It is a rather fun retelling, with interesting references to the book for fans to catch. I was surprised you guys didn't mention the first movie at all, or the TV series, and obviously you're not familiar with the rock opera

really suprised by this, I haven't watched it since it was in cinemas but I really wasn't impressed. I didn't believe Tom Cruise as a low paid dock worker, the kid spent the whole movie screaming "Daddy Daddy Daddy" and the other kid was unlikeable for reasons stated.

I really didn't like the scene in the basement with the tentacle and then an identical scene with aliens.

...Yes. That.

You guys have reminded me of one of the more interesting 7th Doctor stories, Ghost Light, which like many from that era had too many ideas and not enough time/money. An alien in the past was sent to catalog everything on Earth but was frozen, and when he awoke he found everything had evolved and thus his catalog was useless. Rather then start over, he though it would be easier to just kill all the new things and catalog what was left

That sounds like it would be a pretty cool episode. I never got into Dr. Who because watching episodes in the states used to be a hit-or-miss thing. They'd play them all out of order and you were lucky if you could ever find them on TV. The last couple of doctors have been pretty popular, tho. I'll have to see if the series is on Netflix or something. My mom used to watch it all the time when I was a kid, tho, so I caught a bunch of episodes back then and kinda liked it.

I'd like to see them do a film series for Dr Who. I'm sure that's possible now that the good doctor has become so popular outside of the UK.

The thing about Doctor Who, at least the original, is once they started airing them as "movies" instead of 25 minute episodes in the US order didn't matter. There never was much continuity between stories apart from maybe them landing on the next planet at the end of the previous episode. I kinda wish the new version would go back to that... also, if you're going back to the series now keep in mind that even more then Star Trek it's very hit and miss, and each era is different. The original dynamic (grandfather, granddaughter, and two teachers who have a thing for each other) was never really repeated unfortunately. Someday...

As for the movies, yeah they were an attempt to market the Daleks outside the UK. They're adaptations of the first two Dalek stories, but the originals are oh so much better.

The plants were in the original book as part of the alien take over, so he had alien terra-forming in a turn of the century sci fi novel and a bacterial retaliation for his ending...
HG Wells was appalled by the British imperialism at the time and used it in reverse having England being invaded by a technically superior race who killed and converted the landscape to their needs only to be brought down by disease similar to what had happened to various British units in Africa and Asia.
I would also recommend reading the " Time machine " for the nihilistic original ending which has not been done in any of the film versions, and also the lesser know book "the sleeper awakes".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sleeper_Awakes

Everything in this movie either has an explanation, or simply didn't need one.
Somehow people keep saying "well that piece of tech or car should be working like
everything else". Um, it's real simple, it only killed stuff that was operating at the time.
The camcorder that was shown obviously wasn't turned on till after the EMP burst.
The Van was dead. But Cruise, (obviously being a master mechanic by way of a
small block engine being rebuilt in his kitchen) was smart enough to tell the mech
to replace the starter solenoid which the the original one fried because someone
was trying to start the van while he EMP burst was happening, and the rest of the
electrical components in the van were OK, because they are connected to the
accessory side of your ignition switch. when you crank your car, that stuff gets turned
off momentarily. This is why you hear your radio and a/c turn off while cranking your car.
(and I know this because I have been a mechanic for the last 20 years)

As far as the Son is concerned, when they are on the hill and there are tanks and army
guys blowing stuff up, he doesn't say "let me go" like he is tied of his dad, he says
"I have to see this!!", which obviously means that in his sons mind and heart, he
needs to see the battle. It is the same as when my granddad and everyone else
went and signed up for WWII without a draft, they were compelled by their very
being to go and fight, to see the great battles that they were watching on those
newsreels and listening to one the radio. after were attacked at Pearl Harbor, it
became even more compelling to go.  The son didn't want to leave his sister and father,
he HAD to. I myself can't understand this concept, but I know guys that reenlisted that
very hour after the second plane hit. 
About him being still alive at the end, we don't see him die. We see a bunch of tanks and
men run forward over the hill, and the son runs out first to see the most fantastic/horrible
thing that he we ever see, that anyone, anywhere will ever see in the history of Mankind.
There is every reason to believe that some of the men ran around the legs of the tripods.
Father and daughter are in the basement, which has camera cuts and we are not sure of
exactly how long they are there, giving Robbie plenty of time to have hitched a ride on
a transport, a helicopter, we will never know his story.  Just as we are there to see one
mans(Cruise) journey of survival, there are countless other stories of people here and there
making it out alive in some way, just like the son did. We see the look in the Fathers eyes and
the look in the Sons eyes before he lets him go.
I really think that kid who played the son did a fantastic job there at the last seen we see him.
I just cant get that image out of my mind of the look they give each other, its just so real.
I have a daughter, and it just makes you see a scene like that in a different way IMO.

About the tech being under the ground. Has anybody ever considered that when the
walkers were placed in the ground, it was probably done by remote control, which
is why the aliens have never been there before, just a probe to send back data.
It most likely was before humans, and perhaps even before dinosaurs. when they
arrived here, by way of some kind of electrical beam, like a transporter, they probably
didn't even know that we were here, and didn't care. and as far as there being no reason
for having the stuff under the ground, it is probably the best FTL travel plan that I have ever seen
in a movie. send your tech by REMOTE control, and then many years later, when that planet
comes up on the queue, then simply beam yourself there, no hyper-sleep crap, no having
to eat, one moment you are on your planet, then you are in your tripod walker thing
ready to terraform.
AND, AND if you really want to get into it, maybe its not like you think. Maybe the tripods
were sent to the planet at the same time as the aliens, but the only way to send something FTL that is not organic, due to their magic bean alien technology, it has to travel BACK IN TIME, which is why the stuff was already there. Then it remotely buries itself to be protected from the weather and any lifeforms that happen to be there.
So the aliens and their tripods attack all at the same time, put the tripods go first, and back in time.
Then they Beam over a moment later, and the tripods have been waiting for you all this time on earth,
and it is all seamless as far as the aliens are concerned.
plus they probably don't even consider it bad to kill us, we are just insects to them.

Last edited by mkeithddc (2014-03-16 02:06:23)

They've been telling that story on the backlot tour for like the last five years.

Last edited by paulou (2014-03-17 20:13:51)

Oh....well I'm sad now.

/You forgot something.