Doctor Clayton Forrester (The War of the Worlds) in Steven Spielberg's 2005 remake, as an homage to the original George Pal 1953 film. The "War of the Worlds" TV series (developed as a direct sequel to the film, not the original H. G. Wells novel) makes a number of references to Dr. Clayton Forrester, but does not actually feature the character. The show's back-story establishes that Forrester adopted a young boy, Harrison Blackwood, who was orphaned during the Martian invasion in the film. (Blackwood's parents were Forrester's colleagues at Pacific Tech). Forrester's discovery that the aliens, believed to have been killed by common bacteria and viruses, were still
The War of the Worlds suggests the Martians have left behind. The novel also presents ideas related to Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection, both in specific ideas discussed by the narrator, and themes explored by the story. Wells also wrote an essay titled 'Intelligence on Mars', published in 1896 in the "Saturday Review", which sets out many of the ideas for the Martians and their planet that are used almost unchanged in "The War of the Worlds". In the essay he speculates about the nature of the Martian inhabitants and how their evolutionary progress might compare to humans. He also suggests that Mars, being