This is a fascinating review of what we have learned about Mars from 1894 to 2020, and what we hope to learn. It does a good job of showing what Mars is like, and explaining how the current rover's search for signs of past life on Mars fits into the history of Mars study and exploration.
4 Reviews
1 out of 3
larryallred17 November 2020
I'm a sucker for space science. I can get past the misleading ads and bait and switch plotlines as long as it looks cool and I learn something. There are two things that ruined this one for me.
One of the most important parts of any documentary is the narrator. I mean no disrespect to the fellow. I'm sure there's a good place for one who tries too hard to make the voice sound deeper, enunciates more harshly to make it seem more exciting and drones on so much that it takes away from the incredible imagery and discoveries.
Then the "trend"... it started with America's Dumbest Criminals and has become a huge part of everything else. To break up a boring show add clips of people giving insight or opinion. They could be experts, wing-nuts, folks who have little or nothing to do with the program at all. Granted once in awhile there's a gem, a cute face, a tidbit of some sort, but a skillfully written and narrated documentary should hold your interest without having to resort to the latest tricks.
Halfway through I started looking at my watch and taking breaks. Just before the end I turned off the sound. Those images are what I came for anyway, and they were great!
One of the most important parts of any documentary is the narrator. I mean no disrespect to the fellow. I'm sure there's a good place for one who tries too hard to make the voice sound deeper, enunciates more harshly to make it seem more exciting and drones on so much that it takes away from the incredible imagery and discoveries.
Then the "trend"... it started with America's Dumbest Criminals and has become a huge part of everything else. To break up a boring show add clips of people giving insight or opinion. They could be experts, wing-nuts, folks who have little or nothing to do with the program at all. Granted once in awhile there's a gem, a cute face, a tidbit of some sort, but a skillfully written and narrated documentary should hold your interest without having to resort to the latest tricks.
Halfway through I started looking at my watch and taking breaks. Just before the end I turned off the sound. Those images are what I came for anyway, and they were great!
Failed Promises
sluido26 August 2020
Was really excited to see this and I switched it on with my daughter (7) who is really interested in space exploration. What was promised are "never before seen images" and what appeared to be a lot of story on Opportunity Rover.
Now the first part isn't hard to do because there are thousands of images so showing something new isn't difficult, but they go into such details on the wrong info - the names of the places are hard to remember (not their fault but why make the show too scientific), have rando people show their face and make comments about it, these intercuts totally take away the experience of seeing pictures of Mars because let's be frank I don't want to see a close up of some lady if I am watching a show about Mars! The show claims they use satellite footages to recreate Mars - it wasn't impressive - the CGI are rather poor and perhaps fake. The top-down image are real but the others were re-created from these so they are not 100% correct and just look lousy. Not as "amazing" as they keep telling you.
As for the Rover story, it takes maybe 5 minutes screentime. It's still probably the best part but nothing new. Instead one should find a documentary on Opportunity Rover. It's almost sad it stayed up there 14 years and eventually broke. If you children saw WALL-E they will see a connection.
In the end "One Day" has nothing to do with the show either, they just place an hour timer in-between sequences that are unrelated to anything. Don't waste your time.
Now the first part isn't hard to do because there are thousands of images so showing something new isn't difficult, but they go into such details on the wrong info - the names of the places are hard to remember (not their fault but why make the show too scientific), have rando people show their face and make comments about it, these intercuts totally take away the experience of seeing pictures of Mars because let's be frank I don't want to see a close up of some lady if I am watching a show about Mars! The show claims they use satellite footages to recreate Mars - it wasn't impressive - the CGI are rather poor and perhaps fake. The top-down image are real but the others were re-created from these so they are not 100% correct and just look lousy. Not as "amazing" as they keep telling you.
As for the Rover story, it takes maybe 5 minutes screentime. It's still probably the best part but nothing new. Instead one should find a documentary on Opportunity Rover. It's almost sad it stayed up there 14 years and eventually broke. If you children saw WALL-E they will see a connection.
In the end "One Day" has nothing to do with the show either, they just place an hour timer in-between sequences that are unrelated to anything. Don't waste your time.
Not very good & narrator sucks
kweems-8004630 August 2020
Ok I could only handle a few minutes of the narrators weird monotone voice before I had to turn it off. Yikes they should have gotten a good narrator not some guy who speaks in a monotone voice that kinda cracks and stuff at weird times. Ugh.
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