Mars

I was really looking forward to this series. Like "Red Planet" and "Mission To Mars" but without the fictional hooey. Like "The Martian" but in grander scale, with many scientists doing their thing, not just one. Bah; I was quite wrong.

Apparently, in the year 2033, we've completely run out of scientists, and instead sent a bunch of backstabbing, whiny hipsters to Mars. If they had any formal training in science, they forgot it all. They certainly don't mention anything scientific in their dialogue with each other. They do not even appear to be doing any scientific work once they arrive - just bickering over their mission, and passive-aggressively hiding useful information from each other, causing bonehead accidents.

What can you do, when you see great frontiers being explored, and cool hardware brought to bear, and you want to smile and enjoy it ... but the people doing it are always upset, depressed, or appallingly unobservant?

Three episodes in, and I quit, because I realized I was actually _dreading_ the next episode, not anticipating it. I was just waiting for them to have their next unnecessary argument or make their next totally avoidable mistake.

How could man's next great frontier be so ... joyless??

So don't go into this show expecting a Hollywood-style drama series.

The focus here are not character development or some plot twists, it's about something humanity has dreamed forever and bringing this in a realistic and at the same time entertaining way to the screen.

The documentation parts also really fit the fictional mission and are mostly on point and not too long. Many emotional goosebump-moments, at least for me.

Don't watch it if you don't care about space or deep questions and are only looking for easy entertainment, for everyone else this show is a 10/10

I have enjoyed this hypothetical drama of the exploration of Mars. Season one was very enjoyable. At the time I gave it an 8 out of 10. I was very excited for season two, only to find that the amount of preachiness was significantly amped up. I can't get past the preachy aspect of season two, so I have dropped my review down to a 6 out of 10. Hopefully season 3 goes back to the glory of season 1.

I like the comment where someone said this isn't science fiction but science future. It does take relevant clips and interviews from the past and present which provide educational information and sometimes opinions.

Will we go to Mars? Hell yes. Do we need to? No. Should we? Hell yes. Think how much the world benefited by the challenge we faced by going to the moon and how much technology was developed from doing so.

Going to Mars is just a first step and there is so much to learn from taking on the challenge. We may very well learn to solve some of the present or future problems that we will be facing here on earth by looking for solutions to living on Mars.

Now my comments on the story side of the show.

I am a fan of Elon Musk but why do I get the feeling like this is a one big commercial for the SpaceX program? I have to agree with some comments in that the story line is weak in that much of the planning and contingency planning that would normally be done is not represented in the show. So far with two episodes I have given up on questioning why things are happening as they do and just accept it at face value for the entertainment aspect.

The budget for the show may be limited but National Geographic is providing some great links for the show as well from http://natgeotv.com/mars which includes cast information and interviews, recaps, online viewing, and the Before Mars episode to get folks engaged with the actors.

I loved the premise of the show in season 1 but now it seems to be a pulpit for activist. The story is getting more political and left-wing fringed then it is enjoying.