The difference between the spacecrafts of NASA and the lurid flying sorceries of that old radio show War of the Worlds  is the difference between science and science fiction, and yes, War and Peace.

It’s our own world that has turned out to be the interplanetary visitor. We are the ones who are moving, out there – not with death rays, but with cameras. Not to conqueror, but simply to learn. We are in fact, behaving ourselves, far better out there, than we ever have back home on our own planet.

—Orson Welles in WHO’S OUT THERE

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http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6292577234133732501

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Here’s another fascinating Orson Welles piece, a half hour  film shot by Gary Graver for NASA and producer Robert Drew in 1975, two years after Republican President Richard Nixon had the IRS audit Welles’ income taxes and then resigned in disgrace after failing to pay his own taxes!

Exactly where this film was shown is something of a mystery, as it seems to have fallen off the radar in most of Welles filmography listings.  However, it is certainly a fascinating piece, featuring as it does, Welles expounding details about his War of the Worlds radio broadcast, nearly 40 years later, as well as Welles talking about the possibilities of life on other planets in the Universe.  There is no end credit for any writers, but it seems likely that Welles added his own touches to his narration, especially when it came to talking about his  own adventures during his 1938 broadcast of War of the Worlds.