The Great Martian War

“What if?” Literary scholars say that question has driven science fiction since time immemorial, and the made-for-TV movie The Great Martian War poses a doozy: What if Mars invaded Earth in 1913?

The Great Martian War isn’t a sci-fi B picture exactly. It airs on History and has been carefully crafted to look, sound and feel like a historical documentary, complete with grainy archival footage, witness testimony from aging survivors and the analysis and deconstruction of present-day experts.

The Great Martian War combines computer-generated images of alien invaders and film footage from the First World War to create the illusion that a Martian invasion actually happened. Think of it as Orson Welles’s The War of the Worlds crossed with Woody Allen’s Zelig, dressed up as a historical documentary, complete with portentous narration (“A century ago these fields were the bloody arena for the most terrible conflict in human history …”) and brooding, “important” background music.

“We were fighting monsters!” an elderly witness recalls, decades later.

Another elderly witness recalls, in a shaking, halting voice, “There was life beyond our planet! It went against everything I was raised to believe … An entire generation of young men, all of them vanished.”

Whether The Great Martian War is for you will depend a lot on your sensibilities. More serious-minded viewers may be offended that actual First World War film footage of a real, bloody conflict involving actual living, breathing people has been manipulated for use in a sci-fi pulp adventure.

Many viewers, though — most, perhaps — will be drawn in by the compelling way The Great Martian War poses its central mystery. It’s silly, sure, yet strangely addictive. It uses every filmmaking trick in the history documentarian’s playbook, from grainy archival footage to the testimony of present-day experts such as “war historian and broadcaster” Duncan Mitchell Myers, who explains how an unexplained explosion in the middle of Germany’s Black Forest triggered a rush to war.

At two hours, The Great Martian War seems repetitive at times, a little like a one-joke comedy stretched too long. It’s cleverly put together, though, with small, welcome touches like war vet Hughie Logan “of Calgary, Canada” — “filmed in 1987,” according to the caption — who recalls that going to war meant leaving loved ones behind at home to ponder his fate on the battlefield.

The Great Martian War isn’t mere pulp entertainment. The centenary commemorations of the First World War — the actual war — are just around the corner. In an indirect, almost offhand way, The Great Martian War seems calculated to appeal to a younger generation raised to believe that historical documentaries are tedious and uninspiring.

The Great Martian War may remind some moviegoers of the 2004 Gwyneth Paltrow film Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, which was filmed in sepia tones and set in an alternative 1939. There’s an almost heedless energy to the way The Great Martian War tells its story. It’s a novelty, but an inventive and surprisingly engaging novelty. Provided, that is, one doesn’t take it too seriously. It’s not Ken Burns, after all.

Tanker's Tuesday: T55

The most produced tank in history?

Still classed as a medium tank, the T-54 was clearly a superior design to the T-44. Nowadays it is seen as an all-out classic of the Cold War. The T-55 version, which appeared in 1958, was the sum of all the modifications applied to the previous T-54 series, with several differences which made a clear distinction from the previous model. One of these was NBC protection and a brand new engine. T-54s were modernized over time to the T-55 standard, leading to a nearly indistinguishable “T-54/55” generic type.

T 55 Tank

Tank T - 55 inside

Soviet Tanks T-55 & T-72 Demo in Full 2011 (Part1)

T-55 tank vs cars!

Top Ten Tanks- #8: Soviet T-54/55

Russian Armored Vehicles -1

Small Soliders - Fight! Win!: 15mm Khurasan Lhurgg Tribesmen

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Battle Game of the Month: Special Bulletin: NOW its Quiet on the Martian Fro...

Battle Game of the Month: Special Bulletin: NOW its Quiet on the Martian Fro...: Today, for the 1st time, the  Martians were not just stopped but routed. Add caption

Tanker's Tuesday: M3 Lee/Grant

Having just watched the classic WWII movie "Sahara " for the tenth time or so...

M3 Lee/Grant. ... Born as a replacement for the unsuccessful M2 Medium Tank (1938), which never left the American soil, the M3 was designed and equipped in a rush. ... By then, the M4 Sherman, a 75 mm (2.95 in) armed medium tank, was already scheduled for production.

US/M3 Lee/Grant.

Sahara 1943

Sahara (1995) - Trailer

Star Warp Gate By Studio Bergstrom

Needed one of these for awhile, great model and at a great price!

Studio Bergstrom

ALL QUIET ON THE MARTIAN FRONT Tripods

I lucked out and picked up 9 of these.

Modern Warfare: Paintup Review: Bannon's Boys for Team Yankee (M1A...

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(15mm) Colonial Gunboats

I picked up a couple Colonial Gunboats one Russian one British.

Tanker's Tuesday : (Belated) Valentine

Genesis: A cruiser with increased protection

After the A11 Matilda I and A12 Matilda II, the logical choice would be the A13, but that never happened. The Valentine development started without a specification from the War Office (hence the absence of an army designation), as a private design by Sir John Carden, and was submitted on February, 10, 1938, to the authorities. By then, the Matilda II had been chosen for production, but the Valentine was something different.




MkIII Valentine.

Tankfest 2010 Valentine Infantry Tank Very Exclusive Footage!

Small Soliders - Fight! Win!: 15mm Sci Fi City

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Eureka Miniatures 15MM Ventauran Troopers

Thinking on my next Sci-fi force, and having done allot of
business with Nic at Eureka Miniatures. I'm looking at
the Ventauran Troopers in 15mm.

Ventauran Troopers

 Ventauran SAW

Ventauran Officer

 Ventauran Autocannon

Ventauran Comms

Ventauran Anti-Tank