THE LEGACY OF 'THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES'

Interplanetary relations are strained in the well-regarded THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES TV mini-series from 1979. Images: MGM.

Cashing in on the positive and commercial success of STAR WARS, as well as the public's reawakened interest in space in general with the build up to the launch of America's first space shuttle, 1979 was a great time for small screen sci-fi to re-visit the distant, but almost within reach of our ambitions and imaginations, Red Planet of Mars, as seen in the lavish UK/US co-production adaptation of Ray Bradbury's classic 1950's genre literature THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES. Produced by veteran horror/sci-fi producer, American Milton Subotsky, partnered with Charles Fries (then well known for his own producing of the popular Marvel comic SPIDER-MAN live action TV series), and in association with BBC TV, the three part mini-series would be challengingly and effectively adapted by another respected genre tapping favourite, having showed his fine and popular TV writing credentials on shows like STAR TREK, THE TWILIGHT ZONE and KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER: Richard Matheson, backed up with efficient and interesting direction from LOGAN'S RUN feature film helmer, Michael Anderson. Together, they would bring Bradbury's sense of wonder, mystery, lyrical intelligence and, at times, an evocative atmosphere to well-received life.

Danger on Mars. Colonel Wilder (Rock Hudson) searches for answers..

Jealousy and tragedy for Martian couple Yila (Maggie Wright) and Mister K. (James Faulkner) .

Headed up by popular film legend Rock Hudson, then starting the last phase of his career in memorable small-screen endeavours, THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES would boast one of the best assembled international main and guest casts seen on TV at that time (including the likes of Gayle Hunnicutt and KOLCHAK's Darren McGavin, who appear throughout all three episodes) in a mini-series that was basically a selection of anthology type stories weaved around one larger framing device conceived by Matheson in his adaptation skills: basically Earth's discovery and unwitting destruction of the Martians and their eons long way of life. My personal favourite episode of the mini-series is Part One-The Expeditions- telling the story of the three Earth exploratory Zeus landings on Mars-each one a disaster in it's own right for both Martian and Human races. It starts with Zeus One's crew slaughtered by a jealous Martian, Mr.K (James Faulkner), whose wife Yila (Maggie Wright) has sexual fantasies about one of the human pilots en route to their world. A year later,  Zeus Two's three man crew (headed by SPIDER-MAN's Nicholas Hammond) is taken out by terrified Martians wary of man's war-like ability to wreak destruction. Finally, Zeus Three, it's team headed by space explorer and ultimate missions overseer, Colonel John Wilder (Hudson), discovers Mars as a now dead world, its people slaughtered by an unforeseen Earth virus, resulting in one of his crew members, Spender (Bernie Casey), shocked by the destruction of a once great civilisation, going native and determined to protect its remaining people and culture against further contamination by humanity: literally on a murderous warpath against his once friends.

Nicholas Hammond (centre) and his ill-fated team from the Zeus Two mission.

A Martian makes an eerie impression in part two's finale.

Part Two- The Settlers- takes place a few years on from the tragic events of the Zeus Three mission and shows us how a section of humanity, described as "Locusts" in the scene showing their rocket ships heading to the planet, lead their pioneering new life on Mars in establishing a colony. Some of the planets original surviving inhabitants continue to make their eerie mark and legacy on the new population, too, appearing in several surreal stories linked to the arrival of two priests (Fritz Weaver and PLANET OF THE APES Roddy McDowell) and a haunted by grief husband and wife (Wolfgang Reichmann and Maria Schell) who see visions of their presumed dead son (Michael Anderson Jr.). Part Two ends with the Human race on Earth no longer in control of its destiny as their world perishes in a final nuclear war. Part Thee-The Martians- is tinged with sadness and regret as the last surviving members of the human colony on Mars try to survive and work out their next steps. There's also some quirky, dark humour, prevalent in the tale, as lonely Ben Driscoll (Christopher Connelly) searches the lost new frontier in an attempt to find some solace and company-preferably an Eve to his Adam- that meets with disastrous results (involving Bernadette Peters), whilst a dying scientist (SPACE: 1999'S Barry Morse) find solace with his robot wife (Nyree Dawn Porter) and daughter. As the final plot strands pleasingly tie together, Wilder, his brother and friends dead on Earth, finally discovers some inner solace as he gets the chance to meet a Martian, of which, from this encounter, he goes on to make a life affirming decision for himself and his family as they explore and inhabit the ruins of the old Martian civilisation. These new "Martians", remembering and respecting the past whilst looking to the future, will hopefully endure and prosper...

One of the intriguing Martian landscapes seen in the series...

Filmed in the truly alien looking desert climes of Malta and Lanzarote (in a romantic time when people still thought Mars had water canals and a breathable atmosphere) respected British cinematographer Ted Moore does a fine job of capturing the mini-series on film, alongside some terrific production design from Ashetton Gorton which does a great job of realising the Martian culture. There's also a fine music score from Stanley Myers full of exploration and alien mystery (mixed with a little bit of late seventies disco and electronic music assistance from Laurie Holloway and later well known composer Richard Harvey), and basic but passable model work, special effects and second unit direction from British STAR WARS practical special effects man John Stears (who, with this production, makes the most of his experiences on George Lucas's first 1977 film with the adaptation of modern weapons and props into believable futuristic creations, whilst, from his Sean Connery JAMES BOND days, brings YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE's Little Nellie auto-gyro craft, and its pilot, Wing Commander Ken Wallis, into the project as a piloting double and aerial photographer). THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES would be a memorable success with general audiences, despite dissatisfaction from Bradbury and long term fans of the classic book, when it aired on the UK's BBC and America's NBC channels in January 1980 (it was originally to have aired States-side in September 1979 but was delayed due to internal politics), at a time when mini-series were proving very popular worldwide. It may seem slow by today's viewing standards but its place as high quality, intelligent sci-fi on TV remains intact.

A new era dawns for the surviving Human Race and the Martians. 

Made on high quality film, the series (which was also released as a theatrical feature in some parts of Europe in the early eighties, and even apparently had a very small toy line, restructured from old STAR TREK toys, dedicated to the Martian inhabitants in their distinctive masks of government and war) has not yet had the remastered Blu-ray release it deserves (with all the recent positive and intriguing new information coming out of NASA's recent probe arrival on the Red Planet, you'd have thought someone in Hollywood would have made the most of the cash-in publicity potential!), though it is available on DVD and has had several nostalgic re-airings over the years on the BBC and the UK's SCI-FI CHANNEL.

International poster for the mini-series theatrical release.

With thanks to Paul S Fraser for his help and assistance with the compilation of this feature.