THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES: FROM STORY TO SCREEN

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THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES: FROM STORY TO SCREEN

<br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AOOqzFbthus..." imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AOOqzFbthus..." width="275" /></a></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;">David Robbins</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;">© 2015</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>With all the interest in Mars these days---just look at the huge popularity of the book and movie THE MARTIAN---you might be interested in a heads-up about another book and a miniseries that has to do with the Red Planet.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Before I go further, it’s fair to mention that if you’re a science geek, if every aspect about Mars must be scientifically accurate, then you might not want to read on. The works we’re talking about don’t reflect current scientific knowledge, simply because they were written and filmed long before we know what we now do about our next-door neighbor.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SPccAkMR2Fs..." imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SPccAkMR2Fs..." width="301" /></a></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> [The DVD cover from above without all the words. Way cool.] </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"> </span><br /><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"> THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES is a book by master storyteller Ray Bradbury. It’s not a novel, per se. Bradbury collected a bunch of short stories he’d had published in various magazines, strung them together, added narrative here and there, tweaked other things, and presto. The book version came out in 1950. It has since become a recognized classic.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NAdII5xqCUI..." imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NAdII5xqCUI..." width="243" /></a></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> [An early paperback version. There have been many printings by various publishers.]</span> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"> THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES isn’t about science. It’s about people. Those from Earth who want to turn the Red Planet into Earth II, as it were, and the Martians who don’t much like the idea. It’s about what happens when two cultures collide. About the mistakes made, on both sides, and the tragedies that result.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ray Bradbury was a marvelous writer. At times his prose positively shines. He takes us into the hearts and minds of the Earthers and the Martians, and has us gnashing our figurative teeth in frustration at their follies.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3uCPCzk2jJw..." imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="301" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3uCPCzk2jJw..." width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"> [A 'hot mama' Martian lady and her 'green gills' hubby. You'll understand when you read the book or watch the miniseries.]</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;">On one side of the clash we have the Earthmen and Earthwomen, with their technology. On the other side, telepathic, shape-shifting Martians who resist the invasion the only way they know how.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OWlai8Drh9E..." imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="241" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OWlai8Drh9E..." width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;">[Two Martians. The masks are an integral part of their culture. You want to avoid them when they put on the Mask of Conflict.] </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;">It wasn’t until 1980 that someone tried to translate the book to film. With a screenplay by none other than Richard Matheson (reportedly, Bradbury also contributed), and starring the likes of Rock Hudson, Darren McGavin, Bernie Casey and Roddy McDowell, a three-part miniseries was produced.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;">Instant controversy. Bradbury called the miniseries ‘boring’. When asked to comment on the end result, Matheson wouldn’t. Some reviewers thought the pacing was too slow. Others criticized the special effects. A few were upset that it included sequences that weren't in the book, or changed them.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-630FPp2khn0..." imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-630FPp2khn0..." width="293" /></a></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;">[A Martian and his mask. Any wonder the Earth people were scared?] </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;">Let’s take a closer look. Yeah, the special effects were a bit cheesy by today's standards. But that was then, and they did the best they could with the budget they had. The location filming alone makes up for the model spaceships. One thing they got spectacularly right was their depiction of Martian cities. You get a very real sense of Martian culture, too, in more ways than one. (See below)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ghlYVfY598s..." imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="125" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ghlYVfY598s..." width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;">[Left: a Martian city. Right: Rock Hudson and a Martian in one of the best scenes in the miniseries.] </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;">The pacing criticism doesn’t hold water. This wasn’t an actionfest. It’s a thinking person’s study of two cultures, and in that respect, succeeds admirably.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;">Much of the miniseries adheres---often word-for-word---with the book. The changes had largely to do with elements you wouldn’t ordinarily expect to see in typical TV ‘fluff’, namely, religion and philosophy.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;">To give you some idea of how surprisingly profound the series became, at one point Rock Hudson’s character is able to fulfill a years-long yearning to talk to a Martian. And when he asks how they lived, the Martian responds, ‘By watching life. Observing nature and cooperating with it. Making common cause with the process of existence. By living life for itself. Deriving pleasure from the gift of pure being. Life is its own answer, don’t you see? Accept it and enjoy it day by day. Live as well as possible. Expect no more. Destroy nothing. Humble nothing. Look for fault in nothing. Leave unsullied and untouched all that is beautiful. Hold that which lives in all reverence, for life is given by the Sovereign of our universe. Given to be savored. To be luxuriated in. To be respected.’</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JHvAe1_KOJY..." imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JHvAe1_KOJY..." width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">[What happens when an Earthman 'goes Martian'. Hint: run.] </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;">Special mention must be made of the score by Stanley Myers. He brilliantly evokes a ‘Martian atmosphere’, if you will. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "ＭＳ明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">So there you go. More ‘Mars’ for your enjoyment. Just don’t fall in a canal.</span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yxJDNmWBiL0..." imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="395" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yxJDNmWBiL0..." width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "ＭＳ明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> [There's a limited edition score of the miniseries that is well worth tracking down.]</span> <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DavidR..." height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

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Published on November 15, 2015 21:11

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