The War of the Worlds (British Series) on Netflix

There apparently are two War of the Worlds series out there in stream-land at the moment but this is the one that has a "THE" on it and takes place in old-timey England. I am not referring to the one that takes place in modern times, which I only watched a bit of, found it to be too slow-moving, and didn't carry on watching it. This mini-series on the other hand keeps things moving and stays interesting throughout.

[src](https://theplaylist.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/the-war-of-the-worlds.jpg)

Just the name alone allows most people to already know what is happening in this series and you have probably seen the Tom Cruise film. This series isn't really like that at all, although the alien invaders do have a similar look to them that were in the film.

The thing that I enjoy about this adaptation of the H.G. Wells' original story is that it sticks more to the original imagined storyline because since Wells couldn't possibly have envisioned modern-day technology it is kind of more along the lines of what was originally written. There is a certain increased level of hopelessness that comes along with an enemy that has technology that couldn't even be fathomed by a people that were largely still riding around on horses at the time of the attack.

The show kind of switched back and forth in time and this leaves a lot to the imagination and also creates these gaps that the series eventually fills by the time the 3rd and final episode is complete. Some critics said they didn't like this but to me I think it was fantastic. It is evident which time-period you are currently in because of the devastation and background color that is omnipresent in any of the "future" sequences.

[src](https://resources.stuff.co.nz/content/dam/images/1/x/b/j/0/b/image.related.StuffLandscapeSixteenByNine.620x349.1xbj2z.png/1570654336866.jpg)

Here are some major reasons why I like this kind of show rather than the "other one" that is also available now, aside from the time period.

The other War of the Words is an "ongoing series" that it is evident that are going to milk for as long as the TV viewers remain interested. This creates a big problem for me as far as most series are concerned. The writers probably don't yet know where the story is going to go because they don't yet know if people are going to take to it and they want to leave the story open to allow for 2nd or 3rd or 15th season if possible.

In this miniseries, the entire story was already written before they even started filming and as far as we can tell by the end of it, the story is finished. If you look at the Fox series starring Gabriel Byrne (who I actually really like) the opposite is the case and therefore what we end up with is the usual very slow moving show that is 10% story and 90% filler. I hate shows like this and unfortunately they are more profitable to networks so they will normally opt for that kind of show, sadly.

I felt the same way about the BBC mini-series Sherlock starring Benedict Cumberbatch, each of which consisted of 3 episodes with a beginning, middle, and end and the seasons were years apart from one another. It appeared as though they weren't going to make any more of them until they had a good product to deliver to the masses and each of the series are absolutely incredible. Compare this concept to Elementary which consisted of a massive 24 episodes per season until the public stopped watching and they gradually winded the show into oblivion. To this day I remember very little about this series because it was basically about nothing and again, took place in modern-day times and therefore it doesn't make sense based on the source material. They also turned Dr. Watson into an Asian woman character.

Went on a little rant there but the same is true of the current War of the Worlds lineup. One is a complete story, the other is meant to be aired until people stop watching and what I don't get is that it is this lack of story that is the very reason WHY people stop watching.

Anyway, if you are like me and watch Netflix as your sole (or at least primary) source of video entertainment the only one that is available at all is the one I consider to be the better of the two.

Should I watch it?

I think that this series is fast-paced and well-funded enough to appeal to almost anyone. Although technically defined as a Sci-Fi series, it doesn't get too nerdy and is mostly just a drama that happens to have some alien invaders in it. I really enjoyed this one and think other people will as well.