Every War Of The Worlds Adaptation: Ranked Worst To Best

8. The TV One

Prior to the two current adaptations, there have been surprisingly few attempts to turn Wells's alien invasion into serialised TV. The Canadian series War Of The Worlds, which began airing in 1988 is the one exception.

Conceived as a sequel to the 1953 film version (albeit with Mars replaced as their homeworld by the fictional Mor-Tax), the series reimagined the aliens' death at the film's end as instead being a form of suspended animation. After this, the government covered up the invasion and stored the alien bodies in toxic waste drums. By the 1980s everyone believes the cover-up until the aliens are accidentally released by a terrorist group.

The show was fairly cheap and cheesy and ran for just two seasons. In the first, the aliens are able to possess human bodies and seek to prepare the Earth for a greater invasion of their kind while the government cover-up continues. In the second, a complete change of creative staff saw the whole thing move into a bleak near-future. The first is considerably better and had enough solid ideas that it is fondly remembered even thirty years later.