War of the Worlds

by H. G. Wells. Taking into consideration when it was written, published in 1898, it was very novel (ha ha) innovative for sure. When making a movie of it, some updating was definately required, as automobiles weren't mentioned and horses were common. An interesting difference between book to film was (both 60s and 00s versions, and the borrowed ideas for Indepdendance Day) was that the aliens were seen before the machines. The concepts of miscommunication was the belief for their heat-ray attack on persons near the crash site.
The heat ray from the book was from a mirror on a tentacle than rotated around. The ray itself was invisible (would have saved much cost on production if they kept that) incinerating everything it touched with a range of maybe 100-200 yards. The 2005 War of the Worlds kept it truer with walking machines, but botched it a bit from Welles' description of storms surrounding the machines.
I guess I'll stick with books and watch even fewer movies.