Profiteers hit Mars
In season two of series workers sent by corporation alter balance in colony, writes Bianca Coleman
WITH its blend of scripted drama and real-life interviews with the biggest space thinkers in this world, season one of National Geographic’s series Mars was exceptional viewing. Season two begins on Sunday at 8pm in a global television event.
Hybrid series are nothing new, but some work better than others; this one is a case in point. Mars is produced by Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, giving it solid street cred. From our world, there are interviews with the likes of Elon Musk, Bill Nye, Ellen Stofan, Naomi Klein and Stephen Petranek, who weigh in on the conflicts between science and industry as humans terraform a brave new world in the dramatic segments.
Mars has always held enormous fascination for us, from the speculation it contains existing life forms to the possibility of building a human colony there. From the realms of science fiction, we have moved steadily into reality, sending probes and whatnot; as I write this, there is breaking news that Musk’s star car has just hurtled past the Red Planet, and Nasa has a website dedicated to its Mars programme, “a science-driven, technology-enabled study of Mars as a planetary system”.
Things just got real, people. The six-episode arc of Mars season two – which picks up five years after the conclusion of season one – delves into the boundaries between science and industry on an isolated, unforgiving frontier. To recap, a successful maiden mission was carried out when the original International Mars Science Foundation (IMSF) crew struggled to land safely and create an initial settlement.
It’s now 2042, and the IMSF has established a fully-fledged colony, Olympus Town, but they can’t finance the Mars expedition on their own. Doors of opportunity to the private sector have swung wide open, but tensions arise among original mission-driven scientists and miners sent by the for-profit corporation, Lukrum Industries, which create a new world of challenges for everyone on Mars.
Besides that, what would dayto-day life really be like for these pioneers? The story tackles issues like pregnancy, break-ups, new romances, epidemics, breakdowns, power outages, injuries, exercise, mealtimes and socialising – all the same things we experience here on earth, but about 54.7 million kilometres away things can get tricky and it’s not as if you can call an Uber and go home when someone has annoyed you.
On the documentary side, presentday vignettes draw parallels with the future happenings on Mars by looking at some of the dire events currently compromising life on Earth: drilling, glacial melting, rising sea levels and indigenous health epidemics which surface when the permafrost melts.
It’s tragic how humans are killing this perfect planet of ours; let’s hope when the time comes they won’t do the same to Mars.
DC POP-UP CHANNEL
FANS’ loyalties are often divided between the Marvel and DC universes; DStv previously brought us the former and now it delivers the latter with a pop-up channel which launches today at 11.50am, and will run until next Sunday, November 18.
The channel runs from noon to midnight Monday to Friday, and Saturdays and Sundays from 10am till midnight. There will be themed schedules this weekend.
Today belongs to the Man of Steel, with the channel showcasing every live action Superman film made and all the actors who have donned the famous blue and red suit, from Christopher Reeve to Henry Cavill.