The War of the Worlds
H.G. Wells 1897 science-fiction classic War of the Worlds has been adapted countless times. Most notable are the 1953 film, Spielberg’s 2005 version, Orson Welles’s 1938 radio play, and the latest stellar BBC rendition. It's about humanity being attacked by aliens; the archetypal story of the alien invasion plot so present and popular in modern media and science-fiction. It’s the first of its kind. Interestingly, every adaptation follows a different cast of characters; only the alien invasion and parts of the plot stay relatively consistent. The setting also changes, typically to be more relevant to contemporary life. Instead of Victorian England, it’s 1953 California or Edwardian England, for example. This is an unusual way to handle adaptations. The story concludes with a twist, this being that, for all of their might and technological superiority, they are defeated at the film's end by Earth bacteria. The book is said to be somewhat of an allegory, with the stories&