War of The Worlds Article

Yesterday there was mass panic as Orson Welles’ radio serial described in great detail of Martians invading the Earth. There were suicide reports, robberies, riots and all round panic. Orson Welles broadcasted from the 20th floor at 485 Madison Street in New York City. He described aliens from Mars landing at Grover’s Mill in New Jersey. He said he had no idea of the panic he was causing and that was not his intention. He had just wanted to make some money while giving people an enjoying story.

The program started as a weather report that was interrupted by news flashes about strange explosions on Mars, these explosions were described as giant guns shooting from Mars in an attempt to wage war against Humans and the Earth. The news grew more frequent and people began to panic as a large cylindrical meteorite landed in Grover’s Mill, New Jersey. A large crowd gathered at the site while reporters frequently relay information to the site.

The strange meteorite unscrewed from the top and revealed itself as a type of rocket machine. The onlookers caught a glimpse of a tentacled, pulsating, barely mobile Martian before they were incinerated by heat-rays. The reporter’s shouts of the flames were cut off mid-sentence. Listeners of the station ran to their phones and began to call friends and families.

The regular programs broke down as the studio struggled to keep up with casualty updates. The New Jersey state militia declared martial law and attacked the cylinder. The studio returned to establish the Martians army were invading. Emergency response bulletins stop and evacuation orders are given.

The section ended famously as a news reporter broadcasting from atop the CBS building, described the Martian invasion of New York City – “Five great machines” wading across the Hudson River, poison smoke drifting over the city, people running and diving into the East River “like rats”, others “falling like flies” – until he, too, succumbed to the poison gas.

During the following days there was mass outrage directed at the now famous Orson Welles. Newspapers and public figures described the program as cruel and deceptive. People demanded action be taken against Orson but after he had told his part of the story he was allowed to live his days without punishment except of hate-mail.

This serial was based on the novel by H.G. Wells of the same name written in 1898. It was broadcasted on October 30th, 1938 as a Halloween special however the adaption was set in 1939, a year ahead of the broadcast date. Many other adaptions were made from this novel throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, including movies from 1953, 1981, 3 movies in 2005 (and a sequel in 2008 to one of them). Other things include a 1988 TV series, a special episode of Justice League in 2001, and various other movies with references or about The War of the Worlds. During the 20th century there were also many radio serials including the famous 1938 version by Orson Welles. There were also a number of comic books and other things such as Trading Cards, theatre versions and even an online serial.

Many other authors made sequels to The War of the Worlds original novel and shortly after World War II, Ray Harryhausen had been working on a movie before ending it due to unknown reasons. Many of the adaptions including Steven Spielberg’s 2005 movie and the 1938 radio adaption changed the original setting of England to America (New Jersey).