Oliver Hardy, James Finlayson, and Stan Laurel in Big Business (1929)

 The Time Machine  - 1895; a novella about a scientist who travels forward in time, and discovers the descendants of humanity, the ethereal Eloi and the frightening Morlocks. ---

 The Island of Doctor Moreau  - 1896; a novel about a mad doctor who creates human beings out of wild animals. The story tackles questions about the responsibility of science, and about the human existence.


* Movie adaptations:
1921 ("Die Insel der Verschollenen", German silent film) 1932 ("Island of Lost Souls") 1959 ("Terror is a Man") 1971 ("The Island of Doctor Agor", Tim Burton's early work) 1973 ("The Twilight People") 1977 1996 2004 ("Doctor Moreau's House of Pain", TV-movie)


* Alternate versions:
1977 (?) - a novelization of the 1977 movie ---

 The Wheels of Chance  - 1896; a bittersweet novel about a cycling weekend, written in the heyday of the bicycle. Provided some interesting insights on the impact of this new invention on the society of Victorian England.


* Movie adaptations:
1922 ---

 The Invisible Man  - 1897; a novella about an English scientist who discovers the secret of invisibility, tries the procedure out on himself, but cannot reverse the effect, and becomes mentally unstable.


* Movie adaptations:
1933 (becomes a classic Universal monster) 1954 ("Tomei ningen", loose noir adaptation) 1955 ("Görünmeyen adam Instanbul'da", Turkish version) 1957 ("The New Invisible Man", Mexican version) 1960 ("The Amazing Transparent Man", heavy influence) 1967 ("Mad Monster Party", presents the Universal character) 1984 ("Chelovek-nevidimka", Soviet take on the story) 1992 ("Memoirs of an Invisible Man", Chevy Chase update) 2000 ("Hollow Man", heavy influence) [2003 ("The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen")] ? 2012 (remake of the 1933 Universal horror) ?


* TV series:
1958 (espionage-centered update) 1975 (sympathetic take on the character) 1983 ("The Invisible Woman", comedic twist) 1984 (BBC miniseries) 2000 (another sympathetic take on the character)


* Stage:
1991 (Ken Hill)


* Radio:
2001 (National Public Radio)


* Comics:
2009 ("The Nobody"; heavy influence)

Sequels and other versions:  "The Invisible Man Returns"  , 1940;  "The Invisible Woman"  , 1940;  "Invisible Agent"  , 1942;  "The Invisible Man's Revenge"  , 1944. Based on the character and his formula of the 1933 Universal horror, these movies continued the premise well into the 20th century. In fact, in many cases it was the Universal classic that influenced the later adaptations, rather than the 1897 original story.  "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein"  , 1948;  "Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man  , 1951. In many regards a continuation of the Universal franchise, these movies featured a lighthearted parody of horroristic premise.  "Son of the Invisible Man  ; a short comedic sketch about the title character, who thinks he is invisible, but in reality he remains very much visible. Featured in the anthology movie "Amazon Women on the Moon" in 1987.  "Monster in My Pocket  ; a short-lived 1991 comic book series based on the toy franchise, which featured the Universal horror Invisible Man as the leader of the good monsters.  "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen"  ; published from 1999, this comic book series by Alan Moore features the Invisible Man as a central character (part of an ensemble of Victorian Era fictional heroes), continuing his adventures after the end of the Wells novel. Adapted into a blockbuster movie in 2003, with mixed results.  Andrew Clements: "Things Not Seen"  ; a novel published in 2001 featuring a teenage boy who suddenly turns invisible. The plot is possibly heavily influenced by the Wells story.  "Elvira, Mistress of the Dark  ; comic book series, with an issue in 2003 parodying the Invisible Man concept in the form of an invisible beauty queen.  "Van Helsing - From Beneath the Rue Morgue  ; comic one-shot from around 2004, a spin-off from the "Van Helsing" movie of the same year. Features invisible beasts created by Van Helsing's current antagonist, the mad scientist Doctor Moreau, and implies his technology was derived from an unfortunate incident in England.  "Castlevania - Portrait of Ruin  ; Japanese anime-styled video game for Nintendo DS handheld consol, released in 2006. Features the Invisible Man as an enemy in the sewers.  Blue Balliett: "Wright 3"  ; children's mystery novel featuring the Invisible Man.  "Batman - The Unseen"  ; limited comic series from 2008 in which Batman battles the Invisible Man. ---

 The Man Who Could Work Miracles  - 1898; short story about a man who's wishes start to come to reality, and the struggles that come with such a power. Published in The Illustrated London News.


* Movie adaptation:
1936 (Wells' last production)


* Radio adaptation:
1959 ---

 The War of the Worlds  - 1898; partly inspired by the so-called "invasion literature" that was so popular in the worldwide British Empire during the era of rising international tensions before World War I, this classic introduces invaders from another planet who conquer Earth without significant difficulty from the indigenous humanity, eerily echoing the colonization process exercised by the imperial powers of Europe in Africa, Asia, Australia, Oceania, and the Americas. As the first truly popular novel to use the "alien invasion" trope, this is the ancestor and prime template of all such storylines. The ideas Wells examines here vastly forgo their time, making this novel one of the major forerunners of science fiction literature.


* Radio adaptations:
1938 (Orson Welles; caused panic in the US) 1944 (?) 1949 (?) 1950 (BBC radio dramatization of the novel) 1955 (Lux Radio Theatre, dramatization of the 1953 movie) 1967 (another BBC radio dramatization) 1968 (WKBW adaptation; 1938 version modernized) 1988 (NPR adaptation; 50th anniversary of the Welles version)


* Musicals:
1978 (Jeff Wayne) 2009 (Marc Broude)


* Games:
1979; 1982 (arcade, Cinematronics) 1980 (war board game, Task Force Games) 1984 (home computer game) 1998 (PC game, Jeff Wayne; 2009: online casino game)


* Comics:
1973-1976 (Amazing Adventures #18-39; a Marvel Comics story inspired by the novel, featuring the Martian-fighter hero Killraven) 2002-2003 (The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume II; the main storyline is based on the events in the novel) 2006 (Dark Horse Comics adaptation)


* Movies:
1953 2005 / 1 2005 / 2 2005 / 3 

Sequels and other versions:  H. G. Wells: "Fighters from Mars"  ; unauthorized revision published by the Boston Post in 1898.  Garrett P. Serviss: "Edison's Conquest of Mars"  ; unauthorized sequel to the "Fighters from Mars" about a counter-attack launched against Mars, where the inventions of Thomas Edison enables the humans to bring the fight to the Martians. Published in the Boston Post in 1898.  Lazar Lagin: "Major Well Andyou"  ; Soviet propagandist novel about a British major who collaborates with the Martians. Published in 1962.  George H. Smith: "The Second War of the Worlds" ; the Martians are trying to invade an alternate, less technologically advanced Earth, but their plans are foiled by an unnamed English detective and his "doctor" companion from our world (obviously a take on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's characters, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson).  Manly & Wade Wellman: "Sherlock Holmes's War of the Worlds"  ; a novel about Mr. Holmes's adventures during the Martian occupation of London. In this version of the story, Wells' originally unconnected short story, "The Crystal Egg", is used as a prequel to the events, and a crossover is established with Doyle's other major character, Professor Challenger. Published in 1975.  Christopher Priest: "The Space Machine"  ; a novel that incorporates elements from both "The Time Machine" and "The War of the Worlds", and can be considered as both a prequel and a sequel to the storyline of the latter, because of the "time travel" element. Published in 1976.  Willie Rushton: "W. G. Grace's Last Case"  ; a novel in which W. G. Grace and Doctor Watson avert a second Martian invasion by attacking them on the other side of the Moon with "bombs" containing influenza germs. Published in 1984.  Kevin J. Anderson: "War of the Worlds: Global Dispatches"  ; a collection of the numerous works of fiction depicting the invasion of Wells' novel from various different perspectives. Published in 1996.  "Scarlet Traces"  (2002) and  "Scarlet Traces: The Great Game"  (2006); comic books depicting a flowering British Empire a decade after the events in Wells' novel; by utilizing the left-over Martian technology the Realm enjoys a leap in progress, and in the sequel it is even capable to launch a counter-invasion against Mars. Along the way, however, the British Government becomes increasingly oppressive.  Eric Brown: "Ulla, ulla"  ; a short story depicting an expedition to Mars to uncover the truth behind Wells' novel. Published in 2002.  Hayden Lee: "Mastery of Vesania"  ; a short story connecting the original novel with the 2005 Spielberg remake.  Kevin J. Anderson: "The Martian War"  ; another retelling, this time in novel form, by Anderson. Connects in some other stories authored by Wells, for example "The First Men in the Moon". Published in 2006. ---

 The First Men in the Moon  - 1901; short story about the adventures of two gentlemen from Earth among the insectoid Selenites of the Moon. It had considerable influence on the later Moon-travel stories, and possibly started the tradition of depicting aliens as insect-like creatures.


* Movie adaptations:
1902 1919 1964 2010

Influences:  Zinaida Gippius: "The Moon Ants"  ; short story, 1912.  "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen"  ; comic book, 1999. The story and the characters feature heavily in the original volume and the sequels.  "Scarlet Traces"  ; comic book, 2002.  Kevin J. Anderson: "The Martian War"  ;novel, 2006. --- The Story of the Inexperienced Ghost  - 1902; short story. Also known simply as "The Inexperienced Ghost".


* Movie adaptation:
1948 (an episode of Actor's Studio, 1948-1950) ---

 Kipps: The Story of a Simple Soul  - 1905; a novel about a boy who is propelled by chance from the orphanage into the upper class of society, but cannot find his place there.


* Musical
1963, "Half a Sixpence" (David Heneker, Beverley Cross)


* Move adaptations:
1921 1941 1960 (TV series) 1967 ("Half a Sixpence", adapted from the musical) ---

Marriage  - 1912.


* Movie adaptation:
1927 ---

The Passionate Friends  - 1913; a novel about a love triangle where the woman is unable to give up her affair.


* Movie adaptations:
1923 1949 ---

 The Shape of Things to Come  - 1933; a futuristic science fiction novel that speculates the way a world state will emerge between 1933 and 2106 to rule humanity in peace.


* Movie adaptations:
1936 ("Things to Come") 1979 (Canadian, loose adaptation)

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