The War of the Worlds (1898) is a science
fiction novel by H. G. Wells. It describes
the memoirs of an unnamed narrator in the
suburbs of Woking, Surrey, England, who recounts
an invasion of Earth by an army of Martians
with military technology far in advance to
human science. It is said to be the first
story that details a human conflict with,
and overall defeat by, an extraterrestrial
race.Following its publication, The War of
the Worlds rapidly entered popular culture.
Through the 20th and 21st centuries, the novel
has been adapted in various media, including
radio, television and film. These have been
produced with varying degrees of faithfulness
to the original text, with many of the more
famous adaptations, such as Orson Welles'
1938 radio adaptation and the 2005 film directed
by Steven Spielberg, choosing to set the events
in a contemporary setting. In addition, many
adaptations, including both of the above,
relocated the location from its original setting
of England in favour of the United States.
The most recent adaptation of this type was
produced in Canada and broadcast on Britain's
BBC (autumn 2013) and BBC America (summer
2014) for the centenary of World War I. It
posits the Martian invasion as The Great Martian
War 1913–1917, with the Martians invading
Earth, first falling on Germany, and then
expanding their war on mankind throughout
Western Europe.
== Films ==
1953: The War of the Worlds (1953 film), produced
by George Pal and directed by Byron Haskin,
for Paramount Pictures
1981: The War of the Worlds: Next Century,
a Polish film by Piotr Szulkin
2005: War of the Worlds (2005 film), directed
by Steven Spielberg, for Paramount Pictures.
2005: H. G. Wells The War of the Worlds (2005
film), directed by Timothy Hines, for Pendragon
Pictures
2005: H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds (2005
film), directed by David Michael Latt (titled
Invasion or The Worlds in War internationally),
for The Asylum.
2008: War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave,
sequel to The Asylum's film, directed by C.
Thomas Howell
2012 Alien Dawn: based very loosely on H.
G. Wells' The War of the Worlds set in Los
Angeles, Directed by Neil Johnson
2012: War of the Worlds - The True Story a
sci-fi/horror mockumentary, by Pendragon Pictures
2012: War of the Worlds: Goliath: Animated
sequel set 15 years after the Wells novel
2013: The Great Martian War 1913–1917, a
science fiction docudrama told in the format
of an episode on the History Channel on the
centennial of the first year of the War To
End All Wars.Related1975: The Night That Panicked
America, a film that follows Orson Welles'
radio broadcast based on Wells' novel.
1990: Spaced Invaders, a comic film directed
by Patrick Read Johnson in which Martians
land in a small Illinois town at the same
time as the local radio station is rebroadcasting
Orson Welles' radio drama.
1996: Mars Attacks!, a science fiction comedy
by Tim Burton, which spoofs many alien invasion
films of the 1950s, including 1953's The War
of the Worlds.
1996: Independence Day is a sci-fi action
film that, in addition to dealing with a similar
large scale invasion of earth by extraterrestrials,
pays homage by having a computer virus be
that which disrupts the aliens, an update
to the pathogens that caused the downfall
of the aliens in the original Wells' work.
2006: Scary Movie 4, a spoof comedy that uses
Steven Spielberg's film version as its plot.
2017: Brave New Jersey, a comedy about a New
Jersey town impacted by the Orson Welles broadcast.
== Television ==
1988: War of the Worlds (TV series) Loosely
based on Wells' novel, but is mainly a sequel
to the 1953 film.
1993: a planned animated series to be produced
by New World Action Animation, a sister division
to New World Animation Limited (formerly Marvel
Productions) and subsidiary of New World Entertainment
2001: Justice League animated TV series adapts
the main events and visuals of the novel for
the three part story Secret Origins. Aliens,
after destroying Mars, attack Earth via tripods
and a team of superheroes, including Superman,
attempt to stop them.
2019: The War of the Worlds, an upcoming 3-episode
mini-series produced by Mammoth Screen for
the BBC.
2019: an upcoming 8-episode "reboot" written
by Howard Overman and produced by Fox Networks
Group Europe and Africa in partnership with
Canal+. The series will be set in the present
day and tell the story of an alien invasion.
== Radio ==
1938: The War of the Worlds (radio), the Orson
Welles' 1938 radio adaptation, script by Howard
E. Koch.
1944: War Of The Worlds radio broadcast, Santiago.
1949: War Of The Worlds radio broadcast, Radio
Quito, Quito, Ecuador.
1950: The War of the Worlds, BBC radio dramatisation
adapted from the novel by Jon Manchip White,
6 episodes.
1955: The Lux Radio Theater: War of the Worlds,
adaptation of the 1953 Film.
1967: The War of the Worlds, BBC radio dramatisation
using the 1950 Jon Manchip White script, 6
episodes.
1968: The War of the Worlds (radio 1968),
WKBW radio adaptation.
1971: War Of The Worlds radio broadcast, Rádio
Difusora, São Luís, Brazil.
1988: The War of the Worlds, an NPR 50th Anniversary
radio adaptation with Jason Robards, using
a slightly updated version of the Howard E.
Koch. script.
2002: The War of the Worlds, Glenn Beck's
Mercury Radio Arts recreates the 1938 program
live on Halloween 2002, using exactly the
same Howard E. Koch script as Orson Welles.
The program was sponsored by Bill's Khakis.
2005: La Guerra de los Mundos, radio broadcast,
Rock & Pop, Santiago, Chile, broadcast as
promotion of the 2005 movie.
2017: The War of the Worlds, BBC radio dramatization
adapted from the novel by Melissa Murray,
2 episodes.
2018: The Coming of the Martians, Colin Morgan
stars in a faithful audio dramatisation of
the original 1897 story by Sherwood Sound
Studios and produced in 5.1 surround sound.
2018: The Martian Invasion of Earth, an audio
drama adaptation for Big Finish Productions,
adapted by Nicholas Briggs, and starring Richard
Armitage and Lucy Briggs-Owen .
== Music ==
1978: Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The
War of the Worlds, by Jeff Wayne
2009: War Of The Worlds, by Marc Broude
2012: Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The
War of the Worlds - The New Generation, by
Jeff Wayne
2018: War of the Worlds, Pt. 1, by Michael
Romeo
== Game ==
1979; 1982: The War of the Worlds (arcade
game), an arcade game published by Cinematronics,
and its re-released color version.
1980: The War Of The Worlds, a war board game
designed by Allen D. Eldridge and published
by Task Force Games.
1984: The War of the Worlds (1984 computer
game), a home computer game based on Jeff
Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the
Worlds.
1998: Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds,
real-time strategy computer game.
1999: Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds,
vehicular combat PlayStation game.
2011: The War of the Worlds, a 2D action/platform
game narrated by Patrick Stewart.
== Comic books ==
1946–1947: Edgar P. Jacobs produced an adaptation
in the pages of the Le Journal de Tintin.
An album released in 1986 was published by
Dargaud.
1955: Classics Illustrated #124, a comic book
adaptation of the book
1973–1976: Amazing Adventures #18–39 featured
Killraven, a 21st-century freedom fighter
against a second Martian invasion.
1977: Marvel Classics Comics #14, a comic
book adaptation of the book.
1999: Superman: War of the Worlds: events
of the Wells book transferred to Superman's
Metropolis and also involve Lois Lane and
Lex Luthor.
2002–2003: Volume II of The League of Extraordinary
Gentlemen, a limited series comic book written
by Alan Moore and illustrated by Kevin O'Neill
2006: H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds (comic),
graphic novel
2002 – present: Scarlet Traces, a sequel
to the novel appearing in 2000 AD written
by Ian Edginton and illustrated by D'Israeli.
== Other ==
1994: War of the Worlds: Invasion from Mars,
an Audio Theatre adaption by L.A. Theatre
Works, casting Star Trek cast members like
Leonard Nimoy, Gates McFadden, Brent Spiner
and directed by John de Lancie.
2004–2005: H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds,
a site specific theatre adaptation by Canadian
playwright Ian Case staged in and around Craigdarroch
Castle in Victoria, British Columbia.
2005: The Art of H. G. Wells by Ricardo Garijo,
the third in the series of trading cards,
released
2008: Solar Pons's War of the Worlds, an online
web serial set in the world of Solar Pons,
combining elements of the original novel,
the 1938 radio adaptation, and the Wells short-story
The Crystal Egg.
2017: War of the Worlds 2017, a mixed web
media story primarily told through Twitter,
centered on a modern group of characters while
retaining concepts from the original novel.
== 1938 radio adaption by Orson Welles ==
Orson Welles's 1938 radio broadcast on The
Mercury Theatre on the Air purportedly caused
public outcry, as many listeners believed
that an actual Martian invasion was in progress,
although the reality of the panic is disputed
as the program had relatively few listeners.The
radio drama itself has spun off a number of
productions based upon the events surrounding
the broadcast, including Doctor Who: Invaders
from Mars, an audio drama released in 2002
based upon the Doctor Who television series
that depicts Welles's broadcast as taking
place during an actual attempted alien invasion.
== 1953 first film adaptation by George Pal
==
George Pal's film adaptation has many notable
differences from H. G. Wells' novel. The closest
resemblance is probably that of the antagonists.
The film's aliens are indeed Martians, and
invade Earth for the same reasons as those
from the novel (the state of Mars suggests
that it is in the final stages of being able
to support life, leading to the Martians decision
to make Earth their new home). They land on
Earth in the same way, by crashing to the
Earth. However, the book's spacecraft are
large cylinder-shaped projectiles fired from
the Martian surface from some kind of cannon,
instead of the film's meteor-like spaceships;
but the Martians emerge from their craft in
the same way, by unscrewing a large, round
hatch. They appear to have no use for humans
in the film. In the novel they are observed
directly feeding on humans by draining their
victims' blood using pipettes; there is also
a speculation about them eventually using
human slaves to hunt down all remaining human
survivors after the Martians conquer Earth.
In the film the Martians do not bring the
novel's fast-growing red weed with them, but
they are defeated by Earth microorganisms,
as observed in the novel. However, they die
from the effects of the microorganisms within
three days of the landing of the first meteor-ship;
in the novel the Martians die within about
three weeks of their invasion of England.
The Martians themselves bear no physical resemblance
to the novel's Martians. The novel's aliens
are bear-sized, bulky creatures whose bodies
are described as "merely heads", with a beak-like
mouth, sixteen tentacles and two "luminous,
disk-like eyes". Their film counterparts are
short, reddish-brown creatures with two long,
thin arms with three long suction cup-like
fingers. The Martian's "head," if it can be
called that, is a broad "face" at the top-front
of its broad shouldered upper torso, the only
apparent feature of which is a single large
eye with three distinctly colored lenses.
The Martians' lower extremities, whatever
they may be, are never shown. (Some speculative
designs for the creature suggest the idea
of three thin legs resembling their fingers,
while others show them as a biped with short,
stubby legs with three-toed feet.)
The film's Martian war machines do actually
have more of a resemblance than they may seem
at first glance. The book's machines are Tripods
and carry the heat-ray projector on an articulated
arm connected to the front of the war machine's
main body. The film's machines are deliberately
shaped like manta rays, with a bulbous, elongated
green window at the front, through which the
aliens observe their surroundings. On top
of the machine is the cobra-like heat-ray
attached to a long, narrow, neck-like extension.
They can be mistaken for flying-machines,
but Dr. Forrester states that they are lifted
by "invisible legs"; in one scene, when the
first machine emerges, you can see faint traces
of three energy legs beneath and three sparking
traces where the three energy shafts touch
the burning ground. Therefore, technically
speaking, the film's war machines are indeed
tripods, though they are never given that
designation. Whereas the novel's war machines
had no protection against British army and
navy cannon fire, the film's war machines
have a force field surrounding them; this
invisible shield is described by Dr. Forrester
as a "protective blister".
The Martian weaponry is also partially unchanged.
The heat-ray has the very same effect as that
of the novel. However, the novel's heat-ray
is briefly described as having a spinning
disk held up by a mechanical arm when first
seen; it fires in a wide arc while still in
the pit where the Martians first land. The
film's heat-ray is shaped like a cobra's hood
with a single, red pulsing eye, which possibly
acts like a targeting telescope for the Martians.
The book describes another weapon, the black
smoke used to kill all life; the war machines
fire projectiles containing a black powder
through a bazooka-like tube accessory. The
black powder when dispersed seems to have
the same effect on life as the mustard gas
of the First World War. This weapon is replaced
in the film by the "skeleton beam", which
fires green pulsing bursts of energy from
the tips of the Manta-Ray body. The skeleton
beams cause objects and people to disintegrate.
The plot of the film is very different from
the novel. The novel tells the story of a
late 19th-century journalist who journeys
through Victorian London and environs while
the Martians attack, eventually being reunited
with his wife; the film's protagonist is a
California scientist who falls in love with
a college instructor after the Martian attack
begins. However, certain points of the plot
are similar to the novel, from the crash-landing
of the Martian meteor-ships to their eventual
defeat by Earth's microorganisms. Doctor Forrester
also goes through some of which befalls the
book's narrator: like his ordeal in a destroyed
house and seeing an actual Martian up close.
The film is given more of a Cold War theme,
with its use of the Atomic Bomb against the
enemy and the mass-destruction that such a
global war would inflict on mankind.
== Unreleased adaptations ==
After World War II, Ray Harryhausen shot a
scene of a dying alien falling out of a Martian
war machine, test footage for an abandoned
project to adapt the story using Wells' original
"octopus" concept for the Martians. A video
of the footage can be found here.Here Harryhausen
talks about his proposed adaptation:
"Yes, originally, after Mighty Joe [Young]
I made a lot of sketches for War of the Worlds.
I wanted to keep it in the period that H.G.
Wells wrote it, of the Victorian period, and
I made eight big drawings, some of which are
published – in the book and it would have
been an interesting picture, if it was made
years ago. But since then so many pictures
of that nature have been made that it wouldn't
be quite unique as it would have been."
== Sequels by other authors ==
Within six weeks of the novel's original 1897
magazine serialisation, The Boston Post began
running a sequel, Edison's Conquest of Mars
by Garrett P. Serviss, about an Earth counter-attack
against the Martians, led by Thomas Edison.
Though this is actually a sequel to 'Fighters
from Mars', a revised and un-authorised re-print,
they both were first printed in the Boston
Post in 1898.
In 1962, Soviet author Lazar Lagin published
a political pamphlet named "Major Well Andyou"
("Майор Велл Эндъю"), a pun
on "Well, and you?", which relates the story
of a major in the British Army who collaborates
with the Martian invaders. A condemnation
of imperialism and capitalism, the story was
dominated by Soviet analysis of political
issues contemporary to the 1950s and 1960s.
The Second War of the Worlds, by George H.
Smith concerned the Martians trying to invade
an alternate, less-technologically advanced
Earth. Helping these people are an unnamed
English detective, and his companion, a doctor,
from 'our' world. (It is quite obvious from
clues in the story that these are actually
Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson.)
In the 1970s, Marvel Comics had a character
named Killraven, Warrior of the Worlds who
(in an alternative timeline) fought H. G.
Wells' Martians after their second invasion
of Earth in 2001. He first appeared in Amazing
Adventures volume 2 #18.
Manly Wade Wellman and his son Wade Wellman
wrote Sherlock Holmes' War of the Worlds (1975)
which describes Sherlock Holmes's adventures
during the Martian occupation of London. This
version uses Wells' short story "The Crystal
Egg" as a prequel (with Holmes being the man
who bought the egg at the end) and includes
a crossover with Arthur Conan Doyle's Professor
Challenger stories. Among many changes the
Martians are changed into simple vampires,
who suck and ingest human blood.
In The Space Machine Christopher Priest presents
both a sequel and prequel to The War of the
Worlds (due to time travel elements), which
also integrates the events of The Time Machine.
In the novel W. G. Grace's Last Case (1984)
by Willie Rushton, W. G. Grace and Doctor
Watson avert a second Martian invasion by
attacking the Martian fleet on the far side
of the moon with "bombs" containing influenza
germs.
The comic book Scarlet Traces (2002) begins
a decade later with Great Britain utilising
the Martians' technology, and ironic to the
allegory of Wells' novel, have become more
powerful because of it. Eventually, this leads
up to a counter-invasion aimed for Mars in
its own sequel, Scarlet Traces: The Great
Game (2006).
Science fiction author Eric Brown wrote a
short story, "Ulla, Ulla" (2002) about an
expedition to Mars, finding the truth behind
H.G. Wells' novel.
The London Pen (La cage de Londres, 2003),
by French-Canadian author Jean-Pierre Guillet,
takes place one hundred years after a second
successful Martian invasion. Humans are penned
like cattle and «milked» regularly by their
new masters, who feed on their blood.
A number of people have written contemporaneously
set stories that describe the same invasion
from the perspectives of locations other than
Britain. Notable stories of this type are:
"Night of the Cooters" by Howard Waldrop,
in which a Martian war machine lands in Texas.
"Foreign Devils" by Walter Jon Williams, set
in China.
War of the Worlds: Global Dispatches, edited
by Kevin J. Anderson, an anthology of such
stories (ISBN 0-553-10353-9).
"War of the Worlds : New Millennium" (2005)
by Douglas Niles in which the invasion is
set in 2005 and focuses mainly on the American
fightback. (ISBN 0-765-35000-9) Tor Books
In the short story Mastery of Vesania, Hayden
Lee uses his appropriation to present the
invasion from the perspective of the Martian
invaders, also providing the link between
the different nature of the two invasions
presented in the book and the 2005 film (arriving
from space and rising from the ground).
The New York Times best selling author, Stephen
Baxter, has a novel-length sequel; entitled
The Massacre of Mankind, released on 19 January
2017.
Indie author D.G.Leigh has written two novellas.
"Sherlock Holmes Vs The War of the Worlds"
(2015). The original Wells' invasion as experienced
by Mr Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson.
The second publication takes places twenty
years later. This time the protagonist is
the teenage son of the Journalist living in
the Artilleryman's subterranean metropolis.
The title of this story is identical to Stephen
Baxter's official release "The Massacre of
Mankind" (2017).
The 2019 speculative fiction book Spacecraft
of the First World War: A Compendium of Fighting
Vessels of the Great Powers by William Flogg
details a fictional alternate history stemming
from the aftermath of the Martian invasion,
in which humanity reverse-engineers the leftover
Martian technology to create interplanetary
warships, which are documented in the style
of a fictional vessel encyclopedia
