Posts tagged ‘War of the Worlds’
Another alien-inspired post the subject of which I’m fairly sure that is alien to most.
SHOULD ALIENS WEAR CLOTHES?
For those not addicted to science fiction movies the only movies of this genre may be Star Trek and Star Wars. In these two movies, to the best of my knowledge, all the aliens wear clothes.
But let’s now take a look at other science fiction movies and alien attire. I recently rewatched Independence Day and paid attention to the aliens in this movie. Naked. I recall one of my favorite movies, War of the Worlds, the Gene Barry version from the 1950’s. In the brief view of the aliens, they were naked.
I think there are at least two issues demonstrating the importance on wearing clothes. In defining the position in society and in the military. What triggered the thoughts for this post were whether a society can function when everyone is naked? To me, clothes help define the person. Their position in society, at least the societies on Earth. Think about some of the terms used in our society. Blue-collar workers and white-collar workers definitely indicate the status of the individual.
When you’re walking down the street and you see one individual in overalls and another in a fur coat you know immediately that their rank in society is not the same.
And talking about rank, lets consider the military. Could an army function with no indication of rank? And army where there is no distinction between individuals. No display of rank to indicate who commands respect and obedience, and whose orders should be followed. And who should follow the orders. I cannot picture a naked army functioning. And yet in science fiction movies where there is an invading army it stands to reason that that force is an army, always a naked army.
Returning to my favorite science fiction movie, War of the Worlds, there are a multitude of versions. I have not seen all the versions, but in the ones I have seen the aliens are naked. How does such an army recognize who is who?
In the book War of the Worlds it is described, in a manner, how this problem is overcome. In the book the cylinders land on Earth and it is quite a while before the machines make their appearance. That is because the machines must be first assembled. They do not come to Earth ready to go. And to do the construction there is a sub-species to do the work. They don’t use robotic workers. The sub-species is an intelligent life form but below the class of the invading army. Wells negates the need for uniforms in this respect by creating different levels of intelligence, but I feel the attacking army still needs some distinction between individuals. Now, it is possible even though there are no uniforms to indicate rank there could be another means of making the distinction between individuals. Perhaps it is smell or another sense which exists for the Martians which does not exist on Earth. Or perhaps it is communication through thought.
Am I the only one with these concerns about alien society, probably, but now your mind is scared by these thoughts. So the next time you are watching a science fiction movie if the action takes place on a distant planet, watch for alien attire. Or if the movie involves an alien invasion look for uniforms or some indication of how to define who is who.
January 21, 2026 at 2:04 pm
WAR OF THE WORLDS
A REVIEW OF THE NOVEL AND RELATED MOVIES
This is an introduction to my next series of posts.
During my teenage years I was fascinated by Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs). I accumulated a small paperback library on the subject. Was a subscriber to Saucer News (that topic will be covered in a future post).
With my interest in UFOs, I was drawn to the novel by H.G. Wells, War of the Worlds, published in 1898. And have been entertained, many times by the 1953 movie starring Gene Barry and the 2005 movie starring Tom Cruise.
In subsequent posts I will explore invasion ‘fact’ of the Martian invasion outlined in the book and how closely the two movies follow those ‘facts’.
I hope you find these posts interesting.
At the conclusion of my War of the Worlds discussions I will explore the current quest to discover alien life. And how it may exist closer than expected.
July 5, 2024 at 2:39 pm
The mistake the Martians made was that they did not wear spacesuits, and this led to their demise. Of course, if they had worn spacesuits you would not have seen how hideous they were in the movies.
A picture of the Martians was not a concern in Wells’ book. Although he does provide a detailed description of the Martians and, to me, they would have appeared more frightening than they did in the movie.
The reason the Martians did not wear spacesuits was because bacteria did not exist on Mars. They had no concept of disease caused by bacteria.
There you have it. The reason the Martians lost the war.
June 9, 2024 at 1:12 pm
THE MARTIAN MISTAKE
One of my favorite movies is the 1953 edition of The War of the Worlds.
In both this movie, and the Tom Cruise version, the Martians make a major mistake resulting in their demise.
I will be discussing these movies in a future post.
What was their mistake and why did they make it?
Hint: The source of the Martian’s mistake is explained at the end of H. G. Wells’ book. The basis for both movies.
In seven days, I will share the answer.
June 2, 2024 at 7:29 pm
POST WAR OF THE WORLDS
The other day I watched the movie War of the Worlds made in 1953 based on the famous novel by H. G. Wells written in 1898. I can’t tell you how many times I have watched this movie and consider it one of my favorite if not my favorite science fiction movie. I also enjoy watching the 2005 version of the movie by the same name.
In the latest version the machines are more in tune with those in the novel, supported by tripods. But I think there is a basic flaw. It is hinted in the movie that the machines were buried on the earth maybe a million years ago. Wouldn’t their technology change over that length of time? Would they know the machines were still functional? Why would they think they would one day invade earth? These are just thoughts on the movies and not the purpose of this piece.
I think it is interesting to speculate what happens after the movie ends. Do the Martians launch another attack on earth, this time wearing spacesuits so they won’t die? And the earth has been decimated. How would the rebuild go?
Think Tokyo after World War II. What about the machines? Would man gain great knowledge from these devices improving life. And then there is the possibility of manufacturing new weapons and means of cloaking making the weapons indestructible. Would man use these new weapons for possibly more threats from space. Or more likely, would they wind up using them on each other.
July 20, 2019 at 10:19 pm
WAR OF THE WORLDS
For my blog, I don’t write long pieces. I want to make my point and hold my readers’ attention. (Notice I use the plural, perhaps wishful thinking.) Not boring those reading my words.
This may gain your attention. The entry following this discusses a story of haunting romance, a story captivating me most of my life, along with classic science fiction.
I seldom watch movies more than once, but there are exceptions. Every chance I get I watch War of the Worlds – the original starring Gene Barry. For those who may have missed it, he also appeared for a moment at the end of the remake starring Tom Cruise. In some respects the remake has details reflecting H. G. Wells’ classic novel closer to the original movie. Let me discuss these comments in more detail.
The original, made in the 1950’s, scared the hell out of me when I was a kid. The way the suspense builds is magnificent. Unfortunately, after multiple viewings, I have found some incidents which make little sense. For one, when to original ship lands it is too hot to approach, yet when Gene Barry, and his almost girlfriend use the wooden farm and another ship lands destroying part of the house, the structure does not catch fire. Also, for the act which finally results in the death of the Martians is that they venture into a new world without any protective gear. Would a civilization traveling through space take that chance? Maybe, if you enjoy something, you should not revisit it multiple time, and keeping the love alive.
Now for the remake starring Tom Cruise. The weaknesses are strong, yet also keep true to the book.
If you watch the movie you may remember when Cruise and his daughter are trapped in a cellar with a character played by Tim Robbins. I could wrong about it being Robbins. I’ve been wrong before. I believe the character Robbins represents is a minister who is killed by the protagonist in the book. This act of murder is hinted strongly in the movie. But before this event, Robbins tells Cruise the belief is that the Martian machines were buried on the Earth a million years ago. I should mention that the Martians come to Earth by way of lightning strikes to power up their machines. Here comes the ‘give me a break’. It’s like burying a Model T, and in the meantime, your society develops spacecraft able to travel twice the speed of light. Yet, to save your civilization, you use the Model T. Don’t you think that the Martians would have used technology which currently existed?
To the remakes credit, they do depict the Martian’s machines closer in the book than what the original movie. But overall, I feel the original movie is the best.
Now onto the romance.
February 7, 2016 at 10:12 pm
Walttriznastories's Blog 