The Martian Chronicles
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Bernie Casey, Christopher Connelly, Gayle Hunnicutt, Nicholas Hammond, Rock HudsonBrand: TCFHE/MGM
Cinematographer: Ted Moore
Editor: Eunice Mountjoy
Producer: Charles M. Fries
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 1.0; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 1.0
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, Miniseries, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 281 minutes
Published: 2004-09-01
DVD Release Date: 2004-09-07
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Movie Reviews of The Martian Chronicles
Movie Review: Not a Disappointment like other screen-adaptions of novels
Summary: 5 Stars
As a big fan of science fiction for 30 years and a writer of it for over 20 now, I have come to realize that there is a formula for good science fiction and Ray Bradbury's Martian Chronicles definitely follows that formula and does an excellent job with it. I read the Martian Chronicles while I was attending high school in the mid-1970s and when it was turned into a miniseries in the early 80s, I managed to catch most of it on tv, but I missed it one night and never got to see the whole series in complete until now, on Dvd. Bradbury follows the formula for good sci-fi quite well and the tv series does a fairly good job with it. I have to say that, in most cases I am disappointed with the tv or cinematic reproduction of my favorite science fiction novels, but Martian Chronicles is one of those rare exceptions.
No doubt most young people raised during the 80s and 90s on all that fast-paced action and digital special effects probably would consider the Martian Chronicles too slow-paced and a bit too boring for their taste-buds. But I for one don't give a damn about action and special effects, as long as it isn't done so poorly that it makes it all look fake, like those retro low-budget thrillers from the 50s. The Martian Chronicles has its share of action and special effects, and it is done well enough to look believable, but at the same time it isn't over-done either, and as far as I'm concerned, that's a good thing.
For the Martian Chronicles, in following the formula for good sci-fi, is not reliant upon sensationalistic action and special effects, but on an excellent story-line, plot, setting, and characters. All of these aspects are done so well that the Martian Chronicles miniseries comes across as an exceptional adaption of Bradbury's novel, despite the somewhat low-tech special effects. Some fans might be a little disappointed by the fact that there is no time given to any internal perspective of the space voyages aboard the rocketships and very little given to it after the ships land, but there are some good shots of the ships landing and after they have landed, and beautiful shots of the settings on the Martian planet, including the Martian homes (built like extensions upon caves in the sides of mountains), the Martian architectural shrine, which is a fascinating site to see, and the vast desert landscapes and mountains.
The stories within the miniseries are all very interesting variations on science fiction, including the tragic first contact scenerios, one which puts 3 human astronauts within a grand illusion created by the Martians to fool them into thinking Mars is some kind of heaven, populated by friends and relatives they lost; another in which two parents, the Lustigs, that lost their son David (Michael Anderson Jr) on the second mission, miss him so badly that he comes to them one night, and after they accept him, he gets lost in the town, amidst the crowd, and they discover he's some kind of Martian changling under the mental control of humans who have lost their loved ones.
Then there's the priest (Fritz Weaver) that has heard some miraculous stories that lead him to believe that Martians still exist, so he and his brother-of-the-cloth companion (Roddy McDowel) go into the desert in search of the Martians and encounter three blue spheres of light, which the priest communicates with and learns about the Martians. There's also a scene where the same priest encounters a visual representation of Christ, as the tortured, suffering soul in human form, and it pleads with him to stop thinking about him because it cannot bear the pain, to turn away and let him go. That was perhaps one of the most symbolic, philosophical aspects of the dreadful human condition in the story.
Perhaps the only part of the story that bothered me was when the war on Earth became imminent, and the vast majority of the humans on Mars decided to (or were foolishly suckered to) return to Earth. Where was the sense to that? They were perfectly safe and at peace on Mars, with several towns and settlements in their virgin prime. Why suddenly leave those colonies and return to Earth, because a war had started, not because the situation had improved? Excuse me, but isn't that rather like moths flying into flames or horses running into burning barns?
The only answer to this puzzling action, which was not explained very well, was that the colonies still were dependant upon Earth for resources, and when the war started, the shipments from Earth ended. There was one line between Colonel Wilder (Rock Hudson) and the general at the space center that made this point, but it still seems awfully stupid, and I suppose one could say, a testament to the epitome of human failure, that the entire experiment with Martian colonies should be terminated under those circumstances.
Despite the war and the termination of shipments to Mars, Wilder returns to Earth to save his brother, and apparently a handful of humans actually decide to stay on Mars (the more intelligent ones, obviously). That would have been my decision. I'm sorry, but I simply find it hard to believe that so many humans at the colonies of Mars decided to return to Earth because of a war. In any case, the story continues by covering what happens to the handful of humans that were smart enough to stay on Mars.
The most satirically funny piece in the miniseries is about one man (Christopher Connelly) and one woman (Bernadette Peters) that manage to connect by telephone. They are both alone in towns separated by a thousand miles and when the man decides to go through the whole phone book and finally reaches her, he quickly hops onto a small gyro-plane (mini-one-man helicopter, one of the coolest forms of transport in the series) and flies across the vast desert landscape and Martian mountains to her. When he finally reaches her, she is one of the sexiest human females a man could ever hope to have as a companion. But once they get together on a date, alone in a large, high-class restaurant, as he gazes upon her beautiful form (I have to say, Peters really is an amazing piece of eye-candy in this story) he learns she is completely obsessed with her body, a female narcissus-type, and really only wants a man around to serve her and do things for her, including make her meals and fix all the gadgets and mechanical conveniences that she depends upon.
When she rejects his more physical approach at the door of her home after their date, and admits that she is looking forward to him making breakfast and fixing the hot-tub at the local spa, he decides he's not interested in her anymore and quickly leaves by gyro-plane. I dunno if I would have been so quick to leave such an incredibly beautiful woman like that, in spite of her complete vanity, but then again, I've never even come close to such a beautiful creature in my entire life. I would have fixed the spa, at the very least, and seen where it went after that.
The action scene between Sam Parkhill (Darren McGavin), the owner of a roadside restaurant, and some Martians on sand-ships is perhaps the most memorable action scene of the series. In typical human cowboy-mentality style, McGavin accidentally shoots one of the Martians when it suddenly appears in his restaurant to give him a land-grant for a huge portion of Mars. Later, the Martians run him down and corner him in their sand-ships (ships that look like boats with sails but are designed to move over flat desert- lands, powered by the strong Martian winds). Once cornered, a Martian gives McGavin the land-grant, tells him about the huge portion of land that has been granted to him, and also passes on a cryptic message about Earth.
It's interesting to note that, of all the original astronauts that were part of the missions to Mars, only one expressed compassion and concern for the Martians and their civilization, while most of the others, in typical human ethnocentric form, were only interested in what they could make of Mars for themselves. The astronaut that expressed concern for the Martians was Spender (Bernie Casey). Once they had reached Mars (the third mission), Spender took a small gyro-plane out to explore the land, and when he reported back, he expressed over-whelming sympathy for the fact that the Martian civilization apparently had perished after making contact with humans, due to a lack of biological immunity to some simple human illness like chicken pox.
Spender's talks with Colonel Wilder set the mood for much of the series continual mystery about the Martians and their civilization. It's interesting how Bradbury contrasted Spender's genuinely compassionate vision with the complete ignorance and lack of interest shown by the majority of humans. Even Colonel Wilder was slow to pick up on the vision that Spender presented, but he did, while patiently juggling it with his responsibilities to the mission and the human colonies that he helped to construct.
After they lose Spender, while he does his best to defend the honor of the Martians, cloaked as one of them and pitting Martian weapons against Wilder and Parkhill in a contest at the Martian shrine, Wilder begins to seriously wonder about the Martians and their civilization. Spender gave him the impression that some Martians still survived, and throughout the series, Wilder had a desire to meet one of them. In the end, Wilder does meet a Martian, at the shrine, and we're given a fascinating science fiction and fantasy glimpse upon the speculative nature of the universe and intelligent life, as it is contrasted between a human (Wilder) and a Martian. Wilder learns that they can live and continue humanity on Mars, but only after accepting the fact that it must be different, that some aspects of life on Earth simply wouldn't work there.
I dunno about anyone else, but despite the fact that the Martian Chronicles was populated by characters from the late 70s and the special effects were still low-tech, I think it still does quite well today, because the story-lines, settings, and characters are all done so well. There's nothing about this miniseries that can be faulted as cheap, low-budget, unrealistic (accept maybe the atmosphere of Mars, still a big mystery), poorly played or badly acted. It's all quite good and any true fan of science fiction that hasn't seen it should see it before reaching any conclusions based upon other people's reviews.
Summary of The Martian Chronicles
From the mind of science-fiction giant Ray Bradbury springs what is perhaps his most epic vision. Capturing mankind's first venture into the colonization of another planetand its tragic first contact with another species"The Martian Chronicles" is a stunning achievement that will take you from the edge of your seat'to the stars. Earth is on the verge of extinction. To survive, mankind must find another place to live. But when three expeditions to Mars, headed by Col. John Wilder (OscarĀ(r) nominee* Rock Hudson), find suitable conditions for relocation, humans pour in bythe shipload, bringing the old evils of Earth with them! As Wilder begins to heed the lessons of the dying Martian civilization, can he save humanity from repeating its doom? *1956: Actor, GiantSimilar DVD Movies
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