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Post by krys666 on Aug 19, 2004 21:49:11 GMT
Hi! I am confused (not the first time, then!) what do the martians look like? I am o.k. on the horsell common description (two luminous, disc like eyes....) But the rest of the book i get confused. One part says, they are just a head with tentecals ect. Another part says, a huge head and are bi-peds (two legs) but can't stand up because of gravity. I have found a site with an old toy/figure of a fighting machine and a small martian. The martian there is just a blob and tentacalls. (I know it is just someone's idea). So what do you think the martians look like? Face, body what do you think?
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Post by Bayne on Aug 19, 2004 23:13:52 GMT
[glow=red,2,300]The bipeds were the living food supply the tentacled martians brought with them. So there are two types of martians, vaguely humanoid food martians and tentacled martians. [/glow]
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Post by Max on Aug 30, 2004 6:47:01 GMT
Had this quandry when i built my Martian. You'd figure from all the illustrations done over the years that its an octopus shape and that's pretty easy to do. But there is that line in the book about them having a head as well... So i ignored it. My favourite design of all so far is Paul's from the 1920's illustrations by the way
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Post by Bayne on Aug 31, 2004 0:15:53 GMT
[glow=red,2,300]I think the head line is just Wells attempt to emphasise the confusion evident in an intelligent creature without a recognisable body as such.
The Victorians were very much big on emphasis of the body as everything from a definition of character and constitution through to mood with such phrases as 'I have a feeling in my water'. Some even judged morality by ablution regularity! As such the organs of digestion were much more a matter of focus then than today.
As an aside they may have been correct, with new research showing that a massive amount of nerve material exists in the digestive system hitherto ignored by anatomists that has it comparable with portions of the brain! Leading to a revival of theories that the emotions and/or subconcious may be located in the digestive organs.[/glow]
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Post by Tripod on Aug 31, 2004 12:36:50 GMT
In 'The Crystal Egg', the Martians are described as Flys without wings and tentacles who have rolled up as two legs. So 'The Crystal Egg' is definetly a 'trailer' to War of the Worlds. Pour Mr Cave. Tripod
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Post by Bayne on Sept 8, 2004 0:22:10 GMT
[glow=red,2,300]Other than the whole Mars thing The Crystal Egg is still prob my favourite Wells short story (of what I've read so far). So atmospheric!
Poor Mr Cave indeed! [/glow]
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Post by jeffwaynefan on Sept 19, 2004 19:45:25 GMT
What do the Martians look like?
Well, imagine Jo Brand with tenticles - pretty scary eh!
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Post by Thunder Child on Oct 10, 2004 16:11:28 GMT
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Post by the Donal on Oct 10, 2004 16:50:59 GMT
That's a great pic- as our very own Bayne has commented - the closest representation yet.
Its interesting how, in the book, the narrator describes the martians themselves in considerably more detail than their machines.
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Post by krys666 on Oct 10, 2004 17:17:18 GMT
Great pic!!! Is there any oth other things? Figthing Machine? Cylinder? Heat Ray?
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Post by Killraven on Oct 10, 2004 21:30:11 GMT
That's a great pic Thunderchild! Mind you, not sure if those tentacles would be strong enough to hold the 'body' aloft like that...not under Earth gravity anyway...
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Post by Bayne on Oct 12, 2004 1:56:56 GMT
[glow=red,2,300]The pic is meant to be a martian standing on Mars. Hopefully Larry will one day get around to making the scratch-built Fighting Machine model he spoke about a year or so ago.
[/glow]
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Geis
Full Member
Nice planet. We'll take it.
Posts: 59
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Post by Geis on Dec 15, 2004 1:12:55 GMT
I found this picture of a Martian drawn by Wells himself: It's just a quick sketch and it certainly doesn't evoke revulsion or fear but it does show some of the founding elements of Wells' thoughts. The Martians are really humans evolved to beings of almost pure intelect. I seem to recall some of Wells' other works talking about such a thing.
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Post by McTodd on Jan 9, 2005 19:17:22 GMT
In a sense, Wells's Martians are a vision of what we ourselves may ultimately evolve into. He makes this quite clear with his reference in the novel, if memory serves me, to man, with his bicycles and Lilienthal gliding machines, as being in the earliest stages of the evolution that the Martians have worked out. He further speculates that they may be evolved from creatures not unlike ourselves, and mentions, somewhat disapprovingly, a writer of quasi-scientific repute who wrote a piece in Punch some years before the invasion which imagines, in a foolishly facetious tone, man a million years hence having evolved into mere heads with outsized hands.
In reality, Wells himself wrote 'The Man of the Year Million' for Punch in 1893. Thus, the narrator's reference to it is somewhat postmodern in its ironic self-referentiality.
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Post by Killraven on Jan 9, 2005 21:38:55 GMT
Thus, the narrator's reference to it is somewhat postmodern in its ironic self-referentiality. I'll take your word on that!!
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Post by McTodd on Jan 9, 2005 21:55:26 GMT
You'd better believe it baby... ;D
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Post by Bayne on Jan 15, 2005 0:09:43 GMT
[glow=red,2,300]Does anyone know if there ever was said illustration in Punch? [/glow]
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Post by McTodd on Jan 16, 2005 22:29:32 GMT
There is indeed... Wells' original article actually appeared in 'The Pall Mall Gazette' in 1893 (I was wrong about it being Punch, curse my memory) - however, the article was subsequently parodied in 'Punch' on 25 November 1893, in the form of a humorous verse accompanied by a Punch artist's impression of the Man of the Year Million. I have a reproduction of the drawing and verse in 'The H G Wells Scrapbook' (ed. Peter Haining - cracking book, long out of print, but try looking some place like www.bookfinder.com) but as my laptop is being very unstable at the moment, and went seriously Pete Tong when I tried installing my scanner software earlier, I can't scan it in. However, I found a scan of it on t'internet, as follows: It's from this fascinating page: www.challzine.net/19/19dengro.htm
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Post by maniacs on Jan 16, 2005 22:40:26 GMT
Always curios about that - thanx
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Geis
Full Member
Nice planet. We'll take it.
Posts: 59
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Post by Geis on Jan 16, 2005 23:47:44 GMT
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