In memory of my good friend Terry Cooper, who shared my love of science fiction/monster movies and TV shows, and without whom there would not have been Shuker In MovieLand. Please see my tribute to Terry at the end of this review.
I am remaining in TV mode as opposed to film mode for this latest Shuker In MovieLand review, in order to recall a science fiction mini-series that I watched on BBC TV when it was first screened here in the UK just over a year ago.
On 29 December 2019, I completed watching on the BBC's iPlayer online catch-up service the then recently-screened 3-episode TV mini-series adaptation by BBC1 of the classic H.G. Wells science fiction novel The War of the Worlds, first published in 1898. Directed by Craig Viveiros, it included the likes of Rafe Spall, Eleanor Tomlinson, Robert Carlyle, and Rupert Graves among its cast.
I hadn't originally planned to view this show, because all of the TV critic reviews of it that I'd read were unremittingly scathing. Then I suddenly realised: Hold it just there, since when have I ever taken notice of critics' comments concerning TV shows, movies, books, or anything else for that matter?? I'll make up my own mind, thank you very much! So I duly watched it and, quelle surprise, I very much enjoyed it!
True, the storyline in this newest version of The War of the Worlds veers profoundly in places from that of the original novel, in particular featuring what is initially a confusing but frequent interchange of time periods, flicking back and forth between the initial Martian invasion and heartrending scenes of devastation several years later with ragged human survivors huddled in refugee camps eking out a meagre existence beneath a smoky-red sky. Nevertheless, for me these changes are intriguing and attention-capturing, giving a new but by no means uninteresting spin on the familiar plot presented in the novel.
Conversely, I feel that the PC lambasting of the British Empire's perceived superiority of itself back in the day, and of conquerors' inhumanity to the conquered, are heavy-handed to say the least. It is also uncalled-for in the context of this series' subject, especially given that its setting has been advanced from the original novel's Victorian England to that of Edwardian England, which means that imperialism and imperialistic views were, rightly or wrongly, still very prevalent in society at that time.
Also, the Martians' form as portrayed here – that of huge three-legged spider-like entities whose limbs each terminate in a sharp point lacking any kind of digits – signally fails to elucidate how they could have constructed their space craft and their gigantic tripodal perambulating craft that fire death rays and emit toxic smoke, which kill people and block out the sun.
Memorably, the conclusion of this War of the Worlds mini-series provides no unequivocal victory or redemption for the human race or for planet Earth as a whole. However, the very last moments in the final episode, focusing upon the emergence of a small green plant amid the dying invasive red Martian moss and the sun beginning to break through the rusty smog, offers hope for our world's future, which is all that anyone can ever have, even at best, and never more so than during these present bedeviled times.
If you would like to watch an official trailer for The War of the Worlds, please click here to view one on YouTube.
And to view a complete listing of all of my
Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film/TV reviews and articles (each one instantly
accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE!
I wish to dedicate this Shuker In MovieLand review to one of my all-time best friends on Facebook, Terry Cooper, from Illinois, USA, without whom this blog would not even exist. For it was Terry who first suggested to me, and then actively encouraged me, to devise and launch it back in July 2020, knowing of my passion for movies and TV, and he always read with great interest and enthusiasm each review that I subsequently uploaded to it.
Today I awoke to the devastating news that Terry had passed away unexpectedly. His brother Daryl, another of my longstanding FB friends, kindly informed me – thank you Daryl. Never a day went by without Terry sending me either on my FB timeline or in one of my FB groups a humorous news report that would make me smile, or a friendly joke in relation to something that I'd posted, an ever-present ray of light amid so much darkness all around, especially during the past fraught year. But now that ray of light, that beacon of joy, that font of friendly laughter, is gone from my life and from the lives of all of those countless other persons who were, like me, fortunate enough and honoured enough to have known Terry and to have counted him – like I did and always shall – as a good and staunchly loyal friend.
God speed, Terry, how I shall miss you, but you are in a better place now, secure in the divine embrace of God, freed from the worries and woes that beset us here in this misery-laden mortal plane. May you rest in peace, safe in the knowledge that you were loved by so many of us and that your presence here made such a positive, uplifting difference to our lives. You will never be forgotten, you will live on in our fond memories forever. God bless you, Terry, one day we'll meet again, my friend.
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