War of the Worlds (1988)

Note: As of 22/03/2025, Bill Sturgeon himself kindly lent me several scans of photos he took during his time on the series (as well as concept art sketches that will be posted on another article at a later date). I would like to publicly thank Sturgeon for being so kind!

Influenced by the early 80s series V, the 1988 adaptation of War of the Worlds was a more gruesome update on Wells' original text, as well as a sequel to George Pal's 1953 adaptation. Producer Greg Stranghis described the show's ethos; 'We're working against the idea that all intelligent life in the universe is like E.T. Our aliens will definitely not be pleasant'.

Strangis however, was adamant that it was not a horror series, despite its violence; 'I don't want this characterized as a blood and gore show. Even the term 'graphic' is a dangerous word. The show will have effects, it is is also a series that my 12-year-old must be able to watch. This series will have a tendency to be emotionally violent. We will be dealing with action and violent death. But that doesnt mean we're going to have blood and guts all over the screen.'

The series makeup effects were handled by Bill Sturgeon, assisted by Francois Dagenais and sometimes Jacques Fortier and Randy Daudlin. Some of Sturgeon's first makeup jobs on the series were the alien-possessed zombies. Sturgeon explained;

'Doing the zombie makeup has been a particular kick. It's not just the typical rotting flesh sort of thing that everybody has seen a million times. When an alien has been in a human body for a while, parts of its features begin coming through the human body, which has allowed me to do more subtle things'.

A variation of the decaying zombie makeup was made for another episode, with the appliances containing air bladders to appear as if the flesh was bubbling.

Sturgeon's team also made the alien hybrid prosthetics in the episode 'Unto Us a Child is Born'; the prosthetic was designed to have a flattened face and enlarged cranium.

Several makeups were also made for the mutant child's rapid aging and decomposition, which required versions of the mask that were aged and skeletal.

Much of Sturgeon's work on the series was on the various death scenes, which required several dummy heads and assorted body parts to be made; most elaborate was the exploding head of a bloated depressurized body.

The the exploding head dummy was sculpted by Sturgeon, and painted by Dagenais. The open skull head was also sculpted by Dagenais, and based on a cast of Fortier.

Of course, the most elaborate death effects were the meltings that happened whenever an alien-possessed human was killed; in most episodes this was achieved by the special effects department, but sometimes Sturgeon's makeup effects team had to create more elaborate deaths with layers of translucent vinyl.

In the series, the alien-possessed humans could shoot out an alien hand out their torso. This was achieved by Sturgeon's team as a fake torso through which the alien hand was puppeteered. Several alien hands were also made for close-up shots.

A test photo of the third arm fake torso gag.

Of course, the aliens - who in this version of the story came from another planet - had to appear. Sturgeon at first wished to follow Wells' description of the aliens in the origninal novel but the producers insisted he homage Albert Nozaki's design for the George Pal film.

Strangis explained; 'We only plan on showing bits and pieces of the aliens. We don't plan on ever showing an alien full-on. We don't want to lose the mystery of our monster. But they are definitely more horriyfing. We havent skimped on their lack of beauty.'

For close-up shots of the aliens attacking, an animatronic puppet head was made, that could move its eye around.

The aliens were not to be seen past shots of the head and arms, but some scenes required a full alien body; Sturgeon in emails said that it had to be quickly made, and that the paintjob was Dagenais' work. The suits' hands and heads were reused in the second season.

The back of the alien's suit being sculpted.

Sturgeon's work continued on the second season with 'the Eternal', the aliens' deity. It was a puppet with a blinking eye mechanism, and was suspended on a seesaw-like rig. I wonder if the Eternal was Sturgeon's attempt to do an alien closer to Wells' description.

Andrew Kenworthy was credited as prosthetics designer for the second season, but generally the season had little to no makeup effects, past a shrivelling skull effect in the finale episode.

Maquette sculpt of the Eternal

Sources:

• Cinefantastique Vol. 19 No 1-2 (1989)
  
• Starlog #133 (1988)