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BBC Filming War Of The Worlds in UK


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The Beeb is currently working on The War Of The Worlds for airing soon. Keep an eye on the TV for any release date. So far they have shown a two second clip of a tripod in amongst their Drama Ad clips. At last it will be In Period and In England as per H G Wells story, not yet  another Americanised version. There is some web information on the BBC site.

Edited by Noel Smith
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Filming finished a while back, just waiting a confirmed release date.

 

The production is based on HG Wells' book but the 2 main characters are new.

 

Quote from Peter Harness, series writer.

 

“The version of The War of the Worlds that I wanted to make is one that’s faithful to the tone and the spirit of the book, but which also feels contemporary, surprising and full of shocks: a collision of sci-fi, period drama and horror.”

 

 

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Let's hope the script is up-to-the-job.

 

The Beeb are competing in a global market now, so hopefully they will have taken the time to get the script right. Although, going by the last series of Dr. Who, they do still make some embarassing mistakes.

 

We shall see, soon enough...

 

Chris. 

 

 

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From the very small preview of it we've seen, i'm not too sure what to think. I like that it's going to be the Victorian-style version of the setting, but I really dislike how the Tripods are....modern sci-fi? By that i mean it's the typical bright, futuristic alien technology with blue lights and shiny metal and all that. I don't think they should have been the original novel sort, but the movie versions felt a bit more grounded and less obtuse about being advanced technology.

 

That's not a huge problem though, I'll give it a try anyway.

Edited by TheVoidDragon
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4 hours ago, TheVoidDragon said:

I really dislike how the Tripods are....modern sci-fi

Umm … they're Martian creatures who can travel between planets and vapourise people with heat rays.  Why would they build fighting machines with button-back leather seats and aspidistras in pots?

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34 minutes ago, pigsty said:

Why would they build fighting machines with button-back leather seats and aspidistras in pots?

Obvious really - they were trying out some new colonial appropriation trends for interior decor back home?

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I think the martian war machines look quite good and make a nice contrast to the Victorian setting. Yes - they are typical 2020 Sci-Fi design, but how often do we see Sci-Fi movie design ahead of the time the movie is done? It is similar to fashion - there is mostly a common style which reflects what is curently going on/en vogue. In the thirties it was rockets, in the 50s saucers, in the 60s the colours white/black/silver, in the seventies the space ships became grubby and full of pipings etc,... now we have CGI with shiny metal and blue lights :-)

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On 11/03/2019 at 06:42, Noel Smith said:

At last it will be In Period and In England as per H G Wells story, not yet  another Americanised version. 

Oh Yes! 👍

 

This could be good!

It could be very good!

One of my favourite books of all time, Let’s hope the film is up to the job of capturing the images that the book conjures up in the readers mind.

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21 hours ago, pigsty said:

Umm … they're Martian creatures who can travel between planets and vapourise people with heat rays.  Why would they build fighting machines with button-back leather seats and aspidistras in pots?

I don't mean I want that sort of thing. Just that when it comes to Sci-fi designs now it pretty much always tend to be shiny, curved metal surfaces with bright blue-coloured lights and pointless glowy parts, it kind of gets a bit repetitive. This is what we've seen of them so far and it just looks a bit uninspired to me:

 

war-of-the-worlds.jpg

 

There are so, so many things that could be done that would look like superior alien technology without having to use the same stylings that are usually used to show somethings futuristic/advanced.

Edited by TheVoidDragon
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This is of course one of the beautiful things about fiction - every generation gets, to a certain extent, to re-imagine the author's vision and descriptions using their own contemporary zeitgeist.
Just occasionally with SF film & TV we get something that really redefines "the look" but as long as the BBC are not skin flints when it comes to the CGI I'm sure it will be OK.

I just wonder how many viewers of "a certain age" will have Jeff Wayne's music in their heads when this is shown!

Jonners - with an Ulla!!

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That was one of things I liked about Babylon 5: why would a spacecraft built/ grown/called by invocation from another dimension by a race of aliens of utterly... alien... form, biochemistry (or lack of it) civilisation, social structure, and understanding of fundamental physics, powered by who knows what black magic/sufficiently advanced technology even be recognisable as a spacecraft? And why would they line up in 19th century sailing fleet battle formation or fight like a WW1 dogfight? The Shadows know... I’m also REALLY looking forward to Consider Phlebas, and meeting the RoU A Slight Misalignment of Moral Codes,  and the GSV Not My Physics

best,

M.

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6 minutes ago, cmatthewbacon said:

That was one of things I liked about Babylon 5: why would a spacecraft built/ grown/called by invocation from another dimension by a race of aliens of utterly... alien... form, biochemistry (or lack of it) civilisation, social structure, and understanding of fundamental physics, powered by who knows what black magic/sufficiently advanced technology even be recognisable as a spacecraft? And why would they line up in 19th century sailing fleet battle formation or fight like a WW1 dogfight? The Shadows know... I’m also REALLY looking forward to Consider Phlebas, and meeting the RoU A Slight Misalignment of Moral Codes,  and the GSV Not My Physics

best,

M.

OK - Now holdup there boy - Ahhhh said , hold on there a second. Did you say  now did you say  (stay still there son, boys got a fidget like a possum with a flea) Consider Phlebas?

:)

 

cheers
Jonners channeling Foghorn but eager for a reply.

 

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Looks like my post has generated quite a bit of discussion.

Look forward to watching it in due course. At last it is 'in period' unlike the several Americanised versions we have become used to.

Had Spielberg done it true to the story and in period using Jeff Wayne's music it could have been a cinematic master piece.

He really missed a trick with his version of WOTW starring Tom Cruise although the CGI was good.

As for the ending where he got to the house to be greeted by the original male and female lead actors of the old American WOTW movie in a cameo role, sentimental schlock at its worst!

I found Sean's comment about  button backed leather seats and aspidistra pots quite amusing. More in keeping with the Time Machine I reckon!

At present I am reading two hefty tomes featuring all of H G Wells and Jules Verne's novels. Two very visionary writers in their day.

Will anybody do a bang up to date 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea I wonder? Disney's Nautilus has become  bit of an icon, and possibly the forerunner of the Steampunk Genre.

 

Edited by Noel Smith
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Let’s not forget that when it was written, WotW was a bang up to date state of the art techno-thriller. WotW is the Independence Day or Arrival of its era. It needs to feel contemporary, not like “period drama”. If they can do that with a Victorian setting, then great, but there’s no fundamental reason that setting it in the present day is wrong...

best,

M.

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WOTW I agree was an up to date techno thriller of that era. Precisely why I feel it should be portrayed  'in period' and not be modernised. My own take is that there are more than enough good and not so good science fiction movies in abundance already without taking classics by H G Wells and Jules Verne by modernising and worse, distorting the stories so they have but a passing resemblance to the original. For example, 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea just would not seem right if a modern nuclear submarine was used as the Nautilus in a remake movie.

Jurassic Park and Lost World was a prime example of modern techno thrillers by Michael Chrichton being very distorted in the movie versions. I read his first book two years before the movie JP1 was made and could see odd snatches from the books appearing in JP 1,2and3. If the original movie was true to the book it would have had an 18 rating. It was probably diluted with a view to all the after movie marketing spin off toys, t shirts etc

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On 3/12/2019 at 6:13 PM, cmatthewbacon said:

Jeff Bezos has bought it for Amazon Prime...

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/consider-phlebas-tv-series-works-at-amazon-1086840

best,

M.

edit: if the Banks estate got lucky, he was in a bidding war with Elon Musk...

 

Interesting... that article is over a year old, I wonder how things are progressing. Would be really interested in seeing this if they do it properly!

 

Gravitas?

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Set about 10-15 years late, Edwardian rather than late-Victorian but close enough.

 

Looking forward to it, just a little worried how they are going to beef up the story (the book is quite short and devoid of significant characters hardly any of which actually have names).  My fear is that it will get the BBC inclusivity and diversity treatment.  There is no doubt in my mind that the lead and strongest character will be Mrs Poldark.

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel

Edited by nheather
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Victorian and Edwardian periods not really that dissimilar with regard to technical progress at the time. I think that Wells lived in the Edwardian era. Eleanor Thomlinson will I think he a strong lead. The book as you said Nigel was not strong on characters so it will be interesting to see how it pans out, and hope the BBC does not go a bit PC as you might fear. Generally these dramas are contracted out to private producers so hopefully should keep mainly true to story. As WOTW was a relatively short nove! some padding out may be inevitable. Let's see!

Edited by Noel Smith
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  • 2 months later...

A BBC drama trailer earlier this year showed bits of it as part of their 2019 drama series, so probably later this year. 

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I will be running around trying to avoid Martians in London in a couple of months' time: Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds: The Immersive Experience

Should be fun! I hope my knees are up to it.

The coming BBC version of the story has to be better than the Tom Cruise vehicle, which fell dreadfully flat for me.

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  • 1 month later...

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