-
Well I went to see Spielberg's adaptation of War of the Worlds last night. It was an interesting experience to say the least. I'd heard the rumours this film was going to be dark but I was still surprised just how dark it turned out to be. Considering it was rated 12a and there was no real gore to speak of I found it pretty brutal. I left the cinema feeling pretty depressed. With some of the more nightmarish sights and sounds of the film stuck on repeat play in my head. After sleeping on it I'm still not sure whether I actually enjoyed the film but as a horror film I guess it worked a treat. The last movie to unsettle me so much was Ringu. So anyway what did you guys think? And yes, Tom Cruise played himself again. Let's take that as a given :).
-
And is it worth seeing?
-
Originally posted by aldo_14
And is it worth seeing?
That's for you to decide I guess. Myself, I'm glad I saw it at the cinema where it had it's full impact. Even though it was hard work. It won't be everyone's cup of tea. I saw a lot of people walk out.
-
Oh, ta - that really helps my Sunday planning.
:p
-
So it has the utter depression that the character has in the book? It's about damn time. And please tell me they left the Curate in.
-
*Cheers on the scavenger birds*
:nervous:
-
Hmmm. If they took inspiration from the Artwork in the Jeff Wayne version, then it should be fine in the Darkness department. It's the storyline I'm concerned about, I'll give it a go nonetheless, out if interest if nothing else.
-
I went and saw it today - it is worth seeing thats for sure. One hell of a good film most likely to win sci-fi film of the year or something. The characters were well played, the story ran fine and yes it is dark all around but it plays well with the people watching.
Go see it for sure. :yes:
-
Originally posted by Liberator
So it has the utter depression that the character has in the book? It's about damn time.
:lol:
-
I saw it today really liked it.
Lots of explosions and the way people died when attacked was cool too.
on a scale of 1 to 5 I give it 4.
-
Originally posted by Goober5000
:lol:
How the hell is that funny?
-
Considering how you used to post all the time about being depressed, it sounded like you were happy they finally made a depressing movie. :)
-
It must be a bit like having a really wierd split personality disorder.
"Oh, they're all suffering and dying and it's horrible and oh my god he's dead - Brilliant! And they're all screaming! Wahey! oh but the terrible terrible suffering, the poor bastards."
-
I'll have you know alien invasions are no laughing matter. Oh it starts off innocently enough; a few casualties here and there, you know cull the herd a bit. But then they start harvesting your organs, and that's just plain mean. Before you know it, that "harmless" bit of horseplay results in the extinction of the human race, and that's not good for business.
Earth for humans! Cheap Martian labour is stealing our jobs.
-
and there destroying our culture
-
i'll wait until the rumored "other" version to come about... set in england.. made by brits, and set in the time of the book..
-
Originally posted by aldo_14
"Oh, they're all suffering and dying and it's horrible and oh my god he's dead - Brilliant! And they're all screaming! Wahey! oh but the terrible terrible suffering, the poor bastards."
That's actually how I was feeling when watching the movie a few hours ago.
"Wow these effects are well done. Holy crap, the people are actually acting like a frightened mob. Was that lady screaming when being turned into powder? Poor guys, but wow!"
-
Just saw it, and it's really good. The machines are terrifying.
-
Originally posted by Turnsky
i'll wait until the rumored "other" version to come about... set in england.. made by brits, and set in the time of the book..
If you mean the pendragon version don't bother. It's supposed to be awful. Every single source I've seen has panned it.
If you mean Jeff Wayne's CGI version, I can't wait for that one either but I might still go and see this one.
-
Originally posted by karajorma
If you mean the pendragon version don't bother. It's supposed to be awful. Every single source I've seen has panned it.
If you mean Jeff Wayne's CGI version, I can't wait for that one either but I might still go and see this one.
wait, jeff wayne's making a CGI version?!
Supply me with a link....NOW!
-
It was bloody awesome.
-
Originally posted by Turnsky
wait, jeff wayne's making a CGI version?!
Supply me with a link....NOW!
There's some info here (http://www.eveofthewar.co.uk/content/blogcategory/44/86/) but I'm trying to find the test footage of the martian walker that I've seen.
EDIT : Found it. Martian Walker in action (http://www.waroftheworldsonline.com/movies/clip.htm) :)
EDIT 2 : Here's (http://www.waroftheworldsonline.com/movies/clip2.htm) one of the martian flying vessels that sprayed the black smoke.
(Before people start saying that there weren't any flying vessels in the H.G. Wells book there were. They just didn't start appearing until much later the first one is seen just after the Thunderchild sinks).
-
EDIT : Found it. Martian Walker in action (http://www.waroftheworldsonline.com/movies/clip.htm)
I thought the walkers in the Spielberg film were much better than that.
-
Haven't seen the spielberg film but these are much closer to the books vision of what the Martians were like. Remember that although the Martians were tough then a modern army could probably wipe them out without too much of a problem. They might take casualties but they'd win.
-
Originally posted by karajorma
EDIT : Found it. Martian Walker in action (http://www.waroftheworldsonline.com/movies/clip.htm) :)
EDIT 2 : Here's (http://www.waroftheworldsonline.com/movies/clip2.htm) one of the martian flying vessels that sprayed the black smoke.
Those are great but for some reason they just don't look alien enough to me. They need to be more tentacle like, that would make it look great.
-
i thought it was a pretty good movie :nods: :)
-
Originally posted by karajorma
There's some info here (http://www.eveofthewar.co.uk/content/blogcategory/44/86/) but I'm trying to find the test footage of the martian walker that I've seen.
EDIT : Found it. Martian Walker in action (http://www.waroftheworldsonline.com/movies/clip.htm) :)
EDIT 2 : Here's (http://www.waroftheworldsonline.com/movies/clip2.htm) one of the martian flying vessels that sprayed the black smoke.
Cool. I love that sort of jerky-fluid animation.
-
Me too. I love the way that they've done the walker.
The only question I really have is whether Jeff is writing new music for the film or not. Part of me really wants it but part of me also feels it would be wrong to not at least start the movie with Eve Of The War :)
-
Originally posted by Swantz
Those are great but for some reason they just don't look alien enough to me. They need to be more tentacle like, that would make it look great.
I think the inspiration is insectoid / victorian-era 'steampunk' style.
-
That CGI one looks cool.
-
OK, I liked most of the film BUT:
I've never seen more of a Deus Ex Machina ending.
-
Uhhhh, you're going to have to take that up with H.G. Wells then, because that's the way the story goes.
-
Yeah, I know, still hated it though.
-
I thought the ending was good,
purely because it wasn't the humans who defeated them, which is what usually happens in these kinda stories.
-
You have to earn your right to be here, I like that.
-
Wow.
I just saw it. Wow. I was expecting crap and this movie shines.
The machines were incredible. They were terrifying. I felt through the whole movie that we as a race were simply doomed. When the first tripod lifted up out of the earth and started laying the smack down, I was hooked. Five damn stars.
Two things, only peripherally related: First one is the King Kong trailer. Best King Kong EVAR. That movie looks SWEET.
The second thing is sort of spoilerish, so I'm going to hide it.
Did anyone else notice the Martians were almost soft-bodied cousins of the Shivans?
Too bloody awesome.
This movie rocked. Go watch it.
-
Originally posted by mikhael
Did anyone else notice the Martians were almost soft-bodied cousins of the Shivans?
[/B]
that was the exact same thing I thought, if only they wouldn't have been given humanoid heads they would have been perfict.
-
Good point. Especially given the original movie version: they had decidely nonhumanoid heads. Heads that could have inspired, well, certain things. ;)
-
Good movie, but I think the ending was weak. It needed more. More of something.
And why was Boston not harmed?
-
God damn I hated Rachel. She was so ****ing annoying. GOD DAMNIT KILL RACHEL
-
Originally posted by übermetroid
And why was Boston not harmed?
Uhhh, dude. Were you awake for the end of the movie? Boston was owned. The Leonard Zachem Bridge had been sawed in half.
God damn I hated Rachel. She was so ****ing annoying. GOD DAMNIT KILL RACHEL
Actually, I found Robbie to be more annoying. "YEAH! I'M GONNA GO PUNCH ONE OF THOSE TRIPODS IN THE LEG, AND IT'S GONNA FALL OVER, AND I'LL BE A HERO, AND THEN THEY'LL MAKE ME KING!"
-
:eek2:
Good movie, bad audience. First off someone forgot to shut off their cell phone.:mad: *******s! Then some reject yells out something in the middle of the movie, during one of the silents scenes. :hopping:
-
What did he yell?
-
when I watched it one or two people had there babies with them, so I got crying, but it actualy sort of helped the mood as it was mostly during the humanitariian hell moments
-
I thought the film sucked. I'm only glad I didn't have to pay to see it.
-
Originally posted by Swantz
What did he yell?
LaVar Erington I think. Something stupid like that.
-
I know a girl who waits for silent suspenseful parts of movies to scream "FIRE ZE MISSILES!" at the top of her lungs...
-
Is she particularly stupid? Does she take special ed classes and ride a special school bus?
-
Originally posted by Raa
I know a girl who waits for silent suspenseful parts of movies to scream "FIRE ZE MISSILES!" at the top of her lungs...
:lol:
-
[color=66ff00]A guy I knew went to the Mortal Kombat movie, stood up, threw up his arms and shouted 'Horny Wombat' all over the theatre. (He'd seen it before and knew when the Mortal Kombat cry was).
Got quite a laugh. :)
[/color]
-
Originally posted by Bobboau
when I watched it one or two people had there babies with them, so I got crying, but it actualy sort of helped the mood
:lol:
-
well it mostly happened during the sceens with lots of panicted dieing suffering people, so it was actualy a sound you would expect to hear, so they served as sort of a couple of extra suround sound speakers, and it made stuff actualy creepily more real.
-
I liked the movie. The machines were very well done.
I liked how they were pretty much unbeatable until the end. I also thought that they were pretty Shivan-like. Did someone ever write a sequal to the original book?
-
Originally posted by Kosh
Did someone ever write a sequal to the original book?
no but someone probly will now
-
For some reason, every time one of the machines let off its trademark bellow, I got chills. Even now, I get shivers remembering the scene at the ferry, when a dozen of them started marching down the hill.
-
anyone else notice how in the movie, no one ever realy speculates were they came from, in the book they were suposed to come from Mars IIRC, its prety much a given that there aliens, but no one ever realy mentions the fact bluntly, like that one sceen
"were under atack"
"from who? is it the terrorists?"
"no it's not the terrorist, these guys come from somewere else"
"'somewere else?', like what Europe"
"NO, I don't think they came from Europe either"
he never goes and says "it's aliens damnit!" though at that point you can think he's in disbeleife. leter on though, you would have thought that the reporter would have had the ment alstability to say it.
and I wonder why the military didn't try mass running under the things sticking bombs to the legs, I would have thought that that would have done something effective. asside from the fact that this would have ruined the story.
-
Well, there's heavy circumstantial evidence that they're from Mars, but nothing is ever stated clearly. I don't think it needed to be mentioned or said though. Old Ogilvy is probably the only one who might have questioned. Everyone else was too busy running scared.
As for the army rush? I don't think it would have worked. they would have detonated prematurely. Remember, Dad threw a grenade at the legs of one and it blew up ahead of time. Only one set of explosives got close enough to do damage to a Tripod (well before the last fight) and then only becuase the TRIPOD pulled the explosives through the shield. The only explanation I can think of for that one event happening is that the shields were dropped to pull Dad through.
-
well it seemed like you could get close to the things, when there walking on the ground they need to be able to touch the ground, sence some matter is able to come into contact with some part of the machine it seems that you should be able to walk up to one and stick a backpack full of C4 on it. and if you couldn't then just try an organised stratigy of getting pulled through with a few stingers (or they were useing javalens now that I think about it, weren't they) and giveing them a smack
and the only evedence I remember seeing in the movie that they came from mars was the red haze/stop light thing at the begining
-
A strategy that involved running up to the Tripods, or getting picked up by them (only a few were harvesters, mind, most seemed to be ravagers and had neither tentacles or baskets, I think) would be a kamikaze strategy. You'd lose lots of people for every machine you brought down. Not worth the tradeoffs. Besides, we've been brought up to believe that war is fought with stand-off weapons. Not many people consider in-fighting, especially against something ten stories tall and spitting death a valid option. ;)
They used blood to fertilize the alien plants, Bob. Mars is covered in
iron oxide (i.e. rust). Iron oxide is present in large amounts in human blood, as this is how hemoglobin fixes oxygen for delivery to cells.
-
it was okay, far more faithful that the old one, but it didn't quite grab me like i thought it would. guess i'm waiting for the Fantastic Four and it's mangling of the classic.
-
BTW what was the relvence of the thunderchild in the origonal book, and where roughly in the film would it have featured?
-
"were under atack"
"from who? is it the terrorists?"
"no it's not the terrorist, these guys come from somewere else"
"'somewere else?', like what Europe"
"NO, I don't think they came from Europe either"
That was actually pretty funny. Kind of shows the ignorance/arrogance of humanity.
But I think it is well known by the audience that the Tripods are alien in origin. There really is no need to say it out-right.
I thought it was really stupid how the teen wanted to join the fight despite that fact that the US Army was getting its ass handed to it. Just shows how.......smart todays kids are.
But I like the bellowing effect the Tripods had. It really made them seem more menacing.
EDIT: Come to think of it, I think that the book (and both of the movies) had a very important message: That we are not nearly as significant as we think we are. It is extremely arrogant to not even consider the possibility that there might be other intelligent life out there.
-
Oh yeah, I did think that the Tripod Roaring / Beam cannons were pretty cool.
-
Dying fighting is far better that cowering in a hole. If the situation was desparate and you know you are going to die sometime soon, I would die fighting no matter how useless it might be.
-
Originally posted by redmenace
Dying fighting is far better that cowering in a hole.
And yet the final destination is the same.
-
I would prefer the faster and more eventfull route to the destination.
/*narrowly avoids beam cannon*/
"I'm makeing exelent time!"
-
Originally posted by redmenace
Dying fighting is far better that cowering in a hole. If the situation was desparate and you know you are going to die sometime soon, I would die fighting no matter how useless it might be.
If you saw those things heading your way, you would probably want to get the f*** out of there. I know I would. Then I would think about how to strike back. Frontal attacks against something that is vastly more powerful than anything you're packing is just plain stupid.
-
Originally posted by mikhael
For some reason, every time one of the machines let off its trademark bellow, I got chills
When I leave my "trademark" bellow, I get chills too :p
-
thats better then stains in the pants
-
Did anyone else think "STRRIIIIDDDEEEERRR" when they saw the tripods?
-
Yes, I did. But then again, when i first saw a strider, i thought "tripod".
-
Originally posted by Bobboau
BTW what was the relvence of the thunderchild in the origonal book, and where roughly in the film would it have featured?
The Thunderchild was a Navy ship that held off the Martian tripods long enough for a steamer full of refugees to get away, including the beloved of the journalist who was the focus of the book ;) At least, that's how the Jeff Wayne version described it, so I assume it to be accurate ;) The Thunderchild was sunk in that confrontation.
-
The Thunderchild also took down one of the tripods by ramming it, which makes it cool.
-
It was a minesweeper, for the record.
-
Originally posted by redsniper
Did anyone else think "STRRIIIIDDDEEEERRR" when they saw the tripods?
Yea!
I just saw that movie, it was awesome! Sure, there were some plot holes - some major, some minor, but that's not unexpected :) A definate must see.
-
Originally posted by Ford Prefect
And yet the final destination is the same.
But you at least die with some dignity.
-
Yeah, dignity is real good when your guts are torn out on the floor.
-
well that would happen either way.
-
Originally posted by redmenace
But you at least die with some dignity.
The dead are seldom so vain...
-
at least you'd know you're blood is going to good use fertilizing their crops right before you die
-
Just saw the movie. I´m really impressed. This movie will go down in history as a cult movie, for sure. The sound the tripods make puts shivers down my spine. Great stuff. I just wish the movie wasn´t so short.
I did found some inconsistencies:
If the aliens died because of a virus or something in our blood, the tripods should have been in the clear. As i see it, there were two kinds. The destroyer tripods, and the enslavement tripods. The enslavement tripods were sucking the blood from humans, but the destroyers were not. So how did they get infected?
And where were the nukes? Why weren´t they used?
And why wasn´t the alien spaceship detected in space? I presume there was one, although we never see it behind the clouds.
And why would they exterminate us, if they needed us as food??
All in all, this movie has become one of my all time favorites.
:yes: :yes: :yes:
EDIT:
Btw, anyone else found the tripods to resemble the ones from HalfLife 2?
-
In an attempt to answer a few of your questions (from what I can gather anyhow..)
1 - The virus wasn't human based, it was just basic bacteria and so forth in the air we breath that our species has become accustomed to and therefore immune. The martians didn't have this immunity and so it royally buggered them.
2 - Good question.. I guess the US army didn't want to start nuking civillian populations... or perhaps it would have detracted from the "constantly on the run, no real counter offensive possible at all..." feel of the movie. You saw how it focuessed entirely on one small family.. three people. Suddenly pulling back to nuclear weapons being used would be quite a change in perspective.
3 - I *think* the martians came directly from Mars. I think this is one of those things best left unanswered - it should just be taken as given. Considering the fact they had warcraft burried under the Earth without anyone noticing - lets just assume they can get down to Earth without being noticed as well :)
4 - I don't think they used people for food... I think they used them as a biological fertilizer to convert the planet to more suitable living conditions for them. Evidently - they didn't need everyone around for that.
That's my take on it!
Edit: Say, did anyone noticed the resemblence between the charachter of the artilliaryman in the WotW original audio version, and the paramedic they ran across in the basement?
-
Actually, the Tripods in Half-Life 2 resemble the ones from War of the Worlds ;)
In the original movie, the Martians arrived in 'Pods' which launched from the surface of Mars in a cloud of green smoke. The pods were pretty much immune to artillery and small-arms fire, and the heat ray could be lifted out the top and used as a point defence weapons whilst the Martian constructed its tripod.
Funny thing is, this feel kind of like a continuation from the Album version of WOTW, where the first manned probe is about to land on Mars, reports puffs of green smoke and then it's just static...
-
Good movie, but suffers from some nasty logical plotholes..
1. Why didn't the aliens exterminate the humans 1 million yearsa go, instead of waiting for us to develop?
2. Why burry those killer machines in the ground for so long? It makes no sense. In a millin years thetopgraphy would change, or they would be chrushed by the tectonic movements of the main plates...or we would have uncovered one of them, since we dig for minerals and oil and stuff....
and what about that teleportation into the machines thingy?
3. Aliens suck.
Remeber that scene when Tom Crusie was nearly sucked into the machine and became fertilizer? But some granades made it in insted and seriously scr**** the machine?
Hell, gmme a few terrorists with explosives straped on them and watch the buggers light up!
-
Number 3 of those isn't really a plot hole... the aliens assumed that they were eating humans and not explosives. Note that they picked up people and put them in their little cage thingy, not crates of explosives? :)
So yes - it's not a plot hole, just a technological faux paus on the part of the machines.
-
Originally posted by kietotheworld
OK, I liked most of the film BUT:
I've never seen more of a Deus Ex Machina ending.
[/B]
It's not Deus Ex Machina. The whole point was that the aliens had missed something in their planning. In the book it was due to the fact that the Martians had planned the entire invasion without sending so much as a probe to Earth to find out if they really could invade it.
Why they missed it in the movie could be down to something similar. )
Originally posted by mikhael
Well, there's heavy circumstantial evidence that they're from Mars, but nothing is ever stated clearly.
It's not circumstantial at all. The book flat out states that they are from Mars. In several places.
The early editions of the evening papers had startled London
with enormous headlines:
"A MESSAGE RECEIVED FROM MARS."
"REMARKABLE STORY FROM WOKING,"
I think everyone knows that it's the martians. The narrator frequently uses the term when speaking to people in the book.
The full book is available from http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/mirror-redirect?file=3/36/36.zip BTW for anyone who wants to check up their facts without needing a copy of the book.
Originally posted by redsniper
The Thunderchild also took down one of the tripods by ramming it, which makes it cool.
Actually she takes out two tripods. She definately rammed one and I can't be certain if she rams the other or whether she shot it.
She was steaming at such a pace that in a minute she seemed halfway between the steamboat and the Martians--a diminishing black bulk against the receding horizontal expanse of the Essex coast.
Suddenly the foremost Martian lowered his tube and discharged a canister of the black gas at the ironclad. It hit her larboard side and glanced off in an inky jet that rolled away to seaward, an unfolding torrent of Black Smoke, from which the ironclad drove clear.
To the watchers from the steamer, low in the water and with the sun in their eyes, it seemed as though she were already among the Martians.
They saw the gaunt figures separating and rising out of the water as they retreated shoreward, and one of them raised the camera-like generator of the Heat-Ray. He held it pointing obliquely downward, and a bank of steam sprang from the water at its touch. It must have driven through the iron of the ship's side like a white-hot iron rod through paper.
A flicker of flame went up through the rising steam, and then the Martian reeled and staggered. In another moment he was cut down, and a great body of water and steam shot high in the air.
The guns of the Thunder Child sounded through the reek, going off one after the other, and one shot splashed the water high close by the steamer, ricocheted towards the other flying ships to the north, and smashed a smack to matchwood.
-
They say the machines were there undergrouind for a million years, but Mankind exists for far less than that. I think a million years was a bit over the top. It clashes with the geological movements, tectonic plates, and basically the Earth´s bowl movements. And it clashes with the simple fact that they could not possibly been preparing to exterminate a creature that didn´t even exit back then, when they planted the machines.
Another thing i noticed was the abillity of the tripods to shoot through walls, in the begining of the movie, and later they can´t detect Tom Cruise in that basement. Not cool.
And the ending does definitelly reek, they should have elaborated on it.
And if the aliens did come from Mars, why didn´t we detect them? Did they live underground or something? We´ve been scourring the surface of Mars for decades.
Or maybe they realized we were becoming a threat to them, that we were getting too close to confort, and decided to do a pre-emptive strike on us. But since they lost this round, the next chapter of this story should be us going up over there, and pay them in kind.
-
Incidentially, THUNDER CHILD is clearly based on HMS POLYPHEMUS, which was Britain's only built for the purpose ram warship and not a minesweeper.
-
Originally posted by Swamp_Thing
They say the machines were there undergrouind for a million years, but Mankind exists for far less than that.
Who says? One crazy man rambling in a basement doesn't make it a canon fact.
-
In the book they came from mars, but I think the deal in the movie was that they were from another galaxy or star system, so it took them millions of years to get here. Doesn't explain the machines, but oh well.
Basically, when Spielberg decided to change the story to make them from another galaxy and not Mars, it opened up a whole can of plot holes that weren't in the book. The book had them coming from Mars, and attacking from Mars - hence why they didn't plan fully. But Spielberg definately showed that they came from somewhere much farther away.
-
Is there any proof of that though?
Not to be funny, but I didn't see any indication that the aliens weren't from Mars. Indeed - the inclusion of the red weed that rather indicates terraforming on a planetry scale to another certain red planet we know about (Mars.. duh) indicates that they are from Mars.
-
I think that it wasn't directly stated that they were from Mars probably because there is no way the characters in the movie could have known that.
-
Originally posted by Kalfireth
Is there any proof of that though?
Not to be funny, but I didn't see any indication that the aliens weren't from Mars. Indeed - the inclusion of the red weed that rather indicates terraforming on a planetry scale to another certain red planet we know about (Mars.. duh) indicates that they are from Mars.
Listen to the opening lines of the movie...I think they hinted that they were from a place much farther away. Not only that, but it does smooth the wrinkles in the plot a bit more if they were.
-
Originally posted by Kalfireth
Number 3 of those isn't really a plot hole... the aliens assumed that they were eating humans and not explosives. Note that they picked up people and put them in their little cage thingy, not crates of explosives? :)
So yes - it's not a plot hole, just a technological faux paus on the part of the machines.
Yes, but that way you can destroy them easily.
Or by ramming them with airplanes or whatever..
-
If you rammed them with an airplane, it'd have the same effect as a missile - you'd just detonate on the shield.
Anyway, did you notice the soldier? He didn't have any weaponry. One would use this fact to assume that the aliens probably didn't expect anyone they picked up to have weapons, or they had some way of stripping them of their weapons, and Tom must've been a mixup or a miss (notice also that it was pure luck that they still had the grenades - they were caught on something. Otherwise, they would've fallen).
-
Ramming them wouldn't work - that'd count as a projectile hitting the shield so I'm guessing they'd take the hit and not any damage at all.
UT - Good point.. I can't exactly remember the opening of the film but you may be on to something there...
-
Well the "martrians" are far more advanced than humans so naturally they would have some way to blocked us from detecting them,whether its on their homeworld or in space.
-
There is absolutely nothing in the movie to indicate where they are from. Morgan Freeman's monlogue at the beginning doesn't say they're from another galaxy. Instead, the visuals in the opening monologue seem to indicate a sphere near earth. Sounds like Mars to me.
I think you'll find in the fossil record organized, intelligent hominid gatherings in the Great Rift Valley (making and repairing stone axes in a factory-like manner) that can be dated to well over 2.5 million years ago. These would be Homo erectus, not H. sapiens, mind. The argument of tectonic plate movements etc is pretty much moot: tectonic upheaval happens at the edges of plates 99.99% of the time. We don't have intraplate tectonic events but seldom. Even then they are fairly localized. The last major one appears to have been the volcanic event that created Yellowstone, and that was well over 600k years ago. More recently, there's been magma wellings in the last two centuries in Missouri and Mexico, but those were extremely localized.
Personally, I'd say that the martians planted their machines well in advance to be ready to secure foothold when they were done with Mars. They would only have to have planted the machines a few HUNDRED years ago. Who had radar or had satellites watching every inch of the globe in 1632? No one. Keeping in mind that humanity CURRENTLY covers approximately 3% of the globe, there's a lot of land out there that remains for all intents and purposes terra incognita. In the 1600s, especially right after the Black Plague raped all of Asia and Europe, killing a signifigant percentage of ALL humans on the planet, there would be ever so much more open space. Artificial meteors with self-constructing ship seeds could be launched from Mars to impact on Earth. They would bury themselves, and the only thought would be "hey, another falling star". Ogilvy was under stress. He doesn't know if the Tripods were under the ground for 10 years or 10 million years. When he said 'millions', he was saying it in the sense of 'a large, finite but indeterminate quantity'.
Why didn't we see them coming to MAN the Tripods? Don't be ridiculous. Anything launched at the Earth from Mars on most trajectories will get to cislunar orbit without ever being detected. The most recent series of Earth rossing asteroids that we know about were only detected AFTER they passed Earth. If we can't detect a rock the size of thirty city blocks, I think we'd probably miss that low-albedo ship on a ballistic trajectory. Any number of small objects the size of a dump truck could be orbitting the earth right now and no one would know. Zero.
The final and perhaps most important point is the idea that we've been 'scouring' Mars for years. We've only been looking at Mars for a short time. Sure we've sent a handful of probes there, and even dropped five or so landers on the planet, but we've hardly scoured the surface and we haven't even looked at subterranean Mars. Any species sufficiently advanced to set up this centuries long plan, probably did their launches when our satellites were on the far side of the planet, from underground launch complexes (pure speculation, but hey, they've been watching us long enough to prepare a ridiculously powerful invasion).
-
All in all though I think having the martians burried as opposed to raining down from the skies like they did in the book was the biggest flaw I saw in the movie.
That said there are explainations for it and it's not a huge problem for me so I can live with it.
That said having them rain down from the sky would have meant that everyone knew they were aliens right from the start as opposed to the way they did it when no one in the crowd knew what they were looking at even up to the moment it started shooting.
-
what if that pod thing that shot down wasn't just the driver, but some sort of rapid mater reconfigurer, seen the first eppisode of Zim? like his base.
-
****ing ****e.
-
Could be Bob. The reporter might have had it wrong when she said the tripods were already beneath the surface waiting for the arrowheads. Certainly, the martians were larger than those arrowheads appeared to be.
on the other hand, the likely hood of finding all the elements in the area needed to build a tripod in that case is pretty slim. Also, matter replication setups leave one to wonder why were they invading in the first place? they certainly wouldn't need resources.
-
because... there evil space invaders?
-
Nah. I never buy into "Because they're EEEEEVIL!!!!11!!" train of thought. Its like saying "Because the Bible says so." Its a mental and rhetorical dead end.
-
They actually stated in the beginning of the movie why - because they were jealous of our planet - they must want it's resources, like water, minerals....people, etc.
-
Originally posted by mikhael
Could be Bob. The reporter might have had it wrong when she said the tripods were already beneath the surface waiting for the arrowheads. Certainly, the martians were larger than those arrowheads appeared to be.
on the other hand, the likely hood of finding all the elements in the area needed to build a tripod in that case is pretty slim. Also, matter replication setups leave one to wonder why were they invading in the first place? they certainly wouldn't need resources.
I figure that the tripods were actually planted all thruought human history instead of millions of years ago. That would be a nice explanation for UFO sightings: It's the martians planting the seeds of invasion.
-
UF sightings?
-
...There was supposed to be an "O" tagging along with the "UF."
Quick, to the Editmobile!
-
Lol. Good one.
-
According to current shield theories, here is how it stands:
A shield should be circular in shape
A shield should be singular (no quadrants - no known way to do it, and even of there wre, it would involve waising a lot of energy on the divisions, energy that could be used far better anyway)
A shield can perotect only for one specific form of energy. To protect you from multiple attacks you would ned several shields layered on top of eachother
Matter can eother pass or cannot pass trough the shield - no exceptions. That means a walker in a circular shield couldn't walk, as either it couldn't get it feet trough the shield, or the shield would actually be the one touching the ground, and for the walker it would be like waling inside a large ball.
sphere shaped - not dome.
---------------
So I guess hte humans should have tried different attacks.
try bullets! Doesn't work?
Try missiles! doesn't work
Try lasers!
Ery EMP
Try napalm
Try something else
Chances ar the ONE of this thing wil lgo trough.
If not, you can allways distribute strap-on explosives to the population and tell them to run around yelling in panic, near a alien fertilazator machine
-
Originally posted by TrashMan
According to current shield theories, here is how it stands:
A shield should be circular in shape
A shield should be singular (no quadrants - no known way to do it, and even of there wre, it would involve waising a lot of energy on the divisions, energy that could be used far better anyway)
A shield can perotect only for one specific form of energy. To protect you from multiple attacks you would ned several shields layered on top of eachother
Matter can eother pass or cannot pass trough the shield - no exceptions. That means a walker in a circular shield couldn't walk, as either it couldn't get it feet trough the shield, or the shield would actually be the one touching the ground, and for the walker it would be like waling inside a large ball.
sphere shaped - not dome.
Quote some papers or something, otherwise, you're just speculating. And besides, it's a movie - the martians can do whatever they damned well want.
I thouhgt the flick kicked arse meself - glad I saw it in the cinemas rather than on DVD. Well worth the cost of a ticket.
-
I'm not speculating... There are documents you can find about it,and Ihad a long talk about such sci-fi things with my Physics professor (Who works at CERN!!)
-
Originally posted by karajorma
Who says? One crazy man rambling in a basement doesn't make it a canon fact.
Right back at you.
And i´m not talking of hair covered monkeylike creatures, i´m talking Mankind as we know it, as in Homo Sapiens Sapiens. I doubt they would find much diference between a Neanderthal and a orangotang, and last i checked, i didn´t see the tripods hunting much of anything besides us.
And just why would they wait a million years to strike, taking an enourmous risk that we would have evolved up to a point where we could defeat them? If they were from Mars, and they kept a close watch on us, they would have seen us master the atom, and develope space travel. It was an awefull risk to take.
Why didn't we see them coming to MAN the Tripods? Don't be ridiculous. Anything launched at the Earth from Mars on most trajectories will get to cislunar orbit without ever being detected.
If they were shot from Mars, what the hell was that black cloud over the city? The cloud seems to point to a ship in low orbit, firing the pods. Remember that they all arrived at the same time, but you can only see a portion of Earth from Mars. Unless you think the pods were "orbiting" the Earth and droping as they reached their intended targets. But in wich case, they could have been spoted just the same.
No, it all points to a mothership. The winds that started gushing just after the cloud appeared, the cloud itself, the Earth´s curvature, it all points to a mothership in orbit.
The final and perhaps most important point is the idea that we've been 'scouring' Mars for years. We've only been looking at Mars for a short time. Sure we've sent a handful of probes there, and even dropped five or so landers on the planet, but we've hardly scoured the surface and we haven't even looked at subterranean Mars. Any species sufficiently advanced to set up this centuries long plan, probably did their launches when our satellites were on the far side of the planet, from underground launch complexes (pure speculation, but hey, they've been watching us long enough to prepare a ridiculously powerful invasion).
Ah, but we saw how they were terraforming Earth. If they were terraformers, we would have seen some evidence of alien-made structures or changes in Mars surface. We only sent a few probes, that is correct, but we have been looking at it through telescopes for almost 200 years. Something was bound to get picked up. Unless they were not from Mars all along, wich i´m inclined to agree with. The fact that they didn´t invade earlier, knowing that we were evolving so much had they kept us under close watch, indicates they were from somewhere else.
-
Originally posted by Swamp_Thing
We only sent a few probes, that is correct, but we have been looking at it through telescopes for almost 200 years. Something was bound to get picked up.
All I have to say to that...
Originally posted by Percival_Lowell
Oh I say, my good man, there are canals on Mars! I've seen them with my fiddly great spyglass! Truth! I have drawn a rather detailed picture! (http://www.resa.net/nasa/mars_canals.htm)
That was from the late 1800s to the early 1900s. Even with modern telescopes--including the Hubble--you can't resolve anything smaller than about 100m on a side on the martian surface.
Now, as for the rest, I'll grant you the storm. But the rest? You're off in left field.
As for Trashman's shields... dude, lay off the spacecrack.
-
Just saw the movie yesterday. It was a bit too Hollywood for my tastes, but all in all an enjoyable two hours.
They were all pussies except Tim Robbins. He may have looked crazy, but he was right: occupations always fail, so go underground and start a resistance. Woo! Yeah!
-
He was right AND he was crazy. The two traits are orthagonal.
-
Originally posted by Swamp_Thing
Right back at you.
I was refering to Ogilvy not you :p
I posted this over on spacebattles.
We only have the words of one (crazy) man in a basement to suppose that they have been there for millions of years. If we ignore him then the martians only need to have been around for as long as recorded history (which puts them at only a few thousand years old).
One theory I had is that the aliens don't have FTL and aren't from Mars. If that's the case they could send probes out to all the nearby worlds and have them build ships if they find a world suitable for colonisation.
The probes then signal back that this world is ripe and hide themselves so that they're ready for the aliens. The walkers were then buried to prevent damage from the elements, local flora and fauna and lastly to prevent inquisative humans finding them and being ready for the aliens when they arrive.
As to why the aliens don't simply let the machines terraform the world for them? Maybe they don't trust them. Maybe they like terraforming themselves (it could be a tradition or that they feel that they can only connect with a world if they terraform it themselves).
It's not the greatest explaination, feels a little forced to me but it fits the facts.
Originally posted by mikhael
He was right AND he was crazy. The two traits are orthagonal.
He had the right idea but he was far too crazy to have carried it out successfully. His screaming would have brought the martians down on him very quickly.
Had the army managed to conceal 5-6 soliders in the same basement though they definately could have proved the effectiveness of the tactic :)
-
Originally posted by Swamp_Thing
Just saw the movie. I´m really impressed. This movie will go down in history as a cult movie, for sure. The sound the tripods make puts shivers down my spine. Great stuff. I just wish the movie wasn´t so short.
I did found some inconsistencies:
If the aliens died because of a virus or something in our blood, the tripods should have been in the clear. As i see it, there were two kinds. The destroyer tripods, and the enslavement tripods. The enslavement tripods were sucking the blood from humans, but the destroyers were not. So how did they get infected?
And where were the nukes? Why weren´t they used?
And why wasn´t the alien spaceship detected in space? I presume there was one, although we never see it behind the clouds.
And why would they exterminate us, if they needed us as food??
All in all, this movie has become one of my all time favorites.
:yes: :yes: :yes:
EDIT:
Btw, anyone else found the tripods to resemble the ones from HalfLife 2?
Not that it's wrong or anything, so don't take it as criticism, but this post makes it obvious that you've never read the book or seen a previous movie before. ;)
-
Originally posted by Sandwich
Not that it's wrong or anything, so don't take it as criticism, but this post makes it obvious that you've never read the book or seen a previous movie before. ;)
Note that all the inconsistencies i mention, are strictly for this movie alone. I don´t mention the book anywhere. And no, i didn´t read the book, but i did saw the 1950´s movie, more than once, albeit a long time ago.
Anyway, i´m talking only of this particular movie, not the WOTW saga.
-
Ok, I'll grant you that. I guess it was just your first and last observations that gave that impression: the book clearly states that they perished because of the totally incompatible Earth bacteria which is in just about everything, with atmosphere being the prime "carrier". What was stated in this movie may not have been in big bold letters, but it was made plenty clear for those who knew what to expect.
And go look for some sort of "Half Life 2 released!" thread on HLP; read through it, and you'll invariably discover that the Striders are compared to War of the World's tripods. :)
-
The only true tripods:
(http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B000059H2E.03.LZZZZZZZ.jpg)
damn them for cancelling season 3 ~~
-
I was most upset about that.
Ironically enough the movie has a lot of things in common with that storyline
right down to one of the tripods being brought down by someone throwing a grenade inside it when it opened up to take an unwilling human in.
-
My understanding is that Tripods is a television series based around a modern (at the time) setting for War of the Worlds.
-
The Tripods are based on the trilogy book called "drumroll": the Tripods.
It's a futuristic setting where aliens have invaded earth and forced humanity back to middle age, and control people's mind thanks to the capping process (they cap the guy -when he turns 16 iirc- by inserting some metal thing in the head that repress violent thoughts and emotions, basically turning people into obedient and quiet people. During the series, tho, there's a couple occasions that proves that it does not make people their slaves either, it just calms them). The whole plot is about the resistance to them and kicking them out of the planet. Was very cool, that medieval/sci-fi mix. The series covers only the two first books. Don't remember much the books, but I remember the series being quite faithful to them, save for them adding military tripods (the red ones) to the usal grey ones. Was a cool addition so I wouldn't complain :p
-
Originally posted by karajorma
right down to one of the tripods being brought down by someone throwing a grenade inside it when it opened up to take an unwilling human in.
[/B]
Actually in the series, it goes like that:
they make the ground crumble under one of the tripods legs with a grenade, so the tripod falls, and they throw another grenade when the alien is stupid enough for opening the door. Then follows the first apparition of the red tripod and its turbolasers :D Hehe, the scene when they found the grenades and firearms was quite funny.
-
I remember the books better and in that it is much closer to the way it happens in the WotW movie. :)
I've got the show downloaded off the net somewhere. I should watch it again :)
-
Originally posted by Nico
The Tripods are based on the trilogy book called "drumroll": the Tripods.
It's a futuristic setting where aliens have invaded earth and forced humanity back to middle age, and control people's mind thanks to the capping process (they cap the guy -when he turns 16 iirc- by inserting some metal thing in the head that repress violent thoughts and emotions, basically turning people into obedient and quiet people. During the series, tho, there's a couple occasions that proves that it does not make people their slaves either, it just calms them). The whole plot is about the resistance to them and kicking them out of the planet. Was very cool, that medieval/sci-fi mix. The series covers only the two first books. Don't remember much the books, but I remember the series being quite faithful to them, save for them adding military tripods (the red ones) to the usal grey ones. Was a cool addition so I wouldn't complain :p
That sounds a lot like the White Mountains series. Those books own :)
-
That's probably the same series under a different name. The haven mankind used to escape the Tripods was known as The White Mountains (it was in France BTW).
-
yup, was the Alps.
-
Just saw the film, and I liked it a lot. Too short, but well done, and none of the usual "USA saves the day!" crap that Hollywood throws up so often.
My one gripe was the fact that Cruise and family spend days getting nearly killed, and then they get to Boston and the ex-wife's house (the entire street in fact) is pristine, with no damage, and they've just been waiting there, even though the rest of the city is in ruins. Thought that was a bit silly. But the rest was great. :yes:
-
For those who are interested War of the Worlds is out on DVD on 14/11/2005. According to play.com. That was quick! :eek:
-
....it's still in cinemas around here.
-
I heard that film was very well done. Pity that Cruise was in the film. That just never motivate me enough to go watch it at the theater. I might watch it on DVD later if someone happenes to play it while I am around.
-
Originally posted by Wild Fragaria
I heard that film was very well done. Pity that Cruise was in the film. That just never motivate me enough to go watch it at the theater. I might watch it on DVD later if someone happenes to play it while I am around.
It's worth seeing on the big screen if for nothing more than the "wow" factor, which is considerable. :)
-
Cruise is actually getting better, if that makes any sense. Some recent roles have been pretty good (Minority Report, WOTW, Collateral, etc). He'll never be a Penn, but he's not as awful as he was.
And I second Sandwich - the big screen does add a lot to the effect. :nod:
-
Yeah. When a tripod pops its bulk over the hill and looks down on the flood of humanity racing for the ferry, I got that cold shiver usually reserved for when you find out that large, rabid mastiff you've been taunting just out of the reach of its leash isn't really leashed down.
-
Originally posted by Wild Fragaria
I heard that film was very well done. Pity that Cruise was in the film. That just never motivate me enough to go watch it at the theater. I might watch it on DVD later if someone happenes to play it while I am around.
Trust me. If you only see one film on the big screen this year. Make it this one.
-
aside from the special effects, which were godly, I didn't think the movie was that great, too much Tom Cruise running around and not enough military vs. tripods stuff. But yeah, well worth seeing on the big screen if only for the special effects.
-
But the film wasn't about the military. It was about Cruise and his kids trying to survive.
-
I give a 3 from 5.
The storyline is quite ****ty.
I mean...
what kind of jerk would prepare a world-wide invasion without checking if they troops would get sick? (Bush is not a valid answer)
There are too many jokes and cliches in the movie that breaks the tension. (something i didn't liked)
On the other side, it was quite good to see how the humans woulds react on such situations. (specially when they fought for the car)
-
Originally posted by pyro-manic
But the film wasn't about the military. It was about Cruise and his kids trying to survive.
I know, but it should've had some military action in it, the original movie did and IIRC that wasn't about the military either, it was about mankinds struggle against aliens and that even the smallest oranisms have a purpose, not Tom Cruise trying to gain respect/love from his family. I just think there should have been more military-like stuff than some tanks and humvees cresting a hill and then a big explosion, not to mention it never shown them shooting at the tripods (they obviously were, but that's not the point) and the tripod shield deflecting stuff. The tripod they bring down at the end doesn't count, had they waited 10 minutes it would have gone down on its own.
-
I thought the flick was about the rock-paper-scissors nature of the universe at large (even the biggest rock falls to unassuming paper). The Martians were the rocks, mankind the scissors and the microbiota the paper. Cruise and family were just a way to humanize... well, humanity.
-
I know, but it should've had some military action in it,
It did, and the US Army got it's ass handed to it.
-
I guess a film where you watch the US army get decimated for 2 hours and then see the enemy fall over and die in the last 10 minutes wasn't considered commercially appealing enough.
-
I think the Yanks are just annoyed that the Brits managed to kill one more tripod in the book than they did in the film :D
-
Originally posted by Braxis
what kind of jerk would prepare a world-wide invasion without checking if they troops would get sick?
You see, it's this kind of reaction that just gets me. The answer?
Because that's how the BOOK goes. :rolleyes:
-
The funding to their space agency was cut. :p
-
:lol:
Maybe they simply couldn't bring themselves to be cruel enough as to use one of their own kind as a guinea pig ;)
-
Originally posted by Braxis
what kind of jerk would prepare a world-wide invasion without checking if they troops would get sick?
I wholeheartedly agree and in fact, I'm writing a complaint letter to the original author and......
...oh wait....
Honestly, can you imagine the uproar if the movie deviated from the book and the aliens were all killed by tom cruise with 5,000 grenades?
Also, we don't know the story from the alien's side. Maybe their planet has been mined to the point of extinction and they could only send so many ships. Maybe they used a really big stargate to warp the tripods there, but the trip would kill the pilots, who had to take the slow route at less than speed-of-light travel. Maybe their stargate can't warp stuff back, so they didn't know what the planet was like, except for long-range scans. Who knows?
-
Originally posted by Braxis
what kind of jerk would prepare a world-wide invasion without checking if they troops would get sick? (Bush is not a valid answer)
There are too many jokes and cliches in the movie that breaks the tension. (something i didn't liked)
In the book it's pretty simple. The martians
1) Had no way of sampling Earth's atmosphere let alone biosphere before they arrived.
2) Had no concept of the damage bacteria could do having wiped them out millions of years ago on Mars (Or never having had them in the first place perhaps).
The second one is still valid for the movie.
-
Also, we don't know the story from the alien's side. Maybe their planet has been mined to the point of extinction and they could only send so many ships. Maybe they used a really big stargate to warp the tripods there, but the trip would kill the pilots, who had to take the slow route at less than speed-of-light travel.
I liked my explanation better. :D