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Post by Tripod on Nov 11, 2003 16:49:15 GMT
The Jornalist or H.G. Wells says in the book that the Martians have a sort of ear what would futile in the atmosphere of Earth.
So maybe the 'Ullaa' sounds are some sort of organic problems cost by the germs or something.
Just a thought!
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Post by Charles on Nov 12, 2003 6:10:40 GMT
The Fighting-Machines made the "Aloo Aloo" and "Ulla" ululation sounds which run up and down the musical scale. The Martians themselves make the "peculiar hooting" noise which has no modulation and, according to the narrator, occured immediately before feeding and so seemed to have something to do with preparing themselves for the injection of blood. Its the Martian 'bon appetit!'
Speaking of eating, the earlier point about Martian salivation is something I've wondered about for years. I believe it is the Huxley inspired Wells successfully making the case for Martian evolution and the inevitability of it anywhere in the cosmos. Both human and Martian organisms still have useless organs or biological process that have not had time to be bred out yet - like with the human appendix. The same line of thought also makes you wonder why men have nipples...
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Post by Bayne on Nov 12, 2003 23:03:17 GMT
[glow=red,2,300]I definately think that the aloo seemed mechanical, the martians would find such cries rather tiring. As for telepathy and hooting, it is a conjecture of the journalist, and Wells seems particularly aware of the problems associated with bias from a first person narrative, like the argument in First Men In The Moon. The journalist is sure the martians are telepathic, but whether they are or merely knew what they were doing so well that they didn't need to communicate or were so subtle in their communication that it was unnoticable, is still open to conjecture. Martian Salivation: Biological Redundancy or Intrinsically Necessary Adaptation a paper by Proffessor Challenger published by The Royal Zoological Society.... hahaha anyways a redundant system could be the cause but thinking of all the moisture it would use... hmmm the overlord martians wouldn't lack for water as much as the rest of Martian life (because they would deem themselves the highest priority) still it seems a lot of moisture to use... perhaps it was their way of shedding the excess moisture of Earth, or perhaps it was an oily and fatty (but not watery) secretion that kept dust out of lungs. The martians are oft described as oily looking, this could just be a matter of surface texture, or perhaps they were perspiring constantly. A thick ooze of oily sweat could be there to lock moisture into the body as another option... hmmm.....[/glow]
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Post by Tripod on Nov 14, 2003 14:36:51 GMT
The Martian Fighting Machine made another sound too. The sound whas like sirens so did Wells discribe it. I don't know what kind of perpes they had, but they sound cool in the Musical Version!
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Post by Earthrise on Nov 16, 2003 21:24:27 GMT
Bayne, Very good mate, especially the oil protecting the Martian from moisture loss. Earthrise.
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Post by Bayne on Nov 16, 2003 22:48:11 GMT
[glow=red,2,300]Thanks, I probably think about such things waaaay too much, but hey, I'm weird. [/glow]
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Post by Charles on Nov 17, 2003 4:58:08 GMT
Well, while we're all thinking about it too much...
Wells mentions an 'oily gleam,' but some reptiles appear slimy or oily without actually being so. Of course its not out of the realm of possibility since Martians wore "different bodies according to their needs, just as men wear suits of clothes and take a bicycle in a hurry or an umbrella in the wet." Perhaps they were so busy trying to pick out or evolve the best body for making war in Earth's climate that they forgot to consider the threat posed by Earthly bacteria to those bodies.
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Post by Tripod on Nov 17, 2003 18:31:33 GMT
About the part of 'they may have used different bodies according to ther needs'. I think Wells ment the Fighting Machines not Martian suits. I think that he tryd to say this, not that they used another sort of 'skin'.
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Post by Bayne on Nov 17, 2003 23:42:58 GMT
[glow=red,2,300]Maybe they just thought that bacteria halmful to earthly creatures would not be able to infect them. It's an interesting debate that has raged amongst science and science fiction writers for a very long time. Some say that we would have no defences against alien disease, others that we would be immune because the disease would not have evolved to target us. The short story 'Who Goes There' (basis for The Thing movies) has this debate rather nicely included. I can see the Martians debating the issue in a big sandstone senate... Martian Summerlee: "Clearly we will be completely immune to all earthly bacteria as, despite the apparent biological similarities and the dietary compatability of earthly lifeforms they will not have evolved to combat our hyper-developed Martian immune system...." Martian Challenger: Puffing up with his own voluminous self importance "My learned colleague has nothing but air in his cerebral sac! The Martian invasion force will be completely wiped out in a matter of months! They will die a horrible and agonizing death and there is no way of preventing it. Now if you will permit me to explain in such a way that the lesser insignificant mental functions of the majority of the senate shall be able to comprehend..." At that point the whole meeting descends into an uproar, Martian Malone has to drag Martian Challenger away before he can wrap his tentacles about a young scallywag who has been bellowing out thoughts of a most uncouth nature and, for the first time in the senates history, a fighting machine is brought in to restore order...... [/glow]
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Post by Charles on Nov 18, 2003 1:20:43 GMT
There is another interesting discussion point. Did the Martians simply forget earthly bacteria or did they figure themselves above it all? Wells is once again rather vague.
Certainly Wells was talking about Martian mechanics being extensions of themselves with his 'wearing different bodies according to their needs,' but its positioning in the narrative as a segway (and not the silly personal transportation device British and American Police are using) right between Martian physiology and technology is curious.
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Post by Bayne on Nov 18, 2003 8:16:15 GMT
[glow=red,2,300]Which perhaps is one of his strengths as a writer. To be both detailed and descriptive and yet to leave a lot of ambiguity and vaguery is quite a feat. Anyone trying to illustrate Wells Martians and machinery would know just what I mean, there is enough to provide a powerful impression, while leaving a great deal for the individual imagination. Probably why we will never have a perfect depiction of a fighting machine. [/glow]
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Post by Tripod on Nov 18, 2003 14:54:48 GMT
I totally agree with you Bayne! The power of Wells his books is that you have to use your imagination, I personly like to think and talk about this sort of subjects. And I like your story about the Martian debat! Only one question did you made it up or is it in another book or story related to WOTW? Anyway I like it! Do it more often!
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Post by Charles on Nov 18, 2003 17:12:59 GMT
Ambiguity is one of his stengths and weaknesses. Verne (and others) criticized Wells on his vagueness, but his reason for this was so that the reader didn't get sidetracked reading into specifics. Wells was an impatient propagandist - even in the earliest stages of his writing career, and he was concerned more with the bigger picture and message than the minutae of Martian evolution and technology. Its just fun for us to speculate on. His vagueness served him fairly well in his scientific romances, but made some of his later regular, more sociological fiction seem too preachy and pedantic. This was at the core of his argument with Henry James over the purpose of a novel; is it pure art as James had it, or a means to an end like for Wells?
Speaking of perfect depictions, have you ever seen Wells' own sketch of what he thought a Martian looked like? Nothing like I picture them - and he invented the bloody things. I like Edward Gorey's Martians; his fighting-machines are a bit too UFOish, but at least the legs are more articulated and graceful than many other renditions.
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Post by Tripod on Nov 18, 2003 19:11:11 GMT
I don't like it as writers are to precies about objects apearing in their story. Its so boring, but I liked the part wher Wells says some interesting things about the Martians and their machines. About yhe Wells Martian sketch its a sort of joke of Mr Wells about the Martians. You shouldn't think that he really thought that the Martians look like this!
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Post by Bayne on Nov 19, 2003 0:03:44 GMT
[glow=red,2,300] Tripod, I made that up on the spur of the moment, the characters and names are from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Challenger stories (such as The Lost World). Glad you like it. You'll find a couple of my other pieces in the fan fiction section of this site and at my site www.geocities.com/supreme_martian_overlord If I get some time to write I have a piece that's 60 percent done in the works. I quite like the works of Jules Verne, but he gets bogged down sometimes... I mean it's cool to know the detailed specifics of the Nautilus, but not so at the cost of the pacing of the book. Wells was by far his superior for me. The detail on Martian evolution he does go into is some of my favourite parts of the book, sketched out with just enough detail to be convincing and interesting. Wells sketch definately seems to be a caricaturish joke, as it goes against many of the specifics of the description. Where could I find an example of Edward Gorey's Martians? [/glow]
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Post by Charles on Nov 19, 2003 1:44:02 GMT
The sketch I'm referring to appears in a presentation copy for Ralph Straus. Don't think I'd describe it as a joke, though. Odd, but not a joke. I agree it doesn't tally with his own description, but none of the artwork done for WOTW at that time did either. However the filiation between this sketch and his 'Man of the Year Million' men is striking. So there's your connection.
Wells drew hundreds of these 'picshuas' (as he called them) throughout his career - some serious, some not so. There is another interesting one in a presentation copy now at the Wells archive at the University of Illinois that shows Jane as a fighting-machine (probably reflecting on her strong personality during that rather turbulent time of their lives). Oddly enough it tallies fairly closely with Gorey's late '50s renditions.
As far as I know the Gorey illustrations are only available in the 1960 Looking Glass Library edition. Unfortunately for WOTW fans it is Gorey, and Gorey fans pay HIGH prices for anything featuring his work.
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Post by Thunder Child on Nov 19, 2003 20:56:46 GMT
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Post by Charles on Nov 20, 2003 4:51:21 GMT
Well spotted, Thunder Child. I knew it was online somewhere, but Dr. Zeus' great site never occured to me...
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Post by Thunder Child on Nov 20, 2003 21:02:53 GMT
Hi Charles,
Yes, dr.Z website is great. I often send him pictures when I come across them or when I've bought a new TWOTW book.
About this picture. Can it actually be a TWOTW Martian, since it has nostrils, and Wells stated that the Martians had no sense of smell...
Greetings, Johan
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Post by Tripod on Nov 20, 2003 21:12:53 GMT
Yes, good point there Thunderchild! Ther is a another thing about the drawing he hasn't got a V-like mouth. And not enough tentacles in the book he says it are 16 of those snake like 'arms'. Tripod (Thanx for the E-mail Thunderchild)
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