War of the Worlds (BBC)

peteeeed

Trailer

peteeeed

Trailer

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

spakman

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

Harry Palmr

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

peteeeed

no date yet

peteeeed

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

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

Dravokivich

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

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

K.Flyer

Altogether now – Uuuu-Laaaa!!!,

pixelburp

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

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

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

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

pixelburp

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

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

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

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

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

Looking forward to this for ages now

Mr E

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

->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

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

Venom

The first episode starts off well with pretty good CGI, real-world visuals and well-shot scenes overall but sadly the script becomes a major weak point very early on. I really found the jump forward in time scenes jarring and very clunky which just didn't flow well with the story and ruined any element of tension the show is trying to build up. The "Russian" subplot felt very forced and the couple's backstory is tedious, to say the least.

Wibbs

Tony EH wrote: »

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.

+1. The reason so many mangle things is the perceived need to "update" such stories, hence the whole couple soap opera subplot and the Amy wan being a Strong Woman(tm)(which usually makes things obvious, jarring and quite silly). It being a BBC production you can add on that kinda thing with a shovel. The flashforward aspect was utterly pointless. Yeah I was looking forward to this, a possible true to the book rendition of it, but sadly not.

Venom

Wibbs wrote: »

+1. The reason so many mangle things is the perceived need to "update" such stories, hence the whole couple soap opera subplot and the Amy wan being a Strong Woman(tm)(which usually makes things obvious, jarring and quite silly). It being a BBC production you can add on that kinda thing with a shovel. The flashforward aspect was utterly pointless. Yeah I was looking forward to this, a possible true to the book rendition of it, but sadly not.

The sad thing is, all they had to do was to make Amy be Robert Caryle's assistant, so as to keep her in the crash landing site scene, leave the boyfriend as a reporter with a brother in the government and nothing would have changed in the overarching plot, kept both the main characters as the central focus of the story and improved the first episode by getting rid of the pointless backstory drama crap no one cares about along with the time jump scenes.

my3cents

Seems fairly obvious that the commissioning editor spotted that this was a lemon and put it on before Christmas rather than putting it on in a top spot.

Agent Coulson

I didn't like it at all they put money into got what looks like a decent cast and still made a balls of it.


I have a feeling the cheap ass European one will be a lot better.

Venom

Agent Coulson wrote: »

I didn't like it at all they put money into got what looks like a decent cast and still made a balls of it.


I have a feeling the cheap ass European one will be a lot better.

Any info on that?

Technocentral

When is this on BBC?

Tony EH

Wibbs wrote: »

+1. The reason so many mangle things is the perceived need to "update" such stories, hence the whole couple soap opera subplot and the Amy wan being a Strong Woman(tm)(which usually makes things obvious, jarring and quite silly). It being a BBC production you can add on that kinda thing with a shovel. The flashforward aspect was utterly pointless. Yeah I was looking forward to this, a possible true to the book rendition of it, but sadly not.

So deeply unnecessary too as Wells had practically written a screenplay because of the way his book is structured. Having the story viewed through the eyes of an unnamed narrator allows that character to become the eyes of the audience. The screenwriter has a relatively easy job to do, but whoever was responsible for this new BBC production has made a hash of it.

Although I've only seen episode one (of three), it feels like this BBC effort is trying to make the story more about "Amy" (who doesn't even exist in the book) and not the narrator who is the centre of Well's novel. This suspicion is reinforced by the completely redundant flash forwards of Amy and her son. The next couple of episodes may focus entirely on Rafe Spall's character and be more like the story HG Wells wrote. But somehow I doubt that.

Judging on the general quality of the first episode though, I can't say I care all that much either way.

Oasis1974

Anyone ever see the 1950s movie version one of all time favorite from that era of Sci-Fi films.

my3cents

For anyone who has never heard it may I recommend wasting an hour of your time with he War of the Worlds (1938 radio drama)

brian_t

Technocentral wrote: »

When is this on BBC?

There is no air date yet.

TheIrishGrover

Wow. I haven't seen it yet but, as I posted previously, I was concerned that they were not happy with the outcome as I was expecting this last year. I had hoped that it was just a long post-production and not because it came out as a lemon but, from these reviews it seems that my fears may have been correct.

I will certainly watch the first episode and hope for the best as I was really excited about a proper, period-correct, version of the book.

.... Let's see.......

TheIrishGrover

OK. So watched the first episode: Overall, a bit meh. Not the total disaster it could have been but not the prestige show BBC were obviously hoping for.

The whole thing is just a bit bland. And it's not just that the story is so well known. The idea of

Flash forwarding to 3-4 years after the Martians fail

was a good idea but poorly implemented.

I mean, look, I'll watch the other two episodes but, if it was more than three episodes I think I'd lose interest.

I am at a loss to explain why I found it so bland. I can't put my finger on what was missing, why it failed to connect with me. It was just very safe.

Wibbs

Caught the second episode and it's worse it gets.

is_that_so

Wibbs wrote: »

Caught the second episode and it's worse it gets.

Well you were warned! Serves you right for watching it!:D

my3cents

Wibbs wrote: »

Caught the second episode and it's worse it gets.

That will be my "pleasure" tonight, but got a new raspberry pi today in the post so will be working with that in one screen while watching this in another

my3cents

TheIrishGrover wrote: »

OK. So watched the first episode: Overall, a bit meh. Not the total disaster it could have been but not the prestige show BBC were obviously hoping for.

The whole thing is just a bit bland. And it's not just that the story is so well known. The idea of

Flash forwarding to 3-4 years after the Martians fail

was a good idea but poorly implemented.

I mean, look, I'll watch the other two episodes but, if it was more than three episodes I think I'd lose interest.

I am at a loss to explain why I found it so bland. I can't put my finger on what was missing, why it failed to connect with me. It was just very safe.

OK so half way through episode 2 and my NOOBS download (2.2 GB download file for Raspberry Pi) which is 37% through is more interesting to watch.

Wow I'm now at 38%...... exciting.

There has to be a word for excessive blandness?

I have to say I can't find anything to dislike but its like a glass of water compared to a good coffee. There is something to be said for a good coffee but what is there to say about a glass of water?

silverharp

do they put too much effort into trying to appeal to everyone but end up not pleasing anyone?, while I'd admit Eastenders might be improved by loads of time travelling alien story line Im happy with the idea that "its not made for me" cant they just do the same with sifi?

Tony EH

silverharp wrote: »

do they put too much effort into trying to appeal to everyone but end up not pleasing anyone?, while I'd admit Eastenders might be improved by loads of time travelling alien story line Im happy with the idea that "its not made for me" cant they just do the same with sifi?

But they already have a story done by HG Wells that has pleased millions for over 100 years.

What's the point with fucking with something to the point of wrecking it, when the better story has already been written?

I doubt that there would be too many people that would object to seeing Well's story play out in live action on TV almost exactly as it was written.

Thargor

Fecks sake major quality dive in ep2, why was that 90 minutes long? There wasn't enough material for a 40 minute ep. The whole human sickness vs the Martian thing was so dragged out, I was shouting at the screen for them to get on with it, then when they finally moved on it was to a 15 minute scene of her simpering and talking about being a strong woman or some sh1t, I don't know I was tapping the skip forward 10 seconds button all the way through. The script is so weak and clichéd aswell.