Directors Cut- I have it. Any questions?

[David Faltskog]

Ok I apologise and i even deleted a post.

D.F.

[nervouspete]

I suppose you could skip the London stuff, and use the clips of the street chaos to back up Weybridge and the rest of his journey. Or perhaps seague it in with the artilleryman's speech, if you could edit it cunningly, you could put that stuff in around his speech of 'look how fast they've smashed us, they've got us beat' speech as a montage to back up his words.

I always felt that low-budget affairs like Pendragon were too risky in attempting to do the whole plot of a novel instead of focusing on a specific core scene and expanding it, and that a better soloution would be to do a quick build up and then the trapped in the ruined house stuff. That way you can be sparse with the effects but through a good script and acting ratchet up the tension. Sort of like Signs, which had me gripped from the fake broadcast moment until it fell apart utterly with the foolish 'twist'.

I don't think it's a good idea to edit it so it looks like the narrator is going to London though, as the distances over time are insurmountable. So it looks like you might have to ditch Elphinstone and the rest of the brother stuff if you go that stream lined route. I like the brother stuff in the book because it fits in with the retrospective yet chilling 'pamphlet biography' feel it acquires in the second half of the book. But like you I'm not convinced it works in film.

[wastedyuthe]

Apology accepted David, thank you.

Wise words there Nervouspete. Agreed, except for the brother story not working in film. You are right in this particular case. But I think done right, I don't see why it wouldn't work. The film ideally would have a stronger link between both brothers stories to make you care about what happens in both. In Pendragons film I find it hard to care too much about the brother and co. I think this is because we spend far more time with the writer, and other than being brothers there is no real link throughout the story. Of course this stems from the book, and I know Hines wanted to make it as faithful as he could *cough*. But for film purposes he should have included some kind of link between the characters early on in the story. A similar thread was started (by myself I may add) for the up and coming Jeff Wayne CG film- would it be better to stick to having the brother story completely faithful to the book, or to have Jeffs interpretation with the wife character Carrie taking his place? It's a shame that Hines took small liberties here and there, but stuck TOO close to the book in terms of story in general. I am sure a lot of his editing problems were down to following the books story too closely- I am sure we all agree.

[Lensman]

wastedyuthe said:

2) The film does not do the book justice at all with the brothers story. In fact it makes it rather dull. The exodus is almost non-existant, and of course the less said about the Thunderchild sequence the better.
<snip>
Hasn't anyone got any question regarding the DC? Anyone interested in differences on a particular scene?

In the original edition, at least as I remember it (I've watched most of the movie only once), the "panic in London" sequences all appear to be filmed with the same relatively few extras against the same obviously CGI background of what is supposed to be a storefront or two in London.

Does the Director's Cut improve this? Does the background change-- or does it look more real and less obviously bad CGI? Have those scenes of paniced people running in the street (that should be "streets" but only a bit of one is shown...) been re-edited to be less repetitive?

You say the Thunder Child scenes have not been altered. Charles posted the same on this forum, then said Timbo had contacted him to complain that indeed he (Timbo) *had* made some changes. So have you compared the TC scenes from both editions by watching one immediately followed by the other?

[wastedyuthe]

I will confirm later, when I will have time to check, but from what I remember all the crowd scenes are in tact. None of the backgrounds have changed in the DC, nor has the poor bluescreen. Some silly 'contributor' the other WotW site Eve of the War said there were lot's of improvements (bluescreen effects being one of them), all followed by 'lol'. I couldn't tell wether he was taking the mickey, or he was just generally a jolly chap. He did say the artillery man's tunnel had been put in, but the rest of his ramblings were false. People shouldn't post messages like that unless they make it clear what is truth and what is mickey-taking. This is why I said at the begining I will only state truth.
The 'What I saw' chapter still has the daft bloke saying "These is valuable", and random shots of the writer going back and forth through the crowd are still there. Watch this bit again and you will laugh at the editing- one clip we see the writer and artillery man standing together, then we see them walking through the crowd to the other side of the street (the artillery man is much further ahead), then we immediately skip back to looking at the two together again in the same spot as before!!! I have edited out those random shots of the crowd as they are rubbish, and so the scene makes more sense now with the two main characters staying in the one spot until they get divided. Hines did nothing to rectify the cock-up in the DC.
The only thing he has done with the Thunderchild sequence is trim it here and there. You could argue that the scene looks a little better than it did, but that's only because you see less of the crappy cg ship! Even the man falling down the deck when it sinks is still the same.

[richardburton]

Thanks for that, guys. You're diamond geezers every man jack of ya!

[wastedyuthe]

I would like to quote Lensmans post on a Jeff Wayne topic, regarding a film adaptation-

"If you want to have the Narrator's wife involved more directly, I suggest putting her into the *London* "panic on the docks" sequence, which would be much more crowded and chaotic and thus more exciting than the boarding-the-ferry sequence just prior to the Thunder Child battle.

The brother could be brought more directly into the story this way:

1. The Brother visits the Narrator and is included in the early "star gazing" scene where the Narrator points out Mars to his Wife. Not necessarily the exact sequence in which the Narrator and his Wife take a walk to stargaze-- it seems a good idea to make that a husband/wife bonding scene, as in the Pendragon film**-- but they could bid adieu to the Brother just before they go on their walk.

**Hey, Timbo got at least *one* thing right in his movie!

2. When the Narrator and his Wife flee their house, instead of driving to her cousin's house, the Narrator takes her to the train station to send her off to his Brother's home. The Narrator's story would then segue directly into "The Storm" sequence.

3. The Wife could then join up with the Brother and become part of the "panic in London" sequence.

4. As suggested earlier in this thread, there could be a dramatic scene where the Brother and the Wife are separated by paniced crowds. Or the Wife could get passage on board a ship at the "chaos at the London docks" sequence from the book, with the Brother left behind as she leaves on a ship.

5. From this point we follow the Brother's story as written in the book. I question the value of replacing the Brother with the Wife. What about the scene where the Brother engages in fisticuffs with a couple of ruffians on the road who try to steal their horse and buggy? Will the Wife herself physically struggle with these ruffians?

When plot threads separate in a movie, they need to be brought back together at the end to produce a satisfying ending. So the Brother's thread needs to be rejoined with the Writer's at the end. I suggest the following:

6. During the "Dead London" sequence, instead of showing just the Narrator discovering everything, or showing a montage with the Narrator seen only occasionally, we see both the Narrator and the Brother independently exploring the dead city, cutting back and forth between them.

7. In the following chapter, "Wreckage", some "kindly people" find the Narrator "...weeping and raving through the streets of St. John's Wood... singing some insane doggeral about 'The Last Man Left Alive! Hurrah!'" The Narrator describes these "kindly people" not at all, and I suggest it would be better to have a dramatic scene where the Brother discovers the demented Narrator and either brings him to his senses upon the spot (to shorten the story a bit) or else takes him to shelter and nurses him back to health (in the novel, the Narrator spends four days with these unnamed people, recovering). Then the Brother could accompany the Narrator for the dramatic reunion with the Wife."


I really like some of these ideas. However, if Hines would have thought of this we would have had to suffer more terrible bluescreen with Piana playing both roles on screen at the same time.

[wastedyuthe]

Going back to the DC, there was another slight improvement from the original- where everyone goes and hides behind the trees including the writer. In the original we go from an orange tint straight to a blue tint, as though you have just put on a new pair of goggles. In the DC, we have a transition- we see the sky with clouds going by very fast to signify the passing of time, and as it does so, turns blue to signify the sun going down. Then we go to the writer with the blue tint. Definately an improvement, although it does seem a little silly now that everyone has stood in the same place and position for what seems like several hours! The couple behind the writer were probably fed up with waiting for everyone to bugger off so they could get down to it!
In my version, I got round the tint problem by changing the whole look of the film and having it in sepia. This not only gets rid of any annoying tint problems, but also adds to the period look of the film.

[Trivet]

One simple improvement to the Thunderchild effects they could have made would have been to slow the background water footage by about 50% then recomposite the CGI, if they still have it on file.

I've noticed that the original DVD is now no longer for sale at Amazon, possibly to replaced by the "Directors cut"? It would explain the petty publicity seeking feud with Dark horse.

[wastedyuthe]

Agreed, Trivet. They must have filmed the river from a speedboat!

[Lensman]

I'm pretty sure those are helicopter shots of the water racing by.

[wastedyuthe]

Helicopter or speedboat- either way is too fast for a steamboat. The only way the DC improves on this aspect is by editing out some of the shots of the boat or the Thunderchild. But what bits that are still in there, still have the problem.

[jeffwaynefan]

Directors Cut- I have it. Any questions?

Yes, I have one - In gods name why did you buy it? ;D

[mctoddridesagain]

It must be some kind of self-imposed punishment for past sins.

Maybe he buggered nuns in a previous life?

[jeffwaynefan]

mctoddridesagain said:

It must be some kind of self-imposed punishment for past sins.

Maybe he buggered nuns in a previous life?

This is what one man did when he found out his wife had bought home a copy of Timbo's film

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRcoac3DCwo

[tug]

I would love to see a well edited version of timbos attempt. if any one completes the proccess how could it be made available for viewing without stepping into a legal minefield.

[Lensman]

tug said:

If any one completes the proccess how could it be made available for viewing without stepping into a legal minefield.

Wait for the copyright to run out. That's now up to, what, the lifetime of the copyright holder plus 75 years? Or 125?

Not trying to be funny here, either. In other words: Forget it. Ain't gonna happen. You simply can't-- legally-- take someone else's property and use it as if it were your own, any more than you can take your neighbor's stuff and use it without asking permission.

[Charles]

Here's a question for anyone that owns the mass produced version of the director's cut. I wrote a piece called "The Anatomy of H.G. Wells The War of the Worlds" that was published by the H.G. Wells Society in early 2005. I gave Pendragon permission to include it on the director's cut DVD for background information on the novel itself. I received a version of the director's cut from them, but it was burned on two discs just after the cut was finished - and well before the commercial DVD was released, hence my piece isn't on there. Just wondering if it actually made it on the commercial release or not?

[jeffwaynefan]

holgerdanske said:

Here's a question for anyone that owns the mass produced version of the director's cut. I wrote a piece called "The Anatomy of H.G. Wells The War of the Worlds" that was published by the H.G. Wells Society in early 2005. I gave Pendragon permission to include it on the director's cut DVD for background information on the novel itself. I received a version of the director's cut from them, but it was burned on two discs just after the cut was finished - and well before the commercial DVD was released, hence my piece isn't on there. Just wondering if it actually made it on the commercial release or not?

Charles, apart from the trailor, the other extra on the commercial release was a biography

[Charles]

Interesting. I just checked their website and the director's cut blurb actually does mention my piece, so I'm a bit confused. You are referring your copy of the director's cut, right?