Melanius Mullarkey Posted November 30, 2019 Share Posted November 30, 2019 Was down and back to Edinburgh the other day and spotified Jeff Wayne. Cannae whack the red weed. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFTD Posted November 30, 2019 Share Posted November 30, 2019 Episode 1 a bit disappointing, but it was nice to see the story (almost) back in its original time. The early 20th century social commentary about marriage is weird and adds nothing of value to the plot. Somebody obviously had this in mind to include in a script and shoehorned it in to this one. Episode 2 was turgid. It's like they're trying to pad it out already, and these flash-forwards are dreadful. Also, the effects were dodgy in the first one, but it's now obvious that the whole thing was done on the cheap. Almost every scene is covered in a terrible filter to cover up how bad the digital scenery is. It's absolute eye-rape, and not far from those mockbuster DVD movies that rip off the latest big films in the cinema. I've no faith this is going anywhere interesting now and I'm struggling to see the point in making it at all. For what it's worth, I quite liked the Tom Cruise one, up to the point at which he hits the freeway with his kids. Becomes very meh from that point onward, and I was hoping his annoying kids would bite the bullet throughout. Also very amusing how the heat ray caused people to go POOF! and leave their clothes behind untouched. The 1953 adaption is still the daddy, and I'm disgusted to see it hasn't made it to blu-ray yet. The musical and Orson Welles radio play are also class. Anyone else watch the Eighties TV series? Just sent for it on DVD. I really liked it when I was a kid, but I'm guessing it will have aged very, very badly. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tongue_tied_danny Posted December 1, 2019 Share Posted December 1, 2019 5 hours ago, Melanius Mullarkey said: Was down and back to Edinburgh the other day and spotified Jeff Wayne. Cannae whack the red weed. The chances of anything whacking the red weed are a million to one they say... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Naitch Posted December 2, 2019 Share Posted December 2, 2019 The first episode was a bit meh then it went downhill from there. Probably a good thing it was only a 3 parter. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
invergowrie arab Posted December 2, 2019 Share Posted December 2, 2019 I persevered as the wife was watching it. Did someone actually pitch to the BBC - War of the Worlds but instead of War of the Worlds its two folk having a chat about what happened. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savage Henry Posted December 2, 2019 Share Posted December 2, 2019 6 hours ago, invergowrie arab said: I persevered as the wife was watching it. Did someone actually pitch to the BBC - War of the Worlds but instead of War of the Worlds its two folk having a chat about what happened. In fairness, a great deal of the novel is dialogue, but my word that was a dull episode. I guess they ran out of special effects money. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
invergowrie arab Posted December 2, 2019 Share Posted December 2, 2019 2 hours ago, Savage Henry said: In fairness, a great deal of the novel is dialogue, but my word that was a dull episode. I guess they ran out of special effects money. The LOTR is about a guy writing a book but you would be pretty hacked off if that's what the film was about. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savage Henry Posted December 2, 2019 Share Posted December 2, 2019 4 minutes ago, invergowrie arab said: The LOTR is about a guy writing a book but you would be pretty hacked off if that's what the film was about. Fair. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillonearth Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 Just got round to watching it in a oner - I had hoped it would be good, as the BBC made a decent version of First Men in the Moon a few years back. It wasn't great. I've never understood why screenwriters find the need to "reimagine" what let's face it in this case is a well-known story - if you haven't read the book, you sure as f**k used to own that Jeff Wayne album - and make changes that range from the pointless, like moving it forward five or ten years from late Victorian to early Edwardian, to the frankly annoying like the constant introduction of post-apocalyptic flash-forwards. I first read the book when I was maybe ten, and figured out that one of the main themes was the future shock felt by a primitive society when confronted by a technologically-advanced one they have no real defences against. Here we get a misplaced episode-killing monologue explaining just that in capital letters and bullet points for those viewers that hadn't picked up on it yet. Oh, and seriously - no kamikaze mission by HMS Thunderchild included? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peasy23 Posted December 4, 2019 Share Posted December 4, 2019 Just got round to watching it in a oner - I had hoped it would be good, as the BBC made a decent version of First Men in the Moon a few years back. It wasn't great. I've never understood why screenwriters find the need to "reimagine" what let's face it in this case is a well-known story - if you haven't read the book, you sure as f**k used to own that Jeff Wayne album - and make changes that range from the pointless, like moving it forward five or ten years from late Victorian to early Edwardian, to the frankly annoying like the constant introduction of post-apocalyptic flash-forwards. I first read the book when I was maybe ten, and figured out that one of the main themes was the future shock felt by a primitive society when confronted by a technologically-advanced one they have no real defences against. Here we get a misplaced episode-killing monologue explaining just that in capital letters and bullet points for those viewers that hadn't picked up on it yet. Oh, and seriously - no kamikaze mission by HMS Thunderchild included? Just finished part 3, can't remember watching anything which deteriorated so badly from the start to the finish. First episode was ok, but it's just got steadily worse all the way through. The post further up that they must have blown the special effects budget by the time they got to the end is spot on imo. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillonearth Posted December 4, 2019 Share Posted December 4, 2019 4 hours ago, peasy23 said: 8 hours ago, Hillonearth said: Just got round to watching it in a oner - I had hoped it would be good, as the BBC made a decent version of First Men in the Moon a few years back. It wasn't great. I've never understood why screenwriters find the need to "reimagine" what let's face it in this case is a well-known story - if you haven't read the book, you sure as f**k used to own that Jeff Wayne album - and make changes that range from the pointless, like moving it forward five or ten years from late Victorian to early Edwardian, to the frankly annoying like the constant introduction of post-apocalyptic flash-forwards. I first read the book when I was maybe ten, and figured out that one of the main themes was the future shock felt by a primitive society when confronted by a technologically-advanced one they have no real defences against. Here we get a misplaced episode-killing monologue explaining just that in capital letters and bullet points for those viewers that hadn't picked up on it yet. Oh, and seriously - no kamikaze mission by HMS Thunderchild included? Just finished part 3, can't remember watching anything which deteriorated so badly from the start to the finish. First episode was ok, but it's just got steadily worse all the way through. The post further up that they must have blown the special effects budget by the time they got to the end is spot on imo. I did think cost was why they handwaved the battleship scene. It's one of the most iconic parts of the story - that humanity's most advanced technology can only lay a glove on the Martians by deliberately crashing into them and exploding - instead we got some badly rendered CGI warships a couple of miles out to sea landing lucky shots on them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peasy23 Posted December 4, 2019 Share Posted December 4, 2019 I did think cost was why they handwaved the battleship scene. It's one of the most iconic parts of the story - that humanity's most advanced technology can only lay a glove on the Martians by deliberately crashing into them and exploding - instead we got some badly rendered CGI warships a couple of miles out to sea landing lucky shots on them.The whole thing was a massive let down. It was one of the first sci-fi books I ever read and that was thanks to hearing the musical version. When I saw the first couple of trailers I thought, yes, at last, a version that is going to be fairly true to the book. Couldn't have been more wrong tbh. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jock_the_squak Posted December 4, 2019 Share Posted December 4, 2019 Episode 1 - OK Episode 2 - WTF Episode 3 - gash!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GordonD Posted December 4, 2019 Author Share Posted December 4, 2019 On 30/11/2019 at 22:47, BigFatTabbyDave said: Anyone else watch the Eighties TV series? Just sent for it on DVD. I really liked it when I was a kid, but I'm guessing it will have aged very, very badly. If you mean 'Tripods' it had nothing to do with WotW. Apart from the aliens looking similar. There were three books in the series but they only adapted the first two so the story was never resolved. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trackdaybob Posted December 5, 2019 Share Posted December 5, 2019 I'm glad I've not bothered with this now. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFTD Posted December 6, 2019 Share Posted December 6, 2019 If you mean 'Tripods' it had nothing to do with WotW. Apart from the aliens looking similar. There were three books in the series but they only adapted the first two so the story was never resolved. No, there was a genuine American TV series called War of the Worlds; an Eighties sequel to the Fifties film. It had some Mulder and Scully types roaming the country looking for aliens hidden in oil drums. Apparently they weren't dead, just sleeping, and had an army of mind-controlled humans helping them.Christ, that sounds awful. Really looking forward to seeing it again now, and mentally chastising ten-year-old me for thinking it was good. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GordonD Posted December 6, 2019 Author Share Posted December 6, 2019 4 hours ago, BigFatTabbyDave said: No, there was a genuine American TV series called War of the Worlds; an Eighties sequel to the Fifties film. It had some Mulder and Scully types roaming the country looking for aliens hidden in oil drums. Apparently they weren't dead, just sleeping, and had an army of mind-controlled humans helping them. Christ, that sounds awful. Really looking forward to seeing it again now, and mentally chastising ten-year-old me for thinking it was good. Yes, I remember it now. Never saw it but I used to read this American SF media magazine called Starlog that featured it now and again. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFTD Posted December 9, 2019 Share Posted December 9, 2019 On 06/12/2019 at 12:30, GordonD said: Yes, I remember it now. Never saw it but I used to read this American SF media magazine called Starlog that featured it now and again. I mind that. Used to read The Dark Side myself, until it turned out that the editor/publisher was a massive plagiarist. Literally thousands of film reviews that he stole from Usenet and the early World Wide Web and printed as his own work, or that of pseudonyms. Pity, as it was a good read. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFTD Posted December 9, 2019 Share Posted December 9, 2019 Wow. Just watched the final episode. So bad that they'd have been as well finishing it with Episode 2. Not only nothing of worth added, but almost nothing at all, full stop. Someone in commissioning at the Beeb must have shit themselves when they saw how bad this had turned out to be. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthernLights Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 The Yanks are doing their own version of War of the Worlds. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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