Fighting machine (The War of the Worlds) the tripods' main body and the aliens' heads resemble cuttlefish. In Pendragon Pictures' low-budget, direct-to-DVD "H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds" (aka "Invasion" internationally or "War of the Worlds"), the only Victorian-set adaptation of Wells' novel, the tripod fighting machine design is loosely based on the look of a praying mantis, which, according to director Timothy Hines, was a favorite insect of H. G. Wells. Tripods have a large, free-moving head atop the smaller main body, giving its sole Martian occupant a panoramic view. It has four thick, metallic tentacles, which are held on high, made up of boxy-looking
The War of the Worlds (radio drama) into it. A study by the Radio Project discovered that fewer than one third of frightened listeners understood the invaders to be aliens; most thought that they were listening to reports of a German invasion or of a natural catastrophe. "People were on edge", wrote Welles biographer Frank Brady. "For the entire month prior to 'The War of the Worlds', radio had kept the American public alert to the ominous happenings throughout the world. The Munich crisis was at its height... For the first time in history, the public could tune into their radios every night and hear, boot by