Martian (War of the Worlds)
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Martians are the race of extraterrestrials from the H.G. Wells novel The War of the Worlds.
Little about the Martians is definitive due to the nature of the novel, as it is told from the perspective of an unnamed narrator and his limited witness to the events of their invasion of Earth.
What is told is that the Martians are described as octopus-like creatures; the "body" consists of only a head with two eyes, a v-shaped lipless beak-like mouth, and two branches with a total of 16 tentacles. They have no male or female differences; they reproduce asexually, children being born by "budding" off its parent. The Martians also consist of just a brain, lungs, heart and blood vessels; they have no organs for digestion. The ear, located in the back of the head, is believed to be useless in our atmosphere.
But there is not just a single race of Martians. There is also at least one more than the race that invaded Earth. Evidence of a second race of Martian is found to have been brought along in the invaders' cylinders, two to three each, taken for sustenance for their travel. These Martians are vaguely similar to humans as they are bipedal, about six feet tall, and have a head shape similar to man; however, their fragile physical structure, made up of weak skeletons and muscles, would have been broken in Earth's heavier atmosphere.
Communication between Martians is never made evident, but is discussed at length by the narrator. He cites reports from others who believe that they use either sounds or commune through gestures with their tentacles. The narrator dismisses this as he sees a good deal of Martians working together without either of the aforementioned means. He makes mention, however, of a "hooting" sound, but given its unwavering tone and preceding to feeding, he leaves it to the release of air in preperation to their injections. Though he describes their distinctive sounds of "ulla" in their final moments as if it were a sad cry, it nevertheless is his belief that the Martians use telepathy.
Based on their physical features, the Martians are suggested to be the descendents of a species similar to human beings. Eventually, evolution left them with little more than a brain, head, and their hands, which became their tentacles. Without any muscles in need of recuperation, the Martians need not rest, apparently working the entire time they are on Earth. They are described to be incredibly sluggish, weighed down by the planet's gravity which is heavier than that of Mars. To help them, they "wear" machines to aide them. Despite their foreshadowing of humanity's path, the Martians' technology curiously lacks the wheel. It is also observed that the Martians are not hampered by the affects of disease, implying that either they had long eliminated them from Mars or never existed there at all. Ultimately, their lack of knowledge or preperation of any bacteria indigenous to Earth proves to be their downfall.
[edit] In other adaptations
Most adaptations of the Wells novel also incorporate Martians as the invading race. A few draw upon their description from the original novel such as the infamous radio adaptation, as well as the more loyal musical version, and Pendragon film adaptations.
Although somewhat loyal, most versions of the Martians differ. For example, despite a lack of verbal language as the narrator of the novel indicates, many versions give them one nevertheless. In the rough adapation in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, they are given a more cryptic tongue. A bonus prologue to Jeff Wayne's musical version, added to the remix album, has them speaking in English (tough there are murmurs of an alien language in the background), explaining their predicament. In the original album, however, the use "ulla" is not only given as a distinct wailing, but is heard eariler in the album as a triumphant howl.
In the original novel, the character of an artilleryman believes that the Martians would have some captured humans hunt down their own kind, even "do it cheerful." The idea of willing human collaborators is adapted in some versions. In The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, it is the Invisible Man. In a crossover with the early Superman mythos, it is Lex Luthor who helps the Martians.
Some take a more creative liberty with the look of the Martians. In the 1953 film adaptation, the Martians look virtually nothing like their novel counterparts. They are short, brown creatures with three fingers at the end of their long arms. They have a cyclops eye, that is divided into three different colours. The bottom of the creature is never shown, but blueprints from the film detail the creatures show them to have three legs with a single suction cup-like toe (similar to their fingers). This design was inspirational to look of two other non-Martian alien races. However, because these aliens have a different physiology and as they are not seen successfully taking a foothold of Earth as they do in the novel, their biological needs are not known.
In the Asylum film adaptation, they resemble more closely their novel counterparts. However, instead of an octupus, they look more like an insect. They also have the ability to spit acid. It would appear that these Martians also have a need for human blood.
[edit] Non-Martians
Not all of the antagonistic invaders are from Mars. Because science has revealed that the red planet is devoid of intelligent life that can come and take over Earth, the concept of using Martians is sometimes dropped from some adaptations as it is no longer deemed realistic.
One of the earliest known to take a new spin on the invaders was in a pilot presentation made by George Pál for an unrealised War of the Worlds TV series. Though Pál's 1953 film is established as a basis for the look of the invaders and their technology (their war machines baring no clear dissimilarities), there is no seeming intended continutation. These invaders, depicted only in production art, only differ in certain detail as they appear leaner and their cyclopean eye sporting apparently only a single colour. The most notable difference is that these aliens are not stated to be Martians. In part of the series' set-up, humanity sends ships to pursue the defeated invaders. Instead of chasing them to Mars, they are tracked down to the distant Alpha Centauri. It is then revealed that these aliens are not even the main villains, but rather an underling race to a greater force that is not revealed in the presentation.
The actual War of the Worlds TV series that was made, a sequel to the 1953 film, goes into a great more detail with its invaders. When the show begins, there is no mention of Mars (with the exception of one episode in which characters are confusing them with the Martians of the radio broadcast). Though some minor details are given away to indicate that their home planet was not Mars, it is not confirmed onscreen until mid-way through the season that they originate from a world named Mor-Tax. With their beautiful planet becoming uninhabitable from a dying star, they invade Earth with plans to take it over to preserve the traits that it shares with their old world. Their society is highly collective with the only sense of division in the form of their ternary caste system: a high-ranking and seemingly infallible ruling class (itself divided between the supreme leadership of a Council and their Advocacy to the lower classes), a military force in the middle, and scientists relegated to the bottom. They are incredibly intelligent, able to communicate in seconds over light-years of space, create affective booby traps, and even adapt seemingly normal human objects for their own purposes. However, their intelligence lends itself to their one true weakness: their hubris, as it is established that they often claim victory before it is accomplished, do not admit to their mistakes, and with the exception of the Advocacy, those who fail are executed.
Virtually nothing is known about the aliens from the Steven Spielberg adaptation. Physiologically, these creatures are of a bluish/grey colour. They are tripedal, each limb ending with three fingers. They also have two small limbs, also with three fingers, on their chest (similar to a tyrannosaurus, or the Alien queen). The biological needs of this race is largely unknown. They need human blood, but only as a part of their xenoforming project. Thoughout the film, their tripods spill a strange fluid that is presumably connected to the invaders' needs (indeed, in the script David Koepp refers to it as "lifeblood", though it is descriped as rose-coloured, rather than the film's orange). In the climatic scene of the film, a downed tripod opens a hatch that belches the liquid before one of the sickly creatures crawls forth. The death of these invaders is evident as they seemingly dehydrate upon their passing; however, this occurs only in the end, and thus maybe a result of their exposure to bacteria. These aliens do have a language, uttered amongst one another at some point, and there is even hieroglyphic writing seen on their tripod machines.
[edit] External links
- 'Martians Invaders' An article on War of the Worlds Martians
