# How was Spielberg's "War of the Worlds" different from the book? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 23, 2009, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-spielbergs-war-of-the-worlds-different-from-the-book/507362 "2009-08-23T01:59:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Abe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f1d935/32.png) [@Abe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abe)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-spielbergs-war-of-the-worlds-different-from-the-book/507362/21 "2011-08-25T10:40:14Z")
Ogilvy the astronomer, who provided informed commentary in the early portion of Wells’s book, in the movie became a blue-collar beer-swilling beer-bellied neighbour who just happened to be present. Talk about dumbing everything down… that one modest change is the problem writ small. Not a good effort at all. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-spielbergs-war-of-the-worlds-different-from-the-book/507362/22 "2011-08-25T11:12:05Z")
I remember the book and enjoyed it. I don’t remember the movie, presumably because it wasn’t very memorable. That’s the key difference. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-spielbergs-war-of-the-worlds-different-from-the-book/507362/23 "2011-08-25T11:22:41Z")
I thought the Speilberg film was much better than the other remake where the aliens had bigger ships and were eventually destroyed by a computer virus. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-spielbergs-war-of-the-worlds-different-from-the-book/507362/24 "2011-08-25T11:34:47Z")
… wow. I seem to have been carrying a lot of anger against that film TWO YEARS AGO. I apologize for the uncharacteristic display of vitriol. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-spielbergs-war-of-the-worlds-different-from-the-book/507362/25 "2011-08-25T14:04:33Z")
Don’t. The movie sucked. [Jeff Wayne](http://www.thewaroftheworlds.com/) still wins as the best adaptation of the book. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-spielbergs-war-of-the-worlds-different-from-the-book/507362/26 "2011-08-25T14:34:11Z")
This seems a good place to make my observation that the Tom Cruise version did have Dakota Fanning often screaming her head off. Understandable, she is a child. The first movie with Gene Barry is quite enjoyable EXCEPT for that screaming ninny of a grown woman he hauls around by the arm, going off like a car alarm every 15 minutes. It annoyed me years ago and annoys me even more now. Shut! The! Fuck! Up! you idiot! ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-spielbergs-war-of-the-worlds-different-from-the-book/507362/27 "2011-08-25T14:39:25Z")
That’s what happens when a work hits “classic” status. Look at how many versions of “The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde” exist. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-spielbergs-war-of-the-worlds-different-from-the-book/507362/28 "2011-08-25T14:46:06Z")
Did the movie have Martians ingesting blood out of humans through pipettes? That’s one of my favorite details from the book. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-spielbergs-war-of-the-worlds-different-from-the-book/507362/29 "2011-08-25T15:02:09Z")
> [@Abe](#): > > Ogilvy the astronomer, who provided informed commentary in the early portion of Wells’s book, in the movie became a blue-collar beer-swilling beer-bellied neighbour who just happened to be present. Talk about dumbing everything down… that one modest change is the problem writ small. Not a good effort at all. I have seen this movie probably more times than anybody who has posted in this thread, but I do not remember this character (unless you’re talking about Tim Robbins, who didn’t provide informed commentary, just ramblings that didn’t make sense). I also think the movie is far better than a lot of people give it credit, and very morally complex. I mean, the protagonist murders a man in front of his daughter\*, which isn’t something you see in action movies - the deaths are large, loud, and cartooney, whereas Tom Cruise killing Tim Robbins was a horrible necessity which changed both him and his daughter, none for the better. \*Technically, he did it behind a closed door, but DF definitely knew what her Dad was doing and was shaking because (a) her dad was breaking a rule she was taught you NEVER break, and (b), her Dad might have lost, leaving her to the definitely pervy Robbins character. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-spielbergs-war-of-the-worlds-different-from-the-book/507362/30 "2011-08-25T15:07:51Z")
"leaving her to the definitely pervy " Should read: “leaving her defenseless to the definitely pervy…” ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-spielbergs-war-of-the-worlds-different-from-the-book/507362/31 "2011-08-25T15:14:44Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Don’t. The movie sucked. > > [Jeff Wayne](http://www.thewaroftheworlds.com/) still wins as the best adaptation of the book. I agree completely. Not only is it a good adaptation, but the music is terrific. Ulla! ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-spielbergs-war-of-the-worlds-different-from-the-book/507362/32 "2011-08-25T16:19:43Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > This seems a good place to make my observation that the Tom Cruise version did have Dakota Fanning often screaming her head off. Understandable, she is a child. The first movie with Gene Barry is quite enjoyable EXCEPT for that screaming ninny of a grown woman he hauls around by the arm, going off like a car alarm every 15 minutes. It annoyed me years ago and annoys me even more now. Shut! The! Fuck! Up! you idiot! Strange, I watched this version recently, and only recall her screaming 3x. One when her uncle is melted down by the heat ray (hardly a WWII technology, as someone else stated). - (justifiable) Two was when one of the Martians touched her. (justifiable) Three when she saw the blood coming from the severed martian camera-thing (you got me on that one) ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-spielbergs-war-of-the-worlds-different-from-the-book/507362/33 "2011-08-25T16:40:16Z")
> [@BwanaBob](#): > > Strange, I watched this version recently, and only recall her screaming 3x. > One when her uncle is melted down by the heat ray **(hardly a WWII technology, as someone else stated)**. - (justifiable) > Two was when one of the Martians touched her. (justifiable) > Three when she saw the blood coming from the severed martian camera-thing (you got me on that one) It was stated that Martians were at perhaps WWII-level of tech in the _book_ (where the Earthlings were at Victorian-era levels of [del]steampunk[/del] tech; still giving the Martians a decided edge), not in the movie. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-spielbergs-war-of-the-worlds-different-from-the-book/507362/34 "2011-08-25T16:53:50Z")
Why would I want to watch a bunch of Victorians bare-knuckle box some Olde Tyme aliens in steampunk tanks? An alien walking tripod SHOULD be able to vaporize most of Bayonne in minutes. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-spielbergs-war-of-the-worlds-different-from-the-book/507362/35 "2011-08-25T17:21:54Z")
I’m eagerly awaiting Speilberg’s adaption of _Edison’s Conquest of Mars._ ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-spielbergs-war-of-the-worlds-different-from-the-book/507362/36 "2011-08-25T17:34:38Z")
> [@mobo85](#): > > I’ve never read the book, but I would assume it didn’t have Dakota Fanning screaming a lot. Well you have to make allowances for Spielberg. Most of his movies are going to have a child screaming a lot. (Never understood why he seems to think screaming children=engaging cinema.) ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-spielbergs-war-of-the-worlds-different-from-the-book/507362/37 "2011-08-25T18:21:17Z")
I wanted to kill Fanning after this movie. I mean, I actually felt murderous rage towards a child! I also wanted to kill Spielberg. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-spielbergs-war-of-the-worlds-different-from-the-book/507362/38 "2011-08-25T18:48:04Z")
I’m kind of curious what those posters who didn’t like Dakota screaming think a pre-pubescent girl (or boy for that matter) is going to do when they’re being attacked by those pesky aliens? Be stoic? Act in charge, barking orders? In the movie, over a 24 hour period, she lost her Dad’s house, she lost her Mom’s house (or Tim’s house, whatever), she saw more dead bodies than any of us have ever witnessed, the world has turned completely upside down, and she is fearful for her mother’s life, and by the next morning after the tripod arises, she’s a homeless refugee. I mean, really: complaining that a 12 year-old in a movie is acting like one would expect an average 12 year-old to behave in this scenario is kind of silly. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-spielbergs-war-of-the-worlds-different-from-the-book/507362/39 "2011-08-25T18:52:01Z")
A prepubescent girl didn’t need to be in the movie in the first place! ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-spielbergs-war-of-the-worlds-different-from-the-book/507362/40 "2011-08-25T18:55:09Z")
That was one of our biggest complaints about the movie - the story was plenty interesting on its own - it didn’t need the gratuitous addition of kids. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-spielbergs-war-of-the-worlds-different-from-the-book/507362.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-spielbergs-war-of-the-worlds-different-from-the-book/507362.md?page=3)