|
Post by HTT on Jan 21, 2005 9:58:30 GMT
I've just been re-reading the novel. After the cyclinder has opened, and the martians pop out, a stick rises joint-by-joint out of the pit. On top, there is a wobbling, rotating mirror. The narrator refers to this throughout the time he refers to the first cyclinder.
Does anyone know what this is? It is not the funnel of the heat ray, or the light-beam. It doesn't appear to mentioned elsewhere in the book, nor when he's in the pit beneath the ruined house.
|
|
|
Post by I own a cylinder on Jan 21, 2005 10:29:28 GMT
SINCE ITS ONLY REFERED TO here its likely to be a reflector to redirect the heatray and a sort of perescope.
The narrator says that a small hump rose up...almost certinly the heatray emmiter. and that the ghost of a beam of light flickered out from it...this suggests that the ray was fired up into the air and the spinning disk used to redirect it around the common based on the angle of the reflector.
later the machines only had to use the emmiter directly.
|
|
|
Post by Bayne on Jan 22, 2005 20:19:49 GMT
[glow=red,2,300]It could also have been the source of the 'searchlight' as well. [/glow]
|
|
|
Post by Thunder Child on Jan 22, 2005 21:14:25 GMT
I find it interesting that both Warwick Goble and Alvim Correa depict the "humped shape" as the hood of a Fighting Machine. Johan
|
|
|
Post by Bayne on Jan 22, 2005 21:27:28 GMT
[glow=red,2,300]Or it could be the handling machine? Maybe a disembodied Tripod heat-ray (but that's desribed later as box shaped)? [/glow]
|
|
|
Post by Thunder Child on Jan 22, 2005 21:44:43 GMT
|
|
|
Post by Bayne on Jan 22, 2005 23:47:21 GMT
[glow=red,2,300]It worked fine for me. [/glow]
|
|
|
Post by Topaz on Jan 22, 2005 23:49:47 GMT
I always had the impression that the "restless mirror" was simply a surveillance device to warn the Martians of anyone approaching the pit. None of the fighting machines were yet rigged, and they seem to be the 'normal' sentry method for later arrivals. The "humped shape" of the first heat-ray device is rather at odds with the "camera-like" description later on. It always made me think that either this was a separate, 'pit defense' weapon, or a turret/beam director attached to one of the regular heat-ray generators to allow the beam to be aimed without moving the entire (heavy) device by muscle power alone. Here's a picture of a beam director (for an active infrared counteremeasures system for airplanes). The central drum rotates for moving the beam up and down, while the whole assembly rotates for direction. Rather 'humped shaped,' wouldn't you say? I think the larger of the two ports is for an aiming sensor, and the smaller one shows a faux infrared laser beam emerging, which is used to confuse the seeker of the incoming missle. They're using a MUCH bigger beam director/turret on the nose of the ABL anti-missile airplane. www.boeing.com/defense-space/military/abl/flash.htmlAt ~1MW power, the ABL laser would make a rather fine heat-ray all on its own!
|
|
|
Post by malfunkshun on Jan 23, 2005 0:03:12 GMT
the heat ray and a laser are pretty similar actually, both are concentrated beams of coherent light, invisible unless passing through some type of medium, such as dust or a dense gas. both are also pretty damn hot, so for all practical purposes, the heat ray to me is a powerful laser. i wouldn't mind if it were depicted as a laser in either hines or paramounts films.
|
|
|
Post by Topaz on Jan 23, 2005 9:32:23 GMT
I wonder how easy it would be to calculate a rough power level of the heat-ray, given the effects Wells describes? It's got to be in the multi-megawatt range, but I would think someone knowledgeable in that area could pin down a reasonably accurate number.
Something along the lines of what power level (in the infrared) is required to cause green foliage/wood to ignite very quickly? Crack and shatter ceramic chimney tubes? Punch through top armor on a ship like the HMS Polyphemus/Thunder Child?
|
|
|
Post by Flynn77 on Jan 24, 2005 12:25:19 GMT
The mirror is simply that, used to reflect the heat ray at targets. The book clearly states this a few times, going as far as to describe that targets on the common couldn't all be hit because the mirror was not placed high enough. The other device is the heat ray generator firing vertical at the dome.
|
|
|
Post by I own a cylinder on Jan 31, 2005 19:26:49 GMT
Thats something i find that not very many people have bothered to interpret in their art is the Mirror on the arm. I have drawn an interpretation of it but unfortuantly have no way to show it. ( more like don't have a clue how.) Something to put in future drawings.
|
|
|
Post by HTT on Feb 4, 2005 13:59:29 GMT
OK, I've re-read the relevant sections, and the device is NOT related to the heat ray or the light beam.
It's described as ceaseless, and restlessly moving. Regarding the heat ray, it is described as follows: "Slowly a humped shape rose out of the pit, and the ghost of a beam of light seemed to flicker out from it. Forthwith flashes of actual flame, a bright glare leaping from one to another, sprang from the scattered group of men" - IE the heat ray comes from the humped shape, and NOT via the rotating mirror.
With reference to the following quote: "Had the elevation of the parabolic mirror been a few yards higher, none could have lived to tell the tale" - this refers not to the rotating mirror, but to the percieved internal workings of the heat ray: "This intense heat they project in a parallel beam against any object they choose, by means of a polished parabolic mirror of unknown composition, much as the parabolic mirror of a lighthouse projects a beam of light. But no one has absolutely proved these details. "
In addition to this, the device can be seen from Woking itself: "As yet, of course, few people in Woking even knew that the cylinder had opened…As these folks came out by twos and threes upon the open, they found little knots of people talking excitedly and peering at the spinning mirror over the sand pits."
So, back to the original quote: "Once a leash of thin black whips, like the arms of an octopus, flashed across the sunset and was immediately withdrawn, and afterwards a thin rod rose up, joint by joint, bearing at its apex a circular disk that spun with a wobbling motion. What could be going on there?
Indeed, what IS going on…and what are the thin black whips? A martian waving at us? The tentacle section of the Fighting Machine assembly kit??
|
|
|
Post by I own a cylinder on Feb 5, 2005 2:07:29 GMT
Quote: and afterwards a thin rod rose up, joint by joint, bearing at its apex a circular disk that spun with a wobbling motion.
That just speaks Circus performers to me...
|
|
|
Post by quaderni on Feb 5, 2005 21:52:06 GMT
My minor thoughts:
I think the parabolic mirror is just a thing for reconnaissance - so the Martians can have a security eye on the environs whilst constructing their machines. I think the Narrator wants to say that had the mirror been a bit higher, he would have been spotted (??).
I wonder if both Corrêa and Goble have the fighting machine right - that 'hump-shaped' thing that rises up out of the pit (it would fit the characterisation of a FM's hood). In the chapter on the ruined houses, Wells describes how the fighting machine could collapse its legs and lower itself. I wonder whether Wells saw the partially-asembled fighting machine rising up high enough from the pit to turn on its heat-ray, flambé the Ogilvy house warming party, and then to lower itself again - effectively hanging a 'do not disturb sign' on the cylinder screw.
Then again, as any good artist, Wells leaves sufficient ambiguity to let the the reader's imagination take over - and thus make the scene even more terrifying.
|
|
|
Post by Topaz on Feb 6, 2005 3:22:36 GMT
The impression I get is that the 'wobbly mirror/disk', the heat-ray used in the first defense of the pit, and the first fighting machine are each distinct objects.
'HailTheTripod''s analysis makes the most sense to me and agrees with my own impression. The reference to the 'elevation of the parabolic mirror' seems also to fit with his later description of the workings of the thing, plus he mentions immediately prior that there was ground in the way of the people involved and the beam, whereas the 'wobbly mirror' could be seen for miles.
The first fighting machine crawls out of the pit rather than raising itself as the second one does, so I doubt that the humped shape described is actually the top of the FM. Besides, the FM holds the Heat-Ray generator at the end of "a kind of arm", so why not just raise that to fire,rather than the entire body of the machine?
|
|
|
Post by quaderni on Feb 6, 2005 22:17:05 GMT
The impression I get is that the 'wobbly mirror/disk', the heat-ray used in the first defense of the pit, and the first fighting machine are each distinct objects. 'HailTheTripod''s analysis makes the most sense to me and agrees with my own impression. The reference to the 'elevation of the parabolic mirror' seems also to fit with his later description of the workings of the thing, plus he mentions immediately prior that there was ground in the way of the people involved and the beam, whereas the 'wobbly mirror' could be seen for miles. The first fighting machine crawls out of the pit rather than raising itself as the second one does, so I doubt that the humped shape described is actually the top of the FM. Besides, the FM holds the Heat-Ray generator at the end of "a kind of arm", so why not just raise that to fire,rather than the entire body of the machine? I think you're right - I was writing from memory and I forgot that Wells distinguishes between the 'wobbly mirror' and the 'parabolic mirror' of the heat-ray generator itself. But I do think that the wobbly mirror thing is for reconnaissance - but heck, what do I know, we all read the same passages and see different things - which is pretty cool, in truth!
|
|
|
Post by Topaz on Feb 7, 2005 5:55:45 GMT
Yes. Yes it is. In this case, however, you and I agree completely. I always saw the 'wobbly mirror' as a sort of the Martian equivalent of a security camera - gotta watch and make sure those silly humans don't get too close while we discover the true meaning of "Some Assembly Required" on the fighting-machine packing crates. ;D
|
|
|
Post by HTT on Feb 7, 2005 12:20:17 GMT
;D ;DLOL I can just see the construction team" "Sez here Slot BASELEG-D onto LEG-JOIN-D1" "But we only got BASELEG-A, B and C" "So where's base leg D?." "We ain't got one. Are you sure you're reading them right?" "Yes...oh, wait a minute, we've got the hood fixed on upside down!"..
|
|
|
Post by Flynn77 on Feb 7, 2005 17:08:39 GMT
Right, here we go. The early heatray is a generator/mirror on a stick combo. The Martians can’t lift the generator yet with an FM tentacle(not built yet). Now, follow close here; the martians can’t wave the heat ray generator about, so they extend a parabolic mirror(looks a bit like a spinning mirrored sat dish) on a rod. They then fire the heatray beam vertical or at a slight angle and bounce it off the disc. This reflects the beam to hit the crowd. The reason why some people don’t get hit is because the mirror hasn’t been raised high enough to hit the high points of the common. Phew, that is what the book means, trust me. It makes perfect sense. Of course, they could also use the mirror to look for targets, and to reflect light off for the rotating search light.
|
|