War of the Worlds (BBC)

peteeeed · 29-09-2019 10:57am #1

Trailer

peteeeed · 29-09-2019 11:00am

Trailer

https://twitter.com/dawnyb/status/1178218424272424961?s=20

spakman · 29-09-2019 11:03am

Horse****e. Looks like a posh version of "Cowboys v Aliens"

Harry Palmr · 29-09-2019 11:05am

Is there an air date? It's a year over schedule.

peteeeed · 29-09-2019 11:20am

no date yet

peteeeed · 29-09-2019 11:21am

spakman wrote: »

Horse****e. Looks like a posh version of "Cowboys v Aliens"

i think the bbc are taking it back to the original novel

Mr E · 29-09-2019 12:40pm

Looks terrific (and authentic).
Can't be any worse than the Tom Cruise version.

Dravokivich · 29-09-2019 12:42pm

spakman wrote: »

Horse****e. Looks like a posh version of "Cowboys v Aliens"

Ehm... I take it you arent familiar with the material then?

alchemist33 · 29-09-2019 12:44pm

Looks great and I'll be watching. Unfortunately I know the ending.

K.Flyer · 29-09-2019 1:00pm

Altogether now – Uuuu-Laaaa!!!,

pixelburp · 29-09-2019 1:03pm

Looks faithful to the original book, with useful expansion on characters to flesh out into a series. There was basically one character in that novel, save for the random doomed idiots the narrator stumbled across. The wife was just a concept rather than a person so makes sense to give her something to do. I'm looking forward to this.

I quite liked the Tom Cruise version, except perhaps for the last 3rd when it kinda lost its way. Otherwise it was a pretty effective PG horror IMO, one that captured the panic and confusion pretty well.

TheIrishGrover · 29-09-2019 8:14pm

Have being following this for a while. Has been in post production for ages (I thought this was going to be their prestige show for LAST Christmas. Once it didn't show up last Christmas I assumed it would be this Christmas as His Dark Materials is also out soon.

Certainly looks faithful. Wonder will they pilfer Richard Burton or Liam Neeson for the introduction.

It will be interesting to see how they adapt it.Part of the novel was the narrator/writer's frustration with the apathy of people towards the Martians initially - treating the craft as a simple curiosity but nothing more. I found this quite unbelievable by modern standards. I mean it was believable of the time: England were the masters of the world at the time (At least in their opinion) and there was a fascination with science at the time.

Still, looks top notch.

Oh and please please PLEASE tell me the "Looks like Cowboys and Aliens" comment is a joke. I'd have to believe there was somebody that unaware.

micar · 29-09-2019 8:22pm

alchemist33 wrote: »

Looks great and I'll be watching. Unfortunately I know the ending.

When I saw that the trailer was released, I hoped it was set in the period of the book.

I'm glad it is.

Read the book years ago and cannot remember the ending. Must go find the book and re read it.

The Black Oil · 29-09-2019 10:00pm

Thought they had already done this, only to realise it was The Day of the Triffids I was thinking of.

pixelburp · 29-09-2019 11:27pm

Am I right in thinking this is the first "major" adaptation to actually set events in the period in which it was originally set? Ignoring Jeff Wayne's album that is

JP Liz V1 · 30-09-2019 12:22am

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Is there an air date? It's a year over schedule.

I suspect it to take the prime time 9pm Sunday slot soon enough

Slydice · 30-09-2019 12:44am

Looks like 3 Episodes in Total. Airing sometime in the "Autumn":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds_(miniseries)

Not much jumping out at me about either the:
Director: Craig Viveiros - https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2244239/
or
Writer (or the TV adaption, not Wells!): Peter Harness - https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1739929/

pixelburp · 30-09-2019 8:59am

Well I recognise Harness from a few writing stints with Dr. Who; he wrote the ... divisive, shall we say, "Kill The Moon", along with a couple of other fairly mediocre episodes.

Unearthly · 30-09-2019 12:17pm

I actually quite liked the 2005 film.......*runs*

Looking forward to this for ages now

Mr E · 14-10-2019 8:26am

The first episode is 'out' now. It aired on TVNZ1 yesterday in New Zealand.

It's the first part of a three part series and is 1h24 long.

Excellent production values from what I've seen (first 10 minutes).
I'm looking forward to watching the rest.

TheIrishGrover · 14-10-2019 9:03am

Mr E wrote: »

The first episode is 'out' now. It aired on TVNZ1 yesterday in New Zealand.

It's the first part of a three part series and is 1h24 long.

Excellent production values from what I've seen (first 10 minutes).
I'm looking forward to watching the rest.

Very strange leak origin. Must be out soon so. Think I'll hang on. I would imagine that each episode would be in or around that. Giving a nice chunky 4-4.5 hours for a slim book.

I was a bit concerned about the delays. While I know post production on a show like this would be massive, I was expecting it for last Christmas's BBC big Show type of thing. But I was fearing that it just wasn't up to scratch and that they were gonna offload it quietly during the Summer or something.

Then I thought that would be His Dark Matarials but that's next month too.

check_six · 14-10-2019 9:22am

pixelburp wrote: »

Am I right in thinking this is the first "major" adaptation to actually set events in the period in which it was originally set? Ignoring Jeff Wayne's album that is

There was a period correct version which was made at the same time as the big budget Spielberg/Cruise affair. People were looking forward to comparing the two efforts, but I think it turned out that the period version was thrown together in a really slapdash manner and was possibly more of a tax dodge than a genuine attempt at a faithful interpretation of the story (imagine an Asylum Films type quality).

One take on the story worth tracking down is Alan Moore and Kev O'Neill's graphic novel League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume 2. It features a particularly horrifying (and disturbingly logical) twist on the ending you're familiar with.

pixelburp · 14-10-2019 9:43am

check_six wrote: »

There was a period correct version which was made at the same time as the big budget Spielberg/Cruise affair. People were looking forward to comparing the two efforts, but I think it turned out that the period version was thrown together in a really slapdash manner and was possibly more of a tax dodge than a genuine attempt at a faithful interpretation of the story (imagine an Asylum Films type quality).

One take on the story worth tracking down is Alan Moore and Kev O'Neill's graphic novel League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume 2. It features a particularly horrifying (and disturbingly logical) twist on the ending you're familiar with.

Yup, I have the first 3 volumes of League; bit of a fan of that line, and always lament that god-awful Sean Connery adaptation. So, so very bad. It'd make for such a great mini-series if done right, most of the properties are Public Domain anyway so it wouldn't be a problem getting the right characters together; and like you said, volume 2 was a fantastic riff on War of the Worlds.

fritzelly · 14-10-2019 9:59pm

Very good first episode - nostalgia and sci-fi rolled into one
Doing what the BBC always do well and that is historic settings - some street scenes I was very much thinking they have to be green screen but you wouldn't be able to tell bar thinking nowhere looks like that anymore
Shows they spent a pretty penny on this - evident in the delays to finish the FX

The flash forward scenes will be interesting to see develop

Funnily enough there is another modern day setting for a WOTW series coming up in a few weeks with none other than Gabriel Byrne who I haven't heard much of in an age

Padraig Mor · 14-10-2019 10:17pm

Good but not great first episode. Bit too much time spent on the setup of the family situation/s. Unlike the above poster I thought some street scenes looked cheap, but the FX were good in fairness. Not sure if I'm a fan of the flash forwards as they

make it clear the Martians lost

- likely common knowledge to many, but this new show may bring in those unfamiliar.

Padraig Mor · 14-10-2019 10:20pm

fritzelly wrote: »

Funnily enough there is another modern day setting for a WOTW series coming up in a few weeks with none other than Gabriel Byrne who I haven't heard much of in an age

Bit like the buses - you wait ages for a WOTW TV show, and two arrive at once! My indexer filed the BBC show under the Byrne one actually, and Plex stuck it under the 80s version - very low key release so far.

fritzelly · 14-10-2019 10:26pm

Padraig Mor wrote: »

Good but not great first episode. Bit too much time spent on the setup of the family situation/s.

In the day and age of all action and no character development (the abysmal Batwoman) I enjoyed it - some time to get to know the characters but got into the action quick enough for me
Liked the atypical lets blow it up attitude of the English soldiers

is_that_so · 16-10-2019 10:17am

The first episode started well enough, even if the key relationship seemed shoehorned in to fit with the rest of the story. After that it just ended in a messy hodge podge of total confusion with an increasingly naff script in tow. Not inclined to watch any more TBH and disappointed as I expected a lot more from it.

squonkie · 16-10-2019 12:11pm

Very disappointed in this. Why set it in the correct period then throw out 90% of the book. I know you could not film the book at least maintain the spirit. I can see why the BBC sat on this.

Tony EH · 16-10-2019 1:52pm

->Spoilers<-

To those expecting it to be like the HG Wells book, think again. They may have set it in period Britain, but it's 1904 and not "the last years of the 19th Century". This is only to allow for some petty commentary on Russia as a possible enemy and it comes across as a very silly addition.

The focus is on an irritating couple and their soap opera concerns, who never once feel like they are from the era and it's littered with modern "politics" in other respects too. The character of Amy (Eleanor Tomlinson) is especially out of her time.

In short, it's not the story everyone is waiting (still waiting) for unfortunately. Leaving me, again, to wonder why producers simply cannot adapt classic books to the screen, without mangling them somehow. Especially a book like 'War of the Worlds', which is practically a screenplay in itself. It doesn't need any additions at all.

Disappointing so far.

Unearthly · 16-10-2019 1:54pm

I thought it was absolutely terrible. Wasn't expecting that, disappointed

War of the Worlds (BBC)

Comments