Find out all about Collectormania 7 and the Jeff Wayne CGI footage with a great review by Joe O'Connor...

 

As I live not very far from Milton Keynes, it was extremely convenient for me to visit Collectormania 7 at thecentre:mk last weekend and in particular, the Legends UK stand. Selections from the new remixed SACD album were played at regular intervals, albeit on a small portable stereo. Even so, what I heard of Eve of The War was transformed and much more layered - it sounded fantastic, as though it could have been recorded yesterday. It would have been completely impractical to do a 5.1 mix demo there, but what we could hear sounded very promising indeed.

I quizzed him about the likely cost of the Collector's Edition and while it hasn't been concluded it should be worth every penny.

We were promised several minutes of exclusive test footage from the new CGI film and I for one was not disappointed. Obviously I could take no pictures, so below are the various fragments I can remember. In any event, most of what I saw should end up in the Making Of DVD as part of the Collector's Edition package.

1. Launch and transit of the cylinders from Mars. Rugby-ball shaped cylinders eject from the red planet trailing a green mist. A green rotating ring at one end seems to be the means of propulsion, as well as perhaps indicating which end unscrews. The cylinders pass overhead towards an unsuspecting Earth. Creepy, but may need more work so it doesn't look too similar to the opening of Tim Burton's Mars Attacks! The scene fades briefly before opening up on an atmospheric and very faithful 3D recreation of Peter Goodfellow's Horsell Common painting. Again the mood is ominous.

2. Fighting machine. Essentially the same as the movie clip shown previously online but the heat ray has been significantly intensified with a fierce, orange glow into a solid beam, much better than the toothpaste-squeeze version seen before. It now looks pretty damn menacing rather than quaint.

3. The Thunder Child. We were treated to a very detailed tabletop model of the Thunder Child, along with (I think) Carrie's paddle steamer. The virtual camera glided across the wooden deck in a shot to rival anything on Cameron's Titanic. There was also a brief turntable model of a small fishing boat which will carry an interesting tribute in its name (sworn to secrecy).

4. Thunder Child Seascape. A roughly ten-second clip places the viewer in or near the water at what you would think is the scene of the Thunder Child's demise. Murky waves undulate against a blackened sky reproduced perfectly from Michael Trim's cover. Superb. It was this clip more than any of the others that convinced me that the team assembled will be doing a very faithful stylistic adaptation.

While still on the subject of the CGI film, our friend believes the soundtrack may feature some new orchestrations, but who the voice talents will be, etc., or whether the originals would be used to some extent, he couldn't say.

Merchandise-wise there was a fair selection of A3 posters (some signed by JW) as already seen on the JW's eBay site, plus some fabulous T-shirts (had to buy one) along with mugs, keyrings, coasters, mousemats, etc. Special items included a framed signed double-LP plus a decent stack of 12" signed picture discs of "Eve of The War."

Overall the Legends UK guys put on a good show and attracted a lot of interest. While I'm hopeful that Spielberg's movie will be spectacular and entertaining, and that Hines' low-budget "faithful" adaptation won't be too godawful, Jeff Wayne's movie is the one to get excited about.

Best Regards and thanks for the constant flow of news from eveofthewar.co.uk,

Joe O'Connor

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