile they are looking, that horn sounds and the search is cut off. the Martialiens then return to their posts.

Well yes, "communication" like a factory whistle sounding the time for a shift change or lunch break, or a cavalry bugler sounding "recall". But not communication in the sense of carrying a complex message.

[BrutalDeluxe]

Also, when they are boarding the ferry and the tripod comes marching over the hill it "honks" and then others appear. It is probably one way of saying "look here they are!" ;D

[Luperis]

Or maybe it was just for pure annoyance. Imagine hearing that all the time. During a walk in the park, when you are about to go to sleep... Eventually, everyone would all be thinking the same thing:

"Don't honk that horn at me!" *shakes fist*

Then the aliens would replace it with a really fast and annoying rendition of 'La Cucaracha' to make it uber-annoying and confusing ;D

[BrutalDeluxe]

And put hydraulic suspension on their tripods so they could bounce along with it Maybe even hang some fuzzy dice off the heat ray?

Sorry, I'm having one of those days.