Post by sunnyrabbiera on Dec 6, 2005 23:21:35 GMT
While I wait for a good time and go out to buy the new DVD version of this film (perhaps alongside the SS version)
I want to discuss the mixed reactions to this version of this film and how I can forgive George Pal a lot faster then I can forgive Steven Spielberg.
Firstly I can forgive Pal for bringing the story of WOTW into a more modern setting, Orson Welles did the same for his radio play and so did the rest of the radio plays at the time.
Really I can let Pal and Spielberg get away with setting it in or around todays time period, as its a very classic storyline that has a lot of flexibility.
Then again Pal did want to set his movie in Victorian times and have it filmed in England, but at the time overseas shooting was out of the question and it would have been too much money.
As for Spielberg, I don't think the thought of setting the story in its original timeline came to him, I mean sure he probably did think of it but it seemed he wanted to save his slowly deteriorating career.
then comes the tripods vs. the manta/ swans
its true that George Pal wanted to do the tripods and the octopi Martians, but the technology was not possible without it looking too silly.
Pal was thinking of stop motion for the tripods but the budget was tight...
but I can let the manta's slide, after all they were still tripods... sorta with the three invisible leg idea
on the other hand is the Spielberg tripod, the best thing in the movie...
the bergpods were very cool and shared a lot of the ideas of the novel... but its heat ray was pathetic in my mind compared to the Pal version.
if the bergpods had the 1950's style heat ray instead of the magic powder ray I would have been far more impressed.
then comes the aliens themselves.
Okay Otto Lump Lump was no technological feat, it looked like the sad sick brother of ET but I thought it was a lot better then Spielberg's Idees (I call them Idees because they are clearly mapped after the ID4 aliens)
okay Otto was a puppet, fine Otto was goofy looking... but thats why I liked it, as it was alien looking.
its like how I like the Daleks from doctor who, they are goofy looking but I think they are cool because they look so alien...
But yeh both films could have tried better at the alien effects, though I am willing to let Pal slide as I think Otto was more impressive then a guy in a suit or some lame CG effect (Idee)
next up, acting...
both movies did not have the best actors in them...
now of course in Pal's case you got who you could, and you can let it somewhat slide as sci fi movies were still in their infancy, and the top actors did not see any value in a space/ sci fi film...
but I thought both Ann Robinson and Gene Barry were pretty decent, certainly I liked Ann's screaming a lot better then little Dakota Fanning's screeching.
but Spielberg seriously goofed...
Okay I admit I did like Tom Cruise in some films, Top Gun, a few good men, and to a point Jerry Maguire... those films had Tom right in their sights, but in this film the casting way way off...
Okay there was Rain man, the only film where Tom seems to actually evolve his character but thats the only good mentions I can give to him.
heck I can give pardon to James Cameron for casting Leo DiCaprio in titanic (after all I liked him in what's eating gilbert grape, if you think Leo doesn't have any acting skill there is proof in that film that one time Leo had at least some talent in one point of his life)
or Lucas for having Hayden Christensen as Annikan Skywalker (to a point, but he could have been way better)
But Tom stood out like a sore thumb, I hated him and I did wish that he was hit by a heat ray...
Dr. Clayton Forrester was a good character for the time period (and spawned a popular MST3K character), Sylvia Van Buren was a good character for the time period... but Ray Ferrier can rot in hell...
for me I felt for Forrester and Van Buren during the middle and the end of the film, but for the characters in the Spielberg film I felt nothing... if any of them died I would not care... heck I would have cheered for the death of Tom's character.
in the end I still favor Pals film over the tosh that Spielberg made for the fact that it did have a better lead up to the story, a better sense of dread in some areas...
and its classic value is worth a million dollars, which is funny because Spielberg's film cost more then that and still wound up like garbage...
I want to discuss the mixed reactions to this version of this film and how I can forgive George Pal a lot faster then I can forgive Steven Spielberg.
Firstly I can forgive Pal for bringing the story of WOTW into a more modern setting, Orson Welles did the same for his radio play and so did the rest of the radio plays at the time.
Really I can let Pal and Spielberg get away with setting it in or around todays time period, as its a very classic storyline that has a lot of flexibility.
Then again Pal did want to set his movie in Victorian times and have it filmed in England, but at the time overseas shooting was out of the question and it would have been too much money.
As for Spielberg, I don't think the thought of setting the story in its original timeline came to him, I mean sure he probably did think of it but it seemed he wanted to save his slowly deteriorating career.
then comes the tripods vs. the manta/ swans
its true that George Pal wanted to do the tripods and the octopi Martians, but the technology was not possible without it looking too silly.
Pal was thinking of stop motion for the tripods but the budget was tight...
but I can let the manta's slide, after all they were still tripods... sorta with the three invisible leg idea
on the other hand is the Spielberg tripod, the best thing in the movie...
the bergpods were very cool and shared a lot of the ideas of the novel... but its heat ray was pathetic in my mind compared to the Pal version.
if the bergpods had the 1950's style heat ray instead of the magic powder ray I would have been far more impressed.
then comes the aliens themselves.
Okay Otto Lump Lump was no technological feat, it looked like the sad sick brother of ET but I thought it was a lot better then Spielberg's Idees (I call them Idees because they are clearly mapped after the ID4 aliens)
okay Otto was a puppet, fine Otto was goofy looking... but thats why I liked it, as it was alien looking.
its like how I like the Daleks from doctor who, they are goofy looking but I think they are cool because they look so alien...
But yeh both films could have tried better at the alien effects, though I am willing to let Pal slide as I think Otto was more impressive then a guy in a suit or some lame CG effect (Idee)
next up, acting...
both movies did not have the best actors in them...
now of course in Pal's case you got who you could, and you can let it somewhat slide as sci fi movies were still in their infancy, and the top actors did not see any value in a space/ sci fi film...
but I thought both Ann Robinson and Gene Barry were pretty decent, certainly I liked Ann's screaming a lot better then little Dakota Fanning's screeching.
but Spielberg seriously goofed...
Okay I admit I did like Tom Cruise in some films, Top Gun, a few good men, and to a point Jerry Maguire... those films had Tom right in their sights, but in this film the casting way way off...
Okay there was Rain man, the only film where Tom seems to actually evolve his character but thats the only good mentions I can give to him.
heck I can give pardon to James Cameron for casting Leo DiCaprio in titanic (after all I liked him in what's eating gilbert grape, if you think Leo doesn't have any acting skill there is proof in that film that one time Leo had at least some talent in one point of his life)
or Lucas for having Hayden Christensen as Annikan Skywalker (to a point, but he could have been way better)
But Tom stood out like a sore thumb, I hated him and I did wish that he was hit by a heat ray...
Dr. Clayton Forrester was a good character for the time period (and spawned a popular MST3K character), Sylvia Van Buren was a good character for the time period... but Ray Ferrier can rot in hell...
for me I felt for Forrester and Van Buren during the middle and the end of the film, but for the characters in the Spielberg film I felt nothing... if any of them died I would not care... heck I would have cheered for the death of Tom's character.
in the end I still favor Pals film over the tosh that Spielberg made for the fact that it did have a better lead up to the story, a better sense of dread in some areas...
and its classic value is worth a million dollars, which is funny because Spielberg's film cost more then that and still wound up like garbage...
