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War of the Worlds: Wells Martians
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The War of the Worlds radio broadcast by the Mercury Theatre under the direction of Orson Wells caused mass hysteria across the country when first broadcast in 1938. Why were people so willing to believe that men from Mars were actually attacking the world? Commercials and warnings were broadcast saying the program was just a dramatization, but still people believed the sounds of destruction coming from their radios. The story by H.G. Wells became fact for many listeners on that Halloween night. What started out as a hoax, became a national panic and the power of broadcasting would be forever changed.
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The new War of the Worlds movie will premiere in June '05. Based on H.G. Wells book, (e-text), the story terrified thousands of American radio listeners and caused a panic on October 30, 1938. That night, a series of increasingly alarming breaking news reports (narrated by a young Orson Welles) about an invading force of Martians interrupted the Mercury Theater show on WABC radio in NYC. Welles had announced at the start of the hour that he was reading a story, but most of the audience tuned in late and thought it was all real. More information can be found here and here.
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The War of the Worlds is neither a new adaptation of H.G. Wells' sci-fi opus nor a single documentary on the novel and its spin-offs. Instead, it contains a compilation of materials loosely related to Wells' original novel. Of the four programs herein, the first is a riveting and suspenseful hour-long theatrical docudrama, set in a single locale -- a TV news station -- during a Martian invasion of Earth; the second sequence, "Ms. Intergalactic," does a sci-fi spoof of beauty pageants, cutting humorously to a clip from B-budget Hollywood monster movies each time a new "contestant" is introduced; the third component is a 90-minute program of NASA footage related to the Earth's planned exploration of Mars; and -- finally -- the release features a short documentary about Jeff Wayne's musical adaptation of Wells' novel, alongside interviews with fans. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
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On the 9th of June, 1978, accompanied by a glittering multimedia launch at the London Planetarium, Jeff Wayne's musical version of The War Of The Worlds was unleashed. Taken from a slightly modified version of H.G. Wells' 1898 science fiction book, the album could in no way hope to equal the success of Wells' seminal novel, considered by many to have begun the modern sci-fi genre. Nevertheless, the musical version immediately entered the UK Album Charts and stayed there for over six years, going multi-platinum in the process.
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[O]n the verge of another World War on Halloween night, October 30, 1938 , CBS radio broadcasted Orson Wells’ dramatization of War of the Worlds and the reaction was incredible. Many listeners took it to be real and became frantic. Thousands of families fled their homes resulting in jammed highways. Many folks phoned loved ones with farewells. There were cases of heart attacks, miscarriages, and suicidal attempts. The New Jersey National Guard was called out.
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That same year, 1975, the world was almost treated to the return of the George Pal Martians, this time in the form of a proposed War Of The Worlds television series. Pal set up offices and hired designers, notable among them, former Star Trek art director Matt Jefferies and Lee Vasque, who had worked with Pal on the original movie. Little is known of this intriguing endeavour, though test footage was shot.
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Wells Martians