Heavy Metal Summer 2011 War of the Worlds Special

If you have read my review of the July 2011 issue of Heavy Metal magazine, you’ll know that based on that particular comic book strip, I was developing some pretty serious misgivings about the likely direction of the forthcoming movie it promoted. War of the Worlds Goliath is an ambitious attempt to continue the story begun by H G Wells in a post invasion world awash with reverse engineered Martian technology, and as a major backer of the project Heavy Metal are using their flagship magazine to promote the film. Fair enough, but the previous story seemed heavily burdened with a need to pander to what I surmise are two of the magazine’s core principles: violence and profanity, and at first glance, the cover of the Summer Special looks to have the third covered pretty well; plenty of improbable cleavage. But, get past the pneumatic cover and you find it’s actually completely unrepresentative of the contents. It’s not perfect by any means, but this is a much more sophisticated read than I expected. Shows you should never trust a book by its cover, no matter how buxom.

Things get off to a very promising start with the opening story, St Petersburg. This is a simply beautiful looking piece of work by the enigmatically named Puppeteer Lee, who has crafted a chilling (in more ways than one) vision of an icy hell. Russian forces prepare to repel Martian Tripods, but thought they are outgunned and surely doomed, they ride into battle undaunted and determined to expel the invaders from their winter shrouded motherland. Each panel of this strip is a work of art in its own right and as such it is difficult to pick out a particular favourite, however one two page spread of Russian soldiers riding toward a phalanx of Martian Tripods is particularly fine. All the artists in this issue stick to the same basic design for the Tripods, but in the hands of Lee, they seem particularly organic and demonic. I was also particularly heartened to note that St Petersburg is written by David Abramowitz, who is also writing the movie. If this issue achieves nothing else, it at least suggests that the movie is in the hands of someone with a true feel for the material.

Legacy is a completely different work, both in terms of script and especially art, which in the hands of Wankok Leong, opts for a bold cartoony approach. It’s not at all ineffective, and focusing more on the visceral Martians themselves, lends itself well to the material. The narration of the story takes an interesting approach, and can at times be read as if spoken by a human or a Martian, with an intriguing interchangeable viewpoint. It’s good, but inconsistent. As the story opens I was pretty certain I was watching preparations for the invasion by the Martians while reading the words of a British soldier, perhaps implying a kindred spirit of sorts, but that fascinating idea doesn’t seem to take root, and writer Chi-Ren Choong can’t quite hold it together strongly enough to bring the story to a fully satisfying conclusion.

Devine Wind by Leon Tab with art by a certain Kromosomlab (yes, one word) is another striking shift of style and alongside St Petersburg, boasts the strongest art in the issue. The opening page is incredibly powerful and one I have returned to again and again. This I’d like to own the original of, it’s that arresting, as a grim faced freefalling Japanese suicide pilot plummets from the sky straight toward the reader. This is where I love the whole concept of a wider War of the Worlds. The idea of Japanese suicide parachutists landing on the backs of Martian Tripods is giddily insane, and carried off here with considerable skill and pathos.

Back to a more cartoon style for the next tale, though it’s very different to Legacy, not only in terms of art, which has a smart Manga look, but story too, for The Oath is a love story first and foremost, and not a bad one. It’s the longest strip in the issue and as such has time to develop the characters very satisfactorily. Joe Pearson crafts an interesting tale of a young man orphaned in the first Martian Invasion, who grows up to join the forces readying to combat an expected 2nd attack. I liked this story a lot, and it’s certainly the one tale in the strip that has the legs to carry on, and in fact I wonder if we might see the lead character in the movie.

The penultimate strip is The Patient, a dark piece of fiction from Gavin Yap and artist Remy “Eisu” Mokhtar. The art again has a Manga sensibility which suits this unpleasant (in a good way) tale of a mental hospital patient released in the confusion of a Martian attack. Wandering the war ravaged streets, he comes to look upon the Martians as Gods, and goes out of his way to aid them in attacking the defending forces. The art for the final story in this issue by Slaium reminded me a lot of the work of Bryan Talbot, who I have always admired. It’s a nice enough little homage to The Thunder Child from Wells’ original novel, though it’s all a little obvious where it’s all going.

So not a bad issue all told, with some outstanding art and interesting writing, though I did find a certain repetitive sameness about the stories. With the exception of The Oath, none of the stories really go anywhere. It’s almost as if the writers were all given the same brief and mostly stuck to it, hence the template seems to be: Martians attack, protagonist provides gloomy introspective narration, everyone dies. The story in the July issue had the same problem. If we’re going to see more of these comic strips in Heavy Metal, we could do with some stories that have better defined characters and plots with a proper beginning, middle and end. The Oath almost does it, so come on Heavy Metal, I can only give you silver for this, let’s see you aim for gold next time.

Review of War of the Worlds Goliath: Outpost, in Heavy Metal Magazine

For those not in the know, (and it’s an easy mistake to make) Heavy Metal magazine is a monthly publication featuring comic strips for a mature audience, and not a certain brand of music. If I had said adult audience, you’d almost certainly have made another assumption, though if truth be told, there is a high proportion of female flesh on show, nothing particularly offensive it must be said, but I feel it fair to give the warning should anyone feel inspired by this review to go out and buy it. I’ve not actually bought a copy before though I am aware of the French magazine that inspired this American version and own several anthologies of material published there. I have to say, that on that admittedly incomplete comparison I was less impressed by the American publication as a whole. The French edition (based it must be said again on the anthologies I own) certainly did not shy away from “mature” content, but it seems far more sophisticated in nature. Heavy Metal USA seems to be pandering very determinably to a very specific demographic.

But presumably that’s not why you are reading this review. You want to know about the War of the Worlds comic strip contained within, called War of the Worlds Goliath: Outpost. The story is set in a post Martian invasion world, where abandoned Martian tech has been reverse engineered by the human race. You should also know (if you didn’t already) that the story is a preamble to a forthcoming animated War of the Worlds movie that Heavy Metal is helping to finance. On that basis I worry considerably for the movie, because this is a not terribly successful introduction.

Make no mistake; there are things to like here. The art by Popia is pleasing to the eye and the gory fight scenes certainly have a raw visceral power. If I were to make a comparison, if the original War of the Worlds was the film Alien, this would be its sequel Aliens.  It’s basically a massive gung ho battle, with a group of rag tag marines trapped in an Antarctic base (there’s a bit of The Thing mixed in here) going toe to toe with the Martians. Judged entirely as an “action movie” type story it ticks all the required (what few there are) boxes of the genre. There’s surely potential to be had from the idea of bigging up The War of the Worlds in this manner, but rather than bringing two different genres together in a careful melding of ideas into something new and exciting, this feels like they were raced toward each other at break neck speed and rammed together. In other words, it’s a bit of a wreck.

Now, if you’ve looked at what I write, you’ll know that I’m pretty keen on the idea of stretching the original novel in new directions. It’s a story ripe for re-imagination and collecting and cataloguing anything related to The War of the Worlds is a passion of mine. But there are certain things I would prefer were left well alone. Hence I’m really not happy for writer Chi-Ren Choong to have transformed the aloof and enigmatic Martians into wise cracking smart arses. I literally cringed to read dialogue like, “You know how it is with eating humans. Half an hour later you’re hungry again.” What! The other big problem is that nothing really significant happens in the story. For sure there’s some attempt to inject token characterisation into the marines, so all have their little back story/sob story that got them dumped in the snowy wastes, but we’ve seen this sort of thing so many times now that the novelty has worn off and little in the way of sympathy is generated.

So as the Martians penetrate the base in exoskeleton tripod devices (nice designs but haven’t we seen that in Independence Day?) we’re treated to various gory decapitations and dismemberments. As mentioned previously, Popia turns in some stylishly grisly scenes and certainly seems to know his anatomy, but it’s a by the numbers story of attrition. The problem is, as the marines are bumped off one by one, I just couldn’t bring myself to care, there’s just not enough time in the short story to develop feelings for these characters. Perhaps 16 year olds will find all the gore and profanity amusing, but nothing about this story felt compelling or deep enough to draw me in. In fact the language (and not just the incredible level of crass profanity) seemed horribly out of place. I’m sure that behind closed doors your average Victorian could and did swear like a trooper, but the dialogue here feels far too modern for the 1914 setting. There is of course a propensity at the moment for making period pieces with modern slang and cadence, but it’s getting old, and my fear is that this is the approach taken by the movie. There’s a Heavy Metal summer special due out any day now that will contain a number of other War of the Worlds strips, so I’ll reserve judgement for now, but sorry to say this is not an auspicious start.

War of the Worlds Goliath strip in latest Heavy Metal

We're still waiting for the new animated War of the Worlds movie, Goliath, but Heavy Metal Magazine is starting to push out the publicity with a new comic strip in their July 2011 issue. If the strip is anything to go by, and given that Heavy Metal is an "Adult" comic book magazine, this is going to be a radically new take on the story, with a second invasion kicking off in 1914. I'm not yet sure if the characters in the comic strip (subtitled Outpost) will feature in the movie, or indeed what narrative connection there will be, but hopefully I will be able to snag a copy soon and present a full review. In the meantime, you can see some sample pages at http://www.heavymetal.com/pdf/july_2011.pdf.

Paramount secures The Martian Chronicles

Ray Bradbury hated the American television Mini Series of The Martian Chronicles, though I have always had a soft spot for it, but there have been any number of attempts to get a big screen movie off the ground, only this particular rocket has just never wanted to fly. Now it appears that Paramount have secured the rights to what is unquestionably the finest collection of short stories every written about Mars. However, the producer is a certain John Davis, who most recently produced the awe inspiringly dire Gulliver’s Travels, a film I wish I could erase from my memory. Flicking through Mr Davis' IMDB credits, I see little else to be enthusiastic about. He did produce the rather wonderful Predator, but also Waterworld and Daddy Day Care. Is Mr Bradbury aware of this fine body of work? OK, I'm being harsh, everyone has to earn a living, and I'm sure Daddy Day Care has brightened at least as many lives as it has blighted, but this is a work that needs to be treated with upmost respect and dignity. The thought that Eddie Murphy might be in with a shot at a role (Davies and Murphy worked together on the Doctor Dolittle films as well as Daddy Day Care) is enough to make any fan of Ray Bradbury want to book a one way ticket to Mars.

Sinbad: Rogue of Mars heading for big screen

Until a few moments ago I'd not seen anything of the comic book property this proposed movie is based on, but if all goes well in 2012, we'll have 2 major movies set on Mars, the Pixar John Carter production (now well under way) and now a trip to Mars for Sinbad. The comic looks pretty cool, with the art reminding me quite a bit of the recent animated Sinbad movie. Very little information is available about the movie, and so far it looks like all we've really got to go on is a nice teaser poster, so of course this could all blow away in the wind before anything concrete happens such as casting and pre-production, but here's hoping 2012 is shaping up as the year of Mars.

We're all doomed, doomed I tell you!

We're facing an absolute glut of alien invasion movies at the moment, with the latest to arrive showing a full on assault on the world. Invasion: Los Angeles looks like good fun, but it does raise the question, what would our chances really be if aliens invaded. John Alexander, a retired Army colonel who has written a book about UFO's  thinks we've had it, though I strongly agree with his stance that man on alien hand to hand combat is pretty unlikely. We are much more likely to be wiped out by an alien manufactured virus (assuming they want to claim a pristine uninhabited world for themselves) or they'll just sit up in orbit and pound us into submission without risk to themselves. There's a right up on the likely battle plans of alien invaders on AOL News.

The Green Gables Inn goes to War

One of my very favourite War of the Worlds stories has to be that of the Green Gables Inn, and how a band of plucky regulars set out on the Halloween Eve of 1938 to battle the Martian Invaders. Henry Sears was just a youngster at the time, but listening to his radio that night, he was so worried that he took it downstairs for others to hear, rattling the drinkers so much that they took up their guns and headed off for Grover's Mill to fight the Martians. I'd made some efforts to find the Inn, and knew from one contact that it still existed but in a terrible state of repair, so I was delighted to receive a mail this week telling me that the Inn had been located and photographed. The full story can be found in the Newsletter of the Philadelphia Association for Critical Thinking.

Astronauts land on Mars

After 8 months in space, 2 astronauts have walked on the surface of Mars. Well, I'd like to be writing that for real, but in fact it's a simulation running in Moscow, but it is true to say that the 2 astronauts and several other colleagues really have spent 8 months cooped up in a series of cramped chambers pretending to fly to Mars. It's all part of the Mars500 project, designed to test long duration missions. Full details and some pictures of the heroic astronauts on the "surface" can be found on the BBC website. Check back here in about the year 2030 and hopefully I can write that headline for real.

Aliens will not spark panic says psychologist. Pull the other one.

Psychologist Dr Albert Harrison of the University of California has suggested that given our widespread acceptance of technology, we are now in a much better position to accept an alien visitation without succumbing to blind unreasoning panic. That's an interesting observation but surely fatally flawed. It doesn't matter how smart our phones are, we're clearly morbidly fascinated with the idea of alien invasion. The longevity of the genre is proof of that, with several big budget alien invasion movies recently released or on their way, it's clear that fear of invasion is becoming a predominant concern for many people. It doesn't have to be aliens in this age of terrorism, but put a mile wide mothership over New York for real, and I can't see the citizens below taking it in their stride.

War of the Worlds talk show this evening.

I'll be guesting on Kate Valentine's Viewpoints show this evening. The show goes out at midnight New York Time on  WYNM am 970 The Apple. Viewpoints is primarily a UFO show, but there's a clear connection with The War of the Worlds, and this will be a good opportunity to discuss how panic radio broadcasts, UFOs and the planet Mars have become interconnected.

A Concrete case of panic

The 1938 War of the Worlds radio panic, the anniversary of which we are about to celebrate, was largely focused on the East Coast of America, but the West Coast can boast at least one celebrated example, when an entire town lost its head. It was 5pm when the broadcast was heard in the little town of Concrete, Skagit County, Washington. It was all down to an unfortunate quirk of fate, when a lightening strike knocked out the power in the town just as the Martians were laying waste to New Jersey. Thinking the worst, that a Martian Tripod was attacking, the residents took fright. Feliks Banel of KUOW radio has the full story, including an amazing interview with a resident who remembers that dark and stormy night. Definitely worth a listen.

Getting beneath the skin of a Martian

The movie site Ain't it Cool News has been running a fascinating series of behind the scenes photographs in recent months, and today they've turned up an amazing image from George Pal's War of the Worlds movie. The Martians in Pal's movie something of a failure. They're seldom seen, not so much to build suspense, but because the suit was so poorly constructed that it fell apart at the drop of a hat, but how cool is it to see this image? A word of warning, the language on Ain't it Cool can get a bit close to the knuckle, so the easily offended should beware.

The Broadcast by Eric Hobbs

I always love it when people shine a new light on the story of the 1938 broadcast, but was particularly delighted to chance upon The Broadcast, a first time work from Eric Hobbs. This graphic novel looks to be a really fine debut with nuanced writing and a particularly interesting style of art, which at first glance looks unfinished and rough, but there’s a subtle sophistication here that creeps up on you page by page until you are totally immersed in the story. I've only had a chance so far to read the first 21 pages online, which Eric has generously provided on his website, but this is going on my Christmas list. I'm still smiling as I write this from the final panel in the preview, which shows Orson Welles crossing out the name of Howard Koch as writer on the script and replacing it with his own. Eric certainly has Orson exactly right there. You can buy The Broadcast on Amazon now.

Coffee and scares at Grover's Mill

The Grover's Mill Coffee Company, whose namesake is of course the Grover's Mill where Orson Welles set his 1938 War of the Worlds broadcast, is recreating the show on the nights of Friday October 29th and Saturday October 30th.  Actor Michael Jarmus will be hosting what sounds like an excellent evenings entertainment. More details and directions can be found at the Grover's Mill Coffee Company website.

Am I the only one to see the flaw in this?

Zombies are flavour of the moment right now, and The Walking Dead is the latest take on the theme, though for the first time ever, the Zombies are going to be lurching onto our TV Screens. To promote the new series from AMC and Fox, Zombies in full make up will be appearing tomorrow in dozens of cities across the world, including New York and London. I just hope that those behind this stunt are taking precautions to ensure people are aware that this is just publicity for a TV series. It would be dangerous in the extreme to assume that everyone will instantly get the joke. They didn't in 1938 when Orson Welles unleashed his Martian invasion, and they didn't this year in Georgia when a TV station faked a 2nd Russian invasion, nor a month later in Jordan when a newspaper reported on an alien invasion! This could get real ugly, and I'm not just talking about the Zombies.

Tom Bosley (1927-2010)

Sad news that Tom Bosley has passed away at the age of 83. Tom was of course best known as the long suffering father of Howard and Joanie Cunningham in Happy Days, but he also featured in the 1975 TV movie The Night that Panicked America, which told to great effect the story of the 1938 War of the Worlds radio broadcast. Tom played the rather anonymous sounding Norman Smith, a rattled CBS producer trying to deal with the maverick force that was Welles, but it is fairly certain to me that he is actually taking the role of Davidson Taylor, the CBS producer actually present that night.

New H.G Wells material released by BBC

The first episode of a new adaptation of First Men in the Moon will air tonight at 9pm on BBC 4 and to coincide with the broadcast, the BBC have released a number of recordings made by H. G Wells between 1931 and 1943. There are some fascinating pieces here, including a 1943 attack on the state of British newspapers that includes an intriguing suggestion that news be disseminated by telephone as a way of bypassing what he saw as the censorship of newsprint. It's very easy to think of this as the Internet in principle. Were Wells alive today, I think it certain he would be blogging. You can also find some letters written by Wells on the BBC Archive pages. Definitely worth a look. The trailer for First Men in the Moon also looks very good, though isn't that the theme music from the recent Sherlock Holmes movie?

New Jeff Wayne interview

Radio Teesdale in the UK, a radio station run by volunteers, has scored a scoop with a very interesting interview with Mr War of the Worlds himself, Jeff Wayne. Wayne talks for 20 minutes about his life and interest in The War of the Worlds. It's well worth a listen. A short version can be found right now on the radio Teesdale website, but the full show including music from Wayne's seminal musical version of The War of the Worlds goes out Monday 19th at 9pm GMT on http://www.radioteesdale.co.uk/. For those in the UK, the station is on 102.1 and 105.5fm.

Tampa to be invaded

The Stagework Theatre in Tampa is presenting their own version of the 1938 War of the Worlds broadcast between October 7th and 16th. Sounds like an interesting variation on the theme, with several other panic broadcasts apparently influencing the production. Given the forthcoming anniversary of the 1938 broadcast, you can expect a flood of similar productions across the world. For further information on the Tampa production, visit the Stagework Theatre website. There's also a short interview with the director Karla Hartley at the WUSF website.

NASA Mars Rover rolls out

Despite the confusion that seems to afflict NASA with its plans for a manned mission to Mars, it's encouraging to see that work continues on component elements, none more so important as how to get astronauts around on the surface. So great to see a very interesting video on the BBC website, a guided tour of the interior of a remarkable two man rover. Astronauts would be able to spend up to 2 weeks aboard at a time, in surprisingly comfortable surroundings. Amusing to see that modern touch screens have been abandoned as too difficult to use in bumpy conditions. Bit of a blow there for every science fiction film and TV series that has featured touch screen interfaces. Buttons are the future! See the full video at the BBC website.

War of the Worlds Season 2 at last!

It's taken the best part of 5 years since the release of season 1 on DVD, but at long last we're going to get the conclusion to the War of the Worlds TV series. Dating back to 1988, the series ran a scant 2 years and starred Jared Martin as maverick scientist Harrison Blackwood, battling aliens and penny pinching government bureaucracy. The first season featured some inspired episodes, particularly one set in Grover's Mill, where Orson Welles set his 1938 invasion, but the second season lurched off in strange directions. Suddenly the series is set in the future rather than the present day and the original alien invaders are themselves kicked out of frame by a new set of aliens. Earth is portrayed in a dire environmental state, with social order breaking down and the characters we came to love in the first season are either killed off or their personalities rewritten. Blame a new creative team who apparently barely bothered to take much notice of the first season. I still recall there were some good episodes, and it's good to get to see the 2nd season on DVD so I'll be in line to get one, but if you've only ever seen Season 1, be prepared for a shock. Release date in the USA is set for October 26th. There's a pre-order page on Amazon, but it lists C. Thomas Howell as the star, which means the Amazon editorial team are mixing it up with the recent direct to video War of the Worlds movies from The Asylum film studio.

Monster "War of the Worlds" storm smothers beach

A video of a monster storm cloud described as something out of The War of the Worlds has gone viral, and deservedly so. It's a truly stupendous looking event, rolling in across a Helsinki beach in a matter of minutes, sending people fleeing for shelter. As it happens, a previous War of the Worlds radio panic was made worse when the radio station described the invaders as advancing on the capital inside a huge cloud. People saw ordinary storm clouds in the sky and panicked. Fortunately there was (apparently) no alien spaceship inside the Helsinki cloud, but as an example of freak weather, this is certainly out of this world.

Battle: Los Angeles has War of the Worlds vibe

I'm getting a distinct War of the Worlds vibe from the forthcoming movie Battle: Los Angeles. There's not a lot known yet about the film as only a few seconds of footage have been officially released, but the poster campaign is inspired. I particularly like the reference to the "The Great Los Angeles Air Raid" of 1942, when jumpy anti aircraft crews opened up on a phalanx of mystery lights that buzzed the city. Was it an off course flock of geese, or could it have been a fleet of flying saucers? Battle: Los Angeles goes for the latter, suggesting that the "Air Raid" was just the tip of the iceberg, and now in modern times, the aliens are back in force, and they're definitely not friendly.

Here's the worlds shortest trailer, clocking in at 2 seconds. Not sure if this is official or something grabbed at the recent Comic-Con.



And here's that fantastic poster.

Gulliver of Mars: Beyond the War of the Worlds

A new comic book that blends the Martian adventurer Lt. Gulliver Jones with the Mars of H.G Wells is on the way. Writer Mark Ellis and artist Preston Asevedo look to be on to a winner with this intriguing mash up. Gulliver Jones is the original Martian hero, predating the more famous John Carter by a number of years. In bringing the two books together, Ellis is imagining a post invasion earth traumatised by the Martian onslaught, a situation he postulates would, "make the fear the US experienced in the wake of 9/ll seem like concern over a hangnail." Jones is back on earth when we rejoin him, a hero of the war against the Martians, and now ready to take command of a new space vessel based on Martian technology that has been reverse engineered by none other than Nikola Tesla. Nice to see Tesla get a shot at taking on the Martians, as his great rival Thomas Edison had a similar opportunity in the 1898 newspaper serial Edison's Conquest Of Mars. You can find some fantastic art from Gulliver of Mars: Beyond the War of the Worlds here.

Reanimated Zombie Invasion satire echoes War of the Worlds gullibility

Sometimes you can only despair at what mascarades as sane and rational thought in the modern world. Three years ago, the satirical website The Onion produced a very clever fake video purporting to show a congressman reading out a heavily censored bill outlining American government plans to combat a Zombie outbreak. Now that same video has resurfaced and has been taken seriously by certain right wing elements of the blogosphere, who have repackaged it as a red flag warning that Obama is planning martial law. The mind simply boggles. If a three year old video can "accidentally" be re-animated (pardon the Zombie pun) then imagine what a really serious attempt at fooling the public could do? Here's the video.

520 day mission to Mars begins. Piece of string identified as key component.

The Mars 500 Mission has "Blasted Off", though the astronauts are really going nowhere. The mission will simulate a return voyage to Mars, with the 6 person crew sealed inside cramped compartments in a Moscow suburb. The idea is to examine the pressures likely to be faced by real astronauts, who will spend years away from earth should we ever get to the point of sending an actual crewed ship to Mars. The astronauts trooped on board this morning and the door was ceremoniously closed, though I couldn't help notice that the door was "sealed" with a tatty looking bit of string - trust the Russians to keep things cheap and cheerful, but then if I was going to Mars, I'd be far happier travelling in a Russian built ship than the incredibly complex machines the American's favour. You can watch the "launch" video on the Guardian website.

War of the Worlds inspired art on show in Buffalo.

A Buffalo arts exhibition has an unusual piece of work on display, a collapsed tower inspired by the Orson Welles War of the Worlds broadcast. Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center is hosting the installation by Sam Van Aken until June 4th. The tower is a reference to the water tower that legend says was fired upon by panicked residents of Grover's Mill. Believing Martian Tripod war machines were at large, they are said to have mistaken the water tower for a Tripod and opened fire. The tower can still be found at Grover's Mill. Aken's installation also includes a fake radio broadcast playing on a loop, rather neatly referencing the recent volcanic eruption in Iceland, and telling of panic stricken residents of Buffalo fleeing the effects. Buffalo of course is no stranger to this sort of thing, having been rocked before by a fake War of the Worlds radio broadcast. You can read more about the show at the Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center website, and there are some nice pictures to be found at the Art Voice website.

James Cameron in 3D mission to Mars

Avatar director James Cameron is working with Pasadena's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to develop a 3D camera for NASA's forthcoming Mars Science Laboratory (known as Curiosity). NASA has planned a 3D camera for the mission but has scrapped it due to budget overruns. Cameron personally petitioned NASA administrator Charles Bolden for the restoration of the camera, arguing that a 3D camera would chime with the public. Bolden agreed and the camera is now back in place for 2011 mission, though it will be a race against time to have it ready in time. The camera could shoot up to 10 frames per second, raising the exciting possibility of seeing our first movies from Mars.

Hawking fears a real life Independence Day. Earth women beware!

Promoting his forthcoming TV series, renowned astrophysicist Stephen Hawking has voiced concerns that we might face an Independence Day style onslaught from aliens out to steal our resources. Sorry Stephen, I think that's about as likely as them coming to steal our women. Have you been watching Independence Day, which was wrong from beginning to end? Any aliens with the technology to travel the stars have no need of going to the bother of invading a populated planet for resources. As has become perfectly clear in recent years, our galaxy, indeed our local solar system, teems with materials that are unclaimed and free to exploit. Much easier to target uninhabited planets or indeed asteroids. The old idea of aliens stealing our water is a classic of the genre, but pretty dumb when you consider how much free water is out there. Don't get me wrong, the idea of alien invasion is a fun one, but we've got very little to worry about on this score, with one exception. If the aliens are like us, there might be purely xenophobic reasons for them to attack!

Here we go again: Aliens invade Jordan.

I'm never really sure if I should feel happy and vindicated when people panic over fake alien invaders, or if I should be worried for our safety and sanity as a species. I've argued for a long time that the world remains worryingly susceptible to fakery akin to the Orson Welles War of the Worlds broadcast, and lo and behold, here we go again. What's really interesting here is that to my knowledge, it's the first time someone has pulled this kind of hoax in the Middle East, so kudos of a kind to the Al-Ghad newspaper in Jordan, who scored a fabulous own goal by running an April Fools joke on their front page in a county where the concept of an April Fool is little known or appreciated.

I actually thought this story might in itself be an April Fool. It seems absurd to think that a newspaper article could trigger concern so strong that the local mayor Mr Mleihan commented to the Associated Press, "Students didn't go to school, their parents were frightened and I almost evacuated the town's 13,000 residents", but it looks to be the real thing. Apparently, the local security forces even combed the desert looking for the aliens, after the newspaper reported that 3m (10ft) tall creatures had landed in the desert town of Jafr, in eastern Jordan. Looking at the online edition of Al-Ghad newspaper today, the letters page does indeed carry some corroboration of the event.

The problem is of course that it seems very unlikely that many people in Jordan had ever heard of the Orson Welles broadcast, so were ill prepared to process what they were reading. It's easy to mock, but this just proves that there must be plenty of countries out there where this sort of hoax could have serious consequences. Imagine if it had been done on the radio!!

I'd love to see a copy of the April 1st front page, so if anyone out there has the facility to provide a scan, send it over and I'll post it here.

Martian Ghosts: Fake invasion story panics Georgia

The grinning ghost of Orson Welles was haunting the streets of Tbilisi last night, when a Georgian television station caused a panic by broadcasting the news that the Russians had invaded the capital. The Imedi station caused a meltdown in the mobile phone network and people were reported to have fled into the streets when it aired a hoax news story, claiming that Russian tanks were advancing and that president Mikheil Saakashvili had been killed. The station went on the defensive in the aftermath, claiming that they had made it quite clear that the broadcast was a simulation of what might happen should the Russians invade again, but as has happened so often before, it seems not enough people were paying attention to the disclaimers. I've argued in a chapter of my book Waging the War of the Worlds that a new panic similar to the 1938 Orson Welles War of the Worlds radio broadcast could happen again, and here's the proof. You can watch some of the broadcast on the BBC website.

Moment a Martian was captured - historic photographs unearthed

I've mentioned the work of Neil Hughes before in this blog, when he unveiled a superb model of a Martian Tripod, but he's not been resting on his laurels, and now comes word of his latest War of the Worlds inspired creation, a captured Martian! I'm a big fan of Neil's work and the obvious love he has for the War of the Worlds, so great to hear that his latest design will be available from Eureka Miniatures soon. Here's a picture of Neil's Martian, and for more info and pictures you can check out his blog.

It came from Mars, lands at Ann Arbor

It came from Mars is a new play staging now at the Performance Network Theatre in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It's described as "An off-the-wall story about a group of radio actors terrified by Orson Welles' War of the Worlds broadcast. Passions ignite and secret identities are revealed when a washed-up director, his diva ex-wife, a wanna-be war hero and a German sound effects wiz think they are about to be annihilated by men from Mars." Sounds like a lot of fun. Full details can be found on the Performance Network Theatre website.

Space Shuttle in Central American scare

Concerned citizens of El Salvador had a scare on Sunday, when the returning Space Shuttle made an unexpected detour over their country. Avoiding bad weather, the shuttle caused a sonic boom over the country, sending people into the streets and setting dogs barking. According to Information Week, "Endeavour's sonic boom over El Salvador caused a stir not unlike what occurred in the wake of Orson Welles' infamous War Of The Worlds radio broadcast." Well, not quite the same, as calm was quickly restored, but apparently the story was headline news in the region the next day.

Mars- The Movie - trailer worth checking out

This looks pretty interesting. To quote from the blurb "MARS is a uniquely animated romantic comedy about astronauts and robots falling in love on their way to the red planet. Told in the playful style of a graphic novel, MARS is equal parts character driven story, homage to our galactic neighbor, and exploration of why we explore." The trailer is certainly very odd but strangely compelling. The style is very much influenced, or so it seems to me, by the director Richard Linklater, who pioneered this sort of rotoscoped animation. Definitely well worth a look.

MARS - The Movie [HD Trailer] from Geoff Marslett on Vimeo.

War of the Worlds mock documentary on the way

Back in 2005, Steven Spielberg turned his attention to a big budget remake of The War of the Worlds. At the same time, another director was aiming to produce a version of the story, set not in modern times (as Spielberg elected) but in its original Victorian setting. Hopes were high, but the end result was rightly considered a critical disaster. Now an interesting story has cropped up on the Mukilteo Beacon website, which reveals the full story behind director Timothy Hines' attempt to film The War of the Worlds and the fascinating news that he is putting together a new film, which will weave in some of the original footage he shot into a documentary style format. This could actually work. No one can deny that Hines wanted to make a great movie, but circumstances and limited resources conspired against him. I for one am more than willing to give him another chance and hope this intriguing project goes well.

The great trek is over: Spirit officially mired.

Sad news indeed. After an extraordinary 6-year mission, the Spirit rover on Mars has been officially re-designated by NASA as a Stationary Research Platform. This decision follows months of effort by engineers to find a way of freeing the rover from a sand trap that had left its wheels spinning. But the science is not over for Spirit and it will continue to gather data, confounding estimates that on landing on Mars, it would only last 3 months. Over 6 years later and it is still functioning, plus of course its sister probe Opportunity is still operating after a similar period of activity.

Beware aliens warns top scientist

Simon Conway Morris, professor of evolutionary paleobilogy at Cambridge University will tell a Royal Society lecture today that we should be wary of any encounters with aliens. Morris contends that any evolutionary process likely to create intelligent life will bring about beings with all the same negative attributes as humans. While they might come in peace, they are just as likely to be searching for living space, fuel or water. Personally, I think he might well be right in principle, but I feel there is one serious flaw in this kind of argument. While aliens could indeed be rather nasty, invading an inhabited planet would be a huge undertaking. Just look at the mess we made of Iraq. Subjugating an entire would be infinitely more difficult, and it's just not worth the bother. Water and fuel can be found in vast amounts on uninhabited worlds, free for the taking, and any species able to cross interstellar space with an invasion fleet of sufficient size to occupy the earth could just as easily spend their money on terraforming projects or space colonies. I think John Carpenter came up with a more plausible scenario in his film They Live, in which the aliens are revealed to be capitalist exploiters, stripping the world of it's wealth by stealth.

Killraven returning in Marvel Zombies 5

Zombies seem to be flavour of the moment right now, so hardly surprising to find The War of the Worlds getting an undead makeover from Marvel Comics. I must confess I've never seen an issue of Marvel Zombies or even have a very clear idea of what it's all about, but issue 5 due out soon apparently returns to the world of Killraven, the resistance fighter created in the 1970's who battles a 2nd Martian invasion of Earth. Writer Fred Van Lente has been talking up the series at the Marvel website: "We've got zombies in the Old West, we've got zombies in Killraven's War of the Worlds, we've got zombies in Camelot," he exclaims. "I like the storytelling challenge of taking a straight-forward genre and twisting it into pretzels. It's also fun to come up with new ways to eviscerate zombies."

John Carter of Mars begins shooting

There's no specific information on precisely what they are shooting, but an official press release from Disney has announced that Pixar's John Carter of Mars movie has begun principal photography in London. I have high hopes for this movie given the involvement in Pixar, though this is a major departure for the studio, marking it's first foray into live action. Can the Pixar magic transfer from animation to live action? Hopefully in a few months we'll start to see some images emerge and start to make that judgement, but there's certainly plenty of talent behind and in front of the lens. In related news, Spy Kids' Daryl Sabara and There Will Be Blood's Ciaran Hinds have joined the cast, with Sabara playing Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Monkey on Mars - Will apes rule humans?

You almost couldn't make this up - perhaps it has been made up - but a number of sites around the web are reporting Russian plans to send a Monkey to Mars. What makes the whole thing assume a distinct air of lunacy is reports that they plan to send a robot with the monkey to look after it. What doesn't seem to have been explained is if the monkey will receive a return ticket. And no matter how good the robot, this is bound to cause a huge stink, not only in the capsule but with animal rights groups. For me, it does seem unnecessarily cruel. It's also been reported recently that any number of people are willing to go to Mars, even if it is a one-way trip. Much better surely to send human beings who have made the intellectual decision to go on a suicide mission rather than some poor animal. The AFP seems to have the best info on this story. Of course the big worry is that the Monkey and the robot might one day return at the head of a Monkey/Robot death armada and enslave us all!

Gene Barry has passed away

Sad news to report. Gene Barry, star of the 1953 movie version of The War of the Worlds has passed away at the age of 90. Barry was most famous for his television work, including Bat Masterson and Burke's Law, but of course for me he will forever be associated with the spectacular George Pal movie, in which he played the lead role of Dr. Clayton Forrester. The movie was arguably the best of the many science fiction movies made in the 1950s, boasting incredible special effects and an above average script in a genre that struggled for respectability. Most people probably consider it a B movie, but for me, it will always score an A. Rest in peace Mr Barry.

Princess of Mars on the cheap

Wow, I love The Asylum, a company that specializes in jumping on the marketing coattails of bigger and more cash rich studios. A few years ago they produced a cheapo version of The War of the Worlds, which capitalized on the Tom Cruise movie, and now they're at it again, though you have to wonder if they've jumped the gun a bit with their version of A Princess of Mars, as the Disney/Pixar version has barely left the starting blocks. The trailer for the Asylum version (the story is in the public domain, so not much Disney can do) is out now, and begrudgingly, doesn't look entirely terrible, even if the star looks like he was hewn from a block of wood and the titular princess (there's a pun in there somewhere) is the infamous Tracie Lords. A couple of fleeting effects shots look halfway decent, and while the terrain hardly looks like anyone’s idea of Mars, this could (I firmly emphasize "could") be a fun beer and pretzels movie. You certainly can't knock The Asylum for their cheek - and I particular like that they’re aiming to steal not only Pixar’s moxy, but are name-checking James Cameron in their publicity. The trailer makes great capital of the fact that James Cameron has apparently mentioned in passing that Burroughs John Carter of Mars stories were an inspiration for his forthcoming 3D extravaganza Avatar. Anyway, you be the judge, here's the trailer.



And here's a fasinating earlier attempt from legendary animator Robert "Bob" Clampett.

Montevideo invaded. Watch the carnage.

I love this. Not sure who put it together or even why, but this is a fantastic modern take on an alien invasion. Giant robots start stomping toward Montevideo and without preamble start trashing the city. For something that has no link that I can discern to a big budget studio, it really is an astounding piece of work. The fact that it's called "panic attack" does make me wonder if someone is thinking Orson Welles with this.

Europe and America sign up for Mars

Great to see that NASA and the ESA have finally inked a deal to work together on a Mars exploration program. The deal will ensure a steady fleet of probes to the red planet, beginning with a European-led orbiter in 2016, with surface rovers to follow in 2018. A network of landers has also been proposed for 2020. The ultimate goal will be to bring a sample back to Earth. I just wonder why we can't bring in some more partners? The Japanese and Chinese are building their space programs up, and so surely there would be much to be gained by creating a worldwide Mars program? More detail on the ESA/NASA deal at the BBC.

Movie The Fourth Kind inspired by Welles broadcast?

A new movie about the phenomena of alien abduction is drawing some comparisons with The War of the Worlds broadcast of 1938, though by the sounds of things it has much more in common with The Blair Witch Project. Of course it's a little known fact that the Blair Witch Project was itself influenced by Welles' War of the Worlds scare, so the lineage is there, if a little far removed. Anyway, the movie purports to be a true story about alien abductions that have taken place in Nome, Alaska. A psychiatrist played by Milla Jovovich begins to find a pattern in the repressed memories of her patients and supposed "real" archive footage adds to the terror. Check out the trailer below.

SF Crowsnest reviews Waging the War of the Worlds

Doing that really sad thing I'm sure many authors do of googling their own book titles, I discovered that SF Crowsnest has been very kind with a review, using the word "definitive", which is very very flattering and saying "This book deserves your attention and a place on your bookshelf..." which is very very very flattering. The blog I still love radio also carried a very favourable review the other day which also used the same word, and said "...one book can now serve as the definitive single source for old-time radio buffs and reference librarians everywhere." If you'd like to avail yourself of a copy of this "definitive" book, then Amazon.com has stock. :-)

Listen to my interview on the Paranormal Podcast

I recently had the chance to enjoy a great chat with Jim Harold, the host of the Paranormal Podcast. Jim had very kindly invited me onto the show to talk about a shared passion for The War of the Worlds and old time radio and of course to plug my book, Waging the War of the Worlds. It was a fun interview, and we touched on a number of different panic broadcasts. I was particularly pleased to be able to offer some new insights (detailed in my book) about the 1949 Quito broadcast. The full podcast is available now for download from Jim's site, the Paranormal Podcast, where you'll also find over a 100 other shows covering every spooky, controversial and paranormal subject under this, or any other sun.

War of the Worlds tribute broadcast for October 30th.

While it is easy enough to get your hands on a copy of the 1938 broadcast of The War of the Worlds, it is a rather nice idea to be able to tune into a live repeat at the exact same time and date it went out in 1938. So thumbs up to the folks behind the new movie Me and Orson Welles, who have organised the website waroftheworldstribute.com to do just that. Visit at 8pm EST and you'll be able to hear the whole broadcast. Perhaps they can keep the site going and made it an annual event.

Could a War of the Worlds panic occur again?

The 71st anniversary of the Orson Welles War of the Worlds radio broadcast falls on October 30th and recent events seem to indicate that we're still just as gullible and susceptible to this sort of thing as people were back in 1938. I’ve posted the question “Could there ever be another War of the Worlds style scare?” on the Amazon.com history discussion forum and so far the consensus seems to be yes. You can add your own thoughts on the Amazon discussion, but for the record, I’m siding with those who say it could happen. The recent stories featuring Balloon Boy and the Latvian meteor show just how easy it is for hoax stories to gain traction in the Internet age. It’s a subject I cover in a chapter of my new book, Waging the War of the Worlds.

Latvian meteor revealed as a hoax

Did some Latvian pranksters have the Oct 30th anniversary of the War of the Worlds broadcast in mind when they faked a meteor impact? There's no specific suggestion that they did, but the timing is great and the story is all over the Internet, with video emerging of fires burning in a crater that was discovered in the Mazsalaca region near the Estonian border on Sunday afternoon. Uldis Nulle, a scientist at the Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Centre, said: "This is not a real crater. It is artificial." I'm sure Uldis is right, though whoever did this either had a lot of time on their hands, or a lot of help, as the crater measures 27ft wide and 9ft deep! A shame that it was revealed as a hoax so quickly - it would have been great fun to watch the story develop.

The balloon goes up

Maybe it's because the 71st anniversary of the Orson Welles War of the Worlds broadcast is coming up, but it's notable how many stories about the kid who was supposedly trapped in a balloon have inspired journalists to cross-reference Welles' infamous drama. It probably helps that the balloon was shaped like a UFO, and of course it all turned out to be a gigantic hoax by the publicity seeking parents - who deserve to have the book thrown at them by the way - but you can't help but admire the way Welles broadcast has worked itself so thoroughly into popular culture that it can be drafted into service like this. Just set up a Google news alert for the term "War of the Worlds" and you'll be astounded at how often it gets used. It was particularly popular during the run on the banks as I recall, but it's in constant use for all manner of subjects.

War of the Worlds and Desperate Housewives Mashup

This is easily the silliest post I've ever put on this blog, but it's hard to resist a story that brings together The War of the Worlds, Desperate Housewives and Lost in one giant plane crash of an episode. Word has it that Wisteria Lane is to suffer a plane crash, possibly killing off several characters. Apparently pictures have leaked showing the crash scene, though these look to be from the still standing plane crash set for the Cruise/Spielberg version of The War of the Worlds. That's not to say that Desperate Housewives won't end up using a redressed version of that very set, though in a final twist, the plane is expected to carry the insignia of fictional carrier Oceanic, which of course was the plane that crashed in the long running TV series Lost.

Buffalo War of the Worlds celebrations

With thanks to Bob Koshinski, Buffalo's resident expert on War of the Worlds broadcasts, here's the full detail of the event planned to celebrate the declaration that Buffalo has been proclaimed the “War of the Worlds Radio Capital of the World.”

DiPaolo’s To Hold “War of the Worlds” Halloween Party Fundraiser.

New York Governor David Paterson and the New York State Senate today proclaimed Buffalo New York as the “War of the Worlds Radio Broadcast Capital of the World”. This declaration is due to the fact Buffalo New York has been the home of more unique radio broadcasts of the H.G Wells story “War of the Worlds” than any other city on the globe.

As many as eight Buffalo radio stations have either produced and broadcast their own original production of the H.G Wells story or have re-aired the classic Orson Welles 1938 original since 1968. Those stations include WKBW, WWKB, WGRF, WEDG, WNUC, WNSA, WEBR and WNED.

Governor Paterson’s declaration and the Senate Proclamation was presented today by Senator William Stachowski (D 58th) to Buffalo Broadcast Association Chairman Don Angelo at a news conference held at DiPaolo’s Restaurant in Blasdell NY.

To celebrate this distinction, the DiPaolo’s Scholarship Fund will hold a Halloween “War of the Worlds” costume party on October 31st to raise funds for Kids Escaping Drugs and the DiPaolo Scholarship Fund. The DiPaolo Scholarship Fund has raised over $750,000 for local charities as well as scholarships for local high school wrestlers since 1996.

The party will be held 7-11 pm on Halloween. Cost will be $25 per person and will include food, beer, wine and soft drinks. A guest Martian DJ will be provided and great prizes for best costume.

Buffalo’s fascination with the Wells story began in 1968 when WKBW’s Program Director Jeff Kaye created an original War of the Worlds radio production which aired on Halloween night. Kaye, along with Engineer and Director Dan Kriegler created a broadcast that has been featured in books, television documentaries, web sites and has received world acclaim. This unique local production, now known as the most famous radio broadcast in Buffalo history, featured such legendary Buffalo broadcasters as Irv Weinstein, Dan Neaverth, Sandy Beach, Jim Fagan, Joe Downey and of course creator Jeff Kaye.

Then on Halloween night 1998 WGRF-FM and WEDG-FM broadcast their own unique War of the Worlds production under the direction of PD John Hager. The broadcast featured staffers Larry Norton, Rob Lederman, Ted Shredd, Tom Ragan, Tom Tiberi and Anita West. It also included WKBW-TV’s Irv Weinstein, WGRZ-TV’s Kevin O’Connell, WIVB’s Don Postles and Carol Jasen, Empire Sports Network’s Bob Koshinski, Erie County Executive Dennis Gorski and even a special cameo from Jeff Kaye.

In fact, Halloween 1998 stands out because on that night stations WGRF and WEDG aired their own unique broadcast, WWKB re-aired the WKBW original and WNUC 107.7 FM re-aired the Welles 1938 original. No radio market in the world had four distinct stations airing unique versions of the H.G Wells classic on the same night.

In keeping with that tradition this Halloween night WWKB 1520 AM is re-airing the 1968 WKBW original and WECK 1230 AM is airing the Orson Welles 1938 version.

John of Carter of Mars news from William Dafoe

Movie site Aint it cool News is carrying a long interview with William Dafoe in which he touches on his role in the forthcoming Pixar adaptation of John Carter of Mars. Excitement is building for this first live action film from the prolific animation studio (Just saw "Up" today and loved it) and Dafoe seems pretty pumped up about it as well, talking about some early pre-production work that will turn him into a 9 foot tall Martian! He also alludes to some stunning design work that is under way. The full interview can be found here - for those who don't want to work through the other stuff, scroll down toward the end of the interview.

Buffalo declared War of the Worlds capital

The city of Buffalo has declared itself the War of the Worlds Broadcast Capital of the World. It's a claim that it can make with some justification, having suffered not only the original 1938 Orson Welles broadcast, but a 2nd locally produced production by WKBW radio. It was every bit as scary as the original, in fact I'd go so far as to say it was better then Welles production as it seamlessly integrated the story into existing programming and used many well known local news reporters. The initiative to declare Buffalo War of the Worlds Broadcast Capital of the World came from Governor David Paterson and the State senate. However, it's worth noting that there is another contender. Lisbon in Portugal has been hit several times by locally produced War of the Worlds radio broadcasts and of course Quito in Ecuador saw significant loss of life in 1949 when a production went badly wrong. You can read the full story of these broadcasts in my book Waging the War of the Worlds, which tells the history of 10 distinct panic broadcasts around the world.

Read my new War of the Worlds article at otrcat.com

I'm delighted to have a new article published on the otrcat.com website. The article will take you on a little journey through some of the War of the Worlds radio broadcasts that have bedevilled listeners over the years, including a few that until now have been all but forgotten outside the countries that experienced them. It contains a particular favourite of mine, a broadcast in Portugal in 1958 that almost got its creator shot by the secret police! Here's a deep link to the article on the otrcat website, where you'll also find some great Old Time radio recordings.

New movie Pontypool inspired by 1938 Orson Welles broadcast

A new Zombie horror movie with the innocuous sounding title of Pontypool appears to be tipping its hat to Orson Welles and his infamous 1938 War of the Worlds radio broadcast. The story is set in the radio studio of tiny station in the town of Pontypool, Canada. The DJ Grant Mazzy (played by Stephen McHattie) begins taking calls from terrified citizens reporting that people are suddenly behaving with extreme violence toward each other. It seems that a Zombie plague is infecting the population, but unlike other Zombie movies, where the disease is spread by bites, in this case the culprit looks to be certain words! Naturally this proves a bit of an impediment to the radio station in warning their rapidly dwindling listeners of the danger.

While I'm not entirely convinced by comparisons to the 1938 War of the Worlds broadcast, the filmmakers are clearly keen to make one. Watch the trailer on the official site and you'll immediately recognise the opening narration as channelling the ghost of Orson Welles. Of course Pontypool turns the concept of the War of the Worlds broadcast on its head. It’s not the radio station broadcasting a fake story, but trying to deal with the incoming news of a real panic occurring in the outside world.

The film is based on the novel Pontypool Changes Everything by Tony Burgess and seems to be getting good word of mouth. The trailer for Pontypool is certainly a tense piece of work.

Orson Welles coming home to Kenosha

Orson Welles is returning to his home town of Kenosha in Wisconsin thanks to the local radio theatre RG Productions, who are staging a production of The War of the Worlds. Performances are scheduled on October 17 at the Kenosha History Center and on October 24 at Kemper Hall. More details can be found at the RG Productions website. It looks like they also archive their productions on the site, so those wishing to hear a new version of the play would be advised to check back to see if it's posted.

ExoMars set for new 2018 launch window

The European Space Agency mission ExoMars is now likely to leave Earth in 2018, a two year delay. Mission planners believed the money pledged by the European Union was insufficient to meet mission requirements, so sought help from NASA to defray some of the costs. This approach has now been approved, though budgets will still need to be reassessed before a formal full go-ahead at the end of the year. The current proposal is to use a US Atlas rocket to launch ExoMars, but the US will also lend expertise in controlling the rover's entry, descent and landing. As part of the revised plans, Europe will also look at a less costly 2016 mission, which will deliver an orbiter and a static lander. More detail can be found at the BBC News website.

War of the Worlds on tour from LA Theatre Works

Readers of this blog based in the USA have an opportunity this month to enjoy the acclaimed LA Theatre Works production of The War of the Worlds, (paired up with The Lost World.) The production is on tour across a number of locations, including Cleveland, Fairfax and Stony Brook, NY. A full tour schedule can be found on the LA Theatre Works website and there are some nice pictures from previous performances on the baylinartists website. If anyone gets to see one of the performances and would like to submit a review, I'd be happy to look at posting it on the War of the Worlds Invasion website.

Orson Welles and Me

My recent book Waging the War of the Worlds would not exist if not for Orson Welles, so great to see a new movie about the great man is on the horizon. The trailer for Orson Welles and Me is now available at Yahoo Movies and it looks like it's going to be good. I'm no fan of Zac Efron who takes the romantic lead, but Christian McKay looks to have nailed Orson Welles and the recreation of Welles' groundbreaking production of Julius Caesar is loaded with atmosphere. Having read just about every book ever written about Welles, it's going to be a blast to see him brought back to life.

War of the Worlds tribute taken for real

A video that recently surfaced on the Internet purporting to show a UFO pursued by jet fighters has, in a bizarre twist, proven to be a tribute to the Orson Welles War of the Worlds radio broadcast. The viral video was actually produced to promote the Spanish terra.es website, and was one of several in a series. The others are extremely silly, but the one that got the Internet abuzz is a much more intense piece of work. A group of fishermen out at sea are seen on shaky hand held footage to be freaking out at something in the sky. Jet fighters roar past, and then the camera manages to focus on a disc shaped object, which abruptly plunges straight down into the sea, ejecting a great plume of water as it submerges. Next second a helicopter comes into view and a voice orders the ship to return to port immediately.

This is fantastic stuff, as a bit of a UFO buff myself, I was very excited to find it, but cynic that I also am, I determined to have a hunt around to see if anything could be found to explain it. It didn't take long. A video detailing how it was all made even exists on the terra website, and the reference to it being a tribute to the Orson Welles War of the Worlds broadcast is there in black and white, well Spanish to be precise - "Un homenaje de Terra a 'La Guerra de los Mundos' de Orson Wells en su aniversario." As well as the making of video, you can also see some of the other videos in the series on the terra site, including a nice copy of the UFO Jet fighter chase.

Quite odd to think (and a little worrying) that something made to celebrate a fake broadcast could in itself be mistaken for the real thing. I discuss exactly this sort of thing in my book, Waging the War of the Worlds, arguing (I think all too plausibly given this example) that it would not be impossible for a really talented and determined group of people to pull off a scare on the scale of the Orson Welles War of the Worlds broadcast, though this time on a truly global scale.

Here's an embed of the UFO Jet Fighter Chase.

War of the Worlds: Goliath trailer is up!

The much anticipated trailer for War of the Worlds: Goliath has been posted on the official site for the new animated movie. As trailers go, it gives little away about the plot and the first half is a little disjointed, (more random clips than coherent story) but when the action kicks in, wow, it's edge of the seat stuff! Animated in Seoul, South Korea, Goliath owes an obvious debt to Japanese Anime, but it is equally clear that this movie is not going to be a slave to any one art form, and as such gives every indication of shaping up as something refreshingly different. Let's hope that the extremely impressive visuals and very intriguing premise (15 years after the original invasion, an earth reinvigorated with Martian technology faces a 2nd attack) will be backed up by an equally impressive plotline.

Check out the War of the Worlds: Goliath trailer.

Boston to be invaded

It's that time of year again. October 30th will see the 71st anniversary of Orson Welles' War of the Worlds radio broadcast, and around the world, radio stations and theatres are preparing to mount their own versions. I've now received word of what I am sure will be the first of many such productions. This one is to be held at the Somerville Theatre in Somerville, MA, and looks to be a pretty cool going by the very nice website supporting the production. If anyone is aware of other productions, let me know and I'll post information here on the site.

Ice to see you - and make mine a long tall cool one.

University of Arizona researchers have made some startling new observations on Mars, having watched a patch of ice appear and disappear on the surface. That may not sound terribly exciting, but some significant deductions have arisen from the observation of the ice, which remarkably enough, was not only on the surface, but far from the North Pole. The ice looks to have been exposed by the impact of a meteorite, which gave the researchers the opportunity to watch how it behaved on the surface, and here comes the really exciting bit. By running some mathematical models, it was possible to make an estimate of the amount of ice likely to be mixed in with the soil, and with that knowledge it became possible to figure out the purity of the water based on how fast it dissipated; a whopping 99%! And that ice may just be a couple of meters below the surface, with the layer itself weighing in at a meter thick! This has got to be a big boost for the prospects of a sustainable human presence on Mars and for the possibility that life may yet cling to the planet. There's a very good and detailed article on the discovery to be found on the Cosmic Log page at MSNBC.

Seeing red on Mars

The term "the red planet" is of course synonymous with Mars, but the prevailing theory that the distinctive colour was a result of rusting causing by water flowing over the surface now has a challenger. Results from the Spirit and Opportunity rovers perplexingly revealed the presence of minerals that should not have survived contact with water, which set researchers at Aarhus University in Denmark on the trail of an alternative process that could explain the red colour. The solution they have proposed is that regular sand, when combined with magnetite (found in black basalt present on Mars) could have produced a red dust. The researchers found evidence for their theory after tumbling pure quartz in a hermetically sealed flask for seven months, eventually flipping it 10 million times. At the end of the process, some 10% of the sand had turned to dust, which when combined with magnetite developed a red hue. Wind action on Mars could have certainly produced a similar effect over millions of years. The chemical process is not yet fully understood, but if this is the explanation, we’ve got a lot to be thankful for. The black planet just doesn't have the same ring to it.

Google comes clean on UFO logo

A few hours ago Google posted an explanation for the weeks long mystery of their UFO themed logos. Not as exciting as some had suggested, with theories ranging from a new Google product launch to an alien take-over, nor unfortunately can I now continue to claim that they are promoting my new book, Waging the War of the Worlds, though you have to admit, the timing was great. No, the truth is, as some had suspected, that Google are celebrating the birthday of H.G. Wells. So today a new logo goes live, and it's the best yet. Here it is, along with the previous 2. Click for bigger versions, and here's the full explanation of the UFO logos from Google.

Hopes dwindle for Spirit rescue

The Spirit rover has now been mired in sand since early May and the chances of finding a way for it to escape are looking increasingly grim. Mission controllers have been using full-scale versions of the rover here on earth to simulate various options, but it may be that the rover is now permanently stuck, though this is not necessarily the end of its mission, as it can continue to relay scientific observations from a static position. An excellent summary of the efforts to free Spirit can be found on the spaceflight now website. A fabulous image has also been released of Spirit, snapped by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Look for the little white dot to the left of the Home Plate volcanic feature.



Credit: NASA/University of Arizona

Google UFO logo mystery solved: It's my book!

Google has been playing a merry game with its users the past few weeks by substituting its logo with ones featuring a hovering UFO. There's no official explanation from Google, which is famous for altering its logo to tie in with significant events like anniversaries, holidays and historic events, but this is the first time the logo has changed without any overt reason. That sent the internet abuzz with speculation.

The first logo appeared last week, and at roughly the same time Google posted a coded message on their Twitter account, 1.12.12 25.15.21.18 15 1.18.5 2.5.12.15.14.7 20.15 21.19. Using the simple cipher that 1 is A and 2 is B, etc, the message was quickly translated as saying "your o are belong to us", which tied in with the logo as the UFO was abducting a letter o from the word Google and also refers to a famously awful Japanese to English translation of the line "All your base are belong to us" from the Japanese video game Zero Wing. This became an Internet phenomenon in 2000-2002, spreading as a meme far and wide. So far, so weird.

Then this week Google did it again, posting a second UFO themed logo, this time featuring crop circles. Again, the Google Twitter account provided a clue, with the posting of a map co-ordinate: 51.327629, -0.5616088. A quick check confirms that these are the map reference co-ordinates for 1-7 Woodham Rd in Woking, England. Wells happened to live in Woking, though at Maybury Road. However, it was in Woking that Wells wrote The War of the Worlds and it just so happens that he was born on 21 September 1866. So is Google planning a H.G. Wells logo next week to celebrate his birthday?

Could be, but there is a more obvious explanation. Last week saw the publication of my first book, Waging the War of the Worlds. I can therefore now reveal that Google is of course planning to celebrate this momentous event with a Waging the War of the Worlds logo. Look out for it next week, and in the meantime, you can buy Waging the War of the Worlds from all good online booksellers. (And perhaps even some of the bad ones.)

My new book published - Waging the War of the Worlds

I am delighted to announce the publication of my first book. Waging the War of the Worlds is the most detailed account ever produced (so I firmly believe) of the 1938 Orson Welles War of the Worlds radio broadcast, but it also tells many new stories of radio panics, several every bit as exciting and calamitous to listeners as that first momentous transmission. Learn how Martian attacks have paralysed Brazil, Chile, Ecuador and Portugal, with detailed chapters containing masses of newly uncovered material never before presented in English. Waging the War of the Worlds is available direct from the publisher McFarland and from all the top online stores such as Amazon.

Go to Mars young man

While NASA is struggling to find the money to get to Mars, there are those who think that space exploration (and Mars) represents our best hope for survival. Asked by New Scientist magazine for ideas to make the world a better place, luminaries from both science and business put space exploration high on the list of vital endeavours. J Richard Gott, professor of astrophysical sciences as Princeton University was vocal in his belief that Mars represents a bolt hole for the human race, commenting that a permanent presence on Mars would "...make us a two-planet species and improve our long-term survival prospects by giving us two chances instead of one." Virgin entrepreneur Richard Branson also spoke up for the merits of space exploration, though of course he would as he would reap some of the rewards via his Virgin brand spacecraft. Find the full range of comments at New Scientist.

Manned Mars mission in doubt

A long awaited report into the future of NASA will, much as expected, throw a giant spanner into the works, concluding that the agency has nowhere near enough money to even get to the Moon, let alone Mars. Though the full report is still to be released, a summary sent to the White House last week makes for gloomy reading, suggesting that NASA will not be able to break earth orbit for the next 20 years if present expenditure levels are maintained. However, the report also sounds for the first time as if some real level headed thinking is taking place. NASA has see-sawed from one goal to another since the Moon landings, but never really had a long term strategy, so there is hope that the proposals outlined will give the agency some much needed focus. The report proposes a number of scenarios, including the idea that astronauts would travel to Mars but not actually land. This is not quite as crazy as it sounds, since the idea would be to use the orbiting astronauts to control robotic landers and rovers. The time lag between Earth and Mars is such that live remote control of probes is impossible, but having astronauts on hand, combined with cutting edge rovers, would be a potent combination. Not as romantic as a manned landing perhaps, but should such a mission provide compelling evidence for life, then the pressure for human footprints on the surface might well become overwhelming.

John Carter movie gathers pace

The omens are good that the long gestating John Carter of Mars movie is now a certainty, with further casting announcements having been made. English actors Samantha Morton, Dominic West and Polly Walker have all joined Disney's adaptation of the Edgar Rice Burroughs book series. Morton plays Sola, a Martian who befriends Carter; West plays Sab Than, prince of the Zodangans and Walker takes on the role of the merciless Sarkoja. Taylor Kitsch (best known by genre fans as Gambit in the recent Wolverine movie) has already signed on as Carter. Andrew Stanton, a long time Pixar alumni (his credits include the marvellous Wall-E) is directing for a 2012 release date.

War of the Words

I often find it amusing to see how often The War of the Worlds radio broadcast of 1938 is used as the go to metaphor in doom and gloom stories. I would not normally mention a specific example, but I am strongly impelled to in this case as it gives me an opportunity to deviate off message and register my disgust at the negative attacks on the NHS presently clogging the American press.

I’m a British resident with a mother in her 80s and I also have a young daughter, so I can talk from experience of both ends of the spectrum. I’m particularly incensed that according to certain American commentators and politicians, my mother should be dead under the NHS. Well, here’s the truth. She would be dead, if NOT for the NHS. During a recent serious illness, at no point did anyone suggest she should be discarded, tossed aside, left to die! She was treated without question of cost – in fact, when we suggested that private care might be best to speed things up (because yes, the NHS can be slow) her consultant, (who would have pocketed the fee) urged us to stick with the NHS as he would have better access to the full suite of medical resources. My daughter also has had exemplary treatment. What American commentators seem to forget in their pathological hatred of anything that smacks of socialism, is that here in the UK, you can get private care quite easily, so we’ve got the best of both worlds. I’ve seen television programs showing thousands of impoverished Americans turning up at charity health fairs, some having travelled hundreds of miles in a desperate quest for free treatment. So how dare the right wing disparage our NHS when America clearly can’t look after its own people with anything approaching care and dignity. Rant over. Normal service will now be resumed.

What an Opportunity

The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has snapped an image of the Opportunity rover. Taken on its 1783rd sol (Mars day) on the Red Planet, the image clearly shows the tracks of the rover, which had driven some 130 meters on the previous day. Astounding images like this are routinely used by the Opportunity operations team to plan out the path taken by the rover, which is presently making for the Endeavour crater.



Opportunity Imaged by HiRISE (ESP_011765_1780)
Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Inflatable heat shield test

Packed into a 15-inch shroud payload, a newly developed inflatable heat shield was recently put through its paces by NASA engineers. Launched to a height of 124 miles, the shield automatically inflated itself into a 10-foot diameter mushroom shape of silicone-coated fabric. Given the success of the mission, which splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean, NASA is hopeful that the shield will be useful not only for re-entries into the earths atmosphere, but also as a shield for future Mars missions, where space and weight are at a premium. More info at popsci.com

Rock and a hard place

There's a community of ardent armchair researchers to be found on the Internet determined to prove that intelligent life once existed on Mars. To this end, they're scouring images returned from Mars looking for a smoking gun. One of the most perplexing images that has turned up in this search appears to show a monolith like object on the Martian surface, in fact not a little like the famous monolith in 2001 A Space Odyssey. But of course at the other end of the spectrum, scientists working in the field of Mars exploration are less than thrilled to be told they are covering up the existence of life on Mars, though I've yet to see it explained why they would send probe after probe to Mars with all the attendant risk that they'll be rumbled. And so to the Monolith, snapped by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Scientists at the University of Arizona are equally determined to put the monolith down to natural causes. Most likely says Alfred McEwen, "it's more likely that this boulder has been created by breaking away from the bedrock to create a rectangular-shaped feature." That sounds pretty reasonable to me, but while my strong inclination is to err on the side of caution, that's not to say that one-day, some amateur observer might spot something missed by the experts. But for now, the scientists at NASA really are stuck between a rock and a hard place.

War of the Wolds: Not a typo!

No, it's not a typo. This really is The War of the Wolds, and it's fantastic! Made by film maker Robin Smith on a shoestring budget, this is a short film in the style of a trailer for a War of the Worlds movie. It's been entered into the Virgin Media Shorts competition. You should check it out and if you like it as much as me, show your support. So what is a wold? In this case, it's an area in the North Lincolnshire area of England. Specifically, Smith has his Martians laying siege to the town of Barton.

This is an extraordinarily professional looking piece of work, with stunning special effects. The moment a Martian Tripod straddles an underpass under which a group of people are trapped is jaw dropping. If Smith can win, he bags £30,000 of film funding to shoot their next film with the UK Film Council and Virgin Media. My hope is that he takes his speculative trailer and amps it up to a full on movie.

Check out the full entry below.

The Spirit is willing, but the wheels are weak

The Spirit rover continues to be stuck up to its hubcaps on Mars, but JPL engineers have put together a simulation of the conditions Spirit has encountered and are busy attempting various scenarios to drive the plucky rover free of its sand trap. The same technique got sister rover Opportunity out of a similar jam back in 2005, so JPL are hopeful they can work the same magic again. A fully operating twin of Spirit is now in a box of sand in Pasadena and Wired magazine have an excellent article online detailing the preparations to build the simulation.

Europe's Mars rover launch delayed

The European ExoMars mission, seen as one of the most ambitious yet mounted to the red planet, has suffered a further setback (its 3rd delay) with a new launch date now likely to be in 2018. Mission planners are putting a brave face on things, pointing out that the delay will have benefits, rolling the mission up with the NASA program. The plan now envisages an American Atlas launcher delivering an orbiter in 2016 which will hunt for methane traces (a key indicator of life) and it is also possible that their might be payload room for a static lander. Then in 2018, ExoMars, accompanied by a smaller rover based on the Spirit/Opportunity design would arrive, targeted toward any promising Methane finds from the 2016 orbiter. So we've got a bit of a wait, but the payoff could be enormous is this combined mission finds evidence of actual life now on Mars. The full story is on the BBC website.

Bolden hints at refocused NASA

Details have emerged of a meeting at NASA at which the new NASA head Charles Bolden introduced himself to staff and laid out some of his vision for the agency. While precise details were lacking, it is clear from his comments that Bolden believes the agency is burdened down with too many conflicting projects and is lacking the vision and focus needed to get a manned mission to Mars. Encouragingly, Bolden repeated again his determination to get a NASA mission to Mars off the ground. A two-time space shuttle commander and retired Marine Corps major general, Bolden looks to be the sort of decisive leader the agency needs.

Mars predictions say presence by 2019

There's a big debate brewing right now about the path NASA should take in the coming years. Former President George W Bush tasked NASA with a return to the Moon prior to a Mars mission, but it seems new President Obama is not so keen, and we're not really sure yet what this bodes for Mars, though as previously noted in this blog, we've got a Mars focused NASA administrator and now Dr. Charles Elachi, director of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has chimed in with his predictions. Speaking at Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech conference, he was very upbeat for the prospects for manned exploration of the solar system, predicting a presence on Mars by 2019! That seems a tad optimistic to me, but it's good to see more senior people in the American space program pushing for this kind of commitment. Elachi also brought with him a super cool full scale model of the 2011 Mars rover named Curiosity.

NASA's administrator aims for Mars

Nice to hear that NASA's new Administrator Charles Bolden Jr is firmly supporting the prospect of a manned mission to Mars. Speaking to The Associated Press, Bolden sounded every inch the enthusiast, making the goal of reaching Mars sound pretty personal to him, which is exactly the passionate attitude you want in someone in his position. Bolden told the AP that, "In my lifetime, I will be incredibly disappointed if we have not at least reached Mars." Given that he's in his early 60's, it sounds like we can expect fast progress under Bolden's tenure. Even better, he went on to observe that he "did grow up watching Buck Rogers and Buck Rogers didn't stop at Mars." A science fiction fan in charge at NASA? The sky may not be the limit! Read the full AP story here.

Red hot and molten

New research published in the journal Nature Geoscience suggests that the planet spent a considerable period of time with its surface in a molten state, with temperatures in the region of 1000 degrees celsius curtailing the chances of life developing for at least the first 100 million years of its existence.

International scientists from the USA, Belgium, and Australia looked at a rare type of Martian meteorite called a Nakhlite (named after Nakhla in Egypt where the first one was found.) By measuring radioactive traces of exotic elements such as Hafnium, Lutetium, and Neodymium, the team were able to postulate that the early atmosphere would have been composed of a thick steam, keeping the surface trapped in a molten state.

Eventually the surface tipped over, allowing the crust to solidify. More detail can be found at physorg.com.

Apollo Astronauts push for Mars

Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins have called for a mission to Mars rather than the present NASA focus of a return to the Moon. Speaking at a gathering of the Apollo 11 astronauts, including a rare appearance by Neil Armstrong, both Aldrin and Collins expressed a desire to see a Mars landing. Praising the achievements of the Apollo program, Aldrin nevertheless said, "The best way to honour and remember all those who were part of the Apollo programme is to follow in our footsteps; to boldly go again on a new mission of exploration." Collins added, "Sometimes I think I flew to the wrong place. Mars was always my favourite as a kid and it still is today." The return to the moon program is of course by no means certain, and the Obama administration has been somewhat ambivalent about the idea. What this might do for the prospects of a Mars mission is presently anyone’s guess.

Life on Mars tantalisingly closer

Analysis of images from the HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) camera, on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter seems to indicate that warming weather on Mars may have melted ice-rich soils as recently as 2 million years ago. The geographical features that point to this event were originally thought to have been volcanic in origin, but Matthew Balme, a research scientist with the Tucson-based Planetary Science Institute has looked afresh at the images and now believes they were formed by the expansion and contraction of ice due to freeze/thaw cycles. If true, then the equator region would be an ideal place to look for signs of past life.