War Of The Worlds, With Orson Welles
<div class="IPBDescription">Blast From the Past - Radio Fun</div> I must say I was very impressed with the presentation with the early half and it did in fact feel really authentic, but given the intermissions within, <a href='http://www.space.com/sciencefiction/phenomena/war_worlds_hoax_991029.html' target='_blank'>I'm still surprised that people were petrified by the show://I'm still surprised that people...ied by the show</a>.
The program first aired back in 1938, and while I've never watched the movie, I'm pretty confident that this easily trumps any classic science-ficition movie. Even though some of the sound effects in the program were unrealistic, they hinder the atmosphere far less than the abysmal visual effects you see in old science-fiction movies - (honestly, how many pre-1970 science-fiction movies still look good today besides Space Odyssey: 2001) ?
A shame that you can't get an experience like this anymore, not like any reputable TV news station would ever try to pull this kind of stunt.
Curses to video for killing the radio star.
The program first aired back in 1938, and while I've never watched the movie, I'm pretty confident that this easily trumps any classic science-ficition movie. Even though some of the sound effects in the program were unrealistic, they hinder the atmosphere far less than the abysmal visual effects you see in old science-fiction movies - (honestly, how many pre-1970 science-fiction movies still look good today besides Space Odyssey: 2001) ?
A shame that you can't get an experience like this anymore, not like any reputable TV news station would ever try to pull this kind of stunt.
Curses to video for killing the radio star.
Comments
Also what is interesting how society has taken a near 180 degree turn. We now doubt the validity of things even when coming from multiple sources and are otherwise disillusioned. And with reality TV and the like, we're used to fake things appearing as if they are real...
Still, I wish I could have been around to hear the original broadcast.
It worked, essentially because Martians to the people of the thirties were as real as, say, Terrorists are today. It's hard to draw an analogy today but I guess that comes sort of close.
If that stunt were pulled today, well, no, that stunt could never have been pulled in this day and age. Far too many people would sue the radio station for damages, the courts would rape them sideways, the newspapers would slam them and those involved would probably get arrested and charged with terrorism or some such.
The 1950's movie on the other hand was pance compared to the novel. In my opinion, the Movie had far too many references to god, religion and so forth that were never in the original novel. I dont think HG Welles even mentioned religion to any significant degree. They also never included the toxic gas the Martians used to exterminate the humans like vermin. It had some good points in modernising and some terrible points in others. It still has that "This is a 50's film. TEH WOMENS MUST SCREAM!!!" that is so rife with 50's films (except perhaps The Third Man, which was excellent at making it's main female protagonist not only an equal but a formiddable protagonist). Good all round but could have been done better.
Still, you have to understand the perception of mars at the time. It wasnt some barren desert that had been devoid of life and water for billions of years, it was in fact a lush red world, colder then earth for certain, with equatorial deserts that the martians had built gigantic canals to irrigate their equatorial crops (so giant that they could be observed from earth). In it's Autumn it took on a brown hue, it's polar ices could even be seen shrinking and expanding. Mars was held in the same regard as Venus as life bearing worlds (Venus was viewed as being somewhat swampier though). Jupiter was also a ripe world for life, albeit a life that could deal with crushing gravity pressure and temperature (the Great Red Spot was thought by some to be a gigantic mountain (or perhaps island) poking through the cloud barrier).
To the people of the time all these worlds not only had life but intelligence. This was before any space probe, before even the very first sattelite. And dont forget that this was also before such events as Watergate that lead people to begin to question what they were fed. It was, "Whatever the radio says must be true if plausible". Essentially you could have made a news report saying that Russia had declared war on the US and had already annexed large parts of Canada in a blitzkreig that nobody expected and you would probably have been believed by a majority of people at the time.
Times were different back then. Thats why they fell for it.
Exactly, people suck.
<!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->The 1950's movie on the other hand was pance compared to the novel. In my opinion, the Movie had far too many references to god, religion and so forth that were never in the original novel. I dont think HG Welles even mentioned religion to any significant degree. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Nope, he was a well-know atheist, which was quite unusual at the time. One of the characters was a priest of some sort (can't remember the actual word used), and Mr Wells made sure that he was a spineless, cowardly character who dies in a particularly grusome manner in the original.
The movie sucked. It bore no resemblance to the novel in any way at all. The aliens were meant to be tripods, much like the striders in HL2, not flying-freaking-saucers! That, and the movie apparently (I couldn't bear to watch it all the way through myself) focusses on some romantic subplot that didn't even exist in the book.
It were the suck!
(Edward) Half-life 2 does a similar thing does not it
expect you to put in put it is true
(Edward) Half-life 2 does a similar thing does not it
expect you to put in put it is true <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Erm...lots of repsect for trying to write in English, but maybe you could write in your own language, then we could
A) Get someone to trnaslate
or
B) Pop it into Babel Fish?