Black smoke

Black smoke is a fictional weapon from the H. G. Wells novel "The War of the Worlds".

In the story, it is the secondary offensive weapon employed by the Martians, as a means of chemical warfare. It is delivered by way of a tube-like launcher carried by one of their fighting-machines. There is also a common belief, though never actually stated in the novel, that their flying-machines also helped spread the smoke. It is used to great effect in the evening of Day Three of the invasion in the London Offensive.

The black smoke is a poisonous gas used to eliminate groups of humans remotely, especially artillery crews, before they could fire. Any human breathing this deadly smoke is killed almost instantly. The smoke was disabled by contact with water. After the smoke had done its job, the Martians would dispel it with jets of steam, leaving only a residual black powder. The Martians may have used this also to avoid unnecessary destruction of buildings in cities such as London. Although Wells never exactly explains how the black smoke works, he does mention that it may bind with argon and cause a disastrous chemical reaction inside a human who comes in contact with it.

Wells specified that the black smoke consists of an unknown element that shows four blue lines in a spectrum analysis. This element combined with the argon in our atmosphere to form the deadly gas. (Although in the very last chapter, spectrum analysis "unmistakenly" pointed to "the presence of an unknown element with a brilliant group of three lines in the green.")

In other adaptations

Orson Welles' radio adaptation dramatizes the effects of the black smoke. In fact, the toxin is depicted as being potent enough to render gas masks useless, as do modern nerve gases.

The only screen appearance of the black smoke is in the Pendragon film. However, the film's aliens only use the smoke twice, and it is not described in any detail.

The black smoke is briefly mentioned in the 1978 musical version, where a tripod releases it while engaging the "Thunder Child" and later on when the narrator is trapped in the house. Its effects are not mentioned however; this is likely the result of an earlier usage being removed at the script editing stage.

In the 1998 PC game, the black smoke can be launched from cannons by three Martian Machine units: the Fighting Machine, the Bombarding Machine and the Tempest. The smoke deals very high, often fatal, damage to any human vehicles that come close to it. However, this version lasts for a limited time, depending on what type of canister launcher the black smoke is launched from. A glitch however makes it possible to have an everlasting black smoke. This glitch is hard to get, as it requires a mountainous area in the sector you're viewing. To stop the Infinite Black Smoke, simply return to the War Map.

The Asylum version features a deadly gas, but it is green rather than black in color. The "green smoke" does appear, however, to have the same deadly effect as the black smoke; it is apparently very dense as well, since it can be escaped by climbing to higher altitudes.

The black smoke is not used in Steven Spielberg's 2005 adaptation, but was a considered addition as early as a first draft until it was dropped due to paucity of time. It is also absent from the TV series, though the aliens do make attempts at engaging in chemical warfare.

Factual discrepancies

While it is an interesting plot device in Wells' book, no means is known by which the Black Smoke could exist and behave as it is described in the story. It is said that the smoke is formed when an unknown element combines with argon in our atmosphere. However, argon is an inert gas and extremely stable. It combines with other elements only in extreme conditions (for example, during the shining of ultraviolet light onto frozen argon).

Another discrepancy in the story is that in Book I ch. 15 "four lines in the blue of the spectrum" is stated, but in the last chapter of Book II analysis of the black powder "unmistakenly" pointed to "the presence of an unknown element with a brilliant group of three lines in the green."

See also

* [http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Galaxy/3773/waroftheworlds/martians/tech.html#black%20smoke Martian Technology Analysis Report]