"The Martian Chronicles" (1980) TV mini-series

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Michael Anderson

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

27 January 1980 (USA)

Genre:

Sci-Fi

Plot:

Earth sends its first manned probe to Mars in 1999, and a jealous Martian murders the two astronauts when his wife has erotic dreams of meeting them...

Plot Keywords:

Mars | Martian | Plague | Telepathy | Lost Civilization

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Rock Hudson	...	Col. John Wilder (3 episodes, 1980)
Gayle Hunnicutt	...	Ruth Wilder (3 episodes, 1980)
Bernie Casey	...	Major Jeff Spender (3 episodes, 1980)
Christopher Connelly	...	Ben Driscoll (3 episodes, 1980)
Nicholas Hammond	...	Commander Arthur Black (3 episodes, 1980)
Darren McGavin	...	Sam Parkhill (3 episodes, 1980)
Roddy McDowall	...	Father Stone (3 episodes, 1980)
Bernadette Peters	...	Genevieve Seltzer (3 episodes, 1980)
Joyce Van Patten	...	Elma Parkhill (3 episodes, 1980)
Maria Schell	...	Anna Lustig (3 episodes, 1980)
Fritz Weaver	...	Father Peregrine (3 episodes, 1980)
Linda Lou Allen	...	Marilyn Becker (3 episodes, 1980)
Michael Anderson Jr.	...	David Lustig (3 episodes, 1980)
Robert Beatty	...	General Halstead (3 episodes, 1980)
James Faulkner	...	Mr. K (3 episodes, 1980)
Jon Finch	...	Christ (3 episodes, 1980)
Richard Heffer	...	Captain Conover (3 episodes, 1980)
Barry Morse	...	Peter Hathaway (3 episodes, 1980)
Nyree Dawn Porter	...	Alice Hathaway (3 episodes, 1980)
Wolfgang Reichmann	...	Lafe Lustig (3 episodes, 1980)
Maggie Wright	...	Ylla (3 episodes, 1980)
Terence Longdon	...	Wise Martian (3 episodes, 1980)
Richard Oldfield	...	Captain Nathaniel York (3 episodes, 1980)
John Cassady	...	Briggs (3 episodes, 1980)
Anthony Pullen Shaw	...	Edward Black (3 episodes, 1980)
Burnell Tucker	...	Bill Wilder (3 episodes, 1980)
Peter Marinker	...	McClure (3 episodes, 1980)
Vadim Glowna	...	Sam Hinston (3 episodes, 1980)
Alison Elliott	...	Lavinia Spaulding (3 episodes, 1980)
Derek Lamden	...	Sandship Martian (3 episodes, 1980)
Phil Brown	...	Narrator (3 episodes, 1980)
Estelle Brody	...	Mrs. Black (3 episodes, 1980)
Laurie Holden	...	Marie Wilder (3 episodes, 1980)
Stacey Sipes	...	Margarite Hathaway (3 episodes, 1980)

Runtime:

360 min | Brazil:165 min (compact video version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Trivia:

Robert Powell was asked to play the Jon Finch cameo

Goofs:

Factual errors: Characters on Mars talk to characters on Earth with no perceptible delay in communication. Even at their closest approach, signals would take at least 3 minutes to travel the distance between Mars and Earth.

Quotes:

Maj. Jeff Spender: I just believe in things that were done. And there were so many things done here. Streets and houses and books and big canals and clocks and places with names - things that were used and touched for centuries. And I don't see how we could ever use them without feeling uncomfortable...
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Ghosts of Mars (2001)

I never saw the end...... :-(

As a child, i saw every sciencefiction series that was available on tv.

This series has made an impression on me but I never saw the end. The scene with Christ in it was too much for my parents and at the age of 10, they still had the power to turn off the television.

Hope to see it in future... and make my own judgement.