Well I have just finished watching The Great Martian War, and I have mixed feelings that fall into positives and negatives based on two categories - having been a huge War of the Worlds fan since the age of 7/8 (of the book and musical) and being an alternate history fan.
Ok so the premise is slightly different, it is not at the end of the 19th century in Britain but contemporary to the first world war as the title suggests, ok I can deal with this, it ain't in the present so I am happy, it is a pretty darn good premise, and the cylinder concept is adapted from being a dozen or more into one pretty huge one that creates an 8 mile wide impact crater in Germany that is accused of being a super-weapon test - shweet I am loving it so far...
So Germany is wiped clean as far as we're concerned and much of the world is gathering in France - wicked, we have the equivalent of the western front being struck up. Then they face the Tripods - and they are some pretty beastie interpretations, you have the Herons, pretty faithful to Well's original description, look great, 100ft-150ft tall badass machines, I even like the name strangely, and you also have the Spiders that are 20-30ft tall and look pretty much alike and work as a pack like dogs - the WoTW fan in me can handle this, its all black and white footage with these Machines superimposed very well on the WWI real footage, awesome... Then I am told two things that sicken me, they are cardinal sins as far as I am concerned as a diehard WoTW fan: A) The Herons use 'energy canons' - THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO BE HEAT-RAYS!!! B) They have (this hurts even more) DAMN ENERGY SHIELDS - WHYYY!!!!!
Ok, now I have to say, they pull this off way better than Steve Spielberg, I don't have a break down, because I was gripped, well done History channel as far as I am concerned you out did a film that was in the multi millions even 20mins in because you don't have this huge bubble shield crap, and the war starts to follow pretty much along the lines of OTL war but with some vital things missing - Russia, Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire are missing, entirely, no mention at all =[ I am gutted with hindsight, a mention here and there was all that was needed to put me off the scent of a gaping plot hole.
Ok I won't spoil too much more, only the first 20 mins of two hours...
So if you are a hardcore take no prisoners AH or WoTW kinda person, your going to go a little insane. And I am very much usually the latter. But if you can put your zeal aside as I did, this is actually rather enjoyable, and rather unique really, I think History pulled it off, and for them it is a rather lavish achievement, and some twists and ideas are rather pushing the boat out (mostly for the better), such as the 'Lice' (I liked), the use of naval warfare (which I actually think should of been omitted in favour of Well's Martian flying machine) and several other interpretations and adaptions done rather well.
The use of f*cking horses as a charge at the end was ridiculous though, *cries*.
It gets a single thumb up from me. It is oddly the most enjoyable serious TV adaptation I have seen. The footage of tripods and trenches does something to you.