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The War of the Worlds


Kaftan Barlast

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I think its safe to say that WOTW has to take place in late 19th century England or it doesnt work at all. This new film will be entertaining, and little else.

 

 

Its like when Stephen King tried to write a SHerlock Holmes short story- completely ludicrous. :D

DISCLAIMER: Do not take what I write seriously unless it is clearly and in no uncertain terms, declared by me to be meant in a serious and non-humoristic manner. If there is no clear indication, asume the post is written in jest. This notification is meant very seriously and its purpouse is to avoid misunderstandings and the consequences thereof. Furthermore; I can not be held accountable for anything I write on these forums since the idea of taking serious responsability for my unserious actions, is an oxymoron in itself.

 

Important: as the following sentence contains many naughty words I warn you not to read it under any circumstances; botty, knickers, wee, erogenous zone, psychiatrist, clitoris, stockings, bosom, poetry reading, dentist, fellatio and the department of agriculture.

 

"I suppose outright stupidity and complete lack of taste could also be considered points of view. "

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Last night I saw the trailer for the new film War of the Worlds.

 

It opens with the narration of "No one would have believed, in the early years of the 21st century, that human affairs were being watched..."

The only problem was it was some American with a gruff voice saying it, and it just doesn't work!

 

If anyone has heard the Jeff Wayne musical version, and the incredible narration by Richard Burton, the gruff American voice is almost laughable....

 

One of the major reasons for this I think is that the passage being read has been adapted from the book, which was written in 1898. It was well written, and I personally cannot imagine any American (no offence) talking in such a dialect.

 

It is for this reason, as well as several others, that I cannot see this film living up to the legend that is War Of The Worlds.

But the alternative, to "modernize" the script, would be worse. To wit:

 

Check it out homies,

While the crew are doing the deed,

Some other gang from Mars are making moves on dem,

... :thumbsup:

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I think the original and the new film share the theme of Big stalky martian thingies comepletely mash up the puny earthlings. Don't write it off just yet. If nothing else i'm sure the spectacle of the US military and stuff being trounced will be something to look forward to :thumbsup:

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Last night I saw the trailer for the new film War of the Worlds.

 

It opens with the narration of "No one would have believed, in the early years of the 21st century, that human affairs were being watched..."

The only problem was it was some American with a gruff voice saying it, and it just doesn't work!

 

If anyone has heard the Jeff Wayne musical version, and the incredible narration by Richard Burton, the gruff American voice is almost laughable....

 

One of the major reasons for this I think is that the passage being read has been adapted from the book, which was written in 1898. It was well written, and I personally cannot imagine any American (no offence) talking in such a dialect.

 

It is for this reason, as well as several others, that I cannot see this film living up to the legend that is War Of The Worlds.

But the alternative, to "modernize" the script, would be worse. To wit:

 

Check it out homies,

While the crew are doing the deed,

Some other gang from Mars are making moves on dem,

... :thumbsup:

 

Actually that doesn't sound so bad. Gang War of the Worlds! :D

Hawk! Eggplant! AWAKEN!

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Feel free to make your own parody. I very quickly realised that I know far too few words of the street lexicon to complete it. :">

 

I suppose it would be easier to do it in 1337 ... :thumbsup:

 

Then again, I'll do it later ...

No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. With infinite complacency men went to and fro over this globe about their little affairs, serene in their assurance of their empire over matter. It is possible that the infusoria under the microscope do the same. No one gave a thought to the older worlds of space as sources of human danger, or thought of them only to dismiss the idea of life upon them as impossible or improbable. It is curious to recall some of the mental habits of those departed days. At most terrestrial men fancied there might be other men upon Mars, perhaps inferior to themselves and ready to welcome a missionary enterprise. Yet across the gulf of space, minds that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us.

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Alas, I don't know enough gangspeak either. I can do a ned version though:

 

No wan wid huv buliev'd inni last years uv thi nineteenf senchry tha this place wis been watch'd pure hard by the polis--ah mean--"intelligences" pure way bigger than that pure smart poof frae school bu' still as chibbable as he wis; that as abody went doon the welfar oaffis an bumping car radios they were been watch'd, proably like a pure brainy bastart wae a microscope might look at aw that wee crap frae science. Waeoot daen edgy guys wur daen stuff that didnae really ma'er, pure certain a wha' wis goin on.. Ah bet aw that wee crap does'i same. Nae wan gave a toss abou' aw tha' big crap inni sky, sept in pure poofy shows like Star Trek, but aw that crap was pure stupid. It is curious to recall some of the mental habits of those departed days. Some wankers though' there wur other poofs oan mars, even poofier than them an jis waitin fer them tae come over. But away up there in space, even brainier poofs than even like Einstein, were checkin oot the Earf ciz' they wanted tae bump it, an after a while they decided tae chibb us.

Hawk! Eggplant! AWAKEN!

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Thunderchild and Forever Autumn are two of the saddest songs I've ever heard, in completely different ways.  Particularly Thunderchild, which was a brilliant portayal of the crushing of Mankind by the martians. After giving the human onlookers some false hope of a last chance at victory, the thunderchild being destroyed so completely is one of the most powerful and emotional pieces of music I've heard.

 

I love the part where the first cylindar is unscrewing, with the haunting scraping sound, and that great bass guitar solo.

 

"The chances of anything coming from mars is a million to one" he said

"The chances of anything coming from mars is a million to one"

 

"But still they come......."

"I tried the most potent Noise Amplification spell once upon a time. Mavellous spell. I could hear the birds speaking to one another in trees over the horizon, I could hear the rustlings as the clouds rubbed against each other in the sky. I could hear the sound a rainbow makes as it arches it's back over the world. Then a dog barked behind me and I burst my left eardrum."

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I think the original and the new film share the theme of Big stalky martian thingies comepletely mash up the puny earthlings. Don't write it off just yet. If nothing else i'm sure the spectacle of the US military and stuff being trounced will be something to look forward to :-

 

Oh come on. That's not something to roll your eyes about. Now you can see the bad a** United States military show those aliens the military might of the human species. :p But alas, it won't be enough :(

War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.

--John Stewart Mill--

 

"Victory was for those willing to fight and die. Intellectuals could theorize until they sucked their thumbs right off their hands, but in the real world, power still flowed from the barrel of a gun.....you could send in your bleeding-heart do-gooders, you could hold hands and pray and sing hootenanny songs and invoke the great gods CNN and BBC, but the only way to finally open the roads to the big-eyed babies was to show up with more guns."

--Black Hawk Down--

 

MySpace: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea...iendid=44500195

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Oh come on. That's not something to roll your eyes about. Now you can see the bad a** United States military show those aliens the military might of the human species. :p  But alas, it won't be enough :(

 

Not even close :-

"I tried the most potent Noise Amplification spell once upon a time. Mavellous spell. I could hear the birds speaking to one another in trees over the horizon, I could hear the rustlings as the clouds rubbed against each other in the sky. I could hear the sound a rainbow makes as it arches it's back over the world. Then a dog barked behind me and I burst my left eardrum."

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Oh come on. That's not something to roll your eyes about. Now you can see the bad a** United States military show those aliens the military might of the human species. :p  But alas, it won't be enough :(

 

Not even close :-

 

But at least mankind will put up a hell of a fight before succumbing to defeat. If an alien force were to invade the Earth, I would rather fight to the death than run and hide. They would have to take this planet over my dead body.

War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.

--John Stewart Mill--

 

"Victory was for those willing to fight and die. Intellectuals could theorize until they sucked their thumbs right off their hands, but in the real world, power still flowed from the barrel of a gun.....you could send in your bleeding-heart do-gooders, you could hold hands and pray and sing hootenanny songs and invoke the great gods CNN and BBC, but the only way to finally open the roads to the big-eyed babies was to show up with more guns."

--Black Hawk Down--

 

MySpace: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea...iendid=44500195

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*chuckles*

That reminds me of the early scene in MIB, which I watched yesterday ... the redneck comes out to the bug's spaceship and the bug says (off camera): "Drop the projectile weapon on the ground and put your hands on your head."

"You can take the run from my cold, dead hands!"

"Your proposition is acceptable." :D

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*chuckles*

That reminds me of the early scene in MIB, which I watched yesterday ... the redneck comes out to the bug's spaceship and the bug says (off camera): "Drop the projectile weapon on the ground and put your hands on your head."

"You can take the run from my cold, dead hands!"

"Your proposition is acceptable."  :D

 

 

:D

War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.

--John Stewart Mill--

 

"Victory was for those willing to fight and die. Intellectuals could theorize until they sucked their thumbs right off their hands, but in the real world, power still flowed from the barrel of a gun.....you could send in your bleeding-heart do-gooders, you could hold hands and pray and sing hootenanny songs and invoke the great gods CNN and BBC, but the only way to finally open the roads to the big-eyed babies was to show up with more guns."

--Black Hawk Down--

 

MySpace: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea...iendid=44500195

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I think the original and the new film share the theme of Big stalky martian thingies comepletely mash up the puny earthlings. Don't write it off just yet. If nothing else i'm sure the spectacle of the US military and stuff being trounced will be something to look forward to :rolleyes:

Oh come on. That's not something to roll your eyes about. Now you can see the bad a** United States military show those aliens the military might of the human species. :devil: But alas, it won't be enough :(

Of course, if this was reality then the US (or Russia or China) would just release some of their biological agents that they have stockpiled, like smallpox, and stop the Martians before they get started ... :-"

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I think the original and the new film share the theme of Big stalky martian thingies comepletely mash up the puny earthlings. Don't write it off just yet. If nothing else i'm sure the spectacle of the US military and stuff being trounced will be something to look forward to :rolleyes:

Oh come on. That's not something to roll your eyes about. Now you can see the bad a** United States military show those aliens the military might of the human species. :devil: But alas, it won't be enough :(

Of course, if this was reality then the US (or Russia or China) would just release some of their biological agents that they have stockpiled, like smallpox, and stop the Martians before they get started ... :-"

 

No, I don't think that we would do that. We wouldn't know if the biological agents would have any effect on them, and wouldn't risk killing thousands of innocent civilians to find out. I think that these kinds of weapons (as well as nukes) would be used as a last ditch effort before mankind is defeated.

War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.

--John Stewart Mill--

 

"Victory was for those willing to fight and die. Intellectuals could theorize until they sucked their thumbs right off their hands, but in the real world, power still flowed from the barrel of a gun.....you could send in your bleeding-heart do-gooders, you could hold hands and pray and sing hootenanny songs and invoke the great gods CNN and BBC, but the only way to finally open the roads to the big-eyed babies was to show up with more guns."

--Black Hawk Down--

 

MySpace: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea...iendid=44500195

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Of course, if this was reality then the US (or Russia or China) would just release some of their biological agents that they have stockpiled, like smallpox, and stop the Martians before they get started ...  :devil:"

No, I don't think that we would do that. We wouldn't know if the biological agents would have any effect on them, and wouldn't risk killing thousands of innocent civilians to find out. I think that these kinds of weapons (as well as nukes) would be used as a last ditch effort before mankind is defeated.

All the necessary people would be or have already been vaccinated ... :rolleyes:

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No, I don't think that we would do that. We wouldn't know if the biological agents would have any effect on them, and wouldn't risk killing thousands of innocent civilians to find out. I think that these kinds of weapons (as well as nukes) would be used as a last ditch effort before mankind is defeated.

 

 

-George.. George...

 

-Mhh?

 

-The Martians are attacking.

 

-What?

 

-I said the Martians are attacking.

 

-They are!?! *slams every red button on the console*

 

 

:D

DISCLAIMER: Do not take what I write seriously unless it is clearly and in no uncertain terms, declared by me to be meant in a serious and non-humoristic manner. If there is no clear indication, asume the post is written in jest. This notification is meant very seriously and its purpouse is to avoid misunderstandings and the consequences thereof. Furthermore; I can not be held accountable for anything I write on these forums since the idea of taking serious responsability for my unserious actions, is an oxymoron in itself.

 

Important: as the following sentence contains many naughty words I warn you not to read it under any circumstances; botty, knickers, wee, erogenous zone, psychiatrist, clitoris, stockings, bosom, poetry reading, dentist, fellatio and the department of agriculture.

 

"I suppose outright stupidity and complete lack of taste could also be considered points of view. "

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-George..    George...

 

-Mhh?

 

-The Martians are attacking.

 

-What?

 

-I said the Martians are attacking.

 

-They are!?! *slams every red button on the console*

 

:D

-George.. George...

 

-Mhh?

 

-The Martians are attacking.

 

-Is that bad?

 

-Yes, Mr President, I would say that is a bad thing. Should we use all force necessary?

 

-Um, is that a good thing?

 

-Yes, Mr President.

 

-Okay, do that ... thing ... that you .. just said ... then ...

:D

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If Martians really did attack, althoug that's highly unlikely ("the chances of anything coming from mars is a million to one"), I reckon they may have thought long and hard about it before they did, and prepared for any uncertainty.

 

If they can travel over vast distances, it's likely that they can defeat anything the military could throw at them.....

 

As in the book:

 

"There lay the Martians-dead!-slain after all man's devices had failed, by the humblest things that God, in His wisdom, has put on this earth. Bacteria."

"I tried the most potent Noise Amplification spell once upon a time. Mavellous spell. I could hear the birds speaking to one another in trees over the horizon, I could hear the rustlings as the clouds rubbed against each other in the sky. I could hear the sound a rainbow makes as it arches it's back over the world. Then a dog barked behind me and I burst my left eardrum."

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They werent really that technicly adept. They did after all, fire themselves from Mars to Earth using some sort of great canon. :D

 

 

 

 

19th century future tech > our future tech

DISCLAIMER: Do not take what I write seriously unless it is clearly and in no uncertain terms, declared by me to be meant in a serious and non-humoristic manner. If there is no clear indication, asume the post is written in jest. This notification is meant very seriously and its purpouse is to avoid misunderstandings and the consequences thereof. Furthermore; I can not be held accountable for anything I write on these forums since the idea of taking serious responsability for my unserious actions, is an oxymoron in itself.

 

Important: as the following sentence contains many naughty words I warn you not to read it under any circumstances; botty, knickers, wee, erogenous zone, psychiatrist, clitoris, stockings, bosom, poetry reading, dentist, fellatio and the department of agriculture.

 

"I suppose outright stupidity and complete lack of taste could also be considered points of view. "

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Typical military fubar. Just like A Bridge Too Far ...

 

 

-Here is the aerial recognosaince photos, General. It clearly shows a group of tanks from the 2nd Panzer division, should we abort?

 

-No, no, rubbish! Those are probably broken or left there for some reason! proceed as planned.

 

 

 

note: I saw a photo of Willi Bittrich(commander of the 2nd Waffen-SS Panzerdivision) having dinner with another general in the 1960's and he was still wearing his Knight's cross! :D

DISCLAIMER: Do not take what I write seriously unless it is clearly and in no uncertain terms, declared by me to be meant in a serious and non-humoristic manner. If there is no clear indication, asume the post is written in jest. This notification is meant very seriously and its purpouse is to avoid misunderstandings and the consequences thereof. Furthermore; I can not be held accountable for anything I write on these forums since the idea of taking serious responsability for my unserious actions, is an oxymoron in itself.

 

Important: as the following sentence contains many naughty words I warn you not to read it under any circumstances; botty, knickers, wee, erogenous zone, psychiatrist, clitoris, stockings, bosom, poetry reading, dentist, fellatio and the department of agriculture.

 

"I suppose outright stupidity and complete lack of taste could also be considered points of view. "

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No, I don't think that we would do that. We wouldn't know if the biological agents would have any effect on them, and wouldn't risk killing thousands of innocent civilians to find out. I think that these kinds of weapons (as well as nukes) would be used as a last ditch effort before mankind is defeated.

 

 

-George.. George...

 

-Mhh?

 

-The Martians are attacking.

 

-What?

 

-I said the Martians are attacking.

 

-They are!?! *slams every red button on the console*

 

 

:D

 

 

-George..    George...

 

-Mhh?

 

-The Martians are attacking.

 

-What?

 

-I said the Martians are attacking.

 

-They are!?! *slams every red button on the console*

 

:D

-George.. George...

 

-Mhh?

 

-The Martians are attacking.

 

-Is that bad?

 

-Yes, Mr President, I would say that is a bad thing. Should we use all force necessary?

 

-Um, is that a good thing?

 

-Yes, Mr President.

 

-Okay, do that ... thing ... that you .. just said ... then ...

:D

 

Oh, Ha Ha Ha :- I had a feeling my post would bring about Bush bashing.

War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.

--John Stewart Mill--

 

"Victory was for those willing to fight and die. Intellectuals could theorize until they sucked their thumbs right off their hands, but in the real world, power still flowed from the barrel of a gun.....you could send in your bleeding-heart do-gooders, you could hold hands and pray and sing hootenanny songs and invoke the great gods CNN and BBC, but the only way to finally open the roads to the big-eyed babies was to show up with more guns."

--Black Hawk Down--

 

MySpace: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea...iendid=44500195

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"There lay the Martians-dead!-slain after all man's devices had failed, by the humblest things that God, in His wisdom, has put on this earth. Bacteria."

A friend told me once that this was very implausible: Earth bacteria wouldn't recognise Martians as 'edible' (too alien) and would just ignore them.

 

Forever Autumn is a great song, but only on the album proper. The edited versions for single release didn't have the narration, and I think that lost some of the effect.

 

I liked Beth. I was sad when Beth died. :thumbsup: I also liked the music for the red grass.

 

I also read that there will be another movie released in the next year or two which is essentially the Jeff Wayne album brought to screen. I don't remember where I read it, though. Has anyone else heard of this?

"An electric puddle is not what I need right now." (Nina Kalenkov)

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