Good response from Milton Keynes R&D Footage

[jeffwaynefan]

Lee over at www.eveofthewar.co.uk sent me this email a few moments ago from one of the vistors to the Milton Keynes show.

H_C

Hi,

Having been a regular (i.e. probably three times daily) visitor to your site
and a frequent lurker on the forum I thought I'd drop you a line.

As I live not very far from Milton Keynes, it was extremely convenient for
me to visit Collectormania 7 at thecentre:mk last weekend and in particular,
the Legends UK stand. Selections from the new remixed SACD album were played
at regular intervals, albeit on a small portable stereo. Even so, what I
heard of Eve of The War was transformed and much more layered - it sounded
fantastic, as though it could have been recorded yesterday. It would have
been completely impractical to do a 5.1 mix demo there, but what we could
hear sounded very promising indeed.

I quizzed him about the likely cost of the Collector's Edition and while it
hasn't been concluded it should be worth every penny.

We were promised of exclusive test footage from the new
CGI film and I for one was not disappointed. Obviously I could take no
pictures, so below are the various fragments I can remember. In any event,
most of what I saw should end up in the Making Of DVD as part of the
Collector's Edition package.

1. Launch and transit of the cylinders from Mars. Rugby-ball shaped
cylinders eject from the red planet trailing a green mist. A green rotating
ring at one end seems to be the means of propulsion. The cylinders pass
overhead towards an unsuspecting Earth. Creepy, but may need more work so it
doesn't look too similar to the opening of Tim Burton's Mars Attacks! The
scene fades briefly before opening up on an atmospheric and very faithful 3D
recreation of Peter Goodfellow's Horsell Common painting. Again the mood is
ominous.

2. Fighting machine. Essentially the same as the movie clip shown previously
online but the heat ray has been significantly intensified with a fierce,
orange glow into a solid beam, much better than the toothpaste-squeeze
version seen before. It now looks pretty damn menacing rather than quaint.

3. The Thunder Child. We were treated to a very detailed tabletop model of
the Thunder Child, along with (I think) Carrie's paddle steamer. The virtual
camera glided across the wooden deck in a shot to rival anything on
Cameron's Titanic. There was also a brief turntable model of a small fishing boat
which will carry an interesting tribute in its name (sworn to secrecy).

4. Thunder Child Seascape. A roughly ten-second clip places the viewer in or
near the water at what you would think is the scene of the Thunder Child's
demise. Murky waves undulate against a blackened sky reproduced perfectly
from Michael Trim's cover. Superb. It was this clip more than any of the
others that convinced me that the team assembled will be doing a very
faithful stylistic adaptation.

While still on the subject of the CGI film, our friend believes the
soundtrack may feature some new orchestrations, but who the voice talents
will be, etc., or whether the originals would be used to some extent, he
couldn't say.

Merchandise-wise there was a fair selection of A3 posters (some signed by
JW) as already seen on the JW's eBay site, plus some fabulous T-shirts (had
to buy one) along with mugs, keyrings, coasters, mousemats, etc. Special
items included a framed signed double-LP plus a decent stack of 12" signed
picture discs of "Eve of The War."

Overall the Legends UK guys put on a good show and attracted a lot of
interest. While I'm hopeful that Spielberg's movie will be spectacular and
entertaining, and that Hines' low-budget "faithful" adaptation won't be too
godawful, Jeff Wayne's movie is the one to get excited about.

Hope you find some of the above info useful, so by all means reproduce it on
the site if you so wish.

Best Regards - and thanks for the constant flow of news from
eveofthewar.co.uk,

Joe O'Connor

[FALLINGSTAR]

I love that bit about the recreation of Horsell Common in 3D. Sounds fantastic.

Plus all the rest!

[David Faltskog]

Just what we need a 3D rendition of a big burly bearded chap in a salior's outfit...Is that the Horsell Common you mean.

Hello Sailor.

D.F...Spicing his mainbrace and running the cat up his pole etc.

[Gnorn]

I totally agree with Fallingstar. I'm very much exicted. Darn, it takes ages for that WotW CE to come out. Got to see that footage!

-Gnorn

[jeffwaynefan]

Here's my rundown of what the film shows.

Starts with the albums logo emerging onto the screen. Next, running with the interfearance, Mars appears and the Sun come into position. With a flash, 3 cylinders are seem being fired from the vast gun sunk into the Martian landscape, followed by long shots of the cylinders heading towards the Earth. Each cylinder is seen, speading on its way towards the the great isle that is Great Britain. Next we see Horsell Common with the huge cylinder sticking from the pit and Ogilvy stands alongside a tree now doubtly wondering what this huge steaming metal giant is. Next seen is the awesome Martian Fighting Machine on the turnatable, next to come to life as its starts its routene of bringing the Heat Ray to bare - this being a better and refined version that is seen here on www.waroftheworldsonline.com. We then see the Flying Machine in two poses, long shot and close up. Starting from a ariel advantage point from her rear main mast on her stern, H.M.S THUNDER CHILD comes into view as men are seen going about there daily routene on the vessel as the camera pans over the vessel, stopping short of her bow. It then cuts to her bows decks as we go for a brief stroll on the vessel. This is folowed by the Flying Machine gliding down from above as it brings its Heat Ray to bare, a more refined version of what was seen on WOTWOnline. Next we see the Handling Machine on its turntable followed by the small passenger Paddle Steamer seen on Michael Trims album cover painting. This cuts to a photo realistic scene of the leden sky and a heavy sea with swells. We next see a small fishing tralwer as a turntable image to then cut to a final look at the stern of the THUNDER CHILD as the camera pans down the the ships proud name plate - film ends

[David Faltskog]

Yeah whatever, but mine was funnier.

D.F.