This show was billed as sort of an edu-drama. It's supposed to be both educational and dramatic... and it kind of fails on both levels. This was HEAVILY promoted by NatGeo, and they were obviously hoping for a hit with this one, but it's really sort of... meh. I was hoping for more from the premier. Maybe it'll get better?
The dramatic aspect fails due to the complete lack of character development. We saw no real personality in any of the actors (mainly due to dry and predictable script writing). There was no humor or any other aspect to these people that makes you like any of them. No scenes with their families... no joking around... no nicknames... no relationships between any of them... just two-dimensional cardboard cutout characters.
So the acting and writing weren't great... but my hopes were more focused on the science anyways. And the scientific aspect to this show makes you hope and pray that NASA and other space agencies have better plans than the sort of "hail Mary" cluster**** depicted in this show.
Final note... I'm still not even clear what these people are supposed to be doing on Mars. This whole show tries to impart how epic this mission is... but they haven't actually told us what the mission is. Are they there to stay? Do they think they will colonize Mars by mating 3 pairs of disinterested humans? Is there a return plan? More people coming?
The dramatic aspect fails due to the complete lack of character development. We saw no real personality in any of the actors (mainly due to dry and predictable script writing). There was no humor or any other aspect to these people that makes you like any of them. No scenes with their families... no joking around... no nicknames... no relationships between any of them... just two-dimensional cardboard cutout characters.
So the acting and writing weren't great... but my hopes were more focused on the science anyways. And the scientific aspect to this show makes you hope and pray that NASA and other space agencies have better plans than the sort of "hail Mary" cluster**** depicted in this show.
- One would hope there would be a viable habitat waiting... and that they wouldn't have to manually land a gigantic living module when they got there.
- One might also hope that they would ORBIT Mars for a while, work out any kinks, and verify all the systems before attempting their descent. Apparently this mission was planned as a single-shot dartboard style attempt (and they better hit the bullseye on the first shot or the whole thing is screwed). The scene with a guy rushing down into the bowels of the ship to make repairs while it plummeted into Mars' atmosphere was quite ridiculous.
- One would hope nobody would design the living quarters as a tall, upright rocket that would precariously balance on 3 spindly legs. If one of them sunk into softer sand, the whole thing would topple over. Heck... a good gust of Martian wind might spell doom for everyone.
- As others have mentioned, this is supposed to take place in 2033, and be the height of mankind's future technological endeavors. I would hope to see something new... some really cool computers or some other gadgets we haven't invented yet. I saw none of that. It's all pretty much shown as existing tech. Apparently we're not making any tech leaps in the next 17 years... depressing.
Final note... I'm still not even clear what these people are supposed to be doing on Mars. This whole show tries to impart how epic this mission is... but they haven't actually told us what the mission is. Are they there to stay? Do they think they will colonize Mars by mating 3 pairs of disinterested humans? Is there a return plan? More people coming?