MARS has always inspired and stimulated our collective imagination. The mysterious planet of our solar system, it is an indelible part of the zeitgeist driving a quest to send humans there.
The red planet has also infiltrated pop culture, from the recent Hollywood blockbuster, The Martian, to out-of this-world tweets from astronaut Scott Kelly.
The National Geographic Channel gets into the action with the global event series, titled Mars, which premieres tonight.
Set both in the future and in the present day, it aims to redefine TV storytelling by combining feature film-quality scripted drama and visual effects with best-in-class documentary sequences for a cohesive, edge-of-your-seat story of mankind’s thrilling quest to colonise Mars.
This epic six-part series tells the inspiring story from the vantage point of a fictitious crewed mission to Mars in 2033.
Produced by Imagine Entertainment and Radical Media for NGC, Academy Award - and Emmy-winning producers Brian Grazer and Ron Howard hand selected Mexican filmmaker Everardo Gout (Days Of Grace) to direct the six episodes, filmed earlier this year in Budapest and Morocco.
The scripted portion focuses on Earth’s first crewed mission to Mars aboard the spacecraft Daedalus. Its maiden voyage in 2033 is crewed by a team of six uniquely qualified astronauts.
Mars brings together all of the world’s leading minds akin to a large scale global Ted Talk with the most fascinating people on Earth. Those interviewed on camera for the series include Neil deGrasse Tyson (director of the Hayden Planetarium), James Lovell (former Nasa astronaut and Apollo 13 Commander), Elon Musk (CEO of SpaceX), Jennifer Trosper (Mars 2020 mission manager at JPL) and Robert Zubrin (president of the Mars Society).
Mars is an unprecedented cross platform effort, which features a digital companion prequel series.
Viewers can check out an extensive digital virtual reality experience at www.MakeMarsHome.com.
Mars is the November cover story of National Geographic magazine and is featured in a stand-alone National Geographic book, Mars: Our Future On The Red Planet.
Lucien Harrington, SVP of Marketing & Communications for the Fox Networks Group in Asia, said: “Mars is a first-of-its kind programme for the National Geographic Channel in that it fuses fact with fiction, based on scientific data and predictions.”
For an even more immersive experience, National Geographic in partnership with Samsung will allow people to Experience Mars in four countries including Malaysia.
Meanwhile, Petrosains: The Discovery Centre (KLCC, Petronas Twin Towers) is hosting a free, public Mars exhibition, which allows visitors to simulate a landing on Mars via Virtual Reality (VR) and try a VR Martian surface walk in 38 per cent gravity via an anti-gravity treadmill. The event runs till Dec 31.
Details at www.mars.natgeotv.com
Mars airs Sundays at 10pm on the National Geographic Channel (Astro Channel 553 & HD 573), beginning tonight