I love science stuff. But I was never good at math. Or physics. Or chemistry. Or science for that matter. Yet I can’t get enough of it
And so the MARS series on Nat Geo has become a guilty pleasure.
MARS is a docu-drama, so it’s part documentary format – and part dramatic series. Last season was filled with the issues that it would take to get to the red planet, and now, Season 2 imagines the year 2042, and what it will be like when we inhabit Mars. When humans become the aliens.
The series press release has a great quote by the Season 2 showrunner Dee Johnson, who has worked on shows such as Nashville, Boss, and ER: “Mars is a pressure cooker – there’s a constant push-pull between science and industry, and as a result, emotions run high. Although conflicting, their agendas are not mutually exclusive; with the advancement of science and exploration also comes industry and money making.”
As far as the drama-part of the show goes, it’s standard people in space fare: people fall in love, big business clashes with science, people get sick, families struggle with separation, women get pregnant, discoveries are made…
But where the show shines is when the ‘docu-‘ part is added. Scientists explain what those issues actually mean. Why they matter. What the long-term ramifications are. When people get sick in space, we realize that there are viruses and bacteria – just like SARS, ZIKA, Cholera and a wealth of other health crises. When business clashes with science, we suddenly have new issues such as oil drilling in the Barents Sea destroying wildlife. When secret mining deals are struck, it parallels the current issues in the Arctic Circle, wherepreserving fragile ecosystems collides with our demand for fossil fuels.
MARS showcases an amazing list of expert voices, that NatGeo refers to as ‘Big Thinkers’ including people like Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO; Andy Weir, author of The Martian; Michio Kaku, physicist
Looking at space through the lens of the far regions of the earth gives a whole new understanding of the final frontier. MARS is a great way to dream about space in a whole new way.
Check out the trailer below. MARS airs on Nat Geo TV on Monday nights, and on demand on your cable network and online.
MARS Season 2 Synopsis:
The prospect of terraforming Mars once was considered science fiction, but soon, it will be a reality. Season 2 of MARS returns with a hybrid, six-episode arc that alternates between scripted drama and documentary sequences to predict what life will be like on the Red Planet forecasted by what’s happening now on Earth. It picks up in 2042 when the International Mars Science Foundation (IMSF) astronauts have developed a fully-fledged colony, but to fund their mission, they need the help of the private sector. MARS delves into the archetypical friction between science and industry on this unforgiving frontier. The mission to terraform a virgin planet comes with heavy adjustments, including how humans will cope with contamination, illness, death, natural disasters, and even the first Martian baby. Are we doomed to repeat the same mistakes when Earthlings become Martians?
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