{"id":16501,"date":"2025-10-29T15:46:17","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T22:46:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/?p=16501"},"modified":"2025-11-01T22:36:44","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T05:36:44","slug":"without-warning-a-cult-hit-take-on-war-of-the-worlds-now-accessible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/?p=16501","title":{"rendered":"On Halloween in 1994 CBS aired a new take on Orson Welles&#8217; radio classic &#8220;War of The Worlds.&#8221; With 225,000+ views, it&#8217;s now become a YouTube cult favorite as well."},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"On%20Halloween%20in%201994%20CBS%20aired%20a%20new%20take%20on%20Orson%20Welles%27%20radio%20classic%20%22War%20of%20The%20Worlds.%22%20With%20225%2C000%2B%20views%2C%20it%27s%20now%20become%20a%20YouTube%20cult%20favorite%20as%20well.\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div><p><span style=\"color: #00ff00;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-17175 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screen-Shot-2023-06-29-at-10.16.10-AM.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"345\" srcset=\"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screen-Shot-2023-06-29-at-10.16.10-AM.jpg 1198w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screen-Shot-2023-06-29-at-10.16.10-AM-218x300.jpg 218w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screen-Shot-2023-06-29-at-10.16.10-AM-743x1024.jpg 743w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screen-Shot-2023-06-29-at-10.16.10-AM-768x1059.jpg 768w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screen-Shot-2023-06-29-at-10.16.10-AM-1114x1536.jpg 1114w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screen-Shot-2023-06-29-at-10.16.10-AM-800x1103.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/>By Peter Lance. October 31st, 2025<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>On Halloween night, 1994, CBS aired <a href=\"https:\/\/pro.imdb.com\/videoproembed\/vi2402665497?ref_=pro_redirect_video_player\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">WITHOUT WARNING; <\/span><\/strong><\/a>a contemporary take on H.G. Wells classic &#8220;War Of The Worlds.<strong>&#8221; <\/strong>Produced by Mark Wolper and directed by Robert Iscove, I wrote the two-hour Teleplay from a Story by David Seltzer (aka Jeremy Thorn) &amp; Walon Green. Legendary ex-NBC News White House correspondent Sander Vanocur and a series of real-life TV news reporters presented the piece as a live newscast, in the same way Orson Welles&#8217; infamous <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smithsonianmag.com\/history\/infamous-war-worlds-radio-broadcast-was-magnificent-fluke-180955180\/\">1938 radio broadcast,<\/a> broke into regularly scheduled programming.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-21013\" src=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/WITHOUT-WARNING-writing-credits.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"124\" srcset=\"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/WITHOUT-WARNING-writing-credits.png 1790w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/WITHOUT-WARNING-writing-credits-300x186.png 300w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/WITHOUT-WARNING-writing-credits-1024x634.png 1024w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/WITHOUT-WARNING-writing-credits-768x475.png 768w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/WITHOUT-WARNING-writing-credits-1536x951.png 1536w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/WITHOUT-WARNING-writing-credits-800x495.png 800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/>Delivering the script in late August, in time for the Halloween airdate, turned into a crash &#8220;page one&#8221; rewrite for me. The man who helped me &#8220;Grok&#8221; the science was <a href=\"https:\/\/solarsystem.nasa.gov\/people\/1581\/don-yeomans\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Don Yeomans,<\/a> the &#8220;Asteroid Whisperer&#8221; at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpl.nasa.gov\/asteroid-watch\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NASA&#8217;s Jet Propulsion Lab<\/a>, cited in a recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/03\/22\/world\/europe\/asteroid-names-jesuits.html?searchResultPosition=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NYT piece on Jesuit astronomers.<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecompanion.app\/without-warning-1994\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright wp-image-17173\" title=\"WITHOUT WARNING The Companion By Ben Falk\" src=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screen-Shot-2023-06-29-at-10.11.52-AM.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"495\" height=\"568\" srcset=\"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screen-Shot-2023-06-29-at-10.11.52-AM.jpg 1404w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screen-Shot-2023-06-29-at-10.11.52-AM-261x300.jpg 261w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screen-Shot-2023-06-29-at-10.11.52-AM-892x1024.jpg 892w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screen-Shot-2023-06-29-at-10.11.52-AM-768x882.jpg 768w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screen-Shot-2023-06-29-at-10.11.52-AM-1338x1536.jpg 1338w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screen-Shot-2023-06-29-at-10.11.52-AM-800x919.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 495px) 100vw, 495px\" \/><\/a>Now, celebrated Sci-Fi film critic Ben Falk has written a major piece on the movie&#8217;s history for<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thecompanion.app\/without-warning-1994\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> The Companion<\/a>,<\/strong><\/span> a UK based site, noting that WITHOUT WARNING has since become a cult classic with more than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=6J4pfT2qLb4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>80,000 views on YouTube\u00a0 <\/strong><\/a>It\u2019s now available in <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/pro.imdb.com\/videoproembed\/vi2402665497?ref_=pro_redirect_video_player\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>an enhanced digitized format<\/strong>\u00a0 <\/a><\/span><strong>you can download from imbpro.com.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In this case, the live broadcast begins with a CBS Movie of The Week, that&#8217;s interrupted by breaking news reports of a giant asteroid that&#8217;s broken apart over The North Pole and impacted earth on three continents.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-16507\" src=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Without-Warning-DVD-cover-FRONT.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"495\" height=\"626\" srcset=\"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Without-Warning-DVD-cover-FRONT.jpg 1950w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Without-Warning-DVD-cover-FRONT-237x300.jpg 237w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Without-Warning-DVD-cover-FRONT-810x1024.jpg 810w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Without-Warning-DVD-cover-FRONT-768x971.jpg 768w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Without-Warning-DVD-cover-FRONT-1215x1536.jpg 1215w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Without-Warning-DVD-cover-FRONT-1619x2048.jpg 1619w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Without-Warning-DVD-cover-FRONT-800x1012.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 495px) 100vw, 495px\" \/>In this updated variation on the Mercury Theater radio cast, reporters soon learn that the giant &#8220;near earth&#8221; asteroid has created massive craters in Thunder Basin, Wyoming, Lourdes, France and The Gobi Desert in Mongolia.<\/p>\n<p>While a lead researcher for <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Search_for_extraterrestrial_intelligence\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SETI<\/a> (Search of Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) suspects that the asteroid fragments represent a &#8220;close encounter,&#8221; officials at The Pentagon decide that the &#8220;visitors&#8221; have a hostile intent and respond with catastrophic consequences.<\/p>\n<p>Without Warning was the first in a series of films underscoring the very real threat from these &#8220;killer rocks.&#8221; It was followed 4 years later in 1998 by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=8-8eEniEfgU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>ARMAGEDDON<\/strong><\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=1msmttoirvA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>DEEP IMPACT<\/strong><\/a> and more recently by the dystopian &#8220;comet&#8221; films <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vz-gdEL_ae8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>GREENLAND<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0 (2020) and in 2021 by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=RbIxYm3mKzI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>DON&#8217;T LOOK UP.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>For a compelling 90 minutes of retro television, based on the real and ongoing threat from these &#8220;killer rocks,&#8221; fire up the biggest screen you can find and watch <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/pro.imdb.com\/videoproembed\/vi2402665497?ref_=pro_redirect_video_player\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">WITHOUT WARNING<\/a>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"On%20Halloween%20in%201994%20CBS%20aired%20a%20new%20take%20on%20Orson%20Welles%27%20radio%20classic%20%22War%20of%20The%20Worlds.%22%20With%20225%2C000%2B%20views%2C%20it%27s%20now%20become%20a%20YouTube%20cult%20favorite%20as%20well.\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div><p>By Peter Lance. October 31st, 2025\u00a0On Halloween night, 1994, CBS aired WITHOUT WARNING; a contemporary take on H.G. Wells classic &#8220;War Of The Worlds.&#8221; Produced by Mark Wolper and directed by Robert Iscove, I wrote the two-hour Teleplay from a Story by David Seltzer (aka Jeremy Thorn) &amp; Walon Green. Legendary ex-NBC News White House [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16505,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[1299,1295,1301,126,1296,1294,1297,1300,1298,1293,1292],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16501"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16501"}],"version-history":[{"count":48,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16501\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21137,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16501\/revisions\/21137"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}