OK, time for Kim's two cents. And, warning! A lengthy message follows... I believe H.G. Wells' novel to be much better than either the Orson Welles' 1938 radio broadcast or the 1953 movie classic. While I enjoyed Spielberg's interpretation (yes, I saw it on opening day - not much more to do here in Sanpete), this latest version is the least interesting of these three "modern" interpretations of the novel. The first part of the movie is compelling, but the rest of the film doesn't live up to the promise of the first half hour or so. Spielberg did give a nod to the 1938 radio broadcast - the film begins in New Jersey - and both Gene Barry and Ann Robinson have brief cameo appearances. However, much of the film is a yawner. It is worth seeing on the big screen for the special effects, but otherwise one wouldn't miss much by waiting for its release on video/DVD. When I was a social psychology student, oh so long ago, we studied the events surrounding the 1938 broadcast. The nationwide "panic" is difficult to understand from our sophisticated modern perspective, but in 1938 events in Europe and Asia, the relative newness of the broadcast medium (radio) and the novel dramatic devices employed by Welles and his co-creator (or co-conspirator?), Howard Koch, all lead to the ensuing panic. (For anyone not familiar with the story, a brief summary worth reading can be found at http://www.war-ofthe-worlds.co.uk/radio.htm.) I was even more interested to learn that after 1938, others tried similar broadcasts in other markets, usually with similar results. (The vernacular expression, "DUH!" comes to mind...) The most interesting of these copycat broadcasts occurred in a small community somewhere in Central America, as I recall, many years later. The local population indeed panicked, and when they learned that the broadcast was a hoax, a riot ensued and the local radio station was burned to the ground in retaliation! (If anyone knows where to find the details of this particular event, please let me know. I would like to read about it again.) Kim