Growing up I was horrified of the idea of a hostile Alien invasion.

[Squilookle]

Talking about WoW, one thing I find notable is that in the original work, the aliens were easily winning, but weren't god-mode invincible. For one, forcefield defences weren't a thing back then. British artillery could destroy tripods (also interesting in that, IIRC, British artillery was lagging behind some continental rivals at the time), and the Martians stopped to look at the Thunderchild for too long before attacking it.

Later adaptations tend to have them have shields and can't be scratched.

They kind of had to if they were updating human technology. The original had artillery pieces struggling to hit 10 storey high fast moving pods on legs. Since then we've invented much faster and more accurate weaponry- if the Martians didn't get a shield upgrade to balance that, the war would have swiftly gone the other way.

True, you can change the allegory, but again, doesn't make it better or even, in this case, any good. Some say the novel was an Empirical guilt backlash- written by an Englishman to make his countrymen understand how the 2/3rds of the globe that the British Empire had subjugated must have felt. That's a hell of a lot more interesting and timeless than an allegory about some stupid little war in the Middle East the U.S. is incapable of dealing with.

I don't think it's remotely deniable that the war of the worlds is an allegory about colonialism (and also animal rights). It's incredibly text.

Guess it's a good thing that I... didn't deny it then?

 

[Terminal Blue]

Guess it's a good thing that I... didn't deny it then?

Indeed. I was agreeing with you, but also pointing out that you could have expressed your point more definitively than you did.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Talking about WoW, one thing I find notable is that in the original work, the aliens were easily winning, but weren't god-mode invincible. For one, forcefield defences weren't a thing back then. British artillery could destroy tripods (also interesting in that, IIRC, British artillery was lagging behind some continental rivals at the time), and the Martians stopped to look at the Thunderchild for too long before attacking it.

Later adaptations tend to have them have shields and can't be scratched.

They kind of had to if they were updating human technology. The original had artillery pieces struggling to hit 10 storey high fast moving pods on legs. Since then we've invented much faster and more accurate weaponry- if the Martians didn't get a shield upgrade to balance that, the war would have swiftly gone the other way.

Ah, but it's not balanced back to the Martians winning, but taking some casualties, it's changed to the Martians playing on god mode. You could also have the Martians make their machines from some magically tough metal, but it has to be shields nowdays.

 

[Squilookle]

Talking about WoW, one thing I find notable is that in the original work, the aliens were easily winning, but weren't god-mode invincible. For one, forcefield defences weren't a thing back then. British artillery could destroy tripods (also interesting in that, IIRC, British artillery was lagging behind some continental rivals at the time), and the Martians stopped to look at the Thunderchild for too long before attacking it.

Later adaptations tend to have them have shields and can't be scratched.

They kind of had to if they were updating human technology. The original had artillery pieces struggling to hit 10 storey high fast moving pods on legs. Since then we've invented much faster and more accurate weaponry- if the Martians didn't get a shield upgrade to balance that, the war would have swiftly gone the other way.

Ah, but it's not balanced back to the Martians winning, but taking some casualties, it's changed to the Martians playing on god mode. You could also have the Martians make their machines from some magically tough metal, but it has to be shields nowdays.

Yeah I agree, The Martians taking no casualties is a bit naff compared to them suffering some early losses, then swiftly adapting and gaining dominance. That's why I love the Jeff Wayne version.