Mars (miniseries)
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| Genre | Docudrama |
| Created by |
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| Based on | How We'll Live on Mars by Stephen Petranek |
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| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 6 |
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| Running time | 47 minutes |
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| Original release | November 14 – December 19, 2016 |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | Before Mars |
| External links | |
| Official website | |
Mars is a six-part television miniseries produced by National Geographic, which premiered on November 14, 2016, on their channel, and FX. Prior to its official air date, it was launched in a streaming format on November 1, 2016. It blends elements of real interviews with a fictional story of a group of astronauts as they land on the planet Mars.
The series is based on the 2015 book How We'll Live on Mars by Stephen Petranek. The narrative alternates between the years 2016, 2033 and 2037, using 2016 interviews to explain events unfolding in the story. The series was filmed in Budapest and Morocco.
A companion book to the series, called Mars: Our Future on the Red Planet, was published in October 2016 detailing the science behind the show. A prequel episode, called Before Mars, was produced and released conjointly with the series. It tells the fictional story of a moment in the life of one of the astronauts, and the decisions they made to get involved in science.
On January 13, 2017, National Geographic announced it was renewing the series for a second season.
In the year 2033, a crew of six astronauts launch from Florida on a journey to be the first people to set foot on Mars. During the descent into the Martian atmosphere, there is a malfunction with their spacecraft, the Daedalus. They land 75.3 kilometres away from their planned habitat. On Earth their progress is being monitored.
Intermixed with the story are real-life interview footage from the year 2016, of the crew, and their mission control; there are interviews with various scientists, and engineers, such as Elon Musk, Andy Weir, Robert Zubrin, and Neil deGrasse Tyson, about the difficulties that the crew might face on a journey to, and living on, Mars.
The cast for the fictional part of the series are:
Mars has received mixed reviews from critics. It holds a 63% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes with an average score of 7.3/10 based on 16 reviews; the critical consensus states: "Ron Howard's direction ensures that Mars is an attractive endeavor, even if the show struggles to move smoothly between its documentary and fictional elements". On Metacritic, it has a score of 59 out of 100 based on 14 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
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Wikipedia