War of the Worlds/Eye for an Eye

Eye for an Eye
Season 1, Episode 6
Airdate	October 31, 1988
Written by	Tom Lazarus
Directed by	Mark Sobel
← 1x05 A Multitude of Idols	1x07 → The Second Seal
War of the Worlds — Season One

Eye for an Eye is the sixth episode of the first season of War of the Worlds.

Jared Martin (Harrison Blackwood), Lynda Mason Green (Suzanne McCullough), Philip Akin (Norton Drake)

and Richard Chaves (Colonel Ironhorse)

Special Guest Stars: Jeff Corey (Flannery), John Ireland (Harv)

Also Starring: Jack Jessop (Bill), Jack Ammon (Sam), Mark Holmes (Red), Rachel Blanchard (Debi), Rita Tuckett (Miss Daly), Kevin Rushton (Dog), Mary Beth Rubens (Marla), Sergio Galli (Biker #1), Linda Singer (Biker Chick), Kenny MacLean (Biker #2), Sascha Tukatsch (Biker #3)

Featuring: Richard Fitzpatrick (Officer #1), Michael Fawkes (Officer #2), Frank Knight (Orson Welles #1), Giovanni Paldino (Orson Welles #2), Alanna Cavanagh (Worker)

Uncredited: Richard Comar (Advocate #1), Ilse Von Glatz (Advocate #2), Michael Rudder (Advocate #3)

Plot Overview

The town of Grover's Mill prepares to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Orson Welles broadcast of The War of the Worlds. The Blackwood Project pays the town a visit when they discover there really was an invasion that October night and that only four veterans know the truth. Little to do they know that the "Martians" have returned, this time to retrieve a buried war machine.

Notes

Teaser Quote

"Martians on motorcycles."

Locations

• Grover's Mill, New Jersey

Timeline

• The aliens sent a reconnaissance mission to Earth in 1938. This can also be assumed the year when the invasion force entered the Solar System.

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• If the aliens sent war machines to Earth and were defeated by a mere militia of 38, it can be presumed it was to test mankind's weaponry and as a result, they spent the next 15 years developing shields.
• The Grover's Mill militia have no problem recalling memories about the alien battle.
• The government reached out to Orson Welles to orchestrate a cover up of the events at Grover's Mill.

Characters

• Debi's father and Suzanne are separated, likely divorced.

Trivia

The Show

• One can assume if the Orson Welles radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds exists within the show's universe, so does the H.G. Wells novel it was based on.

Behind the Scenes

• Prominent members of the biker gang were played by members of the Canadian band Platinum Blonde.
• Guest star Jeff Corey was series star Jared Martin's acting teacher.
• This is the second of four consecutive episodes in which Comar, Glatz, and Rudder are uncredited as the Advocacy. Their lack of credit despite the significant amount of screen time of the Advocacy suggests material that was added later. This is substantiated greatly by the discovery of the episode's script.
• The only deleted material for any episode to surface was in the trailer. It is an extension of Harv and the bikers where Dog asserts "Our mission is to kill the primitives!" Notably, the script has what is likely the entirety of the original scene.
• According the script, this is Episode 9.

Script

A copy of the script has been found, a 2nd draft dated August 31, 1988. While the script is largely the same as what made it to the screen, there are some rather notable differences.

• The Advocacy, who have several scenes in the episode, are completely absent in the script save for one scene. In it, the Advocacy are approached by a radiation sored businesswoman/alien as they're watching TV (which would later make it onscreen as a running joke), asking what the field unit should do with the beam. One of the Advocates (only named as Advocate One) simply orders "We said bring it here... bring it here!"

• Little Bobby returns in the only known attempt to continue the running gag. Just as the scene between Suzanne and Debi ends, the scene shifts to him with a new family (a mother, father, and granny, like his original family). As they play one of the games at the festivities he sneaks away to try to tell a policeman that his parents were taken over by aliens. The officer doesn't believe him, but just as Bobby tries to follow him, he is stopped by his "father".

• Norton's van is named the Nortonmobile.

• The script calls the aliens speaking their language as "alienspeak".

• Lazarus attempts to add more surprise be the reveal of the bikers being aliens. Instead of the two officers watching them as they prattle in alienspeak, what they see is described as "general Biker bedlam like Punchface and Tattoo Wiggle." After they leave (with different lines indicating that they'll check up on them later, setting up their possession later), Red and Dog (who are on the scene and not arriving late as in the episode) then cue the others to take out the casket with it suggested that they knew they were being watched. It's not until they device finds its mark and the aliens move into triads and begin "breath chanting" does the script make the reveal, putting emphasis on the surprise to cap the teaser.

• Suzanne's attempt to get Debi out of harm's way, instead of being depicted as sidestepping the roadblock, sees her ramming through. The roadblock is manned by a couple of officers, but the script doesn't indicate they are aliens.

• After the showdown at the barn, the scripts ends with the men walking off into the sunrise. Everything after the barn scene in the episode is not in the script.

• The biker Marla had a more significant role as part of the aliens referred to as Tech/Bikers that were made entirely of women.

Allusions and References

• Using a parabolic mirror against the aliens' Heat-Ray is ironic since in both the H.G. Wells novel and Orson Welles radio play, the main characters conjectured that the Martians used a parabolic mirror for their Heat-Ray.

Memorable Moments

• The battle at the Flannery's barn.

Goofs

• When the bikers ride by the police, the reflection of a boom mic can be seen in the rolled down window.

• Although the timeline of events surrounding the 1938 battle are not made clear, the episode seems to draw on the common error that The War of the Worlds aired Halloween, not the 30th as it actually did.

• In one of the Advocates' scenes, the audio is clearly not in sync with the film as one of them stops talking as their head continues to move and bob as if they are.

• Ironhorse's plate moves between shots.

• The shot of the alien as it lunges at Harv is a reused shot from "The Resurrection".

• When the Advocacy are being contacted by the field unit about being discovered, their positions and head angles move commonly between shots.

• The second and third explosions Ironhorse sets off the dynamite knocks the same alien off its motorcycle each time, just from different angles. Additionally, both of these shots are followed by an alien colliding with the downed bike, also shown twice from alternate angles.

• Ironhorse dodges the fire from the Heat-Ray by diving off to the left side of the barn opening. Yet, he exits from the right side shortly after.

Quotes

• Advocate #3: The recovery of the machine will go a long way toward guaranteeing our victory.

Advocate #2: True... assuming the machine is still operational.

Advocate #1: Is it just me, comrades, or do the complexities of our invasion grow more and more tangled at every step?

Advocate #3: No one ever said war was easy.

• Debi: This place is great. They've got pony rides and everything!

Harrison: Good news, Colonel.

Ironhorse: What?

Harrison: Pony rides.

• Advocate #1: Our warship is in surprisingly good condition.

Advocate #2: I've ordered them to check out all the weapons and flight systems, and report back to us before they start their return flight.

Advocate #3: I wish we'd decided to go with them. I'm worried they will not do all that is necessary.

Advocate #2: They'll do exactly what we ask of them. They know nothing else.

Advocate #1: In a matter of hours, the most powerful weapon this planet has ever seen will be again in our hands, and functional.

Advocate #3: Those who come will be pleased.

• Advocate #2: We have a communique from the field. They've experienced problems and await further guidance.

Advocate #3: Why is it the lower classes cannot think for themselves?

Advocate #1: Our job is to think; their job is to do. We must never confuse the two.

Advocate #3: What is the nature of their problem?

Advocate #2: There's been extensive damage. So far, they haven't been able to make the warship functional.

Advocate #1: A situation we anticipated with dread, but without clear solutions.

Advocate #3: They must continue trying to fix the warship.

Advocate #1: As well as test all the weapon systems. We must make sure they understand the importance of this.

Advocate #2: They understand, but I fear understanding alone will not be enough.

Advocate #3: Should we remind them of the punishment that comes with failure?

• Harrison: How close to the real thing was that Orson Welles radio show?

Harv: Nowhere near. He trivialized one of the great moments of our life. No one really remembered what happened. All they remember is the damned radio show.

Harrison: That's the fascinating aspect to all this. You know, when you think about it, Welles was a genius. He had people believing there was an invasion. Then he turned around and told them that it was all a joke. I think people were afraid to admit that they'd been taken. That's what all this silence is about. Dr McCullough says that those who can't remember the invasion can't remember it because it was just too frightening for them to deal with.

Harv: Sure, there were people who were tricked, people who don't remember. But then there's us, who really remember.

Bill: I wish to hell I didn't.

• Advocate #1: The machine still won't fly, but the beam works.

Advocate #2: We must get the beam back here as quickly as possible. Nothing is more important than for us to retrieve the weapon.

Advocate #1: They understand this, but they're unsure how to accomplish getting it here.

Advocate #2: Must we tell them everything? If the ship won't fly, we have no choice but to transport the weapon over land.

Advocate #1: And if our comrades meet resistance?

Advocate #3: Then we will remind the puny Earthlings how our death ray works.

Advocate #2: Nothing can be allowed to delay their return. Our very future rests in their hands.

Advocate #1: A concept, I remind you, that we should only accept with great trepidation.

• Ironhorse: (regarding a plate of green food) I don't think I can eat this slop!

Debi: What's slop?

Ironhorse: You're looking at it.

Harrison: I think the Colonel, in his amusing way, is referring to one of the more obscure definitions of the word "slop," which means badly cooked and unappetising food. Debi, other definitions would include...

Suzanne: Harrison, she's only 11.

Harrison: Never too young to learn. Never too old, either.

• Debi: We can pretend to find treasure! Buried treasure with credit cards!

Suzanne: But the natives are restless, so… why don't we go this way?

• Harv: (possessed) It's useless for you to resist.

Norton: Oh, is it?

Harv: You can never win.

Flannery: You were beaten at Grover's Mill once. It'll happen again.

• Harv: You are but fungus before us.

Harrison: If we can just open up a dialogue.

Harv: There can be no dialogue with fungus. Only death.

• Norton: Harrison, what happens if the energy beam zaps the gizmo?

Harrison: Let's try and be positive, Norton!

Norton: I hate those kinds of answers, Harrison.

• Flannery: I'll think of my friend Harv when I wear this. I want you to know that what happened to Harv could have just as easily happened to me. It was the luck of the draw. Thank you, Colonel.

Ironhorse: I understand what you're saying, sir. For both your sakes, I wish we had given this to you 50 years ago.