If you missed Season 1, it centers around the first manned mission to colonize Mars. The year is 2033-2037, and the crew has to survive the harsh terrain, find shelter, search for signs of life, and deal with the psychological pressures that are a part of space travel.
What makes MARS so unique is its format. It’s docu-drama, so it’s part documentary and part drama. The drama imagines what space travel will be like – and the experts interviewed in the documentary help to better unpack the scenarios, and show current examples so we can better understand what is at stake when we take on space travel.
Now, in Season 2, the year is 2042 and humans have become the aliens. People fall in love and struggle with relationships. Industry has come to Mars and often interferes with the scientists and astronauts. Colonists deal with illness, physical issues, and one of the women even discovers she’s pregnant with the first ever baby who could be born on another planet.
Dee Johnson, the series showrunner, explains, “Mars is a pressure cooker – there’s a constant push-pull between science and industry, and as a result, emotions run high. Although conflicting, their agendas are not mutually exclusive; with the advancement of science and exploration also comes industry and money making.”
The “Big Thinkers” interviewed this season are a stellar list of experts, including people like Newt Gingrich, Elon Musk, Andy Weir, Michio Kaku, and many many more.
MARS airs on Nat Geo TV on Monday nights, and on demand on your cable network and online. If you want to catch up on Season 1, the season is available for purchase at Amazon.com
Trailer – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMkZtgJxmvU
MARS Season 2 Synopsis:
The prospect of terraforming Mars once was considered science fiction, but soon, it will be a reality. Season 2 of MARS returns with a hybrid, six-episode arc that alternates between scripted drama and documentary sequences to predict what life will be like on the Red Planet forecasted by what’s happening now on Earth. It picks up in 2042 when the International Mars Science Foundation (IMSF) astronauts have developed a fully-fledged colony, but to fund their mission, they need the help of the private sector. MARS delves into the archetypical friction between science and industry on this unforgiving frontier. The mission to terraform a virgin planet comes with heavy adjustments, including how humans will cope with contamination, illness, death, natural disasters and even the first Martian baby. Are we doomed to repeat the same mistakes when Earthlings become Martians?
