H.G. Wells and the Enduring Power of War of the Worlds.
TL;DR: Beginning with H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds to modern sci-fi classics like Arrival and Independence Day, the alien invasion story highlights humanity’s fears, hopes, and innate curiosity about the universe.
Recently, I reread H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds. The visionary, for its time, first-person account of Martian invaders descending from the heavens across a quaint, bucolic late Victorian-era English countryside. And I was struck once more by its timelessly influential theme, which launched countless tales from hopeful to dystopic through the decades that followed: Our fragile human civilization versus a technologically superior force from beyond.
Within the pages of the short and straightforward narrative, the notion of rocket ships from Mars blasting through our atmosphere and eventually laying waste to humankind proved a mind-blowing revelation for the turn-of-the-century reading public. Along with Mary Shelly and Jules Verne, H.G. Wells broke new ground, pioneering the age of science fiction.
From books to film.
Nine times out of ten, book-to-movie adaptations are a huge let-down. However, an exception that breaks the rule from my POV is the Spielberg/Cruise adaptation of War of the Worlds. I have seen this flick countless times. (Almost as many as Jurassic Park, but I digress.) And I marvel at how much of the original story remained—in a modern sense—in the plot of that 2005 blockbuster.
It is truly a nod to Wells’ genius that his choices and assumptions, shaped by the time in which he lived, remain malleable and can be reimagined, reenvisioned, and repurposed to sublime creative effect by authors, artists, and filmmakers through countless sci-fi classics and lesser creations down through the years.
The ironic ending.
Perhaps the most imaginative part of H.G. Wells’ story comes in the final act after the last vestige of hope has left our narrator, and humankind appears to have lost in the most ignominious fashion. But never fear, (spoiler alert) the alien invaders unwittingly succumb to lowly single-cell organisms that we humans have grown immune to through the millennia. That is some heady stuff for 1898.
In need of a modern-day example of this ironic narrative hook? Look no further than how Wells’ clever ending manifests as a computer virus used to thwart the aliens in the epic Independence Day.
From malicious to unfathomable.
The brilliance of Wells’ overarching theme is that, beyond War of the Worlds, the technologically advanced force confronting humanity need not be malicious; it can simply be hopelessly unfathomable to us. Think of the enigmatic alien message at the heart of Carl Sagan’s Contact. Or the life-or-death race to communicate with the aliens in Arrival (based on the Ted Chiang novella, Story of Your Life). In neither of these examples—nor many others—is there the necessity for the aliens to descend and lay waste to human civilization, ala the aforementioned Independence Day. Their mere presence is enough to provoke everything from stoic introspection and soul searching to mass chaos. We, humans, are an excitable bunch.
The sheer spectacle of quintessential science fiction.
However, H.G. Wells would be the first to tell you, literally, that there’s no denying the sheer spectacle of technologically-advanced aliens breaching Earth’s atmosphere, hellbent on human extinction, makes for quintessential science fiction storytelling. In the wake of War of the Worlds, innumerable sci-fi sagas have their stock-in-trade measured in planetary destruction, blasters blasting, acid-dripping aliens, light sabers rattling and humming, and cosmic damsels in distress in need of their hero, and vice versa.
The alien invasion at the end of The Golden Ellipse. (spoiler ahead)
In the final chapters of my first novel, The Golden Ellipse, the race to stop the alien invasion threat fails, resulting in catastrophic consequences as the enormous otherworldly ET dreadnoughts trigger worldwide EMP events, wiping out our futuristic 2044 AI-driven civilization and thrusting humanity back to the stone ages in the first seconds without firing a shot.
The Lost Ship and The Blue Spark, Books Two and Three in my trilogy, follow in the dystopian aftermath, taking readers on the ultimate journey to humankind’s destiny in a crowded universe—the mystifying theme underlying my science fiction storytelling.
Like writers from Burroughs and Clarke to Chiang and Weir and countless others, I owe H.G. Wells a debt of gratitude which I repay by rereading his books from time to time.
Happy reading, and keep an eye on the sky.
What’s your favorite sci-fi read?
I’d love to hear from my fellow sci-fi readers—I know you are out there in the noosphere (look it up). Drop a comment about your favorite science fiction read.
