A Mars Bar a Day

The planet Mars is certainly in the public eye a lot these days. Whether it's about new scientific discoveries (like water) on the Red Planet, or the success of The Martian, both the novel and the new film, we've got the fever for that dusty globe just down the road from us.

I've long been a science fiction fan, and I've seen my fair share of movies about the "rusty" world. There were many oldies, some considered classics, that gave us a peek at how people imagined the planet and its alleged occupants at the time. A Trip to Mars (1910) is credited as the very first film to feature the Red Planet; and was created by none other than one Thomas Edison, inventor extraordinaire. 

"Take me to your leader."

Marvin the Martian was a Warner Bros.

cartoon creation, first appearing in 1948

There were a few lesser-known flicks during the next few decades, but then came the 1950's, a fertile period for space B-movies, including Mars ones. Hollywood produced gems like War of the Worlds (the original 1953 classic, which I adored as a youngster), Robinson Crusoe on Mars (with Adam West!), The Angry Red Planet, Flight to Mars, Invaders From Mars, Red Planet Mars, and It! the Terror From Beyond Space (inspiration for Alien, I'd say). Okay, so not all of those were great, but it's still fascinating to see how the movie folks envisioned the "science" and the invaders. Sometimes it was outright hilarious. 

The 1960's spewed less memorable films, like The Day Mars Invaded Earth, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (considered one of the worst movies of all time), and Mars Needs Women (1967). As the years wore on, we got remakes of some of the oldies, some okay, some not, plus other wacky and weird depictions of alien invasions of our fair planet.

The Martian Chronicles, made-for-TV, was a fine adaptation of the Ray Bradbury story. I enjoyed Capricorn One (a faked Mars landing conspiracy) and Total Recall (the original rocked and the remake was good enough), but I don't have positive memories of Mars Attacks. I might have to revisit that crazy Tim Burton comedy someday to confirm my suspicions.

This poor little feller from Mars has got the sniffles

(War of the Worlds, 1953)

I confess I haven't seen any of the Mars sci-fi in recent decades, things like Ghosts of Mars, Red Planet, John Carter, and Last Days on Mars. I simply haven't heard good enough reviews of any of these movies to warrant seeing them. Maybe someday I'll take a chance on some of them. Or not.

Among my favourite Mars-related stories on film is the first episode of the revived 60's sci-fi series The Outer Limits. First aired in 1995, the episode was entitled "The Sandkings", a terrifying vision of intelligent alien life wreaking havoc on Earth. Based on a story by author George R. R. Martin, The Sandkings tells of a scientist who smuggles Martian sand from his workplace laboratory to his home in order to conduct personal experiments. Things get very interesting, then they go very, very wrong. Chilling!