Eve Of The War
http://www.focusgaming.co.uk/eveofthewar/

The Proposed Ray Harryhausen Version
http://www.focusgaming.co.uk/eveofthewar/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=98
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Author:  Thunder Child [ Thu Feb 03, 2005 3:42 pm ]
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A lot of you are probably already aware of this, but legendary stop motion animator Ray Harryhausen proposed an adaptation of War of the Worlds to RKO back in 1949.<br /><br />Here's a photo of a martian model:<br /><a href='http://drzeus.best.vwh.net/wotw/other/harryhausen.jpg' target='_blank'>http://drzeus.best.vwh.net/wotw/other/harryhausen.jpg</a><br /><br />and here's a storyboard page:<br /><a href='http://drzeus.best.vwh.net/wotw/other/harryhausen2.jpg' target='_blank'>http://drzeus.best.vwh.net/wotw/other/harryhausen2.jpg</a><br /><br />Thoughts? It would have been cool to see a Harryhausen animated tripod. I'm not so sure about the martian though. It's closer to the book than the 1953 version, but it looks a little too cartoony to be menacing for me. I'm also a little confused about claims that the movie would have had a Victorian setting. The first panel of the storyboard clearly shows a pilot looking down on a tripod from a plane cockpit.

Author:  Thunder Child [ Thu Feb 03, 2005 7:09 pm ]
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Here's a page with some more, higher quality pics:<br /><br /><a href='http://lavender.fortunecity.com/judidench/584/warworlds.html' target='_blank'>http://lavender.fortunecity.com/judidench/584/warworlds.html</a><br /><br />Also, apparently this DVD includes the Martian test footage:<br /><br /><a href='http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000068QMN/qid=1107457405/sr=1-13/ref=sr_1_13/102-4802208-7097700?v=glance&s=dvd' target='_blank'>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...?v=glance&s=dvd</a><br />

Author:  The Third [ Fri Feb 04, 2005 2:30 pm ]
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I think the Martians are kind of eerie considering its size in contrast to the humans. That big head with the large eyes and mouth is creepier to me than some of the other takes I've seen of the Martians.<br /><br />I recall seeing something on television some time ago about Harryhausen's work, and they briefly talked about and showed footage from his version. I think there was mention about how the Martians were more sympathetic in the way Ray portrayed them.

Author:  Martian Myster The New Ma [ Mon Feb 14, 2005 7:51 am ]
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The Third wrote:
I think the Martians are kind of eerie considering its size in contrast to the humans. That big head with the large eyes and mouth is creepier to me than some of the other takes I've seen of the Martians. I recall seeing something on television some time ago about Harryhausen's work, and they briefly talked about and showed footage from his version. I think there was mention about how the Martians were more sympathetic in the way Ray portrayed them.


:) Sympathetic to what exactly Third?

Author:  Fenris [ Sun Feb 20, 2005 3:08 pm ]
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Harryhausen did of course eventually make an alien invasion movie - the wonderfully titled Earth vs the Flying Saucers (1956), which, ironically, is heavily influenced by Pal's War of the Worlds (1953).<br /><br />I recently read an interview with Harryhausen in which he stated that Earth vs the Flying Saucers is his least favourite out of all the films he's made, which is a pity as I think it contains some of his best work.<br /><br />Tim Burton paid homage & brought things full circle in Mars Attacks (1996) by having the Martian spaceships be identical to those in Harryhausen's movie - including the sound effects.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />

Author:  McTodd [ Tue Feb 22, 2005 12:21 am ]
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Harryhausen first proposed to RKO's Jesse Lasky in 1949 that a Victorian set WotW be made, but Lasky demurred, balking at the costs of period pictures, so Harryhausen updated the script (and storyboards) to the (then) present day USA, just as Pal later did (and Spielberg has now).<br /><br />Ray has recently said in an interview that he feels his Martian is rather too cartoonish, and perhaps betrays rather too much sympathy on his part for them.<br /><br />As far as the tripods go, he never built a model, and didn't even get as far as figuring how they would walk. The top and bottom halves of the saucer-like body were to spin in opposite directions for visual interest (the rationale being that the motion would provide gyroscopic stability, an idea he carried through to 'Earth Versus the Flying Saucers').<br /><br />I think it's an absolute tragedy Ray never got to have a crack at WotW, I just love the thought of Dynamation Martians!<br /><br />Image

Author:  Thunder Child [ Thu Feb 24, 2005 2:36 pm ]
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McTodd wrote:
Harryhausen first proposed to RKO's Jesse Lasky in 1949 that a Victorian set WotW be made, but Lasky demurred, balking at the costs of period pictures, so Harryhausen updated the script (and storyboards) to the (then) present day USA, just as Pal later did (and Spielberg has now).

Ray has recently said in an interview that he feels his Martian is rather too cartoonish, and perhaps betrays rather too much sympathy on his part for them. As far as the tripods go, he never built a model, and didn't even get as far as figuring how they would walk. The top and bottom halves of the saucer-like body were to spin in opposite directions for visual interest (the rationale being that the motion would provide gyroscopic stability, an idea he carried through to 'Earth Versus the Flying Saucers'). I think it's an absolute tragedy Ray never got to have a crack at WotW, I just love the thought of Dynamation Martians!


Thanks for posting the pic! Those are very saucer-y tripods. I imagine they were influenced by the then current craze.

Author:  McTodd [ Thu Feb 24, 2005 11:10 pm ]
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Very much so, although Goble's original 1897 illustrations (and Paul's Amazing Stories cover) also feature saucerish bodies, way before the saucer craze of 1947 on.<br /><br />I received the new double DVD set of Ray H's early work yesterday - it has the full Martian clip with some dead moody music accompanying it! If you've seen the clip from The Harryhausen Chronicles documentary, the full one is a little longer - you see the full unscrewing of the cylinder, and then the tips of the tentacles as they tentatively emerge...

Author:  Alland [ Mon May 02, 2005 12:32 am ]
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WOTW is one of the two great "unmade classics" of Ray Harryhausen. The other one is "King Kong", a loss even more poignant when you consider that Harryhausen knew and worked with Willis O'Brien, the man who did the stop-motion animation for the original movie. Imagine an improved (due to Dynamation) stop-motion version of "Kong", with the dinosaurs moving as smoothly as their counterparts in "One Million Years BC" and "The Valley of Gwangi". It makes the heart ache!

Author:  Loz [ Tue May 03, 2005 5:23 pm ]
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The beauty of the origoinal King kong is the weirdness of the animation. I love it and wouldn't like to see it updated.
Kong works so well because he is so badly rendered that he doesn't look like a Gorrila but some kind of crazy monster.
The new version will just be a very real looking giant Gorrila.

Author:  eveofthewar [ Tue May 03, 2005 8:38 pm ]
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Loz wrote:
The beauty of the origoinal King kong is the weirdness of the animation. I love it and wouldn't like to see it updated.
Kong works so well because he is so badly rendered that he doesn't look like a Gorrila but some kind of crazy monster.
The new version will just be a very real looking giant Gorrila.


I'll second that!

I do love the look of the Peter Jackson version though, I have watched most of the diary days that have been on the kongisking website...

Author:  McTodd [ Fri Jun 24, 2005 9:39 pm ]
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Loz wrote:
Kong works so well because he is so badly rendered that he doesn't look like a Gorrila but some kind of crazy monster.


So badly rendered...!!!

Wash your mouth out, heathen!

:shock:

Author:  Loz [ Sat Jun 25, 2005 10:22 am ]
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No, it is badly rendered. You don't look at kong and say you think that it is a perfectly rendered flawless recreation of a Gorrila. It is far from realistic. That's why I like it so much because it is so odd.
So don't call me Heathen, for pointing out the obvious.

Author:  McTodd [ Sat Jun 25, 2005 11:44 am ]
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Good grief, Loz, keep your hair on!

Author:  Loz [ Sat Jun 25, 2005 2:22 pm ]
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McTodd wrote:
Good grief, Loz, keep your hair on!


I was just about to go for a full Brazillian, but if you insist...

Author:  oever532 [ Sat Jun 25, 2005 2:25 pm ]
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:lol: :lol: :lol:

Author:  McTodd [ Sat Jun 25, 2005 2:44 pm ]
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Loz wrote:
McTodd wrote:
Good grief, Loz, keep your hair on!


I was just about to go for a full Brazillian, but if you insist...


I was going to make some smutty comment linking your remark with Anthony Piana's fake moustache in Timbo's home movie, but I can't think of anything...

Bugger.

Author:  Loz [ Sat Jun 25, 2005 9:58 pm ]
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McTodd wrote:
Loz wrote:
McTodd wrote:
Good grief, Loz, keep your hair on!


I was just about to go for a full Brazillian, but if you insist...


I was going to make some smutty comment linking your remark with Anthony Piana's fake moustache in Timbo's home movie, but I can't think of anything...

Bugger.


Are you calling me a bugger now? A heathen Bugger with a fake Moustache, who beats up on stop motion gorillas? Is that it? Is that what your calling me?

You big blue train with a silly face you!

Author:  McTodd [ Sat Jun 25, 2005 10:06 pm ]
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Yes.

You strange swirly whirly thing that may be the TARDIS time vortex...

Author:  Loz [ Sat Jun 25, 2005 10:14 pm ]
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I'm damn proud to be the swirly thing that may be the Tardis time Vortex.

Author:  Lonesome Crow [ Sun Jun 26, 2005 1:29 pm ]
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So it's not the result of a sneeze then, I've been trying to wipe it off my monitor screen for three months now :D

Author:  Loz [ Thu Jun 30, 2005 11:53 pm ]
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What kind of talk is that for a moderator? Insulting my avatar. Give yourself a warning! [-X

Author:  Lonesome Crow [ Fri Jul 01, 2005 12:45 am ]
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[-X OK [-X , as long as you give yourself a Kleenex, it's a deal :a037:

Author:  oever532 [ Fri Jul 01, 2005 8:06 am ]
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I'll second what Loz said. I'm still having problems with the practical joker in my house. If you're wondering who he is, ask Loz. He encountered posts from that ignoramous twice!

Author:  Lonesome Crow [ Fri Jul 01, 2005 10:20 pm ]
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Loz, I see you've gone from a snot Avatar, to actual bogies, much better =D> It won't be long before that cold's completely cleared up :lol:

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