Talk:Tomorrow, When the War Began

Is Australia explicitly named in the novel?
I haven't got the book at hand, but I believe that the novel never actually identifies Australia as the country invaded. Could someone verify this and if I'm correct, modify the article accordly. 144.135.0.200 (talk) 02:53, 13 December 2010 (UTC)


 * I've just scanned through the first chapter or so of my copy, as well as a few pages where they were listening to the radio about the invasion, and didn't see "Australia" mentioned explicitly. I don't have time to search the whole book though, so I can't say for sure that it's not mentioned in the story. However the Author's Note at the end does say (with my emphasis):
 * The settings in this book are based on real places. Hell is a reasonably accurate description of Terrible Hollow, in the Australian Alps ... ... Other locations used in Tomorrow, When the War Began, include China Walls, a rugged mountainous area on private farmland new Khancoban in NSW, and the long wooden bridge across the Murrumbidgee River at Gundagai in NSW. Generally though the settings used in this book could be found in any Australian State.
 * Mitch Ames (talk) 13:12, 13 December 2010 (UTC)
 * ‘They brought in an Australian bloke from out of town. Some chalkie. He keeps

picking people out for interrogation, and a lot of them get taken away after he’s finished with them.

Yeah it actually does at the start Ahmed Nafi (talk) 15:28, 31 January 2016 (UTC)

Does this need to be it's own page?
It doesn't say anything that the Tomorrow Series main page doesn't already say. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 121.0.4.59 (talk) 22:29, 11 May 2012 (UTC)
 * Looking at both articles, this does appear to say things not included in the series article, which is the right way to do it. The Tomorrow Series, like most series articles, is an overview of the seven-book series as a whole, with basic detail on the individual works. The Tomorrow, When the War Began article is a detailed look at the individual book. -- saberwyn 00:45, 12 May 2012 (UTC)
 * The plot summary is expanded but the introduction, reception and film adaption sections are just shortened versions of introduction, reception and film adaption sections from the original page.


 * Compare


 * Tomorrow, When the War Began is the first book in the Tomorrow Series by John Marsden. It is a young adult invasion novel, detailing a high-intensity invasion and occupation of Australia by a foreign power. The novel is told in first person perspective by the main character, a teenage girl named Ellie Linton, who is part of a small band of teenagers waging a guerrilla war on the enemy garrison in their fictional home town of Wirrawee.


 * to


 * The Tomorrow series is a series of seven young adult invasion novels written by Australian writer John Marsden, detailing a high-intensity invasion and occupation of Australia by a foreign power. The novels are related from the first person perspective by Ellie Linton, a teenage girl, who is part of a small band of teenagers waging a guerrilla war on the enemy soldiers in the region around their fictional home town of Wirrawee.


 * and


 * Horn Book Magazine said that Tomorrow, When the War Began is "a riveting adventure through which Marsden explores the capacity for evil and the necessity of working together to oppose it".[2] Book Report magazine said that it was "an exciting story of self-discovery and survival".[3]


 * Between 1993 and 1998, over three million copies of the novel were sold.[4] During this timeframe, Tomorrow, When the War Began was translated into five languages, and was rated as the "4th best loved book" in an Australian survey.[4]


 * The novel is recommended by the New South Wales Board of Studies as a text to be studied in English classes during Stage 5 (Years 9 and 10).[5] In 1996, the American Library Association (ALA) named Tomorrow, When the War Began as one of the best young adult titles published in America in that year.[6] In 2000, the ALA listed the book as one of the 100 best books for teenage readers published between 1966 and 2000.[7]


 * In 2000, the Swedish government selected Tomorrow, When the War Began as the book most likely to inspire a love of reading in young people, and financed the printing and distribution of the novel to teenage school students in the country.[8][9][10]


 * to


 * Upon publication, the series was met with overwhelmingly positive reviews. Critics praised the series for its insightful look at a wide range of issues and suspense filled narrative.The Age proclaimed the series "the best series for Australian teens of all time..."[5] and said "like ancient myths the stories confront the purpose of life, death, betrayal, killing, love, hate, revenge, selfishness, sacrifice and... faith".[6] The Horn Book Magazine found the series "riveting" and said "thoughtful explorations of the nature of fear, bravery and violence add depth and balance to the edge-of-the-seat-action and intense first person narration".[7] Georges T. Doods from the SF Site praised the series for its well crafted action and depictions of combat stress, describing it as "an elevation of adventure literature to heights that are only achieved once or twice in a generation."[8] Gregory Maguire of the New York Times found the series to be "intense" and "compulsively readable", but criticised it for its episodic structure.[9]


 * With the exception of Tomorrow, When the War Began and The Night is for Hunting every book in the series was listed by the Children's Book Council of Australia as notable title for older readers for its respective year of publication.[10] The novel is recommended by the New South Wales Board of Studies as a text to be studied in English classes during Stage 5 (Grades 9 and 10).[11]


 * The series has also received accolades from outside Australia. In 1996 the American Library Association named Tomorrow, When the War Began as one of the best young adult titles published in America during that year.[12] In 2000 the same organisation listed the book as one of the 100 best books for teenage readers published between 1966 and 2000.[4] In 1999 the third book in the series, Third Day, The Frost won the Buxtehude Bull, a prestigious German prize for young adult literature.[13] In 2000, the Swedish Government paid to have Tomorrow, When the War Began distributed to every child of appropriate age in the country after it was selected by their peers as the book reluctant readers would be most likely to enjoy.[14]


 * and


 * In June 2009, Screen Australia announced that it would fund the development of the feature film to be produced based on the novel, to be written and directed by screenwriter Stuart Beattie.[11][12]


 * The film was released on 2 September 2010. Critical response to the film was mixed, and while the film was a financial success in Australia, it failed to find an overseas audience.[13][14]


 * to


 * In June 2009, Screen Australia announced that it would fund the development of the feature film Tomorrow, When the War Began, written and directed by screenwriter Stuart Beattie (Australia, Collateral, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl), and produced by Andrew Mason for Ambience Entertainment, reportedly to begin production in late 2009.[31][32][33] Raymond Terrace in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, was chosen as a major location for producing the film.[34] The film was released in Australian cinemas on 2 September 2010. Reception for the movie was mixed. Review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 64% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 44 reviews, with an average score of 5.5/10. Reviewers frequently cited a poor script and poor acting as flaws.[35] Despite earning over $13.5 million at the Australian box office, the film "failed to find an international audience"


 * There doesn't seem to be enough new material, plot summary aside, on this page to justify its existence. And correct me if I'm wrong don't the powers that be frown on pages that are just plot summary: Hence

— Preceding unsigned comment added by 125.168.56.245 (talk) 07:35, 12 May 2012 (UTC)


 * There is always going to be some similarity and some overlap of content between an article about a series and an article about the first work in the series. I think this is because the first work is usually the best known, and sets the tone for the rest of the series in both content (introducing characters, setting up storyarcs, establishing themes) and recognition (a successful first work will attract attention to subsequent works). In this situation, the series article should summarise the series, and the book articles should focus on the individual books. I think the two articles handle this divide-and-overlap pretty well, but acknowledge that it is not perfect (all Wikipedia articles have scope for improvement), and think the best way to address this is to improve both articles to meet this ideal.
 * I don't think your first and third examples are particularly useful. Yes, the opening sentences are similar: one article has as its subject "a book about teenagers fighting an invasion", the other "a series of books about teenagers fighting an invasion". This is because lead sections are meant to provide a condensed summary of that article. The "Film" sections are also similar, because they are intended to be a summary style introduction to the subject of the film, with those seeking more information on the film directed to visit the "main article" on the subject. (As an aside, any future films based on the books in the series would see this section expand).
 * On your second example (the articles' respective "Reception" sections), yes there is some overlap and some room for improvement. Here, the book article should focus on specific reviews and reactions to the book, while the series article should look at reviews of the series as a whole, while including only major facts relating to individual books. I think these sections do the job at the moment: I see only four Tomorrow-book-specific bits (before I've condensed the two for the American Library Association into one sentence), along with a specific mention of the third book, a general highlighting of five books, and reviews covering the entire series. More reviews and accolades could be added to the book article to expand and firm up the content, and more series-wide content or content relating to other books should be added to the series article to balance things out. I don't think folding individual works into series over-articles is the way to go about improving the content we have. -- saberwyn 10:08, 13 May 2012 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 1 one external link on Tomorrow, When the War Began. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20090619081417/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com:80/hr/content_display/film/news/e3iecfa450e38f03b772d4e458e999c8f5c to http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3iecfa450e38f03b772d4e458e999c8f5c

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High-intensity invasion
What is a "high-intensity invasion"?Royalcourtier (talk) 05:00, 31 March 2016 (UTC)

Gooks, VC. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.170.109.105 (talk) 14:16, 28 November 2020 (UTC)

Similarities to Red Dawn
I cannot believe there is zero mention in this article about the similarities between this novel, its subsequent film adaptation of 2010, Tomorrow, When the War Began (film)) and the 1984 classic American film, Red Dawn, later remade with the same title, Red Dawn (2012 film) that coincidentally starred Australian actor Chris Hemsworth.

Teenagers go off on a camping trip and return to find their families and other townsfolk captured by some invasion force, which they have to band together to fight. It's the same exact plot, except that the invasion is Soviet (the original 1984 film) versus Chinese (the book published nine years later), and North Korean (in the 2012 remake, which actually made no sense and was altered at the last minute from a Chinese invasion so it wouldn't be banned from Chinese theaters).

I mean, the plot is so similar that when I rented the Australian film after finding out that Phoebe Tonkin was in it, I thought then and UNTIL TODAY that it was an Aussie reboot of the US film of 1984. Has John Marsden ever been asked about this or made some comment about drawing some influence or inspiration from it, or denied there is any relation whatsoever?

Just sayin'. Prosandcons (talk) 00:36, 2 March 2022 (UTC)