Marte

Oh dear, where do i start? While i was really excited for the premise of a mars colony series, this isn't what i was hoping for.

At first the documentary-style segments give it an authentic feel. Yet after a while it really interferes with the pacing of the story. Whenever the situation gets dramatic, there is a cut to Elon Musk or Neil Degrasse Tyson blue-balling us with another scientific explanation. They should have stopped this after the first episode, as it really comes across as filler after that.

What i also couldn't take was the huge character discrepancy between the real life astronaut and his fictional counterparts. While Scott Kelly is a warm and controlled guy, who takes the one-year- separation from his family in a laid-back "it's my job"-attitude, the protagonists of the series seem to get emotional at the slightest mishaps. Add to that the fact they act more like teenagers than professionals with decades of experience.

And finally this seems like the worst space voyage in human history. A blind and hesitant ground control, hardly any reserves, moronic hiring philosophy... If any real mars trip would be happening like this, they would fire the management and drop the whole project.

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.

The new mini-series MARS is not like most science fiction films or TV entries. Instead it is more like "science future" rather than science fiction – an extension of existing knowledge and techniques to the near future. More specifically, the authors envision what it would be like to travel to Mars in 2033. Because it is "science future" and not science fiction, most of what we're watching seems familiar.

Each episode looks like a documentary made in 2033 about the pioneers of the Mars movement. So we see interviews of people like Elon Musk and they talk about the Space X program. Then it switches to real time and we see the trials and tribulations of the first people to land on Mars.

As clever as the science future element is, there is a fictional story here as well, concerned with troubles that happen on the approach to Mars and the landing and the subsequent attempt to colonize the planet. This part of the series is lacking, not merely in character development, but also in action. It is slow going, but probably not unlike what it would be if you were there.

Among the most interesting elements are the decisions that have to be made about the program and comparisons between this future project and major exploratory projects of the past.

This series is definitely worth watching.

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??

I think it was a very good series, albeit a little slow. As for the "preachyness", if you're going to make a realistic series about Mars colonisation, climate change and corporate greed are topics that are unavoidable. Climate change is not "left wing", it's just a fact. In fact, far too many movies and TV shows tip-toe around the issue, so it's refreshing someone actually having the balls to address the issue. And the politicised science usually are the one trying to disprove man-made climate change, not the other way around. The only thing that bugged me about the show, was the use of lights inside the helmets, which would impair their vision because of all the reflection. But it seems the norm for most Hollywood movies, so I guess it's forgivable. But all in all a good watch, unless you're too sensitive about the reality of climate change.