The Wars Of the Worlds

Wells' Martian - the eyes have it.

2011-11-21T06:28:00.000-08:00

With his eyes, done that's him finished. As anyone who's read the book will know, Wells is at his vaguest when describing the eyes.
First up, we have:
"... two luminous discs - like eyes". From that we get they have a couple of discs. Not eyes, but discs that could be called eyes. And they glow or are internally lit. Or something.
Then we have:
"Two large dark-coloured eyes". Oh, so now they ARE eyes. And are dark. No luminsosity at all.
Okay, how to do that then?
I've ummed and ahhed all over this build on that very point and, in the end, decided to go with this compromise here - have them large with a very dark brown and black iris centre, but ring it with a bright yellow to try and convey the luminous, disc description.

Wells' Martian - mouth done

2011-11-01T05:47:00.001-07:00

Here we are then with the tentacles put in place. The fact that they're elasticated cord means they'll be fully posable when done.
You can also see i've blocked the eyes in white, first step on the vaguest part of this build...

Wells' Martian - tentacles

2011-10-20T06:10:00.000-07:00

Here we go with half the tentacles done.
The book has them being "sixteen slender, almost whip-like tentacles, arranged in two bunches of eight".
I've painted them a grey/red just to distinguish them from the body and, ebing elastic cord, they have the advantage of being posable when i'm done.

A lovely original Martian design

2011-10-05T10:37:00.001-07:00

Many, many thanks to Andrew for giving me the heads-up to this site. Cheers matey.

http://www.modelermagic.com/?p=31689

Wells' Martian - update

2011-10-05T10:29:00.000-07:00

Okay, progress on this.
You may remember that the original plan was to cover a balloon in paper mache, then cut off the bottom to give a flat surface, and sculpt over the top of that.
Disaster.
With the bottom of the shape cut off, the paper mache just couldn't hold the weight of the clay and the whole thing folded.
Was thinking of folding the whole thing, but then came across this cheap plastic bowl i had stored away. It looked almost the teardrop shape i was after, albeit a bit taller than i'd have liked.
But, what the hey, lets give it a go.
It was strong enough to take the clay, so i whacked it on, all the while thinking what i'd have him look like.
This is where Wells' being vague and rather contradictory doesn't help at all.
The shape was easy enough, being "A big, greyish rounded bulk" and, at the front seems easy enough, being "... huge rounded bodies - or rather heads - about four feet in diameter, each body having in front of it a face".
The face is described variously as "This face had no nostrils... but it had a pair of very large, dark coloured eyes and just beneath this a kind of fleshy beak".
That beak was "... a mouth under the eyes, the lipless brim of which quivered and panted and dropped saliva."
Lovely, descriptive stuff, but then we get a contradiction to the mouth being lipless with "... peculiar v-shaped mouth with its pointed upper lip".
Okay, with all the above i had an idea what to do and i knew from before that i'd have a problem making a v-shaped mouth as you basically end up with a smily face. I got round that before by making the upper part much more beak-like but this time i thought i'd actually invert it and have the v upside down.
HG contradicts himself again with the skin being "greyish" then "... there was something fungoid in the oily brown skin". I liked the idea of fungoid skin so deliberatly detailed it up more as some sort of growth rather than bare skin. Last thing was to put in two beads for eyes.
Next up, a coat of Bleached Bone to start with, then a very watery wash of Burnt Umber after to try and add mottling to the detail i already had on.

A new Martian

2011-08-08T08:30:00.001-07:00

First up, aplogies for no posts in such a long, long while - other hobbies have sure got in the way.
Anyway, back now so, if youre, still with me, lets go:
As i've said before, am not a fan AT ALL of the Spielberg version of WOTW. The Tripods are okay i guess, but the rest is horribly, horribly wrong.
Biggest horrible wrong, after the fact that they're not from Mars, are the Martians themselves - a horrible sub-standard Independance Day ripoff. Did'nt they read the book????
Anyway, i'd got the kit of this abortion of a Martian as (A) i'd been swayed by Dave Daines' excellent paintjob at this years Dronearama, (B) it was 1/8th scale - the same as the George Pal version Moebious had also produced.
So, that got me to thinking: What if i did a truely accurate book version the same scale to go alongside them?
Finally pulled me finger out and the project is a go.
First up, i had to decided just how big this new one should be alongside the others. Mr Wells has them as being "A big greyish rounded bulk, the size, perhaps, of a bear...".
So, going by the figures and, more importantly, the cup on the base of the Speilberg one, i could roughly figure out how big it should be.
Pretty darn big was the answer.
"Rounded bulk" eh? No way was i going to make something that size out of solid clay, so the first thing i did was blow up a balloon to the right size and cover it with a couple of layers of paper mache;

After that, i've cut the bottom off to leave a teardrop shape bulk to which i'll be adding the air drying clay.

Neat Images (1)

2011-01-04T05:25:00.000-08:00

I love this picture by Tom Kidd. Not only does it have an accurate looking Tripod, the setting pefectly illustrates one of the reasons i love the book so.
There's a fair few passages such as "... four of the Martians appeared, far away over the little trees, across the flat meadows..." and its the image of the juxtaposition of these strange, totally alien devices travelling through the calm, serene English countryside i grew up in thats always stayed with me.

Full colour Martian.

2010-12-28T05:25:00.000-08:00

Blimey, only just realised i never ambled on over here with pics of the finished chappy.
Here you go then, and sorry for the delay. I've gone for a compromise in the end for his colour scheme, choosing to try and envoke how he looks in the film rather than that of the actual prop.
Lighting him up proved to be a bit annoying as, once i'd driled a hole for and placed the superbright LED, tinted the eye lens the 3 colours, then put it all together, it was only then i realised that the LED might be blummin' bright - but the light only goes straight ahead. Which meant it lit up the central membrane seperating the lenses and hardly any light came out of them.
*fume*
Luckily, i'd only pushed the eye in place as it was a real tight fit, so it was simple enough to take that back out.
Was a palaver though to drill 2 more holes in the head and neck to take the leads for 2 more LED's.
But, now i've one for each lens, reckon it looks much better.
There will be another update re a modelling project, just as soon as the sales die down and i can go browse the shops in peace.

What colour a Pal Martian?

2010-09-16T01:01:00.000-07:00

So, the problem of studio lighting strikes again. Watching the very brief scenes the fellas in, its hard to make out just what colours are going on there.
All you've got really is the glimpse Anne sees as she spies him outside - which appears to be VERY salmon pink in the harsh lighting - and this when he's indoors.
You can just about see the pinky tone on the highlights here, the rest appears to be dark brown washes, especially over all the veins.
So, am going that route and here he is in Games Workshops "Dwarf Flesh" for the salmon basis.

WOTW Martian - assembly

2010-09-13T23:29:00.001-07:00

(1) Right, first thing to address was lighting the fella up. A trip to the el cheapo store got me a single LED torch for a quid. Broke it open to get to the bulb, then soldered a long lead to it.
(2) Next was clean up and wash. Clean up was a simple case of removing the pour lugs., no seam lines, no filling needed. LOVE this kit.
Guessing Pegasus knew folk might want to light up the eye judging by the recess here behind the lens. As you can see, i've drilled right through. Also had to drill a hole through the middle of the body.
(3) The part fit is so good that i could assemble everything together without glue ready for priming.
(4) Here's the head with primer on, the eye socket area painted black to prevent light bleeding though (although the things so thick, don't think that'll be a prob) and the LED fitted. Looks like its a tad too bright but that's ok - its powered by three tiny watch batteries and, by removing one, i can reduce the light by a third. We'll see how it looks when the lens is painted and in.

Pegasus' Martian kit

2010-09-10T10:36:00.001-07:00

Blimey, i only went into Modelzone for some glue and filler...
Been awaiting this kit since it was announced as the George Pal version of War Of The Worlds was my number one film until Blade Runner knocked it off the top spot, and the Martian has always had a lot of charm, even if its nothing like Wells' original.
What was putting me off was the £34 price tag for a 1/8th figure.
So i figured i'd wait a while and see if i could pick it up cheaper. But there i was in the shop yesterday and there sat the fella looking at me.
And it took about 2 seconds before i gave in and bought him.
And was i glad too.
Open the box and you're presented with these here parts.
First thing to note is the hideous orange vinyl, which makes it look like something from the toy section of Poundland. Look beyond that though and there's a ton of luvverly skin detail and veins all over the place.
Next thing that's apparent is the clear base. Why? Still trying to figure it out but for the life of me i can't see why its done that way. It can't be to allow for some sort of uplighting as the base represents the floor of the ruined house, and there's so much junk on it that there's no way you could do it, even if such a thing happened in the film. Which it doesn't.
Then we have four arms. Its a nice choice - you choose to have them as on the box art, or them held together to cover up the eye as in the film when Gene Barry shines his torch at it. I'm going with the first one but will be using the spares to try out different colour schemes.
Next are the detailing parts. You get the shattered spy device, its neck, and a couple of books - one of which is The War Of The Worlds.
Finally, you get the eyes for both Martian and Spy. These are clear IP and, as the Martians eye is lit in the film, i can't really not light this fella up.
Might be a tad difficult though...
The vinyl is very heavy and thick, meaning drilling through the eye orbit into the head cavity will take some doing. Ditto running the cable down through the body.
The vinyl was a suprise - no heating up and triming of parts here. The don't have anything else other than small pouring stubs to remove and all sections fot together without glue as the peg system is so good.
Well done Pegasus.
Final thing to say is the size of the thing. I'd always figured, as it was 1/8th, it'd be pretty small. But, as you can see here, alongside my Iria kit in the same scale, he's a big fella.

Tat

2010-06-08T12:55:00.000-07:00

Jeff Wayne's War Of The Worlds is quite rightly well loved the world over. And known the world over, helped in no small way by the fantastic, iconic artwork by Mike Trimm.
So, with a massive potentail market for licensed collectables based on it, what would you come up with after the clothing?
A pre-paint of the Fighting Machine?
Nope.
Ditto the Martian?
Nope.
Kits of the above?
Nope.
Even better - a series of dioramas, either as kits or prepaints?
Nope.
No, none of the above.
Instead we get the bizarro idea of a USB stick in the shape of the canopy of a Fighting Machine and now this.
This.
Can hardly bring myself to type the following, figuring this must be a joke as surely they didn't have a board meeting to decide what the next release would be and came up with this.
Ladies & Gents, get your money out 'cause here comes what you've wanted ever since hearing the album way back when - your very own WOTW:

Tax Disc Holder,
Air Freshner,
Bumper Sticker,
and Mint Box Holder.

I mean really, have i fallen through a time portal and its actually April 1st today???????

Next Project

2010-05-27T13:08:00.000-07:00

"What's a jar of marmalade doing here?" You might ask yourself.
Stay tuned, all will become clear - just as soon as we've finished the marmalade.

Cinefantastique Vol 5 No 4

2010-05-27T10:00:00.001-07:00

If you're a fan of the George Pal version of War Of the Worlds, i do urge you to track this brilliant issue down.
Most of it is devoted to the making of the film, very indepth articles and stunning shots of the modelwork and preproduction artwork.
Best for me is the early version design for the War Machine, clearly showing the "rays for legs" effect briefly mentioned and seeen in the final film and Art Director Al Nozaki working on an early version of the craft - as witnessed by the Cobra Neck being set right back and 3 legs. Although whether they were meant to be actual legs attached to the underside, 3 temporary legs to simulate the force beams, or just a temporary stand, is not made clear.
Worth tracking down. Got mine years ago off eBay pretty cheaply although dunno what it fetches now.

Lego WOTW

2009-11-15T06:07:00.000-08:00

Very sweet this. And the guys done more besides:

Walk 11 - Primrose Hill

2009-10-23T03:42:00.000-07:00

"Great mounds had been heaped upon the crest of the hill"
And this is where we ended it.
Ian's leg was really giving him trouble and the incline is pretty steep.
Didn't really matter as, if we did climb to the top, there'd be nothing to see - the camp being an excavation. I'd have to take a photo of the ground.
So that's that.
Despite Ian's injury, we had a really good time and it wasn't that far - maybe 6 miles?
Recommended for a different sort of day out, but i'd urge you to go on a Sunday. a week days' noise and pollution would put the damper on it.

Walk 10 - St Edmund's Terrace

2009-10-23T03:37:00.000-07:00

"I hurried through the Red Weed that choked St Edmund's Terrace"...
Again, apart from one or two buildings, its all modern here.
There's a school in this road - be nice if they were taught of the literary events that happened on their doorstep.

Walk 9 - The Martian on Primrose Hill

2009-10-23T03:33:00.000-07:00

"On the summit, towering up towards the fading stars, was a third Martian, erect and motionless like the others"
Modern development has completely obliterated the view up towards the hill i'm afraid.

Walk 8 - The second Martian

2009-10-23T03:26:00.000-07:00

""Far away, through a gap in the trees, i saw a second Martian, as motionless as the first, standing in the park towards the Zoological Gardes."

Walk 7 - The Handling Machine

2009-10-23T03:23:00.000-07:00

"I came upon the wrecked Handling Machine halfway to St Johns Wood station".
The mansions are all still there and this is about half way, so a good contender for the building Wells meant.
Wonder if the occupants know of such things?

Walk 6 - Regents Park

2009-10-23T03:16:00.000-07:00

"And as i emerged from the top of Baker Street, i saw far away over the trees in the clearness of the sunset the hood of the Martian giant from which this howling proceeded."
Afraid there's no shots of the walk through Portman Square or up Baker Street, as i was pretty concrned about Ian and was focussing on him making it.
Anyway, here's the start of the park, still unchanged and easy to imagne a Tripod above this skyline.
If i had computer skills, i'd put one in.

Walk 5 - Marble Arch

2009-10-23T03:11:00.000-07:00

"I came into Oxford Street by the Marble Arch"
Out of the calm of the park and into the bustle of the modern world.
Just before here we hit a problem - Ian ripped a tendon in his leg crossing the road. We sat and had lunch to see if it'd get better. It didn't, so we slowly walked down to a chemists for a bit of first aid.
Was touch and go whether we'd carry on but Ian was a trooper and gamely hobbled on.

Walk 4 - Serpentine Bridge

2009-10-23T03:05:00.000-07:00

"The voice grew stronger and stronger, though i could see nothing above the house tops on the north side of the park, save a haze of smoke to the north-west".
MUCH more like it. A few minutes into the park and everything goes still, calm and quiet. Very hard to believe you're in London and easy to believe you're back in Victorian times.
No sign of any house tops northwards, the trees having massivly grown in the meantime.

Walk 3 - Hyde Park junction

2009-10-23T03:01:00.000-07:00

"At the top, near the park gate, i came upon a strange sight - a bus overturned, and the skeleton of a horse picked clean.
The gates still there, but its now a very modern junction, with nothing Victorian about it at all.
Ian and Samuel seen here scouring for horse bones.

Walk 2 - Exhibition Road

2009-10-23T02:56:00.000-07:00

"All the large mansions on each side of the road were empty and still, and my footsteps echoed against the sides of the houses.
No chance of that these days - even on a Sunday morning the traffic was pretty busy. The mansions are still there though, and very lovely they are too. That's Ian in the foreground, trying to get away from my reading of the book aloud as we walk.

Walk1 - Natural History Museum

2009-10-23T02:47:00.000-07:00

It was near South Kensington that i first heard the howling... It came in a full tide down Exhibition Road. I stopped, staring towards Kensington Gardens, wondering at this strange, remote wailing.
So here we are right next to the Museum, which the narrator considers climbing to the top of to get a better view.
The right side looking northwards is pretty much unchanged from Wells' time but, after the Museums, the left is a hideous mess of new buildings.

My WOTW Walk.

2009-10-23T02:41:00.001-07:00

Been a long time away i know. Back now and, to kick it off, thought i'd start with something i've had in mind to do for quite a few years now - follow the narrators walk through dead London at the end of the book.
Its a pretty easy job as Wells is very descriptive of just where the fellas going, all you need is a copy of the book and an A-Z.
So, last Sunday, me, my son Samuel and good friend Ian set off to see just what the route looks like now.
Starting point was South Kensington as my son is only 8 and didn't want to tire him out.

War Of The Worlds Diorama - dinky Fighting Machine

2009-04-14T07:57:00.001-07:00

Here's one all done. SO cute. And such lovely detail for such a small scale.

War Of The Worlds Diorama - the clear bits

2009-04-13T07:50:00.000-07:00

That's them all done. VERY impressed with this Pegasus company as everything just pushes into place without glue, the fits that good. You can see i've done the clear wing tips and front thingy in Tamiya Clear Green and one of the Cobra Head eye pieces in Tamiya Clear Red. Not sure about the flame part. I coated it with Tamiya Clear Orange then the Red at the top feathering it down towards the blast area. But, dunno. Flame effects are really difficult to pull off and i've no idea how this'll end up. Trouble is, you have to use it - you're not given the option of a spare lens in case you didn't want to. Which'd have been nice.

War Of The Worlds Diorama - progress

2009-04-13T05:11:00.001-07:00

Here we are with the base a much more accurate (though dull) colour. Tanks pop a bit more now they're lighter. And you can see i've started to drybrush the three dead men turned to ash laying there.
Name plaque was a bugger to do.

Crashed Cylinder

2009-04-13T05:05:00.000-07:00

Come across this in a box this morning and thought i'd show it to you. Its supposed to be the Martian Cylinder on Horsell Common.I made it for the UK SF Build Challenge over on the SFMUK site but,alas, that was cancelled due to lack of entries.
So, shelved this. Its not quite finished as i wanted a LOT more people - but at this scale, they're pretty expensive and i was going to get them bit by bit. Still might do that, but for now the diorama shows the first few folk on the scene.
Oh, and the cylinder is a Ferro Roche egg container cut at a 45 degree angle, plopped into a mass of Das Pronto then Games Workshop scatter material sprinkled over.

Nice George Pal compilation

2009-04-12T00:44:00.000-07:00

War Of The Worlds Diorama - changing colours

2009-04-11T00:21:00.001-07:00

So here's the base in Red Oxide Primer and the tanks in the suggested Olive Drab. Had a look at the battle scene in the film (oh, what a hardship) to get an idea what shade of brown the ground should be - and i've got to change ideas.
The ground isn't anything like brown, more just shades of grey, and that's before the Martians start burning things up. So will have to change that.
And the tanks are much more of a lighter green than the Olive Drab, so that's got to change.
I had initially thought any sort of grass would be out as the seperate shards of the stuff i've got would be waaaay out of scale to this 1/44th. But in the film there's quite tall grass there, so thinking i'll put it on after all.

Polish comic book version

2009-04-10T23:44:00.000-07:00

Just come across this nice piece from ALFA magazine. Not at all accurate but Waldemar Andrzejewski's take on the beasties is quirkily charming.

War Of The Worlds Diorama - primed

2009-04-10T03:41:00.000-07:00

Blimey, that was fast. Cleaned all the pices last night and this morning assembled the kit. Seems i need do nothing more than glue the tracks on the tanks. And their turrets just puch into place - handy as i think i'm gonna need a bit of poseability when it comes to lining everything up.
The War Machines look like a very good snap-fit, with no visible joins so you can see here i've primed them still in their halves. The Cobra Necks also snugly fit into a space that then fits into the hull - again a snug fit. So, taking a gamble and keeping everything apart for the main painting.

War Of The Worlds Diorama

2009-04-09T12:51:00.000-07:00

Headed up to Comet Minatures today.
Was quite suprised to see he'd got so much new stuff in - a lot of Trek resins i guess ready for the new film, but this is what i went for: the new diorama from Pegasus Models.
I'd seen it up on sites such as Culttvman and Starship Modeller and the $17.00 price tag was very appealing. But, with the pound/dollar rate being what it is right now, that'd work out about £12.00, add P&P makes it nearer £16.00, then the inevitable Customs would hike it up to about £30.00.
So to find it for £19.95 made it a must-buy.
So, what do you get? Very nice, but quite small (1/44th) pieces, and not a lot of them. As you can see from the instructions, parts are small and build will be pretty easy.
Bit worrying is the very soapy feel to the plastic - so a bath before assembly.

New Fighting Machine kits

2009-03-21T07:41:00.000-07:00

Hey there.

REAL sorry in the long time since a post here, but i've been (A) caught up in work and (B) really busy on my hobby of SF model making.

Which has meant no real time to come in here and post stuff.

But a new item looks like it'll be possible to merge the two - an excellent new 1/44th diorama.

Can't wait!

What to do with a Pal Fighting Machine?

2008-11-25T06:04:00.000-08:00

Built this a few years back and i'm really pleased with how it came out.

Trouble is, it just sits on a shelf doing nothing. I'd like to display it in a diorama but how the heck do i support it?

Logic says use clear rods coming out from the three green circles on the underside (and they're recessed so that's possible) but i wouldn't want to glue them in place, so it'd be a case of it sitting gingerly on top of them.

Bit risky as the resins quite delicate and i don't want accidents.

Dark Horses WOTW adaptation

2008-11-21T06:03:00.001-08:00

If you've not given it a go yet, i highly recommend this telling of the tale by Ian Eddington and D'Israeli.

Their sequel Scarlet Traces are the better known, and i'll come to them in due course, but the book adapatation is a lovely piece of work, with some clever, in spirit new bridging dialogue and scenes, and some excellent art.

I'm not that sure though on Matt's version of the Tripods (being it appears based on Mike Trimms rather than the book) but the Heat Ray's nice and the Martians themselves are excellent. I shamelessly stole the idea of the wide apart black eyes for my sculpture.

If you can't get access to it, here's the whole thing online:

http://www.darkhorse.com/zones/wotw/wotw_popup.php?p=1

The definitive Martian

2008-11-18T03:11:00.000-08:00

As i've said before, no-one's done a truly accurate version in my opinion. But this one, by Paul in the 1920's, is my favourite.

The Jeff Wayne poster magazine

2008-11-18T03:06:00.000-08:00

The audio cassette of the album i bought waaay back in '78 is long since gone. This hasn't though - and i still treasure it. What a shame its issue number 1 and they never made more.

The Heat Ray

2008-11-18T02:46:00.000-08:00

The trouble with the Jeff Wayne version is that i listen to it far more than i read the book. So there's a tendancy to take the events and descriptions on the album as being what actually occurs in the book.
Case in point, the Heat Ray. Listen to the album and you get "a tall funnel rose and an invisible ray of heat leaped from man to man..."
Nice - but not accurate. Wells is vague (there's a surprise) on what it looks like and it doesn't appear at all during the slaughter at the Cylinder, just the invisible heat.
We don't get a description of it until the Artilleyman is recounting what he saw. There it is descibed as a " kind of arm carried a complicated metallic case, about which green flashes scintillated, and out of the funnel of this there smote the Heat Ray".
(By the way, the "interesting" Pendragon film has confused the Heat Ray with the wobbling mirror which rises up prior to the Heat Ray first firing. Of course, its not the Heat Ray but rather a periscope affair.)

What did a Fighting Machine look like?

2008-11-18T02:26:00.000-08:00

A puzzle i've not been able to figure out is why no artist i've come across has ever depicted the Tripods as Wells described in the book, especially as its a rare instance when he's pretty descriptive over something to do with the Martians.

A lot of artists have either gone there own way (stand up Mike Trimm. As brilliant as his design is, it bears almost no resembalance), or used some of the elements - but not all.

Those elements are:

"a monstrous Tripod, higher than many houses" "Giants in armour... hundred feet high"

"in the hood sat a Martian"

"behind the hood was a huge mass of white metal like a fishermens basket"

"... Martians were crawling slowly towards the second cylinder under cover of a metal shield. Later this shield staggered up on tripod legs and became the first of the Fighting Machines."

".. a great body of machinery on a tripod stand"

"articulate ropes of steel dangling... swinging and rattling about its strange body"

To me, the most accurate version i've come across is this one by Correa. It has the shield upper body, the mass of machinery underneath, the tentacles (altough not enough of them) and a pretty accurate Heat Ray. Falls down though by not having the holding basket or hood, and the inclusion of the "face".

90% then.

Wells' contradictions: Martians

2008-11-17T04:43:00.000-08:00

Whether by accident or deliberate, Wells can be kind of vague when describing the Martians and their technology, something i guess that's allowed for the huge amount of differing designs over the years.
Its something that was brought home to me when i attempted to create accurate versions of things from the book.
Lets have an example - the Martians themselves.

"A big greyish bulk, the size perhaps of a bear". Okay, so its, what?, about 8 or 9 feet long and a sort of grey.
"... the head of the thing, was rounded and had, one might say, a face. There was a mouth under the eyes, the lipless brim of which quivered..." So it has a head??? Not so much a bulk then George. This is something that artists have never depicted, preferring to go instead with a rounded lump with a face on the end. Even HG drew them like that.

"two luminous discs - like eyes" Notice the hyphen. they're not eyes like discs but discs like eyes. Not eyes at all then.

"a mouth with a lipless brim". So no lips.

But a little later on we have "pointed upper lip" and "wedge-like lower lip". So it DOES have lips!
There's more thoughout the book like this and, as i say, its quite difficult to try and get everything as described. I had a go though and this is my attempt.

Why i love the book.

2008-11-17T04:18:00.000-08:00

So its my favourite novel of all time, and one i have to read at least once a year.
Every piece of praise heaped upon of it is, of course, justified.
But why do i like it so much? What's the cord that strikes me?
If i have to sum it up, its best represented by "Quickly, one after the other, one, two, three, four of the armoured Martians appeared, far away over the little trees, across the flat meadows..."
I've always lived in Kent and in pretty unspoilt areas, rife with fields and orchards and meadows. The notion of such a bizarre, ALIEN device just rambling across countryside i know so well has always been a very powerful image for me. And the fact that Woking is only an hours drive away makes it even more personal.

My Alvim Correa version Tripod

2008-11-14T06:47:00.000-08:00

Made this a couple of years ago. Kind of pleased with it, but of course no WAY could i match the mood of the paintings.

Alvim Correa's Fighting Machines

2008-11-14T06:26:00.000-08:00

To me, Alvim's designs for the Tripods are pretty much the best so far.

He's been true to the book in having them look like boilers on stilts. He's got the shield-like upper section. He's got the dangling tentacles. And it looks like he's got the non-pivot on the knees.

Where's he's strayed is to give them a "face". don't mind that though - its no more than the liberties taken by all the other artists, and it just adds to the eerieness of the design.

How i love these evocative, moody, scary scenes. Must try and track down an edition of the book they're in (but being a 1906 French version, i'm not holding my breath).

Moving around in time

2008-11-14T06:15:00.000-08:00

Okay, up till now i've been posting things in the order i came across them.
But, from now, i'll be flitting back and forth across time, choosing subjects that take my fancy.

Jeff Wayne's version

2008-11-14T06:04:00.000-08:00

Now, things are a bit hazy but i'm pretty sure i didn't read the novel between watching the Pal film and getting this album.

So, this was my next exposure and, boy, its been a long exposure at that: got it on cassette when it was released in '78. Played it so much i wore it out. It was one of the first things i got on CD. And from now till then i've played it at least once a month (much more than that if you include all the remixes and stuff from a couple of years back).

Again, its far, far too important to dismiss with just one post.

Will be back to this soon.

George Pal's film

2008-11-13T06:37:00.000-08:00

This is it - ground zero, the place where my love for SF, astronomy, spacecraft design, 50's B Movies, effects work, the list goes on and on, were born.

Chronologically, this was my next exposure to the tale - and, boy, did it leave an impression. Can't remember how old i was when i saw it, but must've been about 10. I thought then, and still do now, that's its a stunning film, and is easily in my top ten of favourite films ever.

Again, i'll come back again and again and again.

Where it all started - the 1960's record

2008-11-13T06:15:00.000-08:00

Here it is - the thing that got me into The War Of the Worlds and i'm pretty sure into SF as well.

I got it one Christmas when i was about 7 i think, so about 1969. I played it endlessly, which explains its sorry state today.

What is it? I hear you cry (well, i don't. But i like to think i do).

Its odd, that's what it is.

Its an audio adaptation of the novel and is very peculiar in who its been gone about. Its set in the correct time, has the Cylinder, the Tripods and the Heat Ray. It starts to differ with Ogilvy surviving and following the narrator (who's no longer a narrator as its not narrated) though the events. I can understand that though as having someone asking questions and having them answered saves on an awful lot of exposition.

What i don't understand though is (a) why the artilleryman joins them for most of the story, (b) why a child has to tag along and (c) why its VERY vague as to where its set. Woking is named, Horsell Common too. But then tons of Americanisms seep in (oh, everyone talks with an American accent by the way), with London alays being refered to as the "Capital", complete with "Capital Building".

As i say, odd. But its a fun romp and i'll be coming back to it a few times on this Blog. Before i leave it for now though - 2 things. The artwork on the cover here used to mesmerise me and i studied it for hours. Particually taken with the Martian in the hood, the zapping of the Heat Ray and the loose clothing of the woman...