In War of the Worlds, what was written on the Tripod?

Question

In the latest adaption of War Of The Worlds, Ray and his daughter are captured by a Tripod. There is a scene where the tentacle comes down to take someone back into the Tripod and we are given a glimpse of the underside of the pod.

There is something written on the pods in what seems to be the alien's language.

This is the scene:

And this is a still of the letters:

Obviously a lot of the letters are blocked from view, and the letters could possibly be just made up by the directors (what I mean is, they possibly did not use some sort of ancient writing style that actually exists).

Has there been any documentation in (unlikely) or out of universe as to what was written on the pods?

"Do not walk outside this area" – motoDrizzt Apr 15 '17 at 10:23 — motoDrizzt, Apr 15 '17 at 10:23
"If you can read this you are too close" – DJClayworth Apr 15 '17 at 13:42 — DJClayworth, Apr 15 '17 at 13:42
"Abandon hope, all ye who enter here" – M. A. Golding Apr 18 '17 at 04:33 — M. A. Golding, Apr 18 '17 at 04:33
Restrooms are for first class passengers only. – Jeff Jun 27 '17 at 09:10 — Jeff, Jun 27 '17 at 09:10
'Stay 15m back from pulsing sphincter' – wcullen Feb 18 '19 at 20:28 — wcullen, Feb 18 '19 at 20:28
For a good time ping Vemut Zingstar – GordonBennett Feb 19 '19 at 12:28 — GordonBennett, Feb 19 '19 at 12:28
Made in China. Warranty good until 2553. – FluffyFlareon Jun 19 '21 at 08:05 — FluffyFlareon, Jun 19 '21 at 08:05
Caution Slippery when wet with human blood – FluffyFlareon Jun 19 '21 at 08:05 — FluffyFlareon, Jun 19 '21 at 08:05
My child's an A+ student in Lightspeed Technology School – FluffyFlareon Jun 19 '21 at 08:06 — FluffyFlareon, Jun 19 '21 at 08:06
No unauthorized weapons beyond this point – FluffyFlareon Jun 19 '21 at 08:06 — FluffyFlareon, Jun 19 '21 at 08:06
If you think these three legs are long...! – JohnHunt Jun 18 '22 at 03:33 — JohnHunt, Jun 18 '22 at 03:33

score 14 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 16 '20 at 09:31

14

Production Designer Rick Carter (the individual with overall responsibility for the the film's "visual look") was kind enough to respond to my query on the subject. I'm sure he won't mind me sharing his response.

Q. Does this script have any specific meaning or were the symbols simply selected as 'weird alien looking stuff' to put on the wall?

RC: Just weird stuff as I recall...

edited Jun 16 '20 at 09:31

Community

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answered Feb 18 '19 at 21:23

Valorum

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I've reached out to other members of the production team via twitter and email. I'll update if any more of them come back – Valorum Feb 18 '19 at 21:28
"Just weird stuff"? That's embarrassing.. – Joachim Apr 08 '22 at 14:18
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@Joachim - Bellisario's Maxim. Films are made by people on a tight budget, with limited time and who need to get the shot in the can and moved onto the next thing. Not everything can afford to be Star Wars. – Valorum Apr 08 '22 at 15:49
This is not a budgetary consideration: there don't have to be inscriptions on the machine to begin with, so why put effort into it without a proper backstory? – Joachim Apr 08 '22 at 17:20
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@Joachim - Because what you lovingly refer to as backstory costs time, effort and money. Paying a linguist to come up with a new language sounds great, but it costs a bundle and it adds a layer of complexity that's completely unneeded for a split-second shot that's just there to remind the audience that you're looking at an alien ship; https://www.businessinsider.com/alien-language-in-arrival-linguist-2016-11?r=US&IR=T – Valorum Apr 08 '22 at 17:22
Erm, yes, exactly. I don't really see what Arrival has to do with it: yes, they made it work, but that was the entire premise of the film, and there were good reasons behind the design (see e.g. my answer here :). – Joachim Apr 08 '22 at 17:31
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@Joachim - I picked Arrival as an example of a film that is enhanced by them spending (by my estimate about $100,000) on developing a written language for the film, because it's used throughout and can be parlayed into marketing and hype. By comparison these symbols (in WotW) serve a single purpose. In this shot, they're there to remind people that it's an alien ship so they don't get confused when they look up from their popcorn and wonder where we are now. – Valorum Apr 08 '22 at 17:35
@Joachim - My answer to a similar question on SFF:SE – Valorum Apr 08 '22 at 17:41
I don't really get why you seem to be arguing this: I get the concept of enhancing, which is my point as well :D I know investing time, art, and brainpower into things costs money. I get why some film makers make decisions based on 'legibility', on simplification. But my point was just that I simply find it embarrassing for a production designer to not be able to justify a decision. – Joachim Apr 08 '22 at 17:41
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@Joachim - What's to justify. It serves its purpose and cost nothing. That sounds like an ideal trade-off between functionality and art – Valorum Apr 08 '22 at 17:49
If the tripods are anything like military tech on earth, it probably means "don't step here", "lubricant drainage", or "store this way up", otherwise ¯_(ツ)_/¯ – Binary Worrier Jun 02 '22 at 15:08

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 10 '20 at 08:27

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Perhaps it's the aliens' equivalent of "nose art" -- essentially meaningless except to the pilot.

However, the just weird stuff explanation is best. Spielberg wanted his aliens to be mysterious and inexplicable. H. G. Wells' Martians were seen as untenable to 21st-century filmgoers, consequently, these aliens come from somewhere so distant that we can have no foreknowledge of conditions there, the aliens' technology, or even their motivation for attacking us. Spielberg didn't waste production time concocting a back-story. He wanted designs for the aliens themselves and their fighting machines -- how they moved, how they sounded -- with lots of detail so that every shot remained visually interesting but with little or no explanation of what those details represent.

edited Jun 10 '20 at 08:27

TheLethalCarrot

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answered Jun 10 '20 at 08:08

Neal Scroggs

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Interesting about the "inexplicable" idea, because the choices they made about the behavior and appearance of the individual aliens (in the team which entered the basement) make them seem not dissimilar to us -- their interest in the bicycle and the photos of humans makes sympathetic and not particularly threatening. – releseabe Apr 17 '22 at 08:59
Regarding the alien EVA team, their interest in the bicycle may be an homage to the original material. In the epilog of H.G. Wells' novel, terrestrial research into the machines left by the Martians revealed that their technology displayed no reliance on the concept of the wheel. – Neal Scroggs May 13 '22 at 04:46
but unlike the novel, the aliens seemed completely unthreatening. wells was simplistic -- if they electric motors they wheels. they must have had gears. – releseabe May 13 '22 at 06:49

In War of the Worlds, what was written on the Tripod?

2 Answers2