The Planetary Society have kindly compiled this handy guide to all the probes which have been thrown at mars over the last few decades. What it doesn't show, however are all the failed attempts to reach the Red Planet. The Soviet Union tried countless times in the early sixties to reach Mars, most of which never even made it out of the atmosphere. Nowadays, it seems that space probes reach their destinations with almost insolent ease - New Horizons visited Arrokoth in the Kuiper Belt, Dawn photographed the Ceres asteroid, Osiris-Rex snatched a handful of material from Bennu, before preparing to deliver it back to Earth and Curiosity Rover is still trundling around the caldera, eight years after landing.
Mars has had an interesting representation in various films over the years, some of which have focussed on the inherent dangers, both real and imaginary. 'Angry Red Planet' 1959 populated the world with laughable 'spiderbats' and man eating plants, Ray Bradbury's 'Martian Chronicles' 1980 was a made for TV series with a script which was as dry as the martian plains. Despite this, toy maker Larami actually produced a limited run of mego-style action dolls, but they are as uninspiring as Rock Hudson's hairpiece.
John Carpenter attempted to put a more moderns spin on things in 2001 with 'Ghost of Mars', but despite his previously positive track record with sci-fi, somehow missed the mark entirely.
Not all films featuring Mars are bad, however. Disney's 'John Carter' 2012 which brought Edgar Rice Burroughs franchise to the big screen is imaginative and entertaining, even though it was largely brushed under the mat to make way for the burgeoning Star Wars franchise.
Hollywood jumped on the martian bandwagon in 2000 with two films, 'Mission to Mars' and 'Red Planet'. Both of which featured some excellent effects and production design. The sequence where the ship is struck by a meteorite shower in Mission is especially tense, even if using a sachet of Coke to find a rupture in the hull is a little far fetched. 'Red Planet', despite similarly realistic technology, stretches credulity a little after seasoned captain Carrie Ann Moss, seemingly forgets simple Newtonian physics and attempts to stem a fire with a gas powered extinguisher, slamming herself into a bulkhead with the recoil. The film does have some impressive F/X to make up for the appalling acting, the section where the landing capsule, supported by pneumatic balloons to cushion impact, crashes down a mountain side is particularly good.
Space realism seems to e a bit of a hot topic recently, with such films as 'Gravity' 2013, 'Life' 2017, 'Ad Astra' 2019 and the Netflix original 'Midnight Sky'. Ad Astra has some amazingly realistic sections with a moon rover journey which could be straight from the NASA archives and stunningly beautiful visions of Neptune. Credulity is stretched to the limits with all the films, as are the fundamental physical laws, but it does make for some interesting watching.
Possibly one of the most entertaining visions of Mars is Arnie's 1990 outing 'Total Recall'. Based loosely on Philip K. Dick's 1966 story 'We Can Remember It For You Wholesale', director Paul Verhoeven gets Arnie at the pinnacle of his prowess, not taking himself too seriously and clearly enjoying the ultra-macho, gung-ho action, alongside two strong female leads. Although Mars only features in half of the film, its well realised and with effects, which for turn of the decade, were pretty good. I still hesitate to pick my nose after watching it. Its also responsible for some of Mr Schwarzeneggers most memorable quotes, such as "Screw You!" and the seminal "Get your ass to Mars!". Michael Ironside as the lead thug is at his vessel busting best, as his barely supressed rage at seeing Arnie fraternising with Sharon Stone almost brings on a reprisal of the head busting scene in 'Scanners'.
Excellent summary, thanks Bill. Brings up so many memories, most of them favourable.
ReplyDeleteInteresting what you said about John Carter the movie. I have evaded watching it quite determinedly only because the Mars books by ERB were possibly the most influential reading experience of my tender years. The imagery created whilst devouring them is still so strong and easily accessible, that I did not want to spoil my own John Carter universe by watching the movie!
Its a tricky one Arto, its an entertaining take in the franchise, visually impressive and colourful. Never having read any of the original stories, I can’t comment on the films faithfullness to RB’s vision, but its a good sci fi film in itself.
ReplyDeleteSorry, I have to disagree - The Angry Red Planet is THE best Sci-fi-Mars adventure film ever made. Love it dearly. Even owned a 16mm print of it for years. The “laughable” creatures you mention are wildly imaginative, and if you actually watch the film, you realize the entire drama on Mars is the flashback of the surviving female astronaut, and may in fact be a drug-induced hallucination. Thus, the fanciful creatures. Also, really cool “Animagic” atmospheric effects when the explorers are on Mars, plus a great music score by Paul Dunlap. I’ll take an imaginative low-budget SF romp any day over a bloated CGI money pit like John Carter, thanks. And “space realism” is a toxic concept, and was the death of good science-fiction.
ReplyDeleteNever seen Angry Red Planet but I hope to rectify that. Total Recall, the original film, is a blast and never fails to entertain. Not seen the remake, not sure why they did it.
ReplyDeleteYou really need to see Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964). It is not perfect but it is a genuinely good mars movie. Conquest of Space (1955) is a bit of a mess but it does have some nifty visualizations of Chesley Bonestell style space technology -- particularly in the first ten minutes or so.
ReplyDelete