.G. Wells' novel The War of the Worlds, which debuted in the April 1897 issue of Pearson's Magazine, has proved remarkably long-lived. Since its first appearance, the story itself has remained in print all around the world. The tale of Martian invaders has also inspired numerous adaptations and reinterpretations, and has leapt with relative ease from print to radio to film and even to television and the Internet.
In The Complete War of the Worlds, editors Brian Holmsten and Alex Lubertozzi present two of the story's most famous incarnations, as well as several chapters' worth of material placing those versions into historical and creative context. The original Wells novel and the Howard Koch radio script form the book's cornerstones, and are complemented by biographical chapters on both H.G. Wells and Orson Welles, who used the Koch script as the basis for his infamous Halloween broadcast of 1938.
Other chapters discuss the radio broadcast and its aftermath, as well as variations of the Martian invasion hoax and more modern manifestations of the tale. A foreword by Ray Bradbury delves into our attraction to the story's inherent paranoia, and an afterword by Ben Bova outlines our actual scientific interaction with Mars. The book also includes an audio CD, which contains the complete 1938 Mercury Theatre broadcast, snatches of various interviews with Wells and Welles, and a brief excerpt from a 1968 attempt by an AM station in Buffalo, N.Y., to place the play in a rock 'n' roll radio context.
All Martians are not created equal
At first glance, The Complete War of the Worlds seems to be that most elusive of artifacts: a coffee-table book with substance. The basic idea of gathering together the original novel, the radio script and a CD of the 1938 "panic broadcast" is inspired. But that good idea is also packaged with terrific production values and an appealing, dynamic layout. The chapters outlining the story's transition from book to radio are well written, as are the sections establishing the cultural atmosphere that helped create the public's reaction to the Halloween broadcast.
Yet this core material is fairly familiar to even the most casual SF fan. The Mercury Theatre production is replayed frequently. The novel is easy to find. And while the historical and biographical chapters benefit from clean, clear prose, they rely quite heavily on previously published sources. Worse still, the attribution for some of this material--the quotes from eyewitnesses to the panic broadcast that run alongside the radio script, for example--is missing or incomplete. It's not even clear which version of the Wells tale is used. The two-column layout in which the story is presented, complete with original magazine illustrations, suggests that readers are being treated to the work as it originally appeared in Pearson's. In fact, the book features the much more common revised novel form.
This inattention to detail is continued in the text itself. The pulp magazines Amazing Stories and Weird Tales are repeatedly referred to as "comic books." The wish-granting alien from The Flintstones is identified as "Kazoo," rather than "Gazoo." The discussion of more recent material inspired by the Wells and Welles versions fails to mention the Emmy Award-winning TV film from 1975, The Night that Panicked America, itself based upon a script by Howard Koch. Absent, too, is The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai, which made such wonderfully original use of the entire War of the Worlds mythos, and the critically acclaimed Marvel comic serial of the 1970s.
A possible reason for these oversights is suggested by the somewhat sneering tone that creeps into the book at certain point. In discussing the War of the Worlds television series, the authors translate the term "cult hit" as meaning "seen by almost no one." The Kevin Anderson-helmed anthology War of the Worlds: Global Dispatches is labeled "parody for bookworms." The snide comments are not in keeping with the discussions of Wells' novel or Welles' radio production, the pedigrees of which seem unquestioned, despite their popular origins. This isn't to say all these items deserve the same respect--and the authors do seem to enjoy the more outlandish Mars Attacks! trading cards and Tim Burton film--but a uniformity of critical tone and approach would have greatly improved The Complete War of the Worlds.
