The War of the Worlds

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Missing information from Travers & Wells.

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The Master reads The War of the Worlds. (TV: Frontier in Space)

The War of the Worlds was a novel by H. G. Wells which described the invasion of Earth by Martians using three legged war machines or "tripods."

Wells' experiences of witnessing interplanetary war alongside the Sixth Doctor may have vaguely inspired his novel. (TV: Timelash)

The Master read The War of the Worlds while holding the Third Doctor and Jo Grant prisoner in 2540. (TV: Frontier in Space)

The Meercocks in their natural form resembled the Martians in the novel. (PROSE: Verdigris)

Orson Welles' 1938 Halloween broadcast of a radio play adaptation The War of the Worlds convinced certain members of the American population that Mars had really invaded. (AUDIO: Invaders from Mars)

In the Land of Fiction, the Master materialised tripods to use heat rays against his enemies. (COMIC: Character Assassin)

The Seventh Doctor read The War of the Worlds while a prisoner in Alcatraz in the 20th century. (PROSE: Inmate 280)

The Tenth Doctor came up against the Judoon in the 19th century. Many events in this encounter were mirrored in the novel. He later came across a man who had read it and compared the events of The War of the Worlds to what was happening around them. (PROSE: Revenge of the Judoon)

When the Eleventh Doctor briefly suspected an alien invasion, Rory was not so sure such an event would begin at a small farm. The Doctor thought it worth noting that the original War of the Worlds book began at Horsell Common. He jested with Rory, implying that the events of the story were true, but quickly admitted he was kidding. (PROSE: Heart of Stone)

Behind the scenes

• Wells' The War of the Worlds, the first major novel of alien invasion and possibly the first to try to realistically envision alien life, inspired future science fiction to a great degree, up to and including Doctor Who. The Daleks have a certain similarity to Wells' Martians.
• One of the actors in Orson Welles' radio adaptation, George Coulouris, guest starred in the 1964 story The Keys of Marinus.
• The title to the comic story War of the Words is a reference to this book.