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Black smoke is a poisonous gas in H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds 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.^[1] 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. Although as at that time argon was considered inert this is unlikely.^[2]

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, always 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.

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.

References