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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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