TV Review War Of The Worlds

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Good to see a nearly the right period adaptation of the story at last. Spoiler alerts. I was disappointed by the over-emphasised soap opera elements - good role reversal in taking much of the focus onto the wife, Amy, largely unseen and I think un-named just like the narrator after the seperation in the novel. The shift from Victorian to Edwardian era is a little jarring, given it is about a three year difference (the novel was written in 1898, Victoria died in 1901. Lots of foreshadowing, characters just being set up to die later, mostly the it'll never happen, we have it all under control' people. Lots of people including Amy were working on the Woking crater site in their Sunday best without getting the slightest bit of dirt on them until the first Martian let loose. I do like the Martian look, as much three legged spider organic as machine, and the heat haze being invisible until it ignited people rather than giving out visible laser blast death ray flashes was really scary. Even while looking for the Maid (who will be dead right after they find her) George pauses the desperate panic to tell Amy that he has asked about divorce papers. Not exactly the right time or place George). Also impressed by his casual Dr Doolittle ability to stop a spooked horse in mid gallop panic just by stepping in front of it and saying whoa! George should have been on the floor with hoofprint indents at that point as the horse kept going to the next county. Lots of people getting knocked over and assumed dead before coming back again. The odd flashes forward to Amy wandering over the Martianized dust-bowl landscape with some Dickensian urchin in tow over the red weed variation wasteland was eiree but also confusing. Hopw far ahead of events is this leaping already? There was too jmuch emphasise on whether the two planet crossed lovers will reunite, giving it a Titanic tone, with everyone else expendible except the romantic self-proclaimed social pariahs. I found the struggle to get divorce papers annoyiing. Much more impressive was Amy seeing the Robert Carlysle photos date stamped to show the month dominated by Martian missile launches. Youtube - Song from the Jeff Wayne Musical Version of The War Of The Worlds Arthur Chappell