quibbler wrote:

I won't "spoil" it for anyone, although this story has been
done a few times before and I think it was probably done better
before. In fact, Mr. Spielberg has even done some of these
types of stories before and at least it was fresh back then.

I said a zillion times that it should have been a period piece.

Could you imagine that? Those infernal machines... pre
deadnaught ironclads, their guns blazing... the period
clothing...

Of course, you couldn't do it EXACTLY as written. Today's
audience would need a little help, a virtual elbow to the
ribs. You'd have to provide a little context. A lot of the charm
of the original story was the fact that the aliens were doing to
the British what the British themselves were doing to others.

Sort of.

The British empire enslaved...errr...encompassed a quarter of
the globe.

Even the eating of people was a fairly accurate metaphore. The
wealth of the empire was coming from other people's resources
and labor. The aliens, in turn, survived by using "lesser races"
as food.

I'm not so sure that metaphores work as well as they did in the
past. Then again, I didn't live in the past so I really have no
idea if they worked back then.

"quibbler" <quibbler247@yahoo.com> wrote

I won't "spoil" it for anyone, although this story has been
done a few times before and I think it was probably done
better before. In fact, Mr. Spielberg has even done some
of these types of stories before and at least it was fresh
back then.

I said a zillion times that it should have been a period piece.

Could you imagine that? Those infernal machines... pre
deadnaught ironclads, their guns blazing... the period
clothing...

Of course, you couldn't do it EXACTLY as written. Today's
audience would need a little help, a virtual elbow to the
ribs. You'd have to provide a little context. A lot of the charm
of the original story was the fact that the aliens were doing
to the British what the British themselves were doing to
others.

Sort of.

The British empire enslaved...errr...encompassed a quarter
of the globe.

Even the eating of people was a fairly accurate metaphore.
The wealth of the empire was coming from other people's
resources and labor. The aliens, in turn, survived by using
"lesser races" as food.

I'm not so sure that metaphores work as well as they did in
the past. Then again, I didn't live in the past so I really have
no idea if they worked back then.

"quibbler" <quibbler247@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.1d2d1eaf2798866698978c@news.readfreenews.net...

I won't "spoil" it for anyone, although this story has been done a
few times before and I think it was probably done better before. In
fact, Mr. Spielberg has even done some of these types of stories
before and at least it was fresh back then.

I skimmed through an absolutely scathing review in a local paper due
to the film's locale (New Jersey, right across the river from
Manhattan). The reviewer found it to be insensitive because of 9/11.

The
reviewer found it to be insensitive because of 9/11.

Anyone cheesed off by another Spielberg rip-off might be interested in
the Pendragon films version, shooting for which ended just before
Spielberg's.

In article <MPG.1d2d1eaf2798866698978c@news.readfreenews.net>,
quibbler <quibbler247@yahoo.com> wrote:

I won't "spoil" it for anyone, although this story has been done a few
times before and I think it was probably done better before. In fact,
Mr. Spielberg has even done some of these types of stories before and at
least it was fresh back then.

Anyway, the reason this is relevant to alt.atheism is because of a
moronic little piece of theist drool thrown into the story at the very
end. But first, just to make sure I don't catch any flak for spoilers,
I'll provide a bit of space, just in case folks don't remember how the
whole "alien invasion" thing was resolved.
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In the original story, bacteria from the earth's atmosphere kill off the
aliens. That's retained in the story and I think that it strikes most
modern audiences as moronic. It was made all the worse by the fact that
at the end the narrator something to the effect that the humble bacteria
that "God saw fit" to put on earth defeated these mighty aliens. It
does further suggest, however, that humans have immunity because they
have adapted. So that really suggests that evolution was the proximate
cause of mankind surviving. That's certainly more believable than
crediting a god to begin with.

I was afraid of that. I think that I'll still go with the 1953 version.
It wasn't great science fiction, but what I enjoyed was when the Air
Force went to nuke the Martians, they used the Northrop B 49 "Flying
Wing" bomber. They had some great shots of what appeared to be an actual
plane in flight. (I'm an old plane buff.)

Not much was known about antibiotics when Wells wrote the original novel
in 1898. It would seem incredible to me that a civilization capable of
building space ships would not have brought along something to protect
themselves from alien microorganisms.

Picture of the Flying Wing:

http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/systems/b-49-pics.htm

On Wed, 29 Jun 2005 22:10:40 -0600, quibbler <quibbler247@yahoo.com> wrote:

I won't "spoil" it for anyone, although this story has been done a few
times before and I think it was probably done better before. In fact,
Mr. Spielberg has even done some of these types of stories before and at
least it was fresh back then.

Anyway, the reason this is relevant to alt.atheism is because of a
moronic little piece of theist drool thrown into the story at the very
end. But first, just to make sure I don't catch any flak for spoilers,
I'll provide a bit of space, just in case folks don't remember how the
whole "alien invasion" thing was resolved.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
In the original story, bacteria from the earth's atmosphere kill off the
aliens. That's retained in the story and I think that it strikes most
modern audiences as moronic. It was made all the worse by the fact that
at the end the narrator something to the effect that the humble bacteria
that "God saw fit" to put on earth defeated these mighty aliens. It
does further suggest, however, that humans have immunity because they
have adapted. So that really suggests that evolution was the proximate
cause of mankind surviving. That's certainly more believable than
crediting a god to begin with.

That sounds pretty much like the same epilogue they used in the 1950s version.
I've always found it just a bit offensive too.
As if life that evolved on another world would be vulnerable to bacteria that
evolved on this one to begin with....possible but not likely.

That sounds pretty much like the same epilogue they used in the 1950s version.
I've always found it just a bit offensive too.

As if life that evolved on another world would be vulnerable to bacteria that
evolved on this one to begin with....possible but not likely.