task 4 - old and new films
War of the Worlds
Old and new
Old and new
War of the worlds is one of the most highly recognized novels of all time. It has cemented itself at the top with the best and been an iconic piece since its release in 1898. The story of War of the worlds is famous and is known by people all over the world.
The story is a masterpiece, sparking creativeness all through the media, with music films and games being made inspired by the story.
War of the worlds was a really the start of Sci-fi, one of if not the very first sci-fi novel written. War of the worlds paved the way for all thing Sci-fi that we love today and will continue to love for a very long time.
Back in the time when War of the worlds was written, nobody had really pondered the question of, “is their life elsewhere in the universe”. This idea was hugely successful with a radio broadcast by H.G Wells himself which threw a lot of the nation into widespread panic. The idea of War of the Worlds revolutionised the film industry creating all kinds of idea which directors and other writers have adopted.
The War of the Worlds novel by H.G Wells saw its first film version in 1953 with stars such as Ann Robinson and Gene Barry. Little did they know at the time that these to actors, mainly Ann Robinson would appear in later film and TV remakes of War of the worlds.
Ann Robinson was casted a role in the 1988 TV series War of the worlds and she also played the role of the mother-in-law to Tom Cruise’s character Ray Ferrier. Gene Barry was also casted the role of the grandfather in Spielberg’s 2005 remake of war of the worlds.
The 1953 War of the worlds film was a major success, with a groundbreaking storyline, ideas & Visuals that nobody had seen before. It changed the whole aspect of Science fiction putting new ideas on the table so-to-speak.
Remakes have been made since the original 1953 War of the Worlds movie with the 1988 TV series and the 2005 Steven Spielberg remake.
While the remakes particularly the 2005 Spielberg remake contain some similarities, it contains different things too which are not evident in the 1953 version
First off, the 1953 War of the Worlds Film follows a Dr Clayton forrester who worked on the Manhattan project. He soon after joins Sylvia Van Buren whom he escapes with. The difference however between both the 2005 Spielberg remake is that the 2005 version follows a father (Ray Ferrier) who has to look after his kids (Rachel and Robbie) for a weekend whilst his ex – wife travels to Boston with her new partner to meet her parents. Ray ends up having to fight for not only his life but his kids lives as aliens proceed to attack.
Both versions have similarities throughout, however some of them may be portrayed differently. In Spielberg’s War of the Worlds attempts, Sylvia Van Buren could be identified through the character of Rachel in a way.
Both films are similar at the start with something coming down towards the ground, you have the meteorites in the 53 version and the lightning in the 05 version. Also at the scene of all the commotion where the first alien ship initially raises, you can see that in both films a main character witnesses the beginning of the alien invasion or the revealing of the aliens I should say.
You have the scene where a long alien arm with an optical lens enters the place where the main characters are hiding, this, in both films results in Dr. Clayton Forrester (1953 Version) and Ray Ferrier (2005 Version) damaging it with an axe. It shows us that the aliens aren’t particularly strong in themselves.
In the 1953 version of War of the Worlds you have alien ships shaped like a manta ray with a big scorpion like necks on them that shoot heat rays.
This however, is different in the 2005 remake by Spielberg as there are no flying alien craft, only Tripods and the aliens themselves. The tripods I suppose are there to give something back to the classic novel as the story does originally have tripods in it.
Spielberg wanted his version of the film to be different from the 1953 attempt at War of the Worlds, having been a fan of the Novel and the 1953 Film he wanted to attempt a film version of his own. Now the 1953 film starts with both the aliens and the war machines coming down as one in multiple meteorite showers from which they would emerge to begin their destruction. Spielberg thought “hey, I wanna try something a little different” and he did. Spielberg took the idea from the 1953 film and changed it slightly. Instead of both the war machines and aliens appearing in the same way he decided on the idea that the tripods were already buried and that this time the aliens would come down in a series of freakish lightning storms rather than meteorite showers from mars.
Spielberg set it so that the alien tripods would rise up from underground with an element of surprise.
Spielberg was paying homage to the original film by using tripods.
Looking at both film versions of War of the Worlds you can see a definite increase in technology and power, this is obvious as one film was made in 2005 a time where CGI and special visual effects are available to film makers and 1953 a time where the film industry is still getting to grips with how to add colour to film properly.
You can see a great difference in the aliens themselves as in the 2005 remake they are heavily CGI based and look a lot better than their 1953 alternates.
In the 1953 film the aliens have only two legs whereas the 2005 aliens have three legs much like their tripod war machines
One thing remains the same, the aliens are defeated not by mans technology and weapon arsenal but by the tiny microbes and bacteria abundant on our planet.
Although they have the similarities and their differences, let’s just remember how great a story War of the Worlds really is.