Alternative/unofficial incarnations

[Reppu]

As a teenager i read what is to my eyes an unofficial sequel (a trilogy in fact) by John Christopher, conveniently called "The Tripods Trilogy". It settles a situation where the martians in fact won the war, and how the world came to be after that. It's quite interesting and worth giving it a read.

Wikipedia reference here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tripods

I wonder, have any of you found any alternative/unofficial incarnation worth mentioning?

[killraven]

Well you could say it was unofficial since it was totally unrelated!!!

You seen either of the TV series made of the books Reppu?

KR

[Scifishocks]

I suppose Independance Day counts.

[Reppu]

admin said:

I suppose Independance Day counts.

....i said worth mentioning

killraven: no i haven't. Have you? Where they any good?. I wouldn't call it totally unrelated since it is all about an Earth invasion by aliens who stride over giant tripods.

[nervouspete]

Nice call Reppu, but Killraven's right in it not being related. Christopher's Tripods trilogy contains four books and although meant for kids around 9-15, they can be heartily enjoyed by adults as well.

They are, in order of reading...

'When the Tripods Came' (No laughing at the back of class, there!)
'The White Mountains'
'City of Gold and Lead'
'Pool of Fire'

The first book was written quite a while after the others, but covers their invasion. It's quite satirical in parts, and you'll find that the alien invasion is both alarming and highly unconventional. Definitely worth checking out.

There was a BBC TV series. The tripods themselves were ace, but they barely had any screen time. The second series gave in somewhat to campness also, and the production design tended towards the garish and silly, as did the writing, when the characters entered the alien city. However, there were memorable sequences and the production by and large was a worthy if flawed one...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIlHoHiL4xE

Lots of tripod effects here!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYeel-B-SRA

Doctor Who style trailer.

[thedonal]

admin said:

I suppose Independance Day counts.

For what?

[Scifishocks]

thedonal said:

admin said:

I suppose Independance Day counts.

For what?

As a TWotW rip off.
Obviously.

[killraven]

reppu said:

admin said:

I suppose Independance Day counts.

....i said worth mentioning

killraven: no i haven't. Have you? Where they any good?. I wouldn't call it totally unrelated since it is all about an Earth invasion by aliens who stride over giant tripods.

Reppu, yes I enjoyed the serial, I have the first series on DVD, and the second is 'out there' somewhere as an unofficial fan copy. I think the BBC initially intended it as a replacement for Doctor Who, but got scuppered by poor viewing figures - mainly because they went a bit over the top in advertising the tripods element even though they appeared only spasmodically. People tuned in expecting much stomping about and laser battles, but in essence it was more of a boys adventure story with some aliens thrown in for good measure. I think Nervouspete has all the details sown up already (cheers mate!)

KR

[darkelastic]

I own the books for the Tripods and have season 1 on DVD. I thought they were excellent stories. You can tell that the preliminary idea came from Wells' masterpiece, but the stories that John Christopher has created are far different and go down as classics in their own right. I think book 2 is my favourite 'City of Gold and Lead'.

[Reppu]

darkelastic said:

I think book 2 is my favourite 'City of Gold and Lead'.

Yes it's my favourite too

Please people, don't limit this thread to the Tripods trilogy, my intention was for everyone to post about incarnations related to Well's novel without being official...except ID of course

[Scifishocks]

Independence Day, like it or not, fits in the context of this thread. If you're going to make exceptions, because you don't like the answers you get, maybe you should be more specific in the first place.

[David Faltskog]

A lot of reviews of Independence Day reffered to it's simularity with War of the Worlds, and the virus infection at the end has of course it's roots in Well's seminal novel so i can't see what the fuss is about!

D.F.

[Reppu]

faltskogian said:

A lot of reviews of Independence Day reffered to it's simularity with War of the Worlds, and the virus infection at the end has of course it's roots in Well's seminal novel so i can't see what the fuss is about!

D.F.

You caught me with that virus thing. So ID cannot be excepted then . What i miss in ID is some land action, everything happens in the air and that separates it too much from the original theme. But that's my opinion of course.

[Thunder Child]

Years ago I've read in an interview with the makers, that they started working on ID with the idea "lets make a remake of TWOTW". There are many TWOTW related things in the film like the weapon the aliens use (a very big Heat Ray), the helicopter with lights to make contact with the alien en that was destroyed (The Deputation), the tentacled aliens, and the actual ending with the computer virus.

[cinemapacific]

Kevin Anderson's "The Martian War" book... I think that counts.

And NOT a contemporary sequel- which I read in primary school- "Edison Conquers Mars" (I think that was the title)... talk about labored writing!