One of my favorite 70's mini-series as a kid was Martian Chronicles. I had just finished Ray Bradbury's book back then (1979), and I was "in the zone" the first night that the haunting theme composed by Stanley Myers came out my little TV (as a kid I had a B&W 12" General Electric portable TV that my grandmother gave me as a gift so I could watch series at night while lying on my bed). The story was a huge departure from the book, but I was thrilled, and hugely dissapointed that it was only 3 episodes long. Over the years, I have bought this series several times (Betamax tapes, VHS tapes and the infamous Collector's Edition DVD, and also the soundtrack CD from MGM Music), and today had the chance to enjoy it in 720p, in one sitting. It looks fantastic. The budget was spent in the main cast and locations, and very, very little in visual effects (as usual in most of BBC's fare of the late 70's), and the end result is fairly decent, with only a HUGE, AWFUL, BAD VFX shot in the third episode that even as a kid made me laugh, and a few matte paintings that aren't that good here and there. The sets, props and art design are early 70's top of the line (it was shot in 1978), some of them as good as anything NBC or BBC had on the air back then. The idea was that keep the story and message clear, despite the obvious flaws. The Martian props are just amazing, and I've been looking for Martian Conflict Masks since. As a modern viewer, you'll need to look at this show with you suspension of disbelief mode fully active (the sky is blue, there are clouds everywhere, water canals and more importantly AIR, on Mars), and take the astronautics "science" with it huge grain of salt (that part of the show was crap even then). You have to, in order to enjoy a great cast, a thoughtful narrative and an excellent ending.
Review by Carlos TeranBlockedParent2015-09-25T23:52:22Z
One of my favorite 70's mini-series as a kid was Martian Chronicles. I had just finished Ray Bradbury's book back then (1979), and I was "in the zone" the first night that the haunting theme composed by Stanley Myers came out my little TV (as a kid I had a B&W 12" General Electric portable TV that my grandmother gave me as a gift so I could watch series at night while lying on my bed). The story was a huge departure from the book, but I was thrilled, and hugely dissapointed that it was only 3 episodes long. Over the years, I have bought this series several times (Betamax tapes, VHS tapes and the infamous Collector's Edition DVD, and also the soundtrack CD from MGM Music), and today had the chance to enjoy it in 720p, in one sitting. It looks fantastic. The budget was spent in the main cast and locations, and very, very little in visual effects (as usual in most of BBC's fare of the late 70's), and the end result is fairly decent, with only a HUGE, AWFUL, BAD VFX shot in the third episode that even as a kid made me laugh, and a few matte paintings that aren't that good here and there. The sets, props and art design are early 70's top of the line (it was shot in 1978), some of them as good as anything NBC or BBC had on the air back then. The idea was that keep the story and message clear, despite the obvious flaws. The Martian props are just amazing, and I've been looking for Martian Conflict Masks since. As a modern viewer, you'll need to look at this show with you suspension of disbelief mode fully active (the sky is blue, there are clouds everywhere, water canals and more importantly AIR, on Mars), and take the astronautics "science" with it huge grain of salt (that part of the show was crap even then). You have to, in order to enjoy a great cast, a thoughtful narrative and an excellent ending.