Jeff Waynes' War Of The Worlds like never before

If you happen to live in, or are visiting Vancouver over the next few weeks, check out a fantastic sounding live version of Jeff Waynes' War Of The Worlds. Its a presentation of the H.R. MacMillan Planetarium and runs October 27 though to Nov. 20th. Full details at the dedicated website.

Doctor Who goes to Mars (with Orson Welles)

I've missed the broadcast of this on BBC Radio 7 tonight, but it will be available on their website tomorrow (Sunday). In this new radio series, the BBC's venerable timelord goes back to 1938 New York for an encounter with Orson Welles. Sounds fantastic and I'll be reviewing it for the website as soon as I've heard it.

And another War Of The Worlds

Maysville, KY: The Maysville Players are another group re-enacting Howard Kochs 1938 War Of The Worlds radio script. Read about it here.

Countdown to broadcast anniversary prompts re-enactments

Here's another War Of The Worlds radio broadcast re-enactment, this time by the La Junta's Picketwire Players based in Pueblo, Colorado.

Mars attacks, maybe.

Bay Area residents got themselves into a flap Wednesday night, a UFO flap. Numerous people saw mysterious lights in the sky and many called authorities, including Vandenberg Air Force Base on the Central Coast and the Federal Aviation Administration. The explanation seems to be that they were seeing Mars and Venus, but make your mind up here with some photos.

Mars at closest approach

Mars is at the closest approach to earth this weekend, at just 43.1 million miles. For British skywatchers, it should dominate the night sky over the next few weeks, rising in the late afternoon and becoming visible above the eastern horizon soon after sunset. You can use this page to determine where Mars is in your night sky. Happy planet hunting.

Ann Robinson talks Mars

Ann Robinson, star of the George Pal 1953 version of The War Of The Worlds, has been talking to the Concord Monitor about her career.

Lost, found, then lost again

The wreckage of Nasa's Mars Polar Lander spacecraft, which was lost in 1999, presumed crashed onto the surface, was tentatively identified on the surface last year by the orbiting European Mars Global Surveyor, but now it appears it was a case of mistaken identity. According to scientists, the features identified as the lander and it's parachute, were in fact nothing but natural features. BBC news has more.

Hines continues to defend his War Of The Worlds film

Timothy Hines, the director of a less than well received version of The War Of The Worlds has been talking to syfyportal about his experiences in making the film. This is a fasinating interview and a great piece of work by Michael Simpson, who writes a very balanced account of events and gives Hines a pretty reasonable hearing.

Magnetic Mars

NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft has made another exciting discovery. The probe has spotted the telltale magnetic signatures of transform faults, the points at which tectonic plates have been crushed together. This is yet more evidence of a significantly active past for the red planet. ABC news has the story.

War Of The Worlds with bunnies

Check out one of the weirdest War Of The Worlds sites ever, a 30 second version of The War Of The Worlds cast entirely with rabbits.

John Carter Of Mars gathers speed

A fantastic interview with newly appointed director Jon Favreau is available on the Aint It Cool news site. Sounds like he intends to play it very close to the spirit of the original books and most positively, is not too bothered to set his movie on a completely scientifically implausible Mars. Full interview here.

War Of The Worlds on stage

American Stage, a theatre company in Tampa are producing a stage version of the Orson Welles radio broadcast of 1938. Performances are scheduled October 19 through October 30 and tickets can be bought online at the American Stage website.

John Carter Of Mars has new director

After a period in development hell, the much anticipated movie version of Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter Of Mars, has another new director on board, after both Robert Rodriguez and Kerry Conran bailed. Now Jon Favreau is set to direct what may become a long running series of movies - Burroughs wrote 9 books.

Broadcast revisited

There are sure to be many more of these, giving that we are coming up on the broadcast date of Orson Welles' War Of The Worlds (Oct 30th 1938), but here is news of one of the first, from Odessa, Texas.

Brian Aldiss on Science Fiction radio

The author Brian Aldiss presented a great hour long discussion on the history of science fiction radio this Saturday (Oct 1st). The program naturally touched on the War Of The Worlds radio broadcast, but also looked at much more, with a huge number of fasinating clips. BBC Radio 4 generally maintains a streaming copy of past broadcasts for about 7 days, so if you want to hear this program, don't delay, click here and select "listen to the latest edition".