War of the Worlds: Goliath (2012)

A one-sheet poster.

"It’s like all colorful and fun holidays rolled into one!"

I love this movie. War of the Worlds: Goliath is a positively delightful and startlingly clever animated film. Incredibly skillfully done and rendered perfectly in 3D, it’s like all colorful and fun holidays rolled into one. It calls itself a steampunk adventure, and that is perfectly true. In every way the animation is up for the job. The 3D pops. The titles are wonderful, with sepia-tone images showing different eras—both terrestrial and Martian—appearing and dissolving, all to the lovely strains of  “Forever Autumn” in homage to Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of The War of the Worlds.

In fact War of the Worlds: Goliath is a perfect movie, making it one of the four Mars movies that are, in my view, perfect, in the same league as George Pal's The War of the Worlds (1953), Nigel Kneal's Five Million Years to Earth (UK title: Quatermass and the Pit), and The History Channel-Canada's The Great Martian War: 1913-1917.

 

 

 

Correction: Before I get into the story, I need to make this very important correction. In my book on page 192, I say, "If it wasn’t for the lame IRS subplot (thankfully brief), this would be a perfect movie."   This is in reference to a subplot about an Irish member of the team pictured in the poster above who has a brother with only one aspiration—to kill Englishmen, despite the Martians pounding and destroying all in their path. Initially I was troubled by this because I couldn't envision the IRA's priorities not shifting away from killing the English the very instant the Martians' heat rays started horribly disintegrating everything and everybody, clearly threatening our entire planet. However, due to a chance remark by my wife, and the resultant research, I've learned that during our real First World War (as opposed to the version that was about to break out in the movie and that was side-tracked by the Martian attack), when Germans were in fact mowing down English and French alike by the millions–quite literally—with their advanced machine guns and poison gas, the Irish Volunteers (from which the IRA later grew) took advantage of the distraction to kill and bomb and terrorize the English, creating a second front within the British Isles. My published remark was unfortunate because, had I realized that in this case that facts belie common sense, in my eyes this would have been then as it is now a perfect, completely satisfying movie on every possible level. Bravo, Mr. Pearson!  That said, here are some high-points of the story:

 

The conceit:  In 1898–99, as everyone knows, the Martians attacked earth and were defeated, and, of course, all their machines and other technology were left behind, which terrestrial engineers reverse engineered to remake the Earth’s future. However, there is always the fear that the Martians will return. In that event, earth’s nations have built an army of tripod war machines and huge zeppelins—A.R.E.S. (Allied Resistance Earth Squadron). Yet despite this universal dread, the nations of Europe are politically boiling over and World War I is about to begin. The A.R.E.S. international army is in the process of disbanding so that its individual soldiers can return to fight for their home nations.

 

The face of a Martian war machine.

But just then, the Martians do in fact arrive with super-souped-up war machines, A.R.E.S. stays together, and the machines royally battle it out. The earth’s greatest war machine, the Goliath, is put to the test. Fortunately, on the side of A.R.E.S. are Secretary of War Theodore Roosevelt, Professor Nikola Tesla, and a diverse crew of hero soldiers.

You know my opinion; now here are a couple of other perspectives (that are extracted from my book Mars in the Movies: A History by Thomas Kent Miller).

Enthusiast.

“From an animation and production standpoint, War of the Worlds: Goliath is a treasure trove, and very clearly a labor of love for the creators ... amazing, with the style best described as anime-inspired dieselpunk.”

—Sean Korsgaard on alternatehistoryweeklyupdate.blogspot.com

A glimpse of a Martian war machine.

 
Naysayer.

“[J]ust a few cereal commercials shy of a pointlessly cartoon marathon—violent, messily drawn and lifelessly dragging.”

—Martin Tsai in the Los Angeles Times  

(See the whole unnerving review here: http://articles.latimes.com/2014/mar/06/entertainment/la-et-mn-war-of-worlds-goliath-review-20140307

Martin  Tsai saw the same movie that Sean Korsgaard (just above) and I saw; how is it possible that Mr. Tsai could not recognize a true labor of love? How is it that he could actually go out of his way to diminish someone else's hard creative work?  I just don't get it.

War of the Worlds: Goliath (2012)

Malaysia, Japan, USA. Anderson Digital. Tripod Entertainment, Finas, MSC, Mavcap, Barking Cow Media Group. Animated. C. 1.77:1. 85m.

CREW: Director Joe Pearson. Script David Abramowitz. Story Joe Pearson. Producers David Abramowitz, Mike Bloemendal, Joe Pearson, Leon Tan. Executive Producer Kevin Eastman. Score Luka Kuncevic. Animation Director Young Hwan Sang. Editor Toby Risk.

CAST: Adrian Paul, Adam Baldwin, Mark Sheppard, Peter Wingfield, Elizabeth Gracen, Jim Byrnes, Beau Billingslea, Joey D’Auria, Kim Buckingham.

Formal Notice: All images, quotations, and video/audio clips used in this blog and in its individual posts are used either with permissions from the copyright holders or through exercise of the doctrine of Fair Use as described in U.S. copyright law, or are in the public domain. If any true copyright holder (whether person[s] or organization) wishes an image or quotation or clip to be removed from this blog and/or its individual posts, please send a note with a clear request and explanation to eely84232@mypacks.net and your request will be gladly complied with as quickly as practical.

https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/mars-in-the-movies/

https://www.amazon.com/Mars-Movies-Thomas-Kent-Miller/dp/0786499141

Man in Space on Disney+ now!!

Wonderful news!

All three of the inspirational Disney TV documentaries MAN IN SPACE are available now on DISNEY+

 “Mars and Beyond” (December 4, 1957 Disneyland Episode) Part 3

“Mars and Beyond—Man and the Moon” (December 28, 1955,Disneyland Episode) Part 2

 “Mars and Beyond—Man in Space” (March 9, 1955, Disneyland Episode) Part 1

The Children of "The Martian" (A continuation of Chapter Nine in the book)

As I indicated in the book Mars in the Movies, 2015’s straight-to-video Martian Land was produced and marketed by The Asylum production company as a The Martian wannabe. Whether you call it a knockoff or a clone or a masterpiece, it wouldn’t exist if early interest in Ridley Scott’s The Martian hadn’t shown that there was still plenty more ore (dollars) to be mined from The Martian’s veins. I also noted that some older quasi-amateur and hyper-low-budget Mars projects long consigned to memory have returned from the dead to see the light of a new day (mostly on streaming sites).

Included in the book Chapter Nine

Included in the book Chapter Nine

.The film trade has a very long history of this sort of thing. Indeed, in the context of the book and this blog, remember that 1950’s Rocketship X-M and 1951’s Flight to Mars were clear and unrepentant knockoffs of 1950’s Destination Moon. Then the 1953 re-release of the classic giant monster movie King Kong inspired into existence Ray Harryhausen’s giant monster movie The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, which in turn inspired the giant ant movie THEM!, which provided the impetus for at least a dozen giant insect movies and any number of other giant creature movies.

Back in mid-2016, as my book was preparing to go to press, I became aware of four new Mars-related media projects pictured here available for viewing right then. Three of these projects I had in fact been able to view at the last minute, so in the spirit of keeping the book as up-to-date as possible, I included all of these films in a new chapter, "Chapter Nine: The Children of The Martian." 

Included in the book Chapter Nine

Included in the book Chapter Nine

Now it is early April 2021 and in these five years, I've found 46 more completed post-The Martian productions for theatrical release and TV (see graphic poster collage). The existence of all 46 of these films and programs is a direct consequence of The Martian's financial success. If you add the four other brand new ones that I was able to squeeze into the book at the last minute, that's 60 completed productions. Plus there are eight or ten announcements of projects that may or may not see the light of day.  Realistically, this compilation of titles and posters is a work in progress, as there doesn't seem to be an end in sight!  Which is a good thing, no doubt.

 

 

Still, here is an amazing thing! My book MARS IN THE MOVIES: A HISTORY covers Mars film and video productions for various media from 1910 to 2016. It so happens, that the number of those films equals about 100. (I say "about" because a few are a little fuzzy around the edges and it's difficult to pinpoint exactly what they are.) Well, do the math.  One hundred Mars movies in 106 years, followed by 60 in only seven years.

Speaking of "fuzzy" around the edges, check back at some point and you'll find I added a list of the movie titles that correspond to the posters above, because the resolution of the images, frankly, ranges from poor to just OK.

Therefore, to make an important point about how this snowball keeps getting bigger and bigger, I will include here posters of the wannabes, clones, and knock-offs that have been born since The Martian opened (actually even BEFORE because some of the projects were begun before the release of The Martian in anticipation of its success).

In the meantime, thumbnails and trailers are happily available at The Mars Society—San Diego's film site, "The Mars Movie Guide," which is curated by Mars Society of San Diego's Gerry Williams:  https://marsmovieguide.com/

Formal Notice: All images, quotations, and video/audio clips used in this blog and in its individual posts are used either with permissions from the copyright holders or through exercise of the doctrine of Fair Use as described in U.S. copyright law, or are in the public domain. If any true copyright holder (whether person[s] or organization) wishes an image or quotation or clip to be removed from this blog and/or its individual posts, please send a note with a clear request and explanation to eely84232@mypacks.net and your request will be gladly complied with as quickly as practical.

Complete Table of Contents of the BOOK—Mars in the Movies

I began this film blog in 2016 to supplement my book of the same title. As thorough as the book was, there still was a lot more I wanted to say about Mars movies, plus this blog gave me a chance to share some special color posters and other graphics and even videos. To date, only about one-quarter to one-third of the film titles below have been augmented and converted into blog posts. It is natural that I started the blog with my personal favorites—while being well aware that tastes differ and that there are people whose tastes are diametrically opposed to mine.

If anybody who reads this Contents blog post would like me to publish an essay here on any particular movie in the list below, leave me a comment, and I will get to it as fast as I am able.

NOTE: Titles already included in the blog are colored GREEN.

Table of Contents of the BOOK—
Mars in the Movies: A History

Acknowledgments vi

Foreword: “Enigmatic Mars, Take Me Home!” by Michael Stein 1

Preface 3

The Concept of This Book and Its Organization 8

Chapter One—The State of Mars Cinema Before 1950

Introduction  17

The Silent Era—

A Trip to Mars (1910)  18

A Message from Mars (1913)  19

Himmelskibet/A Trip to Mars (1918)  20

A Message from Mars (1921)  21

M.A.R.S. (1922)  22

Aelita—The Queen of Mars (1924)  22

The One Talkie—

Just Imagine (1930)  24

In a Class by Itself: A Radio Broadcast to End All Radio Broadcasts—

Orson Welles’ CBS Mercury Theater on the Air ­Radio-Play Adaption of H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds (1938)  26

The Serials—

Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars (Mars Attacks the World) (1938)  28

The Purple Monster Strikes (D–Day on Mars) (1945)  32

Flying Disc Man from Mars (Missile Monsters) (1950)  33

Zombies of the Stratosphere (Satan’s Satellites) (1952)  34

 .
Chapter Two—The Head of Zeus: Destination Moon (1950) 36

Chapter Three—Voyages to Mars

Introduction  45

Rocketship ­X-M (1950)  46

Flight to Mars (1951)  51

Jack Rabin (1914–1987) and Irving Block (1910–1986)  58

Conquest of Space (1955)  59

George Pal (1908–1980) by Gail Morgan Hickman  70

“Mars and Beyond” (December 4, 1957, Disneyland Episode)  71

The Angry Red Planet (1959)  76

Ib Melchior (1917–2015)  81

Battle Beyond the Sun (1963)  82

Mechte Navstrechu (1963)  83

Robinson Crusoe on Mars (196

Nathan Van Cleave (1910–1970) by Dirk Wickenden  89

Byron Haskin (1899–1984)  91

The Wizard of Mars (aka Horrors of the Red Planet) (1964)  93

The X from Outer Space (1967)  96

Mission Mars (1968)  96

The Astronaut (1972 TV Movie)  98

Capricorn One (1978)  99

The Martian Chronicles (1980 TV Miniseries)  101

Escape from Mars (1999 TV Movie)  103

Mission to Mars (2000)  105

Red Planet (2000)  108

Stranded (2001 TV Movie)  111

Crimson Force (2005 TV Movie)  113

Race to Mars (2007 TV Miniseries)  114

John Carter (2012)  117

The Last Days on Mars (2013)  120

Last Sunrise (2014 ­Straight-to-Video)  123

The Martian (2015)  125

Chapter Four—Invasions from Mars

Introduction  131

Haredevil Hare (1948)  131

The Thing from Another World (1951)  134

Red Planet Mars (1952)  137

Invaders from Mars (1953)  139

The War of the Worlds (1953)  145

Duck Dodgers in the 241/2 Century (1953)  153

Devil Girl from Mars (1954)  153

It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958)  158

The Day Mars Invaded Earth (1963)  161

Queen of Blood (1966)  162

War of the Planets (1966)  165

Mars Needs Women (1967 TV Movie)  167

Five Million Years to Earth (aka Quatermass and the Pit) (1967)  168

Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of The War of the Worlds (1978 Rock Opera LP)  174

Star Crystal (1986)  177

Invaders from Mars (1986)  179

Sandkings (1995 ­Feature-Length TV Episode)  181

Mars Attacks! (1996)  183

Species II (1998)  186

Close Encounters of the 4th Kind: Infestation from Mars (2004 ­Straight-to-Video)  188

Destination Mars (2006 Straight-to-Video)  189

War of the Worlds: Goliath (2012)  190

The Great Martian War 1913–1917 (2013 TV Movie)  192

Chapter Five—Still More “Wars of the Worlds”

Introduction  196

War of the Worlds (TV series, two seasons 1988–1990)  196

H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds (2005 ­Straight-to-Video)  198

H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds (2005 ­Straight-to-Video)  200
War of the Worlds (2005)

War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave (2008 ­Straight-to-Video)  204

Alien Dawn (2012 ­Straight-to-Video)  204

Chapter Six—Inhabited Mars

Introduction  207

Total Recall (1990)  208

Mars (1997 Straight-to-Video)  209

John Carpenter’s Ghosts of Mars (2001)  211

DOOM (2005)  212

Princess of Mars (aka John Carter of Mars) (2009 ­Straight-to-Video)  213

Red Faction: Origins (2011 TV Movie)  214

Martian Land (2015 ­Straight-to-Video)  215

Chapter Seven—Invasion of the Slapstick Comedies

Introduction  218

Abbott and Costello Go to Mars (1953)  219

The Three Stooges in Orbit (1962)  220

Pajama Party (1964)  221

Martians Go Home (1989)  222

Spaced Invaders (1990)  222

Rocketman (1997)  223

My Favorite Martian (1999)  223

Chapter Eight—Homages, Parodies, Satires, ­Send-Ups and Spoofs

Introduction  225

Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964)  225

Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster (aka Mars Invades Puerto Rico) (1965)  226

The Alpha Incident (1978)  227

Attack from Mars (aka Midnight Movie Massacre) (1988)  227

Lobster Man from Mars (1989)  228

Lost on Mars (2002 ­Straight-to-Video); Empire of Danger (2004 ­Straight-to-Video)  229

Scary Movie 4 (2006)  230

Interplanetary (2008 ­Straight-to-Video)  230

Cave Women on Mars (2008 Straight-to-Video)  231

Christmas on Mars (2008); A Fantastical Film Freakout Featuring the Flaming Lips  231

Mars (2010)  232

Chapter Nine—The Children of The Martian

Introduction  234

Citizen Mars (2015 Web TV series)  237

Tom Sachs Presents: A Space Program (2016 art film)  238

Approaching the Unknown (2016)  239

Passage to Mars (2016)  240

The Space Between Us (December 2016)  241

Mars (Cable Channel Miniseries November 2016)  242

Appendix A: Animated Mars 243

Appendix B: Mars Episodes in Television Anthology Series (1951–1998) 246

Appendix C: Mars in the Movies Chronologically by Decade 249

Afterword 253

Bibliography 255

Index 261

Formal Notice: All images, quotations, and video/audio clips used in this blog and in its individual posts are used either with permissions from the copyright holders or through exercise of the doctrine of Fair Use as described in U.S. copyright law, or are in the public domain. If any true copyright holder (whether person[s] or organization) wishes an image or quotation or clip to be removed from this blog and/or its individual posts, please send a note with a clear request and explanation to eely84232@mypacks.net and your request will be gladly complied with as quickly as practical.

DOOM (2005)

Above is a most interesting happening. The top image is from the Internet. There were a few other equivalent images, but the top one was the best. The lower image, however, puts a different spin on all this. The bottom image is a screenshot made as I played DOOM well-calibrated on my iMac.  The difference is startling.  I like them both, though.  TKM

[NOTE:  Though my book, MARS IN THE MOVIES: A HISTORY, covered about 100 Mars film and video productions, you would not be surprised to learn that I liked some Mars movies better than others. When writing the posts for this blog, naturally I focused on my favorites—the 30 or 40 before this post on DOOM (see Table of Contents or Archive). Of course, that means that many subsequent posts will discuss films that are less well-regarded, beginning with DOOM.] 
.
The first few moments of DOOM are the best it has to offer. These moments constitute the Universal Pictures logo that you’ve seen thousands of times. Typically, the word “Universal” enters the screen from the right and begins to encircle what the camera pulling back reveals to be the planet earth. When all is said and done, the “Universal” encompasses the equator of the planet, and then this logo fades into whatever is next. The logo for DOOM is exactly the same, except that it is not the planet earth that is revealed; it is the planet Mars. How cool is that? When I saw what was happening, I literally jumped out of my seat squealing with joy.

Unfortunately, nothing that follows is 1/100th as interesting.
.

Summary. When communications from the Olduvai research lab on Mars inexpli- cably ceases, the Rapid Response Tactical Squad arrives, unclear what to expect but finding hordes of demons from Hell. The task is to destroy the monsters before they find a way to earth.
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Furthermore, this is only a Mars movie by a technicality. Except for a few establishing shots zooming into the exterior of the lab facility, there is nothing especially “Mars-y” about this movie. There seems to be a lot of that going around: Much the same thing can be said about Watchmen, Martian Successor Nadesico—The Motion Picture: Prince of Darkness, and Mr. Nobody. The Mars aspects of these movies are too slight to gain them entrance into the pantheon of real Mars movies. I’m letting DOOM in on the strength of its Universal logo being a masterstroke.

DOOM, like Resident Evil, Wing Commander, and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, is an action movie based on a popular and influential video game. In this case DOOM the game (1993) has the distinction of being universally considered the seminal, perhaps the first, first-person shooter game.

I wouldn’t let my son play with any first person shooter games in our home. Doubtless, when he was at his friends’ homes, he was able to conveniently forget our family’s rules.
There have been volumes of talk about whether or not these sorts of games influence the level of violence in the U.S.  I have my own opinion, but, in the long-run, the jury is out and likely to remain so for decades.

But this is not a commentary on the game. It’s about the movie that was released in 2005. I cannot speak to how true the movie is to the game, but I am happy to say that the first-person-shooter element is reduced to a mere nod at the very end.

Above I mentioned that DOOM is based on a video game and offered a few examples. However, Doom is not in the same league as those. The difference is that those films—Resident Evil, Wing Commander, and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider—were colorful, well-crafted, lovingly stylized, and fun. DOOM, though, has nothing to redeem itself, aside from the already-mentioned classically new take on the Universal logo at the start.

DOOM (2005)

USA, UK, Czech Republic, Germany. Universal Pictures, John Wells Productions, Di Bonaven- tura Pictures, Doom Productions, Stillking Films, BPS Babelsberg Production Services, Reaper Productions, Distant Planet Productions. C. 2.35:1. 105m.

CREW: Director Andrzej Bartkowiak. Script David Callaham and Wesley Strick. Story David Callaham. Based on the Video Game DOOM by id Software. Producers Lorenzo di Bonaventura, John Wells. Score Clint Mansell. Director of Photography Tony Pierce-Roberts. Production Designer Stephen Scott. Editor Derek G. Brechin. Casting Jina Jay. Special Effects Stan Winston Studio, Effects Specials DDT. Special Visual Effects Double Negative, Framestore CFC, Flash FX, AVC Productions, Cine Image Film Opticals, Thousand Monkeys.

CAST: Sarge The Rock (Dwayne Johnson). John Grimm Karl Urban. Destroyer DeObia Oparei. Samantha Grimm Rosamund Pike. Duke Raz Adoti. Portman Richard Brake. The Kid Al Weaver. Pinky Dexter Fletcher. Hell Knight Brian Steele. Goat Ben Daniels.

Formal Notice: All images, quotations, and video/audio clips used in this blog and in its individual posts are used either with permissions from the copyright holders or through exercise of the doctrine of Fair Use as described in U.S. copyright law, or are in the public domain. If any true copyright holder (whether person[s] or organization) wishes an image or quotation or clip to be removed from this blog and/or its individual posts, please send a note with a clear request and explanation to eely84232@mypacks.net and your request will be gladly complied with as quickly as practical.

Mission to Mars (2000)

The first mission to Mars lands on the planet, and is never heard from again. A second scientific mission is launched, doubling as a rescue team. During the voyage, one of the crew sacrifices himself. They land on Mars and find that one of the astronauts from the previous mission is alive and is living in a greenhouse-like tent where he is surrounded by living plants that provide oxygen. When he is found, he, like Robinson Crusoe, is half crazy, but in time realizes that he is being rescued. The team approaches the formation called The Face on Mars (which is really a spaceship). A door of light opens and they encounter a sort of advanced planetarium where they see an asteroid collide into Mars. Then there appears a tall, thin, golden more-or-less humanoid alien with tearful huge eyes who welcomes them and then “schools” them about the origin of life on earth and the human race. Gary Sinise’s widower character chooses to remain with the alien spaceship as it takes off for “home.” The other astronauts return to their spacecraft.

The Face on Mars

When I first learned of this movie, I was excited. After all, it was being directed by Brian DePalma, an A-list director if there ever was one; it was written by Jim Thomas & John Thomas, whose two Predator films were amazing and outstanding on every level, and by Graham Yost, whose Speed and Broken Arrow were equally amazing in my view; and the score was by Ennio Morricone, one of cinema’s best and most influential film composers. What was there not to like?

Yet, Mission to Mars is simply a bad movie. In so many ways it’s insulting and proves that just the ability to make movies does not prevent movie makers from going south.  And not having a modicum of respect for science doesn't help. Here a some examples of where the story failed. In a good movie every character, every shot, and every line of dialogue is supposed to be there for a reason, to move the story forward. Anything else is extraneous. In this light, the opening party sequence is simply long and horribly boring and provides nothing to the plot except letting the audience know that astronauts have parties before they take off. Yes, during this party sequence some exposition and character motivation is provided that is intended to help orient the audience, but couching this material within this particular boring party doesn’t work. The audience has come to see a space exploration movie and what they get is a backyard barbeque. The feeling of betrayal is too strong to allow for the ready absorption of trivial data that will later become apparent in any case.

Further, is the audience really supposed to believe that the characters played by Tim Robbins and Connie Nelson are in an over-the-top love relationship characterized by the utterly juvenile saccharine sweet cloyingness we see on the screen—a relationship that serves no purpose in the story. Further, early on, he sacrifices his life to save her life, but that whole incident also has no purpose. In other words, those two characters could have been eliminated and the story would not be any different. It seems like so much padding to me.

Yes, the movie has some interesting designs and the Martian surface looks nice; I tend to agree with The Village Voice's critic Stephanie Zacharek’s comment: “...a half-dreamy, half-plausible effect achieved in part by cinematographer Stephen Burum’s use of light reflectors made of copper sheeting...."

Some nice Martian surfaces

Yet anything good about the movie comes to a crashing end when we encounter the alien being inside The Face on Mars. The whole ending is supposed to be meaningful, thought-provoking, and reminiscent of the ending of 2001: A Space Odyssey, but it fails on all counts.

The sad-eyed alien

And to make matters worse, Ennio Morricone, whose scores I have admired vastly for decades, provided such subtle, gentle music that, frankly, I never noticed it through a few viewings, even though I tried. It wasn’t until I focused solely on his score that I really heard it.

Via the "planetarium" and the sad-eyed alien, we are led to believe that a long time ago a big asteroid hit Mars, devastating the planet so that its entire civilization evacuated the planet in thousands of spaceships that raced off in all directions, and that one of these spaceships came to earth and “seeded” it with the most basic protozoan life forms, and that all life on earth resulted from this seeding. Now let us consider this notion from both geological and biological points of view. 

The earth is about four and a half billion years old; fossils of single-celled creatures from 3.6 billion years ago have been found in Africa and Australia. Yet these oldest fossils, the oldest yet found, while single-celled are still relatively complex organisms, so it would have taken at least perhaps another half billion years for life to come into being by baby steps from nothing and then evolve into the creatures found in Africa and Australia. Thus, if that Mars seeding did occur as demonstrated in the movie, all those space ships evacuated Mars around four billion years ago. Now, remember that the sun and all the planets of the solar system were formed at roughly at the same time from coagulating cosmic gases and dust, and that seems to have been four and a half billion years ago. Mars is sufficiently like Earth that we can say with certainty that it’s basic formation and geological evolution, as well as any hypothetical morphology, would have been similar to earth’s early history. Sure, it’s been shown that Mars once had a denser atmosphere and liquid water millions of years ago, but we are discussing here matters of billions of years, not millions.

The "planetarium"

Now, taking all this into account, we are being told in Mission to Mars that at a time before any life first emerged on earth four billion years ago, give or take, apparently Mars already had an advanced civilization that could launch thousands of space ships. Are we supposed to believe that Mars life accomplished that feat in four billion fewer years than life on Earth ... that while the earth had zero life, somehow Mars life had advanced miraculously into the space age? Well, guess what—that makes no sense whatsoever.

Taking a different tact, if the aliens that launched all those spaceships billions of years ago were actually from a much older different planet indigenous to a different star system and were merely stopping over on Mars, perhaps as a sort of observation post in our solar system, then that would be a different matter entirely—but that is never stated and thus we can assume was never intended by the writers of Mission to Mars.

How could such gifted writers and filmmakers be so ignorant of basic science and come up with such illogical nonsense? This ending is ludicrous, pointless, and insulting.

Mission to Mars (2000)

USA. Touchstone Pictures (Walt Disney Productions), A Jacobson Production. C. 2.35:1. 113m 

CREW: Director Brian De Palma. Producer Tom Jacobson. Co-Producers David Goyer, Justis Greene, Jim Wedaa. Executive Producer Sam Mercer. Screenplay Jim Thomas, John Thomas, Graham Yost. Story Lowell Cannon, Jim Thomas, John Thomas. Score Ennio Morricone. Director of Photography Stephen H. Burum. Editor Paul Hirsch. Casting Denise Chamian. Production Designer Ed Verreaux. Special Visual Effects Industrial Light & Magic, Dream Quest Images, Tippett Studio, Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, The Orphanage, CIS Hollywood. Special Makeup Effects KNB EFX Group. Model Designer SpaceProps.com. Conceptual Artist Syd Mead.

CAST: Jim McConnell Gary Sinise. Woody Blake Tim Robbins. Luke Graham Don Cheadle. Terri Fisher Connie Nielsen. Phil Ohlmyer Jerry O’Connell. Maggie McConnell Kim Delaney.


Formal Notice: All images, quotations, and video/audio clips used in this blog and in its individual posts are used either with permissions from the copyright holders or through exercise of the doctrine of Fair Use as described in U.S. copyright law, or are in the public domain. If any true copyright holder (whether person[s] or organization) wishes an image or quotation or clip to be removed from this blog and/or its individual posts, please send a note with a clear request and explanation to eely84232@mypacks.net and your request will be gladly complied with as quickly as practical.

Red Planet (2000)

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Two White House invasion pictures, two asteroid hitting the earth pictures, two dueling magician pictures, two volcano pictures, two Columbus discovers America pictures, and the twin film list goes on and on. Add to this list the two Mars pictures of 2000. Releasing thematically similar mega-expensive films within a few months of one another sometimes ends sadly: case in point: Mission to Mars (budget $100 million according to boxofficemojo.com), released in March 2000, barely broke even worldwide. Red Planet (budget $80 million) released in November 2000, flopped at $33 million worldwide—even though it is a far superior Mars movie to Mission to Mars.

Red Planet has a better script, better characters, better effects, better suspense, better science. It doesn’t insult the audience by pitching worn-out, cliché ideas. Neither does it pad the movie with pointless subplots and long scenes that go nowhere. This film is about the exploration of Mars; and does it quite well. The location shooting in Jordon and Australia works marvelously, being pleasantly subtly different from the Death Valley, Utah, and Arizona locations usually used to represent Mars. AMEE the robot character is exciting and skillfully rendered. I was constantly amazed at how its limbs and torso could contort while never looking remotely digital or artificial.

Of course I have quibbles, primarily that Mars’ atmosphere—regardless of the stated reasons—would be so high in oxygen that the landing team could remove their helmets. And I could have done without the trumped up drama between Santen and Pettengil. For me this degree of intensity was mainly a distraction and not at all interesting dramatically.

One can only wonder: how Red Planet would have fared if it had been released before Touchstone’s Mission to Mars?
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The location shooting in Jordon and Australia works marvelously.

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The beginning narration by Commander Bowman is grim and totally pessimistic. She tells us that by 2050, all the earth’s resources are depleted, and the governments have teamed up to determine if Mars could be a new home for humankind. For twenty years humankind seeds the planet with algae, with the intention of creating more oxygen. For a while it worked, but suddenly the algae started dying off, and nobody knows why. A Mars mission is engineered to find out why the algae had died. A crew of six joins the Mars ship that is already in orbit around the earth. They leave orbit and we see some vignettes of life aboard the Mars ship during its six-month voyage. The mission includes a robot called AMEE (Autonomous Mapping Exploration and Evasion) that has two modes, military and exploration. The voyage is presented realistically in terms of duration, so that radio messages would be delayed about ten minutes due to the great distance between the craft and Earth.

Carrie-Anne Moss as Commander Bowman.

The six-month cruise is smooth as glass, but as soon as they attain orbit around Mars, a giant solar flare creates havoc, overloading and shorting out nearly all systems aboard the ship. Bowman orders the other five crew members to leave the ship and land on Mars while she tries to minimize the damage. During deployment, AMEE’s compartment is separated and falls to the ground. The crew’s landing craft is not the standalone craft we are used to, but instead is covered by large balloons to ease impact (which was the preferred landing method used by NASA’s small rovers). However, fate dictates that Santen, the pilot, overshoots the preferred landing spot by a great distance resulting in the balloon-covered craft

The landing craft is covered by large balloons to ease impact.

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rolling and rolling, and then plummeting over one mighty cliff after another so that their decent is horrific, far worse than was anticipated. Chantilas’ spleen is damaged as a result and there is nothing anybody can do except leave him behind. The other four’s goal is to find the supply craft that was supposed to be waiting for them some distance off. Their oxygen is limited, so it is imperative they find the ship. They locate a small disabled U.S. rover and cannibalize it for a small radio and tiny solar panel. Gallagher tries to communicate with Bowman, but knows it is unlikely since the frequency the radio uses hasn’t been used for fifty years.

Exiting the spacecraft.

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Classically pragmatic, the command center slowly but surely comes up with methods to get the Mars craft operational again. The landing team is able to navigate well enough, only to find the supply craft completely destroyed. Morose, they try to make themselves comfortable for the end that is only about an hour away. Santen wanders over to the edge of a cliff to check out the awesome view. Pettengil joins Santen, but Santen is obnoxious and provokes Pettengil to the point that he hits Santen—who falls off the cliff and we see him fall for a vast distance. It was clearly an accident, but for the rest of the movie, Pettengil is guilt-ridden and deeply troubled. He tells the other team members that Santen committed suicide, jumping off the cliff ’s edge.

They all have mere minutes of oxygen remaining; mere minutes before they all die. Gallagher’s is the first and he chokes and suffers so greatly that he opens his helmet—only to discover that the Martian air is breathable. They all doff their helmets, agreeing that their salvation is a mystery. Meanwhile, Bowman has lost the landing party and Control considers them as “end mission” since everything has gone wrong for them. Soon Control notifies Bowman that a radio telescope has picked up Gallagher’s message. Also meanwhile, Gallagher has lost patience with the radio and is about to throw it away when it squawks and he hears Bowman’s voice. Soon it is decided that an old Russian craft, which is a few hundred km away, could be jury-rigged to send them up to orbit for Bowman to scoop up. 

AMEE has found the crew but is working in military mode (rather than exploration mode) and tries to kill them one by one. She pounces on Burchenal, the biologist, breaking a rib, then dashes off. Now burdened with an injured man, they keep on toward the Rus- sian craft. A storm as large as Montana is headed their way. They dig a hole in the snow for shelter. Gallagher says that the Russian craft can only hold two people.

AMEE in military mode.

When Gallagher and Burchenal awaken, they discover that Pettengil has stolen the radio and is running for the Russian craft because he fears he will be left behind. Gallagher and Burchenal catch up with him and find that he has been mutilated and killed. Burchenal tears the radio out of Pettengil’s dead hand and they continue on. Shortly afterwards they encounter a large patch of algae—and also the reason it has been disappearing. The algae is being eaten by an insect like creature that emits oxygen as a waste product, more and faster than algae alone. Burchenal, the biologist is fascinated to find what is likely indigenous life on Mars and puts a few of the bugs into a sample tube, but his injury begins to bleed causing the insects to swarm all over him. Knowing he is about to be eaten alive, he throws the tube to Gallagher and uses a flare to blow himself up.

Gallagher, prodded by Bowman, eventually finds the Russian probe, and Bowman talks him through the steps to make it work. AMEE makes an appearance and threatens Gallagher, then leaves. Just as Gallagher has readied his bus for transport, its battery power fades. Gallagher remembers that AMEE is powered with an atomic battery. He tricks AMEE, grabs her battery, gets into the rock return drawer, ignites the engines with AMEE’s battery, and shoots into orbit a few kilometers from the Mars ship. Bowman launches herself from the launch bay, pulls Gallagher out of the Russian craft, gets him back into the ship, and we learn that a romance had been kindled in the two.

 

Red Planet (2000)

USA. Warner Bros. Pictures, Village Roadshow Pictures, NPV Entertainment. C. 2.35:1. 107m

CREW: Director Antony Hoffman. Story Chuck Pfarrer. Script Chuck Pfarrer, Jonathan Lemkin. Story Chuck Pfarrer. Producers Bruce Berman, Mark Canton, Jorge Saralegui. Executive Producers Andrew Mason, Charles J.D. Schlissel. Score Graeme Revell. Director of Photography Peter Suschitzky. Production Designer Owen Paterson. Editors Robert K. Lambert, Dallas S. Puett. Casting Lora Kennedy. Special Visual Effects Cinesite, Digital Domain, Rhythm & Hues, Rising Sun Pictures, Flash Film Works, Digital Filmworks, Pixel Magic, Hammerhead Productions, Illusion Arts, Metro- light Studios, Grant McCune Design.
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CAST: Gallagher Val Kilmer. Bowman Carrie-Anne Moss. Burchenal Tom Sizemore. Santen Benjamin Bratt. Pettengil Simon Baker. Chantilas Terence Stamp.

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