Anyone watch the BBC's new "The First Men In The Moon"?

[TigerOfDarkness]

Anyone watch the new First Men In The Moon production?

It was closer to the HG Wells book than the Pal film but somehow didn't grip me as much as I'd hoped.

 

[Servo]

I saw the repeat last night. Thought it was thoroughly enjoyable. Good performances from Gatiss and Kinnear, a sound adaptation of the story, and decent effects (especially the view of Earth from the pod window, that'll look awesome in HD).

The only thing I questioned was the supposed threat to Earth from the Selenites at the end. Unless they had something hidden away that we never saw, their only weapons were some gold staffs, and they could be killed with a single punch. Didn't really get the impression that they'd last 5 minutes against our military forces, had their invasion happened. Not to mention that our heavier gravity would have probably restricted their movement.

Still, other than that inconsequential nitpick, I thought it was decent. I'll be picking up the Blu-Ray, should the BBC see fit to release one.

 

[ITL]

Saw it, loved it. Yes!

I haven't heard about a Blu-Ray release, but on Twitter Gatiss said it'll be out on DVD very soon.

 

[saturn5]

Thought it was very good although I preferred the Lionel Jefferies version, very nice touch that it was dedicated to him

 

[Bob The Skutter]

I saw the repeat last night. Thought it was thoroughly enjoyable. Good performances from Gatiss and Kinnear, a sound adaptation of the story, and decent effects (especially the view of Earth from the pod window, that'll look awesome in HD).

The only thing I questioned was the supposed threat to Earth from the Selenites at the end. Unless they had something hidden away that we never saw, their only weapons were some gold staffs, and they could be killed with a single punch. Didn't really get the impression that they'd last 5 minutes against our military forces, had their invasion happened. Not to mention that our heavier gravity would have probably restricted their movement.

Still, other than that inconsequential nitpick, I thought it was decent. I'll be picking up the Blu-Ray, should the BBC see fit to release one.

I just finished watching, I was quite impressed with the visual effects given the tiny budget it must have had being on BBC Four.
I thought it was very good. I'd be buying the blu-ray too if there was one.

 

[Servo]

I just finished watching, I was quite impressed with the visual effects given the tiny budget it must have had being on BBC Four.
I thought it was very good. I'd be buying the blu-ray too if there was one.

One thing I will say; I got a great "Doctor" vibe from Gatiss' Cavor, especially when he was piloting the pod.

"What do the instruments read?"
"What?"
"The number, read the number."
"1202"
"Oh. Probably just ignore it."

and

"That's impossible! Probably."

 

[Bob The Skutter]

I just finished watching, I was quite impressed with the visual effects given the tiny budget it must have had being on BBC Four.
I thought it was very good. I'd be buying the blu-ray too if there was one.

One thing I will say; I got a great "Doctor" vibe from Gatiss' Cavor, especially when he was piloting the pod.

"What do the instruments read?"
"What?"
"The number, read the number."
"1202"
"Oh. Probably just ignore it."

and

"That's impossible! Probably."

I think that's probably the closest he'll get to playing the Doctor. Does make you wonder what he'd be like in the role though.

 

[Servo]

That's true, unfortunately (not that I'm in any rush to get rid of Smith). But yeah, it does make you wonder what could have been.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

^Yeah, totally agree with you. All those Doctors that never were and never will be.

 

[N-121973]

I just finished watching, I was quite impressed with the visual effects given the tiny budget it must have had being on BBC Four.
I thought it was very good. I'd be buying the blu-ray too if there was one.

One thing I will say; I got a great "Doctor" vibe from Gatiss' Cavor, especially when he was piloting the pod.

"What do the instruments read?"
"What?"
"The number, read the number."
"1202"
"Oh. Probably just ignore it."

and

"That's impossible! Probably."

I think that's probably the closest he'll get to playing the Doctor. Does make you wonder what he'd be like in the role though.

I don't like to sound like a complete nerd, but 1202 was one of the computer error codes that Armstrong and Aldrin experienced during Lunar descent along with 1201.

 

[Goliath]

Really? Cool fact.

Nerd.

 

[Piper]

Mark Gatiss has actually played the Doctor, albeit in a sketch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGjx9sHLLf8

Really enjoyed FMitM, thought it worked very well.

 

[Pauln6]

I admit that I prefer the original movie, which I loved as a kid, but this was an enjoyable attempt and was much more faithful to the original story.

Whatever happened to the adaptation of WotW that was in production at the same time as Cruise's modern update?

 

[diankra]

I just finished watching, I was quite impressed with the visual effects given the tiny budget it must have had being on BBC Four.
I thought it was very good. I'd be buying the blu-ray too if there was one.

One thing I will say; I got a great "Doctor" vibe from Gatiss' Cavor, especially when he was piloting the pod.

"What do the instruments read?"
"What?"
"The number, read the number."
"1202"
"Oh. Probably just ignore it."

Oh, I'd missed that line. A lovely in-joke, because the 1202 programme alarm is the one that lit up on Eagle in the last minuites before landing. The computer expert back at Mission Control knew to say 'Ignore it,' because he'd been through a simulation where it came it came up a few weks earlier. Otherwise they'd have had to abort the landing.


On the productiion, not brilliant, but good enough, asn I like Mark's way of reconcling Wells's moon and our moon.

 

[wildstar]

I admit that I prefer the original movie, which I loved as a kid, but this was an enjoyable attempt and was much more faithful to the original story.

Whatever happened to the adaptation of WotW that was in production at the same time as Cruise's modern update?

I personally found it pretty unwatchable, but here's the wiki on it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._G._Wells'_The_War_of_the_Worlds_(2005_film)

 

[The Squire of Gothos]

The only thing I questioned was the supposed threat to Earth from the Selenites at the end

Indeed, I thought they were trying to ape Jeff Wayne's WOTW in that respect.

Other than that, a pretty charming, well acted romp, worth the hour and a half (wasn't it?) of viewing time.

After all the horror documentaries on BBC4, this film, the Quatermass remake, appearances on the Doctor Who special night when the new series was up and coming, Gatiss seems almost too obvious a choice for a new Doctor. He seems well suited to the role though.

 

[Lonemagpie]

I admit that I prefer the original movie, which I loved as a kid, but this was an enjoyable attempt and was much more faithful to the original story.

Whatever happened to the adaptation of WotW that was in production at the same time as Cruise's modern update?

I personally found it pretty unwatchable, but here's the wiki on it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._G._Wells%27_The_War_of_the_Worlds_(2005_film)

There's a brilliant comedy edit of that movie (cut down to forty minutes or so) - I nearly fell off my seat when they introduced the "eerie sound of the Martian's unearthly ululation" - which turned out to be the Crazy Frog...

As for this adaptation of FMITM, I thought it was great - made excellent use of the low budget, gives the old Jeffries version a good kicking, has lovely science and history gags... The only real downsides were the dubious CG selenites (I've seen better aliens in videogames, and the frame rate seemed off with them) and the fact that you could tell all the shots of the pair on the Lunar surface were shot on a set with a floorspace of about 15x15 feet, from many different angles...

But CG backdrops mean that that can now look very real in a way that painted backdrops or CSO never did...

 

[Dac]

I liked it, but I kinda tuned out for the middle part, namely after they encountered the Celanites.

I loved the buildup though, and the trip to the moon was fun, but It just kinda petered out for me