Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Dark Discussions Episode 057 - H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds Part 3

From its 1898 publishing, H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds had been a best selling novel but also a forerunner to the pulp and science fiction stories and movies to come. After a 1938 successful radio theater adaption by Orson Welles followed by George Pal’s 1953 Hollywood extravaganza, the story about Martians invading Earth had become part of the fabric of the culture of not only the United Kingdom but the entire world. With heat rays, tripods and hovercrafts, Martians invaded London, New Jersey, and Los Angeles.
With the success of science fiction on television including such shows as Star Trek and the X Files, a new adaption of H.G. Wells’ story by Stephen Spielberg and Tom Cruise went into development which resulted in the 2005 War of the Worlds, a new interpretation of the famous novel where the alien ships were brought to life as described in the novel; a three legged 100’ tripod machine with a heat ray that disintegrated its victims. As in the novel, people were collected as food and livestock that brought a horrific and somewhat overlooked element included in the source material.
Dark Discussions wraps up their three episode arc of H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds by discussing one of the most underappreciated science fiction horror movies in the last ten years. With fantastic special effects, with a roaring soundtrack by the great John Williams, with direction by one of the greatest directors of all time, while starring a top leading man, 2005’s War of the Worlds is a film that should be enjoyed by all horror and science fiction fans alike.
Lastly, author Mark Allan Gunnells is interviewed about his new novel, Sequel, which was released mid-May. 

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