Martians too invincible?

[<[Iron Man]>]

I just felt that it spoiled the story a little, that the Martians were impervious to our weapons. I thought the point was that our weapons could harm them, much to their surprise only that it was applied too little too late. Plus by the time we could organise some kind of counter-offensive the Martians were dead/dying from the bacteria.

It's funny that people are so worried about Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds deviating from the book when the 1953 version did a lot without complaints? I mean there were no Tripods, no black gas, and we didn't even kill one of them.

To me a good battle is when both sides take casualities, not when one side is trouncing around untouchable.

1898 they had...



1953 they had...





2005 we have...

[EvilNerfherder]

In the book, Martians did take casualties as you say but they soon learned their lesson and made sure they didn't take anymore.. until the sneezeing started anyway... After the Thunder Child battle we hear of no more human inflicted destruction against the invaders.
At the end of the day,the whole point of the book though is that our complacency was nearly our undoing, not how many Martians we blew up with big guns. Without the bacteria it is plain that the human race would almost certainly have been defeated.
Any modern day equivalent of the story (if respectful of its main premise) should follow that point. Sure, we can take out a few (some of Wells' characters did).. but we must not win this war or even come close to it.
It's a little late to whinge about the '53 movie as that was made long before most (if not all ) of us were born but the end result for the Martians was the same anyway.

[<[Iron Man]>]

I'm not saying we should win the war, just maybe to have a few little victories, kind of like a consolation. Which is what's described in the book anyway.

I wasn't whinging about the 1953, i was pointing out how funny it is that people are so wound up about the SS WOTW being close to the book when the Pal version didn't, and yet is still considered a 'classic'.

It doesn't matter if it was made before we were born, it's still an 'adaptation' of War of the Worlds.

[EvilNerfherder]

I know you weren't whinging about the '53 flick, I was just pointing out that we can't do anything about that now.
I think most people would actually agree with what you say about the old film.. It's a cracking SciFi story but it does adapt the story a little too freely. Perhaps that's why passions run so high about the Pendragon flick... we all want it to be as close to the book as possible.
I was agreeing with you about us winning a few against the slimy buggers as well. I was just stating that I hope we don't do TOO well against them.

[I own a cylinder]

Forester threw an ax at the martian creature and it ran away screaming. Thats kind of a small victory. ;D

[<[Iron Man]>]

I like the axe throwing hehe

I still feel that you can include quite a few 'military' victories without deviating from the book. The point in the book the Martians were not impervious to our weapons. The only way they could stop us using them was deploying the black gas.

Even if you include many more kills than is acknowledged in the book, that doesn't spoil the story. However many we kill we still sustain losses and it's too little too late to affect the outcome of the war. It's only for the effects of the bacteria that we win/survive.

[I own a cylinder]

really though, and this goes for all incarnations of War of the Worlds that defeats the martians with bacteria...we didn't win. Humanity just got lucky. ;D

[<[Iron Man]>]

Yeah i know that, hence my 'win/survive' hehe. I wasn't saying we should win by Military force, just include a few more kills.

I mean killing hundreds when there's an invasion force of god knows how many, isn't going to make much difference.

Funny thing is in the book, without the black gas we may have had more of a fighting chance lol.

[Gnorn]

[quote author=<[Iron Man]> link=board=1953&thread=1106103154&start=7#0 date=1106273153]Funny thing is in the book, without the black gas we may have had more of a fighting chance lol.[/quote]

"You stupid froth! How many times did I told you to pack the black smoke?!"

-Gnorn

[I own a cylinder]

Saying that tho. If memory serves me Wells mentions that they only fiered 10 cylinders to earth. depending on how many mertians were in each cylinder and how many FM they were able to deploy, their final numbers against the millions of humanity; certainly would have give the martians a few worries. even with the black smoke.

PLus it ive always wondered. SInce there was no such thing as a gas mask when the martians invaded, if the development of such an article would have happened sooner rather than WW1

[timeship2]

Iron Man,

I take it you are a big fan of the Military? ;D

The point about the 1953 film is that one of the reasons it is considered a classic is because for the time it's special effects were amazing rather than it's whether it's a faithful rendition of War of the Worlds. Didn't it win an Oscar for them? As EvilNerfherder already said, it was already made before our time so we can't cry over spilt milk. Today there was much more potential to make an amazing authentic adapation due to the incredible CGI technology we have available today, but alas it seems we are going to follow a more predictable formula.

While we may sing the praises of Pendragon, we have to remember that had it not been for the tragedy of 911 we wouldn't even have *any* authentic version of War of the Worlds apart from Jeff Waynes pure CGI version.

[<[Iron Man]>]

Iron Man,

I take it you are a big fan of the Military?

The point about the 1953 film is that one of the reasons it is considered a classic is because for the time it's special effects were amazing rather than it's whether it's a faithful rendition of War of the Worlds. Didn't it win an Oscar for them? As EvilNerfherder already said, it was already made before our time so we can't cry over spilt milk. Today there was much more potential to make an amazing authentic adapation due to the incredible CGI technology we have available today, but alas it seems we are going to follow a more predictable formula.

While we may sing the praises of Pendragon, we have to remember that had it not been for the tragedy of 911 we wouldn't even have *any* authentic version of War of the Worlds apart from Jeff Waynes pure CGI version.

I don't know if fan is the right word lol. Since what the Military has actually exists i can speculate more on their capabilities.

I'm not crying over 'spilt milk' it just if people will complain about SS WOTW for not being true to the book then we can do the same about the '53 version.

The CGI factor is an exciting one and i hope it will look excellent in the film. My only concern is i don't want to see a film with FM's flying around without a scratch on them, there's nothing in that. If you read the book there are a fair few number of battles and quite good ones too.

If you look at what the Military has got now you'd think it'll be a great fight.

I personally would prefer to see a story where the Martians have been monitoring Earth for a fair while. Since 1900 they've been watching with great concern since our sudden leaps and bounds in technology. So it's taken them nearly a century to prepare for invasion. So we'd have Well's original Martians with Tripods, Flying Machines et al against our modern Main Battle Tanks, Jets, Ships, Artillery etc.. Cmon you can't tell me that isn't an exciting prospect.

If we were to apply Wells' Martians to todays time, i think we could give them a run for their money, and they would be able to do some damage against us. Especially with the Heat Ray and Black Gas.

[timeship2]

Oh I agree we can't have them too invincible as that would make for a boring film. On the other hand, we want a movie where the Martians *do* put us in our place ie it looks like we have the upper hand (as in the thunderchild scene in the book) but we soon realise that all the arrogant might of mankind is brought to it's knees.

While I have no problem with the Military having an active role, I certainly don't want it to turn into War Movie. Of course they will be defeated in the end and we'll just have to see if Spielberg runs with the book or creates more of a surprise ending.

[<[Iron Man]>]

What if the Military did somehow manage to beat the Martians with aid of the bacteria? So without the effects of the bacteria, we wouldn't have one. In that respects we were lucky!

Like the bacteria is slowly killing them off, so the Military musters one last attack with it's depleted forces. The point is it doesn't matter if the Martians die by bacteria alone or with the aid of it.

The point is Man was taken by surprise, due to his complacency, arrogance and self-assurance in the universe. We were taught a lesson by the Martians, and how we were ran close by them.

The point is we're in ruins, our society and infrastructure has mostly been destroyed. So we're left to rebuild our 'glorious' empire.

Although i understand your concerns, it is a story written about a man's experience, not the Military.

If only we could have two stories lol.

[ArmoredTrackLayer]

I would love to see more of a war, but alas i fear we shall not. I wrote a story sometime back about the humans and Martians fighting to a standstill in 1898, and thus it turns almost into WWI, with england split in half between martys and Humans.

[<[Iron Man]>]

Good idea

What about Wales? lol

[I own a cylinder]

The Welsh could easily kill martians just by quoting really long words at them.

[Herulian Martian]

We only used the atom bomb on the Martians...perhaps the vastly more powerful Hydrogen bomb might have taken out the Martians. ;D

[I own a cylinder]

XuxaTheWhite said:

We only used the atom bomb on the Martians...perhaps the vastly more powerful Hydrogen bomb might have taken out the Martians. ;D

There using those protective blisters again.

[<[Iron Man]>]

I said:

The Welsh could easily kill martians just by quoting really long words at them.

PMSL we could sing them back! What do you think Bread of Heaven ?, Men of Harlech? or Land of my Fathers? ;D

I forgotten i posted this topic! lol