About Muad`Dib Expertise I can answer any question on Science Fiction Movies from the Silent Era to cult 50s movies to the Present Day, including the history and influence of SF movies on society and vice-versa, such as Blade Runner/Alien etc. I can also answer any questions about any SF TV series such as Babylon 5,Buck Rogers in the 25th Century or Blake`s 7 etc. Just DON`T ask me anything about Star Trek or V!
Experience I am a lifelong SF fan and have seen most of the famous SF movies and SF TV series in history.
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Followup To
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How many War of the Worlds movies have been made and which in your personal opinion would be the best one? How do they differ from each other and which one follows the original story the closest?
Answer -
As far as I know, there have only been 2, the excellent one made in 1953, and the remake made by Steven Spielberg in 2005. The 1950s movie is the only one really worth watching as it very closely follows the original H G Wells novel, with the exception that the action occurs in the 1950s US rather than in early 20th century London, England, and the alien technology is slightly altered from that in the book. The 2005 Spielberg remake of the first film is a very poor movie, by comparison to the earlier version.
Here are 2 reviews which perfectly sum up my opinions about these 2 movies and give a lot of details of plot differences between the movies and the original book etc.:-
Thank you, that most definitely did help. I have noticed there is a "War of the Worlds" movie that has come out straight to dvd recently, which is copmletely different from Spielberg's but still based on the original book. Do you have any information on this movie?
Answer There are only the two movies I mentioned, the 1953 one by George Pal(?) and the 2005 one by Steven Spielberg. There are numerous collector's edition DVDs etc. of each of these movies, which is what might have thrown you. The DVD you mention is most likely to be of the 1953 movie version.
Apart from that, there is a "War of the Worlds" TV series, which is very loosely based on the original book, and puts forward the idea that the aliens survived the war and are now fighting against humans again, due to their ability to take over human bodies.
Other than that, there are a few documentary "War of the Worlds" DVDs out there, which cover the amusing fiasco caused when Orson Welles read out a radio adaptation of H G Wells' "War of the Worlds" in 1938 in the style of an apparent news TV broadcast - millions of people in the New York area missed the first couple of minutes of the broadcast in which it was explained that it wasn't a real news show,(due to an overlapping ball-game, I believe). They then went into Survivalist mode hoarding food and getting guns etc. while waiting for the reported aliens to arrive and fight them!
