UK Timeline : The War Of The Worlds

Originally Posted by Mr K

It's a shame people try and see 'agendas', particularly if the BBC are involved. HG Wells was a socialist, so if there is anything, it's just reflecting the author.

Finally made a start on my Blake's 7 boxset (3 episodes down, 49 to go, never seen Mrs K look more depressed ). No doubt that would be dismissed as lefty socialist claptrap these days, with freedom fighters against the system. In 1978 it was just entertainment with wobbly sets as a bonus, nobody asked or looked for anything more.

On the contrary - Blake’s 7 makes useful observations about the logical end point of a totalitarian regime propped up by high technology (and then, like Wells, postulates that an alien invasion, by someone all the more powerful, renders oppressor and oppressed alike, all but impotent ... sorry, season 2 spoiler). The difference between Blake’s 7 and the present adaptation of WOTW is that Blake’s 7 for the most part just shows you the evil, especially in its earlier episodes, before Servalan was allowed to become a pantomime evil queen, and while they had the benefit of the more measured portrayal of Travis by Stephen Grief. The production team on WOTW have tilted towards leaden dialogue and over-cooked looks of horror/sympathy to underscore the political message. They could have been a lot more subtle, but subtle exposition of social and political topics is not a hallmark of British tv drama at the moment, sadly.

I gave it a pass. I've seen too many attempts at the story and I'd rather just read the book now.

[Mr K]

Originally Posted by Chris

On the contrary - Blake’s 7 makes useful observations about the logical end point of a totalitarian regime propped up by high technology (and then, like Wells, postulates that an alien invasion, by someone all the more powerful, renders oppressor and oppressed alike, all but impotent ... sorry, season 2 spoiler). The difference between Blake’s 7 and the present adaptation of WOTW is that Blake’s 7 for the most part just shows you the evil, especially in its earlier episodes, before Servalan was allowed to become a pantomime evil queen, and while they had the benefit of the more measured portrayal of Travis by Stephen Grief. The production team on WOTW have tilted towards leaden dialogue and over-cooked looks of horror/sympathy to underscore the political message. They could have been a lot more subtle, but subtle exposition of social and political topics is not a hallmark of British tv drama at the moment, sadly.

See? You've looked into it far too much for sub texts. It's just entertainment. I love it for the costumes; the blond woman looks likes she's stepped straight out of Abba , in her high heeled boots, and keeps tripping up over the sets

Well that was disappointing. I have no idea what they thought they were doing with last night’s episode. They span about 15 minutes of story into 60 minutes, the CGI was ropey and I’m almost certain there were still FX missing.

Having looked forward to this ever since it was announced (two years ago I think?) ... disappointing.

[Pierre]

It was totally pants, the whole thing was a lesson on how screw up an adaptation of a classic story.

I don't think anyone has managed to do it justice ever. The definitive version remains the musical version!

Episode 1 was slow, and just seemed to be a outlet to show how pretty the lead actress could look (if you like redheads).

Episode 2 the tripods where actually quite good, I liked the way they moved. There was no further explanation of why the smoke killed them. No Thunderchild. Artilleryman Superfluous.

Episode 3 not just Ep3 but the time jumping forward and back didn't do anything to enhance the story. The aliens didn't look good.

it was just not good, I think budget constraints may have affected it.

I did warn you

Originally Posted by Paul

I wouldnt get your hopes up too much, it really wasnt that good tbh.

https://newsthump.com/2019/12/02/hg-...GB77PBg3MfqhbM