"Mars Direct" NBC series in development about a mission to Mars

[jefferiestubes8]

NBC has "Mars Direct," about a mission to the red planet,

October 11, 2010
Nets aim to go from stupor to super
With frosh class falling flat, nets go high-concept for 2011

NBC is attempting a sci fi series about a mission to Mars?!
Currently they have The Event as the only sci fi series on the network.

other produced TV series similar to this:
the 2007 Canadian television mini-series about a fictitious mission to Mars

Race to Mars, a landmark four-hour expedition miniseries, imagines and simulates with breathtaking realism what astronauts will experience on the first human mission to Mars.

Other productions set in space have dressed astronauts in helmets with flat surfaces. This limits glare and distortion. But our costumes, like everything else, are accurate. Our helmets are bubble shaped and capturing the actors' expressions behind that rounded surface was, well, as difficult as lighting their white suits."

http://www.racetomars.ca/mars/about.jsp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_to_Mars


and the 2009 show (that aired 8 episodes in USA):
“Defying Gravity" 13-episode ABC sci-fi astronaut space series


real life Mars Direct originally proposed in 1990 from Wikipedia: here are some selects:

Mars Direct is a proposal for a relatively low-cost manned mission to Mars with current rocket technology. The plan was originally detailed in a research paper by Robert Zubrin and David Baker in 1990. The mission was expanded upon in Zubrin's book 1996 The Case For Mars.

Since Mars Direct was initially conceived, it has undergone considerable review by the Mars Society, NASA and Stanford University.

The Mars Society and Stanford studies retain the original 2-vehicle mission profile of Mars Direct, but increase the crew size to 6.

The plan involves launching an unmanned Earth Return Vehicle (ERV) directly from Earth's surface to Mars using a heavy-lift booster (no bigger than the Saturn V used for the Apollo missions), containing a supply of hydrogen, a chemical plant and a small nuclear reactor.

The ERV return vehicle would take some 8 months to reach Mars.

Some 26 months after the ERV was originally launched from Earth, a second vehicle, the Mars Habitat Unit would be launched on a high-energy transfer to Mars carrying a crew of 4. This vehicle would take some 6 months to reach Mars.

On reaching Mars, the useless spent upper stage would be jettisoned, with the Habitat Unit aerobraking into Mars orbit before soft-landing in close proximity to the ERV.

Once on Mars, the crew would spend 18 months on the surface,

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mars_Direct&oldid=24550161

 

[bigdaddy]

Why does NBC even try anymore?

This part was actually used in a West Wing episode...

Mars Direct is a proposal for a relatively low-cost manned mission to Mars with current rocket technology. The plan was originally detailed in a research paper by Robert Zubrin and David Baker in 1990. The mission was expanded upon in Zubrin's book 1996 The Case For Mars.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Seems like an American remake of Race to Mars, which was pretty good.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Sounds like a shipping service.

 

[jefferiestubes8]

Seems like an American remake of Race to Mars, which was pretty good.

I think if the pilot goes to series the comparisons will be
-Race to Mars 2007 TV series
- Mission to Mars (2000 feature film)
- Red Planet (2000 feature film)
Defying Gravity ABC 2009 series
If it is all about the astronauts and the mission then more like the first 3. If it includes all of the months of mission training then more like Defying Gravity.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Well, Race to Mars was a 3 part mini-series. Far from being a TV series, so you might want to edit that

 

[watermelony2k]

Good concept, very WRONG network. Someone classy like AMC or HBO, please do it instead.

Wait... wasn't there going to be a Red Mars TV miniseries? What happened to that?

 

[jefferiestubes8]

Red Mars project - in development in 2008 from AMC

Someone classy like AMC or HBO, please do it instead.

Wait... wasn't there going to be a Red Mars TV miniseries? What happened to that?

Kim Stanley Robinson's 1992 novel of Martian colonisation, Red Mars,

from October 2008 it was news that AMC was in development with it.

The story is an extended chronicling of the settling and terraforming of Mars. As such, it is driven as much by social interactions and character stories as it is the rich sci-fi backdrop of the drama.

AMC develping Robinson's Red Mars for series
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i149edf3e04ae01689aedd888ec498d8a

Then the following Winter

We wonder if US network AMC can really handle the scope of Kim Stanley Robinson's gargantuan sci-fi cycle...

Why Red Mars may prove unfilmable
Feb 17, 2009
http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/Feature/137456,why-red-mars-may-prove-unfilmable.aspx

and in August of 2009:

Are you concerned at whether TV can bring to life such cinematic visions as the space-elevator wrapping itself twice round Mars...?

Right now they are at the script-writing phase, and nothing has been green-lighted, so we'll see what happens.

-original author Kim Stanley Robinson...
AMC's Red Mars still treading water one year on
http://www.denofgeek.com/television/311762/amcs_red_mars_still_treading_water_one_year_on.html







Red Mars imdb listing
in development

 

[Jetfire]

This will be an interesting. Being on NBC though it is full of fail.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Hmm, I recall a proposed series that never saw the light of day called Beyond that was a near-future, realistic look at a mission to Mars. Wonder if this is related? If so, they should retitle it Beyond which has more zing than Mars Direct, which is a godawful name for a TV show.

Good concept, very WRONG network. Someone classy like AMC or HBO, please do it instead.

Maybe they can produce a competitor? Just snap up Red Mars and go for it.

I'm please to see that the article states the networks realize this season is full of fail and they need to suck significantly less next year.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

There's been talk about doing KSR's Red Mars for about a decade now. Way back in the day, Sci-Fi was developing it as a mini-series.

One day, some day...it will be realized...I can only hope...

 

[Harvey]

I thought there was some talk of AMC developing RED MARS. Or was that just speculation by Temis that I want to be true?

 

[23skidoo]

It's a shame they're going to probably have to dumb down the series in order for it to survive. The problem with Defying Gravity was that it was too cerebral and documentary-like and mainstream audiences couldn't understand it. I don't really have high hopes for Mars Direct in this venue (now if it were being produced for cable, that would be another story).

Alex

 

[jefferiestubes8]

Red Mars

I thought there was some talk of AMC developing RED MARS. Or was that just speculation by Temis

see
http://www.trekbbs.com/showpost.php?p=4451535&postcount=8

 

[Deckerd]

Does anyone else think the phrase "Race to Mars" is either a contradiction in terms or insanely optimistic?

 

[jefferiestubes8]

Does anyone else think the phrase "Race to Mars" is either a contradiction in terms or insanely optimistic?

according to Wikipedia

The Space Race was a mid-to-late twentieth century competition between the Soviet Union (USSR) and the United States (USA) for supremacy in outer space exploration. The term refers to a specific period in human history, 1957-1975,

The race was both ideological and technological, and it involved pioneering efforts to launch artificial satellites, sub-orbital and orbital human spaceflight around the earth, and piloted voyages to the Moon.

The Space Race sparked unprecedented increases in spending on education and pure research, which accelerated scientific advancements and led to beneficial spin-off technologies.

my bolding.
This is perhaps why calling space exploration with a specific goal such as landing a human on Mars a race increases competition and a need for spending by governments. Without this delving into a political discussion regarding funding for space exploration I'm merely answering your question.
There is already a thread here for that:
funding for manned Mission to Mars [financial/political ONLY]

 

[Deckerd]

I'm sorry, you misunderstood me. There is no race to Mars. I suspect there never will be a race to Mars. That's all I was saying. There will eventually be a multinational expedition with people on board but until then the best you can hope for is unmanned craft and if we're really lucky, robots.

 

[jefferiestubes8]

Mars robots /human landings in real life vs "Mars Direct"

There is no race to Mars. I suspect there never will be a race to Mars.

Since there have been a few unmanned probes and rovers landing on Mars the next big feat is to land a human on Mars. Not now but around 2025 there will be an actual race of sorts more political though.

This thread actually shows how this experiment will eventually have robots land on Mars before humans.
Japan taking humanoid robots to moon by 2015

NASA has Robonaut 2 [the prototype humanoid robot] which goes up to the I.S.S. on November 1, 2010.


Surely Mars Direct TV series pilot will discuss the already landing humanoid robots on Mars.

 

[Deckerd]

I'm not going to hijack this thread on the strength of a throwaway quip by myself but I sincerely hope I'm still a member of this board as these magical Mars deadlines come and go.

 

[Agent Richard07]

Sounds like a shipping service.

Yeah, that's what I thought. "Mars Direct" sounds like a phone product or something. It's not a good title.