War of the Worlds (BBC)

Varik · 22-10-2019 7:02pm

During the first episode was waiting to find out what the big secret was about the 2 of them, and then you find out it was that

he'd left his wife for her and the wife won't sign the divorce papers

. Which would have likely been a big thing back then but it's not an issue now that it make the whole thing ridiculous. They tried to modernise some thing and were blatant about it and then for this they did the opposite and it's still ridiculous.

Tony EH · 22-10-2019 7:08pm

Varik wrote: »

During the first episode was waiting to find out what the big secret was about the 2 of them, and then you find out it was that
he'd left his wife for her and the wife won't sign the divorce papers
.

It was probably an effort to comment on the mores of the time. But it's handled so clumsily, it just comes across as somebody projecting modern principles upon characters from 100 years ago, which never works...ever.

In the end, it's just absolutely unnecessary. In the book, the narrator is married and has a brother, both of which he expresses concern for. Adding in

a failed marriage and a - for the time - illicit affair

serves no real purpose from teh point of view of the story.

There needs to be more people involved in these productions that just says "no, that's a bad idea", especially where adaptations of classic, well loved works are concerned.

Venom · 23-10-2019 12:15am

I don't think I can recall a tv show where the second episode takes such a dip in quality as this. It's so boring and dull and did anyone else get the feeling the showrunners used up 90% of the budget on episode one, as the second feels like it was shot on a shoestring budget.

Is there another episode to come or have we got them all as I saw a few posts online about the Aussie network dropping the show in 2 90 minute parts instead of 3 hour-long episodes?

Wibbs · 23-10-2019 9:30am

One episode left as far as I'm aware V.

I'd echo the earlier idea that the buyers of this mess had hoped to run it in a more high profile slot, like christmas. It feels like a big budget Christmas series kind of thing. Then they must have watched it and realised what a mess it was and downgraded it fast and rushed it out before the other War of the Worlds TV series with Gabriel Byrne set in the present day, hoping that the first version of a song you hear tends to be the more memorable. I suspect that unless the Gabriel Byrne version is an unalloyed howler it'll be the better TV series and story.

It looks good enough, the CGI is workmanlike(though the martians looked clunky and more like Dr Who circa 2007 CGI), the actors are good and the lead actress is both good and not exactly hard to look at. The concept and script are truly dire though. The pacing which comes out of that is all over the place. As Thargor notes the second ep could have easily been cut down to 40 minutes and 20 minutes would have worked too.

Padraig Mor · 23-10-2019 9:45am

Yeah. second episode not great. Yer man George is such a dweeb as well. The first episode kept my normally hyperactive eight year old transfixed for 90 minutes (a feat in itself), but he broke out the Beano pretty soon into episode two...

Mickeroo · 23-10-2019 10:44am

Any word on when this is actually getting screened on BBC? (I assume everyone is downloading it at the mo?)

Varik · 23-10-2019 11:49pm

Only watched the first episode still, so to decide if I'll bother with more does

Robert Carlyle

show up again after the first episode.

Padraig Mor · 24-10-2019 8:50am

Varik wrote: »

does
Robert Carlyle
show up again after the first episode.

Yes.

DvB · 24-10-2019 11:42am

Mickeroo wrote: »

Any word on when this is actually getting screened on BBC? (I assume everyone is downloading it at the mo?)

IIRC its filling the 9pm slot on a Sunday when world on fire finishes.

fritzelly · 25-10-2019 10:20pm

Dear god that was a dreadful episode and I was happy with the first episode, as pointed out cheap Sci-Fi channel CGI and a meandering story going nowhere. Also said earlier be interesting to see where the flash forwards went - apparently went nowhere, totally pointless
Not what I expected at all, I hope the other show is better

Melodeon · 28-10-2019 10:03am

The Canal+ version (War of the Worlds - no 'The' at the beginning), appears to be making its way into the wild now.
I'm seeing episodes 6, 7, and 8 at the moment.

edited to add:
Hmmm... hold off on grabbing this unless your French is up to it.
It's in French and English as is to be expected with the range of actors and production companies involved, but the 'English Language' audio track option doesn't appear to make any difference to the languages used.
French subtitles only too.

edit 2:
Actually, the 'English language' option track DOES work, in that it plays the English speaking actors in English, but all the French speakers are still in French too.
The 'French language' option renders everyone into French

fritzelly · 04-11-2019 12:13am

Ohhh I thought there was another episode - not, this was a totally pointless mini-series that started ok and went absolutely no where. Who green lit this???

squonkie · 04-11-2019 12:46am

fritzelly wrote: »

Ohhh I thought there was another episode - not, this was a totally pointless mini-series that started ok and went absolutely no where. Who green lit this???

Im fairly sure there is another one ok. Just does not seem to have been uploaded anywhere.

fritzelly · 04-11-2019 12:53am

squonkie wrote: »

Im fairly sure there is another one ok. Just does not seem to have been uploaded anywhere.

Three episodes but they combined them into 2

Thargor · 04-11-2019 10:17am

Wait what? There was only 2 episodes of the BBC version?

squonkie · 04-11-2019 6:38pm

Really?? Wow that ending is just crap!!!

Melodeon · 04-11-2019 6:42pm

DOH!
I too am just copping this now :rolleyes:

It appears that the series was originally produced as 3 x 1 hour episodes, but it was repackaged into 2 x 1.5 hour episodes for broadcast recently in New Zealand.
These were the 2 episodes I (and many others) viewed.

I will NOT be seeking out the 3 x 1 hour episodes to compare and contrast!

squonkie · 04-11-2019 6:49pm

Melodeon wrote: »

DOH!
I too am just copping this now :rolleyes:

It appears that the series was originally produced as 3 x 1 hour episodes, but it was repackaged into 2 x 1.5 hour episodes for broadcast recently in New Zealand.
These were the 2 episodes I (and many others) viewed.

I will NOT be seeking out the 3 x 1 hour episodes to compare and contrast!

Of course!! I will echo your DOH!!

Venom · 04-11-2019 10:09pm

squonkie wrote: »

Really?? Wow that ending is just crap!!!

An ending so boring and dull you completely miss the show is finished :pac:

Thargor · 04-11-2019 10:47pm

Wow pretty pathetic ending if thats all there is, what was the point of even flashing forward to the future like that? What a pointless project. It had so much potential aswell, the British destroyers in the channel firing on the tripods on the shore was a very powerful scene, the rest was mush though. What was the point in bringing Robert Carlyle in for that?

DvB · 05-11-2019 10:23am

Having watched the 2 episodes I get the impression this was a production that had its funding cut half way through or suchlike and had to wrap things up quicker than originally intended. I really got the impression a grander production was planned but was never given the full funding.
A real shame as there were moments where you could see someones grander vision shining through.

JP Liz V1 · 05-11-2019 3:32pm

Mickeroo wrote: »

Any word on when this is actually getting screened on BBC? (I assume everyone is downloading it at the mo?)

Sunday November 17th at 9pm on BBC 1

Venom · 07-11-2019 12:22am

The first two episodes of the Canal+ current day version of War of the Worlds, has turned up in the usual online places. Now about a third of it is in French with the rest being in English but its easy to grasp what's going on in the French bits and while it suffers a tad from people doing stupid crap for the sake of it, overall it's a much better and far more interesting show than the BBC version.

Mr.Nice Guy · 18-11-2019 6:48pm

Saw this on the BBC last night and thought it was pretty meh. I liked Eleanor Tomlinson, but didn't care for anyone else. Thought the aliens could have been a lot more menacing too. The Tom Cruise film version did the introduction bit more effectively and not just because it had a much bigger budget. Later on, the chap standing there in open space for seemingly an eternity, and screaming at the woman to leave him, and then not being zapped just made me conclude the main characters weren't in real peril.

I think it also could have done with the introduction of some child characters like the film had to give the audience some characters to invest in. I'm afraid I wasn't gripped about the dog and the maid's sister being in jeopardy. Not sure if they revealed if the dog even made it?

All felt very Doctor Who-like, and as someone who's not a Doctor Who fan that that might explain why it didn't connect with me.

Jimbob1977 · 24-11-2019 10:56pm

Part Two just about to end

It's really poor

An incredible science fiction classic has been reduced to a virtual love story.

Harry Palmr · 24-11-2019 11:01pm

The coastal scene was well done, but the lack of money shows through time and again, plus yes a soap opera level personal drama.

TheValeyard · 24-11-2019 11:11pm

It's not great tbh. But it's not terrible either.

All I wanted was a nice retelling of the classic novel. Do not see the need for the future/past thing. I dont mind the love story, part of the original book was the main author trying to find his partner in the midst of the Martian extermination of man.

Full_Circle_81 · 01-12-2019 9:52am

TheValeyard wrote: »

It's not great tbh. But it's not terrible either.

All I wanted was a nice retelling of the classic novel. Do not see the need for the future/past thing. I dont mind the love story, part of the original book was the main author trying to find his partner in the midst of the Martian extermination of man.

The flash forwards bits seem odd to me too. First, it eliminates any suspense as to who does or doesn't survive the war in the present. And second, it seems unlikely they'll wrap up the future problems in just one more episode. Maybe if they were starting a long-form continuing series and needed to expand the story, but why pad out the original tale with so much superfluous story with just 3 episodes to play around with?

Harry Palmr · 01-12-2019 11:01pm

Very drippy, hippie ending.

Wibbs · 02-12-2019 10:49am

Missed opportunity all around. Very good cast, good production design, well shot, all the elements were there, let down by a bloody awful storyline. Someone, somewhere during script development should have asked WTF? and loudly.

fritzelly · 08-12-2019 2:01am

Just binge watched the French War of the Worlds - enjoyable enough and intriguing ending but it's not War of the Worlds according to the book.
Probably a bad idea to stick that title on it as is it would only ever draw comparisons

Full_Circle_81 · 09-12-2019 12:38am

fritzelly wrote: »

Just binge watched the French War of the Worlds - enjoyable enough and intriguing ending but it's not War of the Worlds according to the book.
Probably a bad idea to stick that title on it as is it would only ever draw comparisons

Better than the BBC one though I take it?

fritzelly · 09-12-2019 12:48am

Full_Circle_81 wrote: »

Better than the BBC one though I take it?

Different story - only similarity is the title, and just pretend its not called WOTW
If you like euro shows then you will probably like it - there's tension (good sound/music I thought), more drama than sci-fi and some irritating aspects
Second season has started production

Homelander · 04-05-2020 7:02pm

Just got around to watching this. I'd heard it was bad, but this was beyond abysmal. First episode was sorta OK, but rather than improve it took a major nose dive beyond words....I struggled badly with the second and third episode, they were perfectly awful.

Overall a complete waste of time. Struggle to understand how these things are made so badly. The BBC did the thing to Dracula recently.....destroyed a perfectly good classic story.

War of the Worlds (BBC)

Comments

"I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year" - Charles Dickens

"I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year" - Charles Dickens