War of the Worlds
Well, after just coming from seeing the latest remake of H.G. Wells' work, I'd have to say that I liked it. The only detraction from it would be the semi happy ending. Seriously, Rob should have died. But a good effort over all.
In a ranking War of the World incarnations, I'd have to rank them as such:
1: The 1938 Radio Drama
2: The original novel
3: The 1988 TV series (I just loved that show as a kid.)
4: The 1953 movie
5: The 2005 movie
6: The 1987 "Newhart" episode.
What bothers me most about this adaptation is what bothers me about all of the late 20th Century/Early 21st Century adaptations of 19th Century Novels; the hero. In most 19th Century Victorian novels of this type, the hero is usually a scientist, doctor, or inventor. He's a Renaissance man force to be a man of action. He's the ideal hero that we can't necessarily identify with, but we should aspire to emulate.
Today however, the hero is a common man, someone we are meant to identify with. But to me, that detracts from the message of the novel. As with most themes today, they're playing to the lowest common denominator. After all, hey've turned Ogilvy, the astronomer from the novel and radio drama into a paranoid sudo-pedofile.
In a ranking War of the World incarnations, I'd have to rank them as such:
1: The 1938 Radio Drama
2: The original novel
3: The 1988 TV series (I just loved that show as a kid.)
4: The 1953 movie
5: The 2005 movie
6: The 1987 "Newhart" episode.
What bothers me most about this adaptation is what bothers me about all of the late 20th Century/Early 21st Century adaptations of 19th Century Novels; the hero. In most 19th Century Victorian novels of this type, the hero is usually a scientist, doctor, or inventor. He's a Renaissance man force to be a man of action. He's the ideal hero that we can't necessarily identify with, but we should aspire to emulate.
Today however, the hero is a common man, someone we are meant to identify with. But to me, that detracts from the message of the novel. As with most themes today, they're playing to the lowest common denominator. After all, hey've turned Ogilvy, the astronomer from the novel and radio drama into a paranoid sudo-pedofile.
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