No one would have believed, in the last years of the 19th century,
that human affairs were being watched from the timeless worlds of space.
No one could have dreamed that we were being scrutinized
as someone with a microscope studies creatures that swarm
and multiply in a drop of water.
Few men even considered the possibility of life on other planets.
And yet, across the gulf of space, minds immeasurably superior to ours
regarded this earth with envious eyes,
and slowly and surely, they drew their plans against us.
At midnight, on the 12th of August, a huge mass of luminous gas
erupted from Mars and sped towards Earth.
Across two hundred million miles of void, invisibly hurtling towards us,
came the first of the missiles
that were to bring so much calamity to Earth.
As I watched, there was another jet of gas.
It was another missile, starting on its way.
And that's how it was for the next ten nights.
A flare, spurting out from Mars.
Bright green, drawing a green mist behind it;
A beautiful, but somehow disturbing sight.
Ogilby, the astronomer, assured me we were in no danger.
He was convinced there could be no living thing
on that remote, forbidding planet.
♪ The chances of anything ♪ ♪ coming from Mars. ♪
♪ "Are a million to one", he said. ♪
♪ The chances of anything ♪ ♪ coming from Mars. ♪
♪ Are a million to one, ♪ ♪ but still, they come... ♪
Then came the night the first missile approached Earth.
It was thought to be an ordinary falling star,
but next day there was a huge crater in the middle of the common,
and Ogilby came to examine what lay there.
A cylinder, thirty yards across, glowing hot, with faint sounds
of movement coming from within.
Suddenly the top began moving: Rotating, unscrewing;
And Ogilby feared there was a man inside trying to escape.
He rushed to the cylinder but the intense heat stopped him
before he could burn himself on the metal.
♪ "The chances of anything ♪ ♪ coming from Mars. ♪
♪ Are a million to one", he said. ♪
♪ The chances of anything ♪ ♪ coming from Mars. ♪
♪ Are a million to one, ♪ ♪ but still, they come... ♪
♪ "Yes, the chances of ♪ ♪ anything coming from Mars. ♪
♪ Are a million to one", he said. ♪
♪ The chances of anything ♪ ♪ coming from Mars. ♪
♪ Are a million to one, ♪ ♪ but still, they come... ♪