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MOVIE
REVIEW – MISSION TO MARS
Rating: PG
Year of release: 2000
Time Length: 113 minutes
Cast: Jim McConnell, Gary Sinise; Woody Blake, Tim Robbins; Luke Graham, Don Cheadle;
Terri Fisher, Connie Nielsen; Phil Ohlmyer, Jerry O'Connell
Buzz Aldrin isn't overwhelmed by Mission to Mars.
According to entertainment weekly Variety, former astronaut Aldrin
thinks the Touchstone film, which opens March 10, will be a big hit
with UFO buffs, but warns that the film "lacks a little reality
at times."
"I'm afraid there's a few things in this movie that couldn't
quite happen," Aldrin told Variety at the movie's gala Hollywood
premiere.
He reportedly also "rolled his eyes" at the idea of the
astronauts in the film taking their helmets off under any circumstance,
no matter how seemingly benign.
Mission to Mars: Red Planet Beckons De Palma, Story Musgrave
By Robert Peterson special to SPACE.com posted: 10:30 am ET 03 March
2000
The advance word is that accuracy rules in Disney's Mission to Mars.
The first of two Mars-themed movies coming out this year (Warner Brothers'
Red Planet opens November 10), Mission has been a NASA-friendly project
from the start.
"Many aspects of the script are based on NASA science theory
and how they would actually plan a mission," Mission producer
Tom Jacobson said.
Filmmakers signed a Space Act agreement with NASA to ensure accuracy.
According to director Brian De Palma, the space technology in the
film from spaceships and vehicles to the actual procedure to get there
is either on the drawing board or approved for development.
Astronaut approved
In other words, there's a good chance we'll use the same means to
get to Mars as the characters in the film, which opens March 10.
"We're trying to make it like NASA would," De Palma said.
Former NASA astronaut Joe Allen, who served De Palma as consultant,
said the film rated a nine out of 10 for accuracy.
"It's very close," he said. "There were some privileges
taken, but very few."
Besides many consulting duties, Allen and former astronaut Story
Musgrave helped the actors add realism to their spacewalking performance.
Brian De Palma: Making the movie NASA would make? Mission to Mars
Superbowl trailer: [large - 9MB] [medium - 6MB]
How we get there
The NASA commitment started when Jacobson came across an excerpt
from Robert Zubrin's non-fiction book The Case for Mars. Zubrin, founder
and president of the Mars Society and senior vice president of the
Space Society, was hired as consultant during script development and
Jacobson later bought the rights to the book.
"There was so much detail ... about how to go to Mars," Jacobson
said. "Once we started pre-production [work], we gave the book
to practically everyone involved in the movie. It's very inspirational."
So what's in there? Again, remember that NASA has only projected
that an actual Mars trip would incorporate this technology. Most of
the planning for a real crewed mission to the Red Planet still in
the conceptual stage.
The movie follows Zubrin's multi-stage idea for how to get there.
NASA sends an uncrewed ship to Mars. Robots from the ship then convert
the Martian atmosphere and soil into fuel for the return trip.
Finally, a second ship -- this time carrying humans -- flies to Mars
with the command module and living habitat.
Mars, the "friendly" planet?
The crewed ship in the film has a 50-foot revolving wheel, which
simulates gravity through centrifugal force. Although that technology
is years away, a much smaller (2-1/2-meter) centrifugal wheel is planned
to go up to the actual international space station when completed.
We also see the International Space Station in the film, but with
the fictitious addition of another revolving space wheel. This wheel
houses Mars Mission Control, from where all Mars missions are launched.
The level of detail goes beyond the screen. For example, the space
suits used in the film have cooling systems similar to real space
suits, while the Mars habitat in the film has a greenhouse that makes
oxygen and food.
And for Mars itself, filmmakers brought in Matt Golombek, chief scientist
on the Pathfinder mission and an expert on the Martian surface, to
make sure they got the look right.
Art directors transformed 55 acres south of Vancouver into the Red
Planet by sculpting sand dunes and covering them with a sprayable
form of concrete. Set decorators then used fire hoses to paint the
set with 120,000 gallons of environmentally-friendly red paint.
"The way I perceive it, Mars is a very friendly place to go," Musgrave
said after he first saw the Mars set. "It beckons."
Where the story lies…
But despite its accuracy, advance buzz on the film has been mixed.
One independent reviewer said De Palma "would be hard-pressed
to top himself after this one," and that the film even surpassed
Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind in its treatment of
standard science fiction concepts.
But other Internet voices have criticized the film's "cheesy" script
and less-than-stellar special effects.
The biggest criticism is that the filmmakers have borrowed too much
from other sci-fi movies.
"Mission to Mars is pretty much a scene-for-scene rip-off of
three other movies," said an Ain't-It-Cool-News source. "Most
notably The Abyss and 2001 for obvious reasons, right down to the
soothing voice of the ship's computer and even some of the music."
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