Mars

Much more scientific than The Martian but also less fun. A diverse cast of fairly decent actors. The ending felt very abrupt and made of plot for plot's sake. Still, if you're even the least bit excited about the thought of humans going to Mars, you should watch this.

Mars is a six part mini-series that is half documentary about the efforts to reach Mars up to 2016, and half fictional account of the first manned mission to the red planet in 2033. Both timelines are interwoven in each episode and typically linked. This works really well and both timelines are equally engrossing.

Way too slow. Probably more realistic in a way but they played it like real life in speed.

The fictional aspect of this show is very decent. The non-fictional commentary, which constantly interrupts the story is unnecessary, annoying, and patronizing. I hate being randomly bombarded with mostly masturbatory commentary, to great redundancy, on the basic themes I just watched. Though I'm completely against the idea of colonizing Mars (as we'll inevitably just re-create the same problems we have here which this program shows VERY well; and the cost), I found this fascinating and sincere.

I liked the back and force between fiction and documentary, but then the ridiculous plot devices, constant macho posturing, melodramatic scenes that don't hit home or just plain bad acting ... the science fiction part becomes just too painful to watch. Documentary part remains interesting though

Two episodes in so far, maybe it gets better. Not really enough going on here to merit the length, I suppose it is okay to having running while doing something else. The really interesting parts - launch, living in space for months/years on the way to Mars, and landing are skipped over probably for budget reasons. Other than semi-documentary intercut footage of mostly SpaceX and talking heads there is some sitting in chairs, and walking around in space suits with little technical detail.

As DyanneThorne and Barraoc say, this was an interesting mix of present day science documentary, and future science fiction, interwoven and connected in a way that I have not seen before (certainly not as entertainingly, and interestingly). Whilst the documentary gave us interesting history and insights ( if you can get round Elon Muck, after his recent outbursts) the future story was generally excellent except for the weak ending; a rushed, "Deus ex machina", which was a shame.

Very good.

I really wonder how much Elon Musk has paid for the production of this series. If you can get past the -not even- concealed propaganda of SpaceX and justification of Mars colonization, you can watch it as a decent science documentary-fiction.

So there's a sci-fi half - set in 2033 - and a documentary half - set in 2016 or "today." The documentary is so-so, and as others have said mostly comes off as propaganda for Elon Musk and Space-X and seems a bit wrapped up in self importance. The sci-fi is bland, not particularly original, and full of coincidences, weird plot choices and a meandering pessimism. In fact, despite many attempts to link them, the sci-fi and doc elements seem disconnected.