Cylinder(s) - To be or not to be . . .

[jeffwaynefan]

. . . that is the question.

What do we see so far, a road impact, people staring into a crater in the street. Street rips open, people run. Cruise looks up in horror, something has just come out of the ground??, that how the snippets appear - so far, resulting in 'the aliens are under the ground'.

They just could well be, but it still does not rule out cylinders. What did Cruise see, a tripod?, stands a good chance, but is it a tripod?, from a quick second glimpse its hard to tell.

Cylinders could still be used in the film. One could have come down at a ngle, impacted the ground with such force its buried itself entirely - could have, no reason to suggest otherwise at this moment. . .

[beecus]

Hmm, true..

I'll give you that one

[SudsoneUK]

Right.... remember those Sleeper cell thingys we were told about... in the trailer Fanning is scared because the lightning struck the back garden, Cruise tells her not to worry as lightning never strikes twice... it then hits the garden again... the hole in the street is said to have been cause by strikes of lightning, they then hear something moving under ground... Cruise returns home and tells his kids they have to get out NOW... probably because he believes that because lightning struck his garden as well, that something is underneath it... So it does seem likely that the lightning wakes up the sleeper cells, like a signal, a call to arms.

But the question remains... how did they get underground in the first place? How long have they been under there?

[beecus]

In one of the clips Cruise say's something like..

''Come and see something cool'' and they look up at the sky.

Could be the lightning/EMP could be 'shooting stars'' too I guess.

But it does lead you to believe something comes from the sky?

[Gerkinman]

Whenever i want to show people smething cool i show them just how cool lightning is. "Hey kids, its a severe electrical storm, doesnt it look cool, lets all go outside and watch"

[jeffwaynefan]

Could lead many ways. The flashes in the sky - cylinders, maybe not like the large versions we read about in the book (30 yards diameter), but rather smaller ones, entering the earyhs atmosphere. . . The ligting flashes, the aliens can control the weather/atmosphere (like James Camerons THE ABYSS). . . The lightning flashes trigger the dorment cylinders, the electrical discharge use to open them up.

[nellus]

Im going out on limb here, but why do they have to arrive in cylinders? Sure, in the book they did, but they were fired out of large cannons, and back in the day, im sure this was seen as "hi-tech"

Fast forward 100 years, and this method is usually reserved for the circus. Now, if Iwanted to show something that was amazingly hi-tech for this day and age, why not travel around as energy? Star Trek has been doing it for years, in the form of transporters. If they arnt from Mars, and have massive distances to travel, why not do it in the form of light? It would explain why the lightning was hiting the same spot over and over, it was a few aliens landing.

The thoery needs work, but the idea is there. What do you think?

[SudsoneUK]

nellus said:

Im going out on limb here, but why do they have to arrive in cylinders? Sure, in the book they did, but they were fired out of large cannons, and back in the day, im sure this was seen as "hi-tech"

Fast forward 100 years, and this method is usually reserved for the circus. Now, if Iwanted to show something that was amazingly hi-tech for this day and age, why not travel around as energy? Star Trek has been doing it for years, in the form of transporters. If they arnt from Mars, and have massive distances to travel, why not do it in the form of light? It would explain why the lightning was hiting the same spot over and over, it was a few aliens landing.

The thoery needs work, but the idea is there. What do you think?

I like it... but still doesn't explain the tagline 'they're already here' along with the rumours of sleeper cells, being awoken...

[nellus]

Ok, they can transport themselves as energy, but maybee the hardware is another story. They could "seed" a planet with the hardware, or something similar, years before they get there.

I could be clutching at straws, so if anyone else can help, please do!

[nellus]

Oh, and another thought on cylinders. With defence the way it is these days, a cylinder could be tracked and blown out of the sky before it even touched the ground (a few scrambled jets and surface to air missiles).

Energy could not. You wouldnt see it coming, and if you did, what could you do about it?

[jeffwaynefan]

Good good, could have something here. As suggested, the aliens/cells are already on the planet, maybe from a fallout from millions of years ago, maybe the reason why the dinosaurs were snuffed out (cue T-rex turning up at the end of the film to destroy the alien invaders). The cells/aliens can only be awoken by a vast electrical discharge. . . . hence the lighting. But all the times the earth has been hit by lightig bolts, it just so happens they awake from these bolts.

[SudsoneUK]

nellus said:

Oh, and another thought on cylinders. With defence the way it is these days, a cylinder could be tracked and blown out of the sky before it even touched the ground (a few scrambled jets and surface to air missiles).

Energy could not. You wouldnt see it coming, and if you did, what could you do about it?

Surely if they did use cylinders they would be undetectable by our radar systems... remember the are supposed to posess a technology far in advance of our own.

[jeffwaynefan]

Not if the cylinder is small and travelling at thousands of miles per hour.

[jeffwaynefan]

SudsoneUK said:

I like it... but still doesn't explain the tagline 'they're already here' along with the rumours of sleeper cells, being awoken...

Late last year, a spokesman for Paramount explained the tagline. Its following on from other classic taglines that SS has used over the course of film making like 'They're Here' used in 'Poltergeist', 'Watch The Skies' from 'Close Encounters'.

[HTT]

[glow=purple,2,300]Ok, daft thought coming up:

Cruise's "Get in the car or you'll die" reminded me of Reece's "Come with me if you want to live". Now, think T2 and the liquid metal cyborgs. What if after the original invasion (killed off the dinos?), the war machines devolved into an equivalent state, binding red weed cells within very small capsules?

On the EMP signal activates the sleeper cells, which recombine into the alien metal and regain tripod form. It then seeds the red weed into the earth as it erupts through the ground...[/glow]

[SudsoneUK]

Horsell_Common said:

Late last year, a spokesman for Paramount explained the tagline. Its following on from other classic taglines that SS has used over the course of film making like 'They're Here' used in 'Poltergeist', 'Watch The Skies' from 'Close Encounters'.

So it is essentially meaningless? The other two at least tie in with the film... which is kind of the point of a tagline...

[nellus]

Im sure they would posses a higher level of technology than us, but im sure if they wanted to be radar invisible they would have to know something about us first. They might not be aware of radar as we use it.Ar least with a heat ray, they would know everything would burn.

If they traveled in one cylinder at a time, we would be wise to whats happening after the first couple of cylinders, and destroy the rest. If they came in a massive armada of cylinders, every goverment would go into action.

And you have the problems of fighter jets, tanks, missiles etc. 100 years ago, these didnt exist, so HG Wells didnt have to worry about it. But now it becomes and issue, and I think the EM pulse is the best way to do it, plot wise. So, if things need to be changed for the re-imaging of the story, then so be it. Id rather it made more sense than was 100% accurate to the book.

[HTT]

So it is essentially meaningless?

[glow=purple,2,300]Probably not meaningless - in some form the aliens are already here. Exactly how, and in what context, we'll have to wait and see![/glow]

[beecus]

Horsell_Common said:

Late last year, a spokesman for Paramount explained the tagline. Its following on from other classic taglines that SS has used over the course of film making like 'They're Here' used in 'Poltergeist', 'Watch The Skies' from 'Close Encounters'.

What exactly did he explain? We know the reasons for taglines.
They're Here in Poltergeist... well, because they were here.
Watch the Skies from CE... because they came from the sky..

War of the Worlds, They're already here? You haven't told us WHY that is used.

[SudsoneUK]

HailTheTripod said:

[glow=purple,2,300]Probably not meaningless - in some form the aliens are already here. Exactly how, and in what context, we'll have to wait and see![/glow]

Which is what I thought....