History YMMV / TheWarOfTheWorlds

*** And the late stages of the European theater.

* HilariousInHindsight: Unbelievably inhuman creatures with plenty of tentacles arriving from outer space, beings so immeasurably alien we don't stand a chance in fighting them, and implications of our own inevitable doom in a universe that at best seems completely indifferent to what happens to us, not to mention a certain degree of insanity that comes from realizing our insignificnace. [[Literature/CthulhuMythos Sound familiar]]? Well, good ol' Creator/HPLovecraft would have been a child when this book was published, predating just about ''everything'' he wrote.

* AdaptationDecay: The Tripods are iconic images in the history of science fiction and what everyone remembers. For some reason the 1953 film made them into ''flying machines''.
** Most adaptations take place in modern-day America instead of Victorian England, which actually makes the Martian threat significantly weaker from a story point of view, since Victorian characters from the novel didn't have the luxury of missile launchers and nuclear weapons to throw at the Martians; this has necessitated modern depictions having to give them force-fields in order to be a credible menace.
** Also, the 1953 version's Fighting Machines ''don't'' fly. They are held up by three "legs" of electrical energy. Granted, only one close-up establishes this. The electricity was a practical (i.e. not optical) effect, generated in real-time, and even then it's not very obvious. At all other times, the "legs" are implied by a faint lighting effect under the body.
** PragmaticAdaptation: One of the reasons is that, given the limitations of special effects at the time (remember, it was a 19''53'' movie), having proper Tripods would have been ''really'' hard. They could maybe have done them with stop-motion, but that would have made them look silly. Their slow yet implacable flying is much more creepy and threatening than any special effect of the time could have done with actual legs.
** It ''might'' have worked if George Pal hadn't blocked the great Creator/RayHarryhausen, who had been attempting to make his own version for over a decade, from [[WhatCouldHaveBeen getting involved with the project]]. His [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tr2H6dJhiyA take on the Martian's look]] actually is better than Pal's and ''still'' holds up today, so he probably could have pulled off convincing stop-motion Tripods as well!

* MisaimedFandom: The Tripods are iconic images in the history of science fiction and what everyone remembers. For some reason the 1953 film made them into ''flying machines''.
** Most adaptations take place in modern-day America instead of Victorian England, which actually makes the Martian threat significantly weaker from a story point of view, since Victorian characters from the novel didn't have the luxury of missile launchers and nuclear weapons to throw at the Martians; this has necessitated modern depictions having to give them force-fields in order to be a credible menace.
** Also, the 1953 version's Fighting Machines ''don't'' fly. They are held up by three "legs" of electrical energy. Granted, only one close-up establishes this. The electricity was a practical (i.e. not optical) effect, generated in real-time, and even then it's not very obvious. At all other times, the "legs" are implied by a faint lighting effect under the body.
** One of the reasons is that, given the limitations of special effects at the time (remember, it was a 19''53'' movie), having proper Tripods would have been ''really'' hard. They could maybe have done them with stop-motion, but that would have made them look silly. Their slow yet implacable flying is much more creepy and threatening than any special effect of the time could have done with actual legs.

* HilariousInHindsight: Unbelievably inhuman creatures with plenty of tentacles arriving from outer space, beings so immeasurably alien we don't stand a chance in fighting them, and implications of our own inevitable doom in a universe that at best seems completely indifferent to what happens to us. [[Literature/CthulhuMythos Sound familiar]]? Well, good ol' Creator/HPLovecraft would have been a child when this book was published, predating just about ''everything'' he wrote.

** One of the reasons is that, given the limitations of special effects at the time (remember, it was a 19''53'' movie), having proper Tripods would have been ''really'' hard.

** At the year 1898, the thoughts of a war so brutal that entire cities could be destroyed to the ground were considered as paranoid nonsenses and wild fantasies, especially if they were about this kind of war between the "civilized" European nations...

!!The 2005 movie:
* {{HSQ}}: Spielberg keeps this as high as possible. One scene involves a crowd of people, including our protagonists, walking through town, when a railroad crossing signal sounds. Everybody clears the tracks as the gate comes down. Then the train passes. [[spoiler:It is ''on fire''.]] It leaves, the gates go up, and it is not commented on ''by anyone''.
** Ebert, who gave the film a bad review, called this scene "unforgettable".
** The train was in the novel, as well. It's a clever nod to the original story.
* TheScrappy: Rachel qualifies for being TheLoad, and she spends most of the time being carried around, screaming, or staring off into space. [[OnlySaneMan Ray]] might not know much about parenting, but he sure risks his ass for her twenty times over in the film while she stands there and does nothing. Frequently parodied in [[ScaryMovie Scary Movie 4]].
** Hell, Robbie counts as well. The first few scenes he's in involve him being a JerkAss to his father, up to and including the invasion. After demanding to go to his mother and stepfather, Ray agrees, to which Robbie argues that Ray is just trying to get rid of his children. This is all surrounded by Robbie trying to go LeeroyJenkins and fight the invasion despite [[OnlySaneMan Ray's insistence that nothing good will come of it]].
* WTHCastingAgency: When people think "blue-collar New Jersey single father", ''TomCruise'' is probably not the first name that comes to mind.

* * ItWasHisSled: The fact that the Martians are all but unstoppable by regular means but eventually get sick and die, which is usually the case in most adaptations.

* {{HSQ}}: Spielberg keeps this as high as possible. One scene involves a crowd of people, including our protagonists, walking through town, when a railroad crossing signal sounds. Everybody clears the tracks as the gate comes down. Then the train passes. [[spoiler:It is ''on fire''.]] It leaves, the gates go up, and it is not commented on ''by anyone''.

----

* {{HSQ}}: Spielberg keeps this as high as possible. One scene involves a crowd of people, including our protagonists, walking through town, when a railroad crossing signal sounds. Everybody clears the tracks as the gate comes down. Then the train passes. [[spoiler:It is ''on fire''.]] It leaves, the gates go up, and it is not commented on ''by anyone''.
** The train was in the novel, as well. It's a clever nod to the original story.

* TheScrappy: Rachel qualifies for being TheLoad, and she spends most of the time being carried around, screaming, or staring off into space. [[OnlySaneMan Ray]] might not know much about parenting, but he sure risks his ass for her twenty times over in the film while she stands there and does nothing. Frequently parodied in ScaryMovie4.

** The artillery man in particular is a disturbingly prophetic figure. Even though he does not have the will to follow suit with these plans, the ideas that came up with do sound alot like the things that thirty years latter by a group of people in germany with good dress sense and a tenancy to march without bending their knees led by a certain rejected art student.

* HellIsThatNoise: The loud foghorn-like cry that the tripods occasionally give out makes them sound as much like a living creature as a machine. It's immediately terrifying and a signal that really bad thing are happening or going to happen if you hear one in the distance.

* LoveItOrHateIt: Not the film itself, but DakotaFanning's performance. She's either a captivating lens through which to view the invasion, or weepy brat who only exists to be in peril.
** Same thing goes for TomCruise, though he was starting to get this with ''all'' his movies around this time.
** The 2005 film itself is not an especially faithful adaptation. For some people (it ''was'' both critically and financially successful) there were allowances that made it work, for others it was just bad.

** At the year 1898, the thoughts of a war so brutal that entire cities could be destroyed to the ground were considered as paranoid nonsenses and wild fantasies, especially if they were about this kind of war between the "civilized" Europeans nations...