WRITE a brief summary of this real episode.
This real episode is about a radial version dramatized of book “The war of the worlds ". Orson Welles and the company of theatre Mercury put this to the air for the CBS.
This episode was on Sunday, October 30, 1938; in this millions of radio listeners were shocked when radio news alerts announced the arrival of Martians. The radio was very normal when suddenly the sign was interrupted by a report. In the report an astronomer talked about anomalies in Mars. After the report, the music continued. . But then received another reports, and announced, about meteorites in the space and strange beings had landed in New Jersey. It was a part of an invading Martian army who would finish with the world.
Lots of listeners believed that the transmission was royal; and the chaos began in New York. Lots of people went to other cities, others hid in his basements armed, and others chose to suicide.
The event was a scandal in The United States, and all the people talked about the influence of the mass media in the world. It became one of the greatest mass panics of the world.
2- Which medium (computer, newspaper…) was related to that episode?
The medium that related this episode was the radio.
The radio called Columbia Broadcasting System. This was in 1938, when the CBS with Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre broadcast an adaptation of H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds. This episode caused a great impact of the listeners.
3- What song refers to this real event in its lyrics?
4- Musical Version of The War of the Worlds
CD 1: The Coming Of The Martians
01.Eve of the War
02.Horsell Common and the Heat Ray
03.Artilleryman and the Fighting Machine
04.Forever Autumn
05.Thunder Child
CD 2: The Earth Under The Martians
01.Red Weed, Pt. 1
02.Spirit of Man
03.Red Weed, Pt. 2
04.The Artilleryman Returns
05.Brave New World
06.Dead London
07.Epilogue, Pt. 1
08.Epilogue, Pt.
This is a part of a song “Mars are a million to one,' he said. 'The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one - but still they come!'”
Eve of the War
JOURNALIST: No one would have believed, in the last
years of the
nineteenth century, that human affairs were being
watched from the timeless worlds
of space.
No one could have dreamed we were being scrutinized, as
someone with a microscope
studies creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of
water. Few men even considered
the possibility of life on other planets and yet, across
the gulf of space, minds
immeasurably superior to ours regarded this Earth with
envious eyes, and slowly and
surely, they drew their plans against us.
At midnight on the twelfth of August, a huge mass of
luminous gas erupted from Mars
and sped towards Earth. Across two hundred million miles
of void, invisibly hurtling
towards us, came the first of the missiles that were to
bring so much calamity to Earth.
As I watched, there was another jet of gas. It was
another missile, starting on its way.
And that's how it was for the next ten nights. A flare,
spurting out from Mars - bright
green, drawing a green mist behind it - a beautiful, but
somehow disturbing sight. Ogilvy,
the astronomer, assured me we were in no danger. He was
convinced there could be no
living thing on that remote, forbidding planet.
'The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million
to one,' he said.
'The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million
to one - but still they
come!'
JOURNALIST: Then came the night the first missile
approached Earth. It was thought
to be an ordinary falling star, but next day there was a
huge crater in the middle of the
Common, and Ogilvy came to examine what lay there: a
cylinder, thirty yards across,
glowing hot... and with faint sounds of movement coming
from within.
Suddenly the top began moving, rotating, unscrewing, and
Ogilvy feared there was a
man inside, trying to escape. he rushed to the cylinder,
but the intense heat stopped him
before he could burn himself on the metal.
'The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million
to one,' he said.
'The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million
to one - but they still
come!'
'Yes, the chances of anything coming from Mars are a
million to one,' he said.
'The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million
to one - but they still come!'
It seems totally incredible to me now that everyone
spent that evening as
though it were just like any other. From the railway
station came the sound of
shunting trains, ringing and rumbling, softened almost
into melody by the distance. It all
seemed so safe and tranquil.
Horsell Common and the Heat Ray
JOURNALIST: Next morning, a crowd gathered on the Common,
hypnotized by the unscrewing of the cylinder. Two feet of shining screw projected
when, suddenly, the lid fell off!
Two luminous disc-like eyes appeared above the rim. A huge, rounded bulk, larger than
a bear, rose up slowly, glistening like wet leather. Its lipless mouth quivered and slavered
- and snake-like tentacles writhed as the clumsy body heaved and pulsated.
A few young men crept closer to the pit. A tall funnel rose, then an invisible ray of heat
leapt from man to man and there was a bright glare, as each was instantly turned to fire.
Every tree and bush became a mass of flames at the touch of this savage, unearthly
Heat Ray.
People clawed their way off the Common, and I ran too. I felt I was being toyed with,
that when I was on the very verge of safety, this mysterious death would leap after me
and strike me down. At last I reached Maybury Hill and in the dim coolness of my home
I wrote an account for my newspaper before I sank into a restless, haunted sleep.
[ From: http://www.metrolyrics.com/horsell-common-and-the-heat-ray-lyrics-wayne-jeff.html ]
I awoke to alien sounds of hammering from the pit, and hurried to the railway station to
buy the paper.
Around me, the daily routine of life - working, eating, sleeping - was continuing serenely
as it had for countless years.
On Horsell Common, the Martians continued hammering and stirring,
sleepless, indefatigable, at work upon the machines they were making. Now and
again a light, like the beam of a warship's searchlight, swept the Common - and the Heat
Ray was ready to follow. In the afternoon, a company of soldiers came through and
deployed along the edge of the Common, to form a cordon.
That evening, there was a violent crash and I realized with horror that my home was
now within range of the Martian's Heat Ray. At dawn, a falling star with a trail of green
mist landed with a flash like summer lightning.
This was the second cylinder.
4- Write a paragraph about the media. Refer to: definitions, importance, and the way you get information, your opinion and choose a medium to express your ideas.
The mediums of communication are an instrument that allows and facilitates the communication between the people. In the mediums are used the image, symbols, signs or sounds.
The mediums are one of the most important and quickly ways for transmitting a message
The most important mass media are newspaper, magazines, radio, television and internet.
The advance of the mediums is together with the advance of the technology.
The mediums are very useful to form, to report and to entertain the public who has access to them.
My opinion about the mediums is: they are very important, and useful for our lives. I think that the most important is Internet. It is a very used tool at present. It is the best way of communication and help to communication with the persons in other parts of the world, or with the family.
Also we can study, and find lots of books and newspapers about the world.
In a few minutes it is possible to know what happens in another part of the world, etc.
Nowadays it has become in a resource of all. Because with the Plan Ceibal all the children have access to a computer and to Internet
Internet is very useful for the life, gives us amusement, it is a way of communication and help in the study
5- Write a paragraph about the radio as a means of communication. Refer to: definitions, kinds of information, your opinion and your relationship with the radio.
The radio is a massive way of diffusion that comes to the listener. It is the most important because it is a way of communication that comes to all the social classes. It is not costly.
It is a way of communication that is based on the sending of audio signs across waves of radio.
In the radio, there are many types of programs. For example: newscasters, amusement, musical, etc.
I think that it is a very important way of communication for all the people. Also I think that it is a way of entertainment and amusement, and to listening music.
My favorites program is “Malos Pensamientos” It is on Azul 101.9 FM. Usually I listen to Radio Disney (91.9 FM) or “Inolvidable” (93.1 FM).
