War of the Worlds: New Millennium War of the Worlds: New Millennium After the most recent unmanned mission to Mars inexplicably fails, interest in the Red Planet is still high. The whole world watches as a bright spot of light appears daily on the Martian surface. As they continue, theories abound about what is causing it. Telescopes pick up movement in space: something came from Mars and is headed towards Earth. As explained in the Author's Note of the novel, H. G. Wells wrote the original "The War of the Worlds" prior to any modern military conflict (such as World War I or World War II).
The War of the Worlds (1953 film) for Pal productions: "Destination Moon" and "When Worlds Collide". "The War of the Worlds" won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects and was later selected for inclusion in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress. An effort was made to avoid the stereotypical flying saucer look of UFOs: The Martian war machines (designed by Al Nozaki) were instead made to be sinister-looking machines shaped like manta rays floating above the ground. Three Martian war machine props were made out of copper for the film. The same blueprints were used a decade later to construct the alien spacecraft