gcferrell I've now seen all 6 episodes. The last 3 are somewhat better than the first. Good marks on the attempt to be scientifically accurate, some well done documentary, and (overall) a good attempt at rallying a new generation around an important next step for humanity. However, the lack of science and engineering d-e-t-a-i-l was frustrating. Too much time was spent with philosophical introspection. The 'frictional' elements were accurate but filled too much time. Money issues will definitely conflict with science, groups will have difficulty being cooped up for such a long period of time, someone will go nuts, etc. Not the important part of the story for me. The Martian captured the day to day urgency of survival much more dramatically. Technology and science is our means of surviving such a mission. Andy Weir gave us the engineering and scientific detail that made this gritty and real. "Mars" never quite gets to this level.I've just read Gene Kranz "Failure is Not an Option", and am halfway through Chris Kraft's "Flight". Throughout those Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions -- with only a couple of exceptions -- every single mission was a string of one life threatening engineering problem after another with Mission Control engineers and Astronauts cooperating to prioritize the problems, solve the major ones, work- around the minor ones. Some of these the public knew about. Many they did not. The reality of space flight is the continual solution of engineering and scientific problems. Kranz gives you detail. Weir gives you detail. Detail is what makes drama believable.

glennmstarnes OK, the rules say I'm supposed to warn you about spoilers in my review. This is your warning. Mediocre at best. Mars is mostly an advertisement for Elon Musk and Spacex. Neither a documentary nor a drama; I wish Ron Howard and Brian Grazer would have committed to one or the other. The future drama is constantly interrupted with the documentary from the present, and vise versa. The bottom line is that nothing is really being done at present to actually get to Mars.

MB It is absolutely true that there are quite a few questionable incidences, where supposed highly trained astronauts, undertaking the mission of their lives, don't really seem to be taking much schooling with them. An example of this would be the general lack of quick and clear communication between each crew member. Rather every line of inquiry is either met with prolonged hesitation, a vague response or sometimes straight up slurry ignorance. Also sweetie, could you maybe throw around a few more glow sticks before you hand yourself on a silver platter to Mr. mars mutant that must be waiting at the bottom of that endlessly black pit. However!!!The way the entire series is built, having a divided section with inputs from a long list of well renowned experts and enthusiasts giving ACTUAL ideas on colonising the red planet, is absolutely terrific. You also meet NASA and SpaceX employees that let you in on some of the things to consider when embarking on this mission. You really feel excited throughout every episode learning more and more about the real deal, while being deeply entertained with great effects and a solid story line on the other side. All that greatness in one show, allows me to forgive the obvious mistakes that occur once in a while. I am fascinated and in ore - well done.Thanks for reading.

JRmf Part dramatic miniseries, part historical documentary, this is not for everyone. As a confirmed science nut I found it enlightening but flawed. It will be good for humanity to settle Mars, but it may just come down to money, as usual, rather than just as a backup against extinction or to push the bounds of human experience, as the documentary parts emphasized. The series placed a good deal of emphasis on the political background and backing to the mission, and often seemed on shaky ground with its backers.The comparison with Antarctic research bases, which exist for pure science, is well made, however. Mars might ultimately be a base from which the asteroid belt could be mined. Unless humanity has a change of heart and becomes truly altruistic a la Star Trek :) CGI does not a good miniseries make but clearly the budget was a bit thin. I would have loved to see from the ground, Daedalus or one of the other ships land on Mars (from the ground, looking up), rather than just views of rocket exhaust (presuming it was even possible - see following). To see Olympus Town dome from the inside and the outside, looking up, would have been a great sight, but all one saw was tiny distant, model-like views.While they had drones, could they not have had some sort of flying vehicles? Zubrin's Mars Direct showed how fuel could be made from simple raw materials (for powering flying vehicles, for example), but there was no mention of this in the series. All power was from solar panels or nuclear fission.Some technical flaws: * Why do the EVA suits not have a large backpack (rather than the tiny "bump") supplying oxygen and environmental control? The reason seems clearly to be it would not look very cool if they did.* Daedalus weighs about 40 tons, might not it have been safer to leave it in orbit and use a series of shuttles to transfer to the ground? Not to mention if landing a rocket that size rear-vertically would be even feasible. I know the ship was supposed to be their home for two years while they located a suitable lava tube, but maybe other arrangements for radiation protection could have been made.* When Richardson opens the "airlock" door and evacuates and destroys a large part of the base, why does the door open directly to the outside? Why is it not a true airlock with two doors straddling a small room which can be pressure equilibrated with whichever way someone is going, and where at least one door is always be locked?* Mars atmosphere is thin, about the same as Earth's at 35 km, so drones would need very large blades or rotate extremely fast in order to fly, but the drones in the series seems like terrestrial onesAt times, the pace dragged and things became somewhat introspective, I felt. The point about billion dollar missions hanging on people's psychological stability is well made however. The crises which arose at regular intervals to pique viewer interest seemed somewhat predictable and contrived. Of course the 215 m cable lowering the explorer into the lava tube almost bottoms out with just a few meters to spare. When Robert is seeking the cable to repair it, the rover can't advance because of the (what looks like flat) terrain, so he must unclip his tether and potentially get lost in the dust storm. I have already commented at length on the "airlock".Anyway for all that it is certainly worth seeing and one I will be adding to my collection. 7/10.