I was quite young when I first started reading the likes of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells – probably in primary school from memory. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, Journey To The Centre Of The Earth, The Time Machine and of course The War Of The Worlds.
For me, the most memorable scene of The War Of The Worlds involves the HMS Thunder Child. It is remarkable – and a little saddening – that this scene has not once appeared in any of the film adaptation of the book.
The Thunder Child is a fictitious torpedo ram ironclad that in the book attacks 3 Martian war-machines that are attacking refugee boats, despite knowing precisely what would become of them. Despite being utterly destroyed, it takes two of the war-machines with it, and its sacrifice allows many to escape safely. Only 3 war-machines are destroyed in the entire book – and it accounted for 2 of them by itself.
I admit I have a soft spot for the Thunder Child and have used names similar to it before for ships in various stories. The current one I am writing, I found myself doing a homage to theThunder Child without even realising it at first. A lone warship taking on three more powerful enemy ships…though in this case it it fantasy and not scifi. Upon realising it, I renamed the ship the Stormchild in honour of the Thunder Child. Hopefully the scene will do the original proud.
Edit: Now with music.
Mist and Shadows 