Seventy years ago today was the original broadcast of "The War of the Worlds". Listen to it, uninterrupted, here. The program reportedly caused a mass panic across much of the Northeast. [more inside]
posted by backseatpilot on Oct 30, 2008 - 13 comments

"Once the tripods start to move, no more news comes out of that area..." Fortunately Michael Condron's tribute to The War of the Worlds, put up on its centenary, will continue to remain in place.... [more inside]
posted by Kronos_to_Earth on Aug 9, 2008 - 21 comments

Floor Games. H.G. Wells and miniature gaming.
posted by EarBucket on Feb 10, 2008 - 11 comments

What with the new movie and the whole Tom and Katie thing, it's no surprise that the world's gone War of the Worlds mad recently. Still, for my money, this Darkhorse comic, adapted from H.G. Well's original text is gonna be ace - there are twelves frames up at the moment and they're adding all the time, with the aim of completely some 120 pages of superbly drawn comic-novel in the not-too-distant... Enjoy.
posted by benzo8 on Jun 21, 2005 - 32 comments

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. Wav files of the original broadcast can be downloaded (or purchased) from here. "They're bombing New Jersey!": Check out a picture of the NYTimes front page and full text of the article they ran the next day. War of the Worlds has been made into several films, including this one from 1953.
posted by zarq on Dec 11, 2004 - 69 comments

War of the Worlds cover art from the last hundred years or so. (Plus, related artwork and the Martian-Canadian conspiracy, finally uncovered!) [via kottke]
posted by arto on Jul 9, 2004 - 5 comments

TV and the Hive Mind
64 years ago this week, six million Americans became unwitting subjects in an experiment in psychological warfare.
posted by Irontom on Oct 27, 2003 - 12 comments

War of the Worlds (this is not about Bush) Don't own a television? Want an alternative? Live performance, live orchestra, no net. October 30, 2002 8-9 PM Eastern. Glenn Beck recreates Orson Welles chilling performance that captivated a nation along with full orchestrations and foley effects. this is a radio broadcast
posted by RunsWithBandageScissors on Oct 29, 2002 - 6 comments

The Time Machine opened in wide release this weekend but according to multiple reviews ( including this one) it looks like great-grandson Simon managed to transform a socialist metaphor for the dangers of industrialization into yet another special effects-loaded romantic movie. This seems to be an overall trend in Hollywood to remove the socio-political content from adaptations following The Count of Monte Cristo and Planet of the Apes. Perhaps we should just stick to the book on tape.
posted by KirkJobSluder on Mar 9, 2002 - 21 comments