@ArkyNoid  
As I recall, the squid-like part was explained as the Martians evolving so that all they had left were their heads (those sack-like bodies) and their fingers (the tentacles).
 
I do wish I could remember precisely where I read that explanation; it was years ago.

@Ardashir
 
I don’t remember that explanation but I may have just forgot. However, several million years can make an entirely different species which probably wouldn’t just be sorta humans. I mean, homo sapien humans are only separated from the evolutionary precursor by approximately 200 thousand years, so millions of years would presumably make a much wider difference.
 
Plus they seem a lot more squid-like and not mammalian.

@ArkyNoid  
I thought the explanation was that the Martians basically were humans of a sort, just humans several million years more evolved than us?

@Drefsab
 
That’s not all of the story. Just equines as one example. For more of a nightmare (from the animals’ point of view if they were aware) think of chickens.
 
@usercookies  
You are ok there.

@ArkyNoid  
Sorry if I came off as a smart ass, I don’t mean to

@ArkyNoid  
We made non-sentient creatures our labor animals. What you’re saying is like equating us going to another planet and finding that the aliens made ape-like creatures their pets and pack animals. I doubt anyone would be particularly upset about that.

@usercookies
 
That was a way back comment.
 
Nevertheless I guess my xeno admiration for equines could be a disaster if they were real at our intelligence level. They’d figure out humans made them slaves historically and even in some cultures eat the meat as well. We’re about as bad as the aliens…

@ArkyNoid  
To them we’re like animals, and in the book it says, and I quote, “And before we judge of them too harshly we must remember what ruthless and utter destruction our own species has wrought, not only upon animals, such as the vanished bison and the dodo, but upon its inferior races. The Tasmanians, in spite of their human likeness, were entirely swept out of existence in a war of extermination waged by European immigrants, in the space of fifty years. Are we such apostles of mercy as to complain if the Martians warred in the same spirit?”
 
Wells also points out that the Martian blood-diet is no worse than the human habit of eating meat – if you ask the meat for its perspective on the issue: “I think that we should remember how repulsive our carnivorous habits would seem to an intelligent rabbit”
 
And they don’t drink the blood they inject it into their own veins.
 
Wow, that was longer than I meant it to be.

This Is Definitely The 2005 Movie, I Can Tell By The Tripod Designs

@RollinRocker420  
Actually it’s time was 1898, that’s when the book was written, and no the Martians had never left Mars, they weren’t evil, just desperate, Mars is a dying planet, they saw Earth as an escape, they knew humans have a very unaccepting society, and would react with hostility, the only reason people see them as monsters is because they’re higher on the food chain than us

They can stop the aliens with… drumroll please…. MAGIC!
 
If I’m not mistaken the original WOTW novel and the newer Tom Cruise version brought back a concept that was downplayed in the 50’s version. The Martians (later adjusted to being extrasolar aliens since complex life on Mars was ruled out by then) consumed human blood. Seems a little primitive and frankly unsafe for beings of such technological sophistication to fly to a distant world, randomly mass feed on the main sentient species without any kind of filtering controls, and just die of common pathogens. Hey speculative fiction though.
 
OMG am I overthinking this just by looking at a single pic or what?

@Background Pony #188C  
Not to mention that when they went on EVA they had no protective gear on.

@RollinRocker420  
You obviously don’ understand idseases much. Just because you re resistant to something really nasty, does not mean you would be able to handle anothe disease. Your body adapted to the prior diseases methods, but the one after would have other methods.

@RollinRocker420  

 
Try the 1890’s. Even then it works well for the Martians due to how they lived in sterile underground environments, but for the not-Martians in the 00’s remake it made no damn sense.

Awesome. The remake of War of the Worlds was a film I actually really liked. Those tripods, man. So cool and so terrifying.

Then the terrible aliens that have likely been to planets with diseases and ailments that make ebola look like a skin rash all caught the flu and died. =P Yeah, it was a great twist for it’s time, but it’s time was the 1950’s. Hasn’t exactly aged well.