When it received a dvd release in 2010 , SFX magazine gave it a five star review, and called it
' awesome genre tv, far surpassing any nostalgic memories you may have of it. "
For me, this perfectly encapsulates how I feel about the show. I was enthralled by it as a kid and then again as an adult.
Like a fine Martian wine, it has aged very well. It' s both of its time and timeless.
I've got to admit up front - this show blew my mind when it was first screend on BBC1 in the summer of 1980. Certain parts were very disturbing and downright frightening to my 10 year old self.
It even secured a coveted RADIO TIMES cover story :
If memory serves, the show was repeated on BBC2 in the mid-80s in the 6pm ' cult tv ' slot. I do recall watching it again but maybe I was less impressed second time around.
And then for years , the show receded to a dim memory.
Until the dvd release I mentioned before.
It was a revelation to say the least. I was stunned by the show's outstanding quality which still holds up to this day . All the more remarkable when you consider that shows like BUCK ROGERS were the norm for sf tv at that time.
THE BRADBURY CONTROVERSY
Here is the author of the original book, Ray Bradbury :
and here is the cover of my copy :
He looks a jovial sort but sadly , his ego seemed to get the better of him and he ended up hating the tv adaptation almost as much as Stephen King hated the movie version of THE SHINING.
Bradbury was already dissing the show before it was even broadcast, calling it dull and boring. He would subsequently dump on both the show and the late Michael Anderson whenever the opportunity arose.
Here are the opening credits of the show :
But it might as well have been called ' Michael Anderson's The Martian Chronicles ' or ' Rock Hudson's The Martian Chronicles ' since they are the people who actually made the show.
Bradbury continual disdain for the show began to seem petty and mean sprirted.
Just beacuase he wasn't allowed to write the script ?
That's just sour grapes and most regrettable.
But now back to the show itself.
THE ANDERSON TOUCH.
From the first haunting notes of Stanley Myer's score, you could tell that THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES was going to be something special. And it represents Anderson's best work in the Sf genre. At times , his direction is incredibly subtle such as the moment when the camera slowly pans across from Sam Parkhill to reveal a masked martian.
Or the slow reveal of the martian christ figure :
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All genuinely spooky and memorable scenes.
At times , the show can seem mundane especially in the scenes back on earth but that only makes the martian scenes even stranger.
The martians themselves are well realised even if at times they resemble refugees from STAR TREK....i.e. big heads and googly eyes :
DIDNT I SEE THIS BEFORE ?
The show is not perfect by any means and at times seems derivative of other sf shows. For example, this scene could have been lifted from an episode of STAR TREK ;
Yes the old superior, disembodied aliens with booming voices cliché.
And I seem to recall a scene like this appearing in an episode of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA :
Having said this , THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES is very much its own show with its own unique and distinctive feel.
THE APPLIANCE OF SCIENCE
Much has been made of the show's lack of scientific logic and there's some truth to that.
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For one thing, how can anyone breathe on Mars without a helmet ? And why do the priests arrive there in monk's robes instead of spacesuits ? Maybe they changed before getting off their phallic looking ship ?
And how is Rock Hudson able to return to Earth after it was destroyed in a nuclear war ?
The special effects have also received much derision but they are nevertheless effective.
In this shot , we can see the spaceship in the foreground and the fake town in the background. The town later disappears leaving only the ship and the graves.
At any rate , the show is not about special effects. its about what it means to be human and martian and sometimes a bit of both.
IS THERE CHRIST ON MARS ?
Without question , the series single most powerful scene is Father Peregrine's encounter with the Martian Christ.
Even as a kid, I was familiar with the Christ image but I remember freaking out as I wondered why the hell Christ was in such a place. The acting between Fritz Weaver and Jon Finch here is astounding.
SORRY TO DROP IN UNANNOUNCED
The martian mask design is very unsettling, especially in this scene :
This scared the crap out of me first time around and still unsettles me now !
Even though Darren MacGavin resembles Evel Knievel on an off day.
There is also something really eerie about the first appearance of the martian sandship on the horizon. Although the effects look laughable now, this really scared me at the time.
THIRD TIMES THE CHARM ?
Its arguable that part 3 is almost an uneccessary epilogue to the more interesting stuff in parts 1-2 but there are still some fairly powerful scenes.
Hudson's reaction to witnessing his brother's death is devastating and his meeting with the martian ghost is very moving :
And the final image of Wilder and his family looking down at their reflection in the martian canal brings the story to a perfect close.
It could also be argued that the mini -series is simply a lot of twilight zone-ish vignettes all strung together but this would be a unfair assessment. Richard Matheson took Bradbury' s book and fashioned a coherent and literate story that still rewards repeat viewings.
I salute the talent of all those who worked on this show, still the finest single piece of televisual sci-fi ever made.
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