Missions

A great serial which keeps one hooked from one short episode to another. A great change from the US derivative-seen-it -all-before-adventure-of-the-week-drivel.

An interesting story. It weaves and wanders a bit, but keeps you hooked. I was hoping to find out the source of all the occurrences after the second season, but the third season threw a curveball.

There is closure at the end, but no clear answers. I hope there's a third season.

This is the 10-episode first season of a French sci-fi production which (having seen two episodes) seems to be solid, well-plotted and gripping, though perhaps with some expected genre commonplace. The episodes are very short (23 minutes each), but they are compact, well paced and filled with action. The acting is okay and the atmosphere is suspenseful and tense, underlined by fine special effects and a professional production. I would say this is a psychological, supernatural sci-fi thriller.

Two millionaire philanthropists vie with each other to finance the first successful manned mission to Mars.

The French crew has 8 passengers. The eighth passenger to board the spaceship (reference to Alien?) is a psychologist who is summoned in the last minute to replace a member of the team who dies unexpectedly. She seems to be the pivot of the events unfolding along the episodes.

The Americans land on Mars first, one day earlier, but Earth loses contact with them as soon as they get there, and the French mission, soon before reaching destination, gets a disturbing danger message from the lost US crew warning not to attempt a rescue. The French decide to go for them anyway, despite the danger, and so the exploration team becomes a rescue party.

However, things get eerie as a series of mishaps and complications start to come up the more they approach Mars, compromising both mission and survival.

A strangest and unexpected presence they find in Mars defies their rational understanding of the mission and anticipates several possible plot lines to develop, from the supernatural to the political and the scientific.

We found the show gripping, suspenseful and very watchable. The French are producing high-quality, superbly written and acted TV shows lately, and this is no exception. Though it is not fantastically innovative (so far), we are enjoying it quite much! Let's see what happens as the episodes come along. It is a 9/10 for the time being.

What irritates me about these films about missions to Mars is that they always arrive with a single module without having had any preparation, plan B, etc. Before going on a distant and risky mission like this, any minimally intelligent person would first send a ship to land and install a shelter and they would then send a mother ship with at least two landing modules. It's the minimum level of security, but all screenwriters fall into this trap, the same as FOR ALL MANKIND, MISSION TO MARS, etc.

This already discredits the entire story. I'm a Navy pilot and any soldier would not approve such a risky mission unless there was a war.

This French Sci-fi drama follows the first manned mission to Mars; as they arrive in orbit they learn that they were overtaken by a mission sent by an American concern. However contact with that crew is lost so our protagonists are ordered to investigate. They find what appears to be a survivor; he wasn't one of the American crew though... he appears to be Vladimir Komarov, a Cosmonaut who died re-entering Earth's atmosphere in 1967! Over the course of the series the crew, in particular Jeanne Renoir the ship's psychologist, try to find out who or what Komarov really is. They are also concerned about how they will ultimately leave the red planet.

If you want lots of action in your sci-fi this might not be for you but if you want intelligent and intriguing science fiction then this should keep you gripped. There may not be action but there is plenty of tension when various things go wrong. Things turn interesting when Komarov is found; there is a real sense of mystery about whether it is really Komarov or something else altogether. I liked how they incorporated the very real story of the first death in space into the plot. There are some weaknesses of course; particularly when a rather aggressive second US team arrives. The cast do a solid job; with Hélène Viviès standing out as Jeanne. The ending does leave things open for a second season; I'd certainly watch if one is made. Overall I'd certainly recommend this series to fans of the genre.

These comments are based on watching the series in French with English subtitles.