7.1 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
From executive producers Brian Grazer & Ron Howard, MARS is an epic series following a thrilling quest - in 2033 - to colonize Mars. In a unique blend of scripted drama and feature-film caliber visual effects, intercut with documentary sequences, the series presents what the greatest minds in space exploration are doing to make traveling to Mars a reality, and shows us the world they seek.
Starring: Jihae, Alberto Ammann, Clémentine Poidatz, Anamaria Marinca, Sammi RotibiDocumentary | 100% |
Sci-Fi | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Adventure | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
Spanish: Dolby Digital 2.0
French: DTS 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
German: DTS 5.1
BDInfo
English SDH, French, German, Spanish, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish
Blu-ray Disc
Three-disc set (3 BDs)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
The Martian seems to have made the once Angry Red Planet seemingly a little less threatening, which is actually kind of ironic when one considers the travails astronaut Mark Whitney experienced in trying to survive in a notoriously hostile environment. Earth’s “relationship” with Mars has been one of intrigue from the get go, no doubt fostered by the fact that Mars is our “closest” planetary neighbor, but of course writers in various media have long portrayed the rust colored orb as housing aliens who may not have our best interests at heart. H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds is probably the best remembered of these efforts, but all sorts of science fiction films have portrayed Mars as even less hospitable than Whitney found it to be in the acclaimed book and film. There’s little doubt that The Martian sparked the National Geographic miniseries Mars, a kind of uneasy hybrid of traditional NatGeo informational science courtesy of a glut of talking heads and “real life” video and a fictionalized element that follows the story of Man’s first attempt to colonize the planet circa 2033. While the overall feel of Mars is therefore kind of unavoidably heterogeneous, as with many other “scripted” documentaries, there’s certainly fascinating information to be had here, but some may wonder why it had to be presented in such a ping ponging way, with current day events like the exploits of Space X playing out in contrast to the sometimes kind of florid dramatics of the fictionalized tale of the Daedelus some sixteen years in the future.
Mars is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of National Geographic and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. The bulk of this presentation, whether the "futuristic" elements set in 2033 and following years, or the current day interview segments, look nicely sharp and well detailed. The fictional elements are often graded in the slightly brown-red color that was also part and parcel of The Martian, but detail levels routinely remain rather high throughout. As might be expected, some of the CGI, both in terms of animated explanations and especially in terms of some of the backgrounds in the fictional elements, can look slightly soft. The miniseries also has its fair share of archival video that is understandably in various states, with some older pieces looking fairly raggedy when compared to the modern day elements.
Mars features an at least occasionally nicely immersive DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix that receives some energy courtesy of well placed isolated effects during many of the Mars set sequences. Expected elements like blast offs also provide occasional bursts of LFE. Otherwise, though, this tends to be at least somewhat tamped down, especially with regard to the current day interview segments, which obviously don't provide the same opportunities for fantastic surround activity. One way or the other, though, fidelity is fine throughout the presentation and other than some slight boxiness in some of the archival audio, no real issues of any kind to report.
A year before that aforementioned Moon Landing 2001: A Space Odyssey opened in 1968 to the delight and/or consternation of audiences, but one thing everyone shared is how far away 2001 seemed in 1968. That was a 33 year difference (for those of you not excellent in "instant math"), while the difference between 2016 (when a lot of the current day information on Mars is presented) and 2033 (the fictional elements) is obviously only 17, which means there's not really that much time until all of the predictions shown in the miniseries will either come to pass or seem like quaint vestiges of someone's over amped imagination. While Mars has excellent information galore, I continually wondered just how necessary the fictional elements in this piece really were. Taken as a whole, though, this release offers excellent technical merits and some appealing supplements. Recommended.
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