THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES (NBC 1980)
remastered blu-ray by Kino Lorber
http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Fw4LjC7jUM[/video]
This was a nostalgia buy. I have fond childhood memories of watching this 3 part tv event, and while I used to have it on VHS, I have not re-watched this movie in over 20 years.
This is of course an adaption of the wonderful Martian anthology by the legendary Ray Bradbury. This movie mini-series was written for the small screen by the equally legendary Richard Matheson. So with such rich source material and an amazing writer like Matheson doing the teleplay, how does it hold up?
Bradbury, when he viewed it, called it
"boring". I think that is a bit cruel, as there is lots to enjoy, but it does deviate from the source material, many of the stories are overly long and poorly paced, and overall, the film has not aged well.
To best enjoy this series, you have to have the right mind set, and treat this as alternate reality as the science is bad. Really bad. This is a reality where Mars has a thin but completely liveable atmosphere with classic water canals and vegetation. Radio/tv communication to Earth is instantaneous, the rockets that can land and take off from a planet's surface look like they were built by George Pal and the astronauts don't need space suits only Steve Austin style leisure suits. Though made in 1980, the story, style and production design feels very 1950s. Which is appropriate since that is when the original short stories were written and it is probably the only way you could adapt them. I kept thinking throughout my rewatch this would play so much better in Black and White.
The fx model work is very bad/cheap even by 1980 tv standards. Compared to the earlier tv model work of Battlestar Galactica or Space:1999, this is just plain awful. 1970s Doctor Who had better model work LOL. But the Martian design/make up and costuming looks pretty cool. And I really enjoyed the Martian architecture and technology. Clearly this looks like a small budget affair, but the production design team came up with some interesting visuals.
The soundtrack is.... well... cool and weird. It has a synth, not quite disco. flare to it. The main martian theme still holds up, as it an optimistic wonder to it. The rest.... what can I say, it is a product of it's time. Though I believe the movie would have worked better with a more traditional big sweeping orchestra soundtrack, but that's just me lol.
The stories are a mixed bag. Part one depicting the first three expeditions to Mars is easily the strongest and best segment of the mini-series. Part two about the first settlers is uneven. It is filled with great concepts and ideas, but they get a bit lost as the stories are too slow and drawn out. Part three is a mixed bag, as I strongly dislike the Bernadette Peters storyline but the Barry Morse arc is very touching. The connecting character for all the stories is played by Rock Hudson, and even though this was in his waning tv career days, his quiet strength commands the screen and you are reminded why he was a major movie star. They don't make stars like him anymore.
The blu-ray work by Kino Lorber is satisfactory. It is nothing special. The colours do not pop. There is no increased depth to picture or detail. There is a lot of grain is some scenes. There was even a scene that had a moment of film debris/damage. So while KL claims this is remastered, it looks like Standard Definition to me. Put it this way, I own many SD tv shows from this era or earlier, and they all have better transfers than this blu-ray.
So would I recommend this lost dusty gem? If you have a nostalgia connection to it, I think it is worth revisiting. If you are a Ray Bradbury enthusiest, and have never seen this adaptation, I think you will find it interesting to see how the short story material was interpreted and connected together. If you are a fan of the classic Twilight Zone, I think you would get a real kick out of this movie, as it really feels and plays like a series of Serling style stories about the human condition. Otherwise, I am not sure if this old school tv movie would connect with young modern viewers?
Though it is a rich mine for fan editing potential.
I would give it a 7.5 out of 10.