H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds (Hines film) added scenes, re-edits, and re-tooled special effects; the director says this is the definitive version. "The Classic War of the Worlds" replaces the 3 hour rough cut version, "H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds", that was widely distributed and is now discontinued. In 2012 a re-imagined, re-edited, and re-thought version, with new material added, was released under the title War of the Worlds – The True Story; this new version, again directed by Timothy Hines, is presented as a faux-documentary. It revisits Wells' novel, portraying its events as historical by way of the documented recollections of a survivor of
The War of the Worlds (radio drama) sound effects chief Ora D. Nichols. Welles discussed his fake newscast idea with producer John Houseman and associate producer Paul Stewart; together, they decided to adapt a work of science fiction. They considered adapting M. P. Shiel's "The Purple Cloud" and Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Lost World" before purchasing the radio rights to "The War of the Worlds". Houseman later wrote that he suspected Welles had never read it. Howard Koch had written the first drafts for the Mercury Theatre broadcasts "Hell on Ice" (October 9), "Seventeen" (October 16), and "Around the World in 80 Days" (October 23). Monday, October