George Pal’s proposed television reboot of The War of the Worlds had plenty of potential and could still be turned into an excellent sci fi television series.
What Is It?
This planned series would have been a reboot of George Pal’s classic 1953 film that would have taken place on an Earth where the many nations had finally overcome their differences and were working together to achieve peace and a stabilized ecology across the planet. But invaders from space arrive and a decades-long war follows that nearly wipes out the human race. The people of Earth are saved, though, when the aliens succumb to the planet’s bacteria which proves fatal to them. But the War of the Worlds has just begun because the threat from outer space still exists, and the remaining humans come together to build six starships to travel to space and confront the aliens.
The starship Pegasus, commanded by Colonel James Anderson, heads to Alpha Centauri but loses contact with Earth. On the planet Mega they find the remnants of a previous exploratory mission from Earth as well as the aliens that had attacked humanity. Anderson and his crew learn that these humans and aliens are under the control of beings from Endor who want to conquer other planets because their own world is dying. Anderson makes the decision to continue on to Endor to face the aliens so that they are no longer a threat to the galaxy.
Aired: Never Aired
Created By: George Pal
Why Didn’t it Fly?
An actual pilot was never produced, but a proof-of-concept film was put together in 1975 to help pitch the series. This included re-used footage from Pal’s 1953 The War of the Worlds film along with storyboard artwork and one live-action sequence that demonstrated the use of Magicam to composite actors with miniature sets. A voice-over narration explains the premise and the story that would unfold throughout the series.
George Pal continued to work on developing the series up to the time that he died of a heart attack in 1980. It was scrapped at that time, but it seems like a long shot that the show would have ever received the greenlight from one of the broadcast networks in anycase. It would certainly have been expensive to produce, and after the failures of high budget shows like Battlestar: Galactica and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, networks were shying away from sci fi TV (more on that at this link). The series also likely would have followed a serialized format which was not common on Prime Time in those days. A War of the Worlds series did eventually arrive in 1988 which acted as a sequel of sorts to the Pal’s 1953 film (you can read more about that at this link), but it did not use any of the concepts he planned for his television adaptation.
Should It Be Rebooted?
George Pal set up an excellent premise for his television version of The War of the Worlds, with a good back story and plenty of potential to carry on over multiple seasons. Sadly, because the technical limitations of sfx at that time and the fact that the networks were not too enthused about spending money on a sci fi TV series, it never went forward. But this is definitely a concept that had potential and should be revisited. With modern CGI, the ambitions of the original story could certainly be brought to life, and there is plenty of name recognition from the H.G. Wells title. It is true that another War of the Worlds series currently exists with the British/French production that is airing on EPIX in the U.S. But that modern reworking of the story has very little connection to the original tale by Wells. And while George Pal’s version takes plenty of liberties with the source material and goes far beyond the original novel, I believe it would deliver a much better sci fi TV series. The War of the Worlds is in the public domain, so anybody can make a series using that title. And this is definitely a property that one of the streaming services should take a flyer on.
Where Can You Watch It?
The forty-five minute proof-of-concept film is available on YouTube (see above). Only about the first fifteen minutes relate to the proposed television series with the rest of the film consisting of outtakes and production info on the 1953 film. But it is definitely worth a watch, and you will likely find yourself wanting to see more from the story set up in the film.
Read about more Sci Fi TV pilots that did not fly at this link.
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Sounds good! I wish they would have made it!