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Mars S2E4: Looking to the Past

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Be careful with those lab specimens . . . (photo credit: National Geographic/Dusan Martincek)

When we last left our intrepid bands of explorers, the strife so prevalent for the half of the season was placed on hold as one of the IMSF scientists decided to go alone out into the Martian landscape.  The fourth episode of Mars (National Geographic, Mondays at 9 PM/8 CT) begins with a brief reminder of how close Marta (Anamaria Marinca) was to dying from lack of air and/or becoming a human popsicle. She begins to recover and is extremely lucky that frostbite hasn’t claimed one or more of her fingers and/or toes. Immediately (and as could be expected), she is confronted by Commander Hana (Jihae) for putting herself and the rest of the crew in harm’s way.  Since she’s still on a hospital bed, Marta can’t run from the rebuke of her superior (not that she would anyway).

In another part of the science center, Javier (Alberto Ammann) and Amelie (Clementine Poidatz) have fallen in love with each other again and are looking forward to life with their future child. This could be a bigger issue when it’s born, but for now, the parents seem to be happy.  Until . . .

All of a sudden, members of the Lukrum company begin to fall sick. They’re not ill as a result of the flu, but something significantly more sinister.  It starts with a cough, followed by a lot a blood and (in one case) death.  Nothing seems to be able to stop it from affecting people or spreading among the colony.  Just as this knowledge is discovered, it seems one of the scientists returning from an outdoor expedition begins coughing and exhibiting the same symptoms.  He’s placed in an isolation portion of the lab, but Javier checks on him and suddenly discovers he’s got the same thing.  Amelie can only watch from behind glass as he suffers from an unknown contagion.  What can be done?

In order to solve the problem, Marta realizes that she has to go backwards in her thinking. One of the samples that showed movement in the lab at the end of the third episode has mutated and doesn’t respond to ordinary drugs on Earth. Realizing this, her thinking leads her to understand that penicillin may be the answer. But will it be in time for both colonies?  And what can she do (if anything) while still recovering from her near-death experience?

In times of trial, it’s time to get along. (photo credit: National Geographic/Dusan Martincek)

I was very surprised by the goriness and gut-wrenching emotion of the episode—it almost had a Michael Crichton Andromeda Strain feel to it.  The real-life portion of the program brought the viewer to the Arctic again, but this time to northern Russia where reindeer are dying from a new strain of anthrax.  Again, the government and oil companies don’t want the public to know about the issue, but if left untreated, things could get a whole lot worse for the people there—and potentially the general public.

This brings me back to Marta’s realization. In order to learn from the past, we have to look there on occasion.  In fact, for the nation of Israel, one of the key words of life is remember. They looked back to the time when the angel of death passed over the houses of the Israelite people yet killed the first born of all the Egyptians, leading to the Exodus, parting of the Red Sea, and eventually claiming a land flowing with milk and honey (see Exodus 11). Christians take a look back every Christmas to the birth of Jesus on the outskirts of Bethlehem (see Luke 2). In addition, we all look at the past to be sure we don’t keep making the same mistakes over and over again.  Looking back is truly a good thing—as long as we don’t lose sight of the present and the future.

Two episodes remain. There’s still much to discover on Mars.

Mars S2E3: What Is Your Passion Worth?

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All is well . . . for now.

It seems Mars has been all the rage this week.  On Monday, NASA was able to land the InSight rover on the planet, leading to numerous cheers (and a well-choreographed celebration) from the scientists tasked with getting it there.  Over the next months and years, I’m sure they’re going to acquire an immense amount of data that will prove to be beneficial when humans take their first steps on the Red Planet.

Adding to the intrigue was the third episode of Mars on the National Geographic Channel Monday evening (9 PM/8 CT). The last time we took a look at the scientists and miners, they were engaged in a full-on fistfight over a discovery of liquid water by the Lukrum company. Commander Hana (Jihae) was also dealing with the loss of her sister and as the new episode begins, she’s not done a good job handling the situation over the previous four months.

Marta (Anamaria Marinca) was incensed in episode two about the water issue and she’s still fuming about it.  When she beings it up to Hana, the commander’s repression of grief gets the best of her, causing her to explode on her colleague.  Marta decides that she’s going to get samples to prove the existence of new life forms and despite being told otherwise, takes a rover to Lukrum and starts collecting.  It’s at this point in the show that the drama really begins.

What do you do when you’re running low on oxygen and the temperature is -40? (National Geographic/Richard Donnelly)

Interspersed with clips of scientists working in remote portions of the Greenland Ice Shelf, a solar flare damages a transformer, throwing everything into disarray. Nobody can communicate on either base. Marta loses her navigational system and stubbornly tries to drive back to the base.  This isn’t a good idea when night is falling and temperatures plummet to levels that would kill humans. Since she’s on battery power, she’s limited to what she can do.  It suddenly becomes a race against time to rescue Marta from freezing to death. All that she’s worked for up until this point is seriously in jeopardy.

It’s at this point that a distinctive message arises from the episode of Mars. Scientists aren’t always folks who work in labs, but individuals who are so called to their respective projects that they are willing to sacrifice any and everything to make their goals happen.  The folks in Greenland left family to accomplish their tasks.  Marta was so committed to going to Mars that she put the mission ahead of her boyfriend, who didn’t take the news well.  For those who wish to follow after Jesus and be his disciple, they have to be willing to do the same thing—leave all they’re comfortable with and follow him, no matter what (see Luke 9).  He never said it would be easy, but worth it in the end (see Matthew 19:29).

At the end of the episode, one of the samples Marta collected begins to show movement.  Could this be the start of something big?  Or could it be something else?  Be sure to tune in next week to find out!

Mars (Ep 1): The Journey Begins

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Alberto Ammann as Javier Delgado the Spanish hydrologist and geochemist on the Daedalus. The global event series MARS premieres November 14 at 8/9c in the U.S. and internationally Sunday November 13 on the National Geographic Channel. (photo credit: National Geographic Channels/Robert Viglasky)
(photo credit: National Geographic Channels/Robert Viglasky)

There was a time not too long ago when it seemed children wanted to be one of three things when they grew up: a police officer, a fireman, or an astronaut.  I fell into the latter category.  Watching some of the early flights of the Space Shuttle on television made me want to consider what it would be like to travel beyond the grasp of Earth’s gravity, exploring strange planets, discovering new forms of life, and avoiding the dreaded reading of Vogon poetry.  Not even watching the explosion of the Challenger in 1986 could deter me from that goal.  Unfortunately, it took a Tilt-a Whirl ride in college to reveal that I didn’t have the right stuff. Nevertheless, space has continued to be a fascination of mine to this day.

It also seems Hollywood has exhibited a case of space fever over the last decade, releasing new episodes of Star Trek and Star Wars while producing other quality films such as WALL*E, The Martian, and an upcoming flick called Passengers. It’s so contagious that Ron Howard, director of the critically acclaimed movie Apollo 13 in 1995, has jumped back into the genre as executive producer of a new series for National Geographic Channel called Mars (starts Monday November 14 at 9 PM [8 CT]).  It’s a challenging reminder of why space exploration is so risky and yet holds out so much hope for the inhabitants of this planet.

Olivier Martinez as Ed Grann the French CEO of the Mars Mission Corporation at a press conference. The global event series MARS premieres November 14 at 8/9c in the U.S. and internationally Sunday November 13 on the National Geographic Channel. (photo credit: National Geographic Channels/Robert Viglasky)
(photo credit: National Geographic Channels/Robert Viglasky)

Mars is going to inevitably draw comparisons to Matt Damon’s recent film, but it need not immediately do so.  In director Everardo Gout’s first episode entitled “Novo Mundo” (“New World” in Portugese), the IMSF (International Mars Science Foundation) has finally found six astronauts to make the trip.  It’s an international crew with members from Nigeria, Spain, Russia, and the US.  Each has their specific specialties that will be necessary as they set up the pre-positioned base camp. And with that, the trip on the spaceship Daedalus begins.  All seems to be going fine until they attempt to enter Mars’ limited atmosphere, when one of the thrusters cannot fire, threatening to end the mission before even setting foot on the planet. Split-second decisions have to be made, and Mission Commander Ben Sawyer (Ben Cotton) makes the biggest one—but physically pays for it. The team lands successfully, but a significant distance away from the camp, increasing the difficulty of the mission.

Interspersed within the episode is a documentary featuring major players in space exploration, technology, and former astronauts (even the author of “The Martian,” Andy Weir, makes an appearance). For this episode, the focus involves how to get people and cargo to space in an economical fashion using reusable spacecraft.  Elon Musk (of Tesla fame) has another company called SpaceX whose goal is to “make life interplanetary.”  They’ve been working on reusable rockets—you may have seen recent stories about their attempts to land one on a floating barge (they’ve been successful a few times, but have failed as well).  If we can’t get this part right, we won’t be able to make it happen.

For the most part, the first episode works.  The situations seem plausible and I appreciated the way Sawyer solves the thruster problem—not creating a solution, but using something that already works. The acting is a bit wooden in places and the IMSF headquarters seems awfully antiseptic in nature, but the tension of the situation reveals itself quite well.  Life on the Red Planet isn’t going to be easy, and I have a feeling we’re about to find out why.  I also think the interspersed documentary segments are interesting and add some nice background for something that is a bit difficult to quantify for the average viewer.  Your mileage may vary, however.

Ben Cotton as Ben Sawyer the American mission commander and systems engineer on the Daedalus. The global event series MARS premieres November 14 at 8/9c in the U.S. and internationally Sunday November 13 on the National Geographic Channel. (photo credit: National Geographic Channels/Robert Viglasky)
(photo credit: National Geographic Channels/Robert Viglasky)

It’s pretty clear that everyday survival is going to be a challenge for the astronauts—even without additional hurdles being added to the equation. But the six humans knew what they were getting into beforehand. They brought mementos from Earth—photos, trinkets, toys—to remind them what they were giving up. This sounds a lot like a conversation a young man had with Jesus one day–he said he would follow him but asked to bury his parents first (This was a euphemism of wanting to live out life before committing to something). Jesus knew this and said, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62 NIV).  This sounds awfully familiar as Mission Commander Sawyer asks the Daedalus crew before launch if there’s anything in the world that is more important than their mission.  If there is, he asks them to leave. He’s sharing the assumed risk of never seeing family or friends again and wants them to understand the full gravity of their calling.  The same goes for following after Christ—there’s a high cost involved (friends, family, life goals), but Christ says it’ll be worth it. To take the journey means not looking back.

Mars is one of those shows that needs to be given a chance simply due to the subject matter involved.  And after the first episode, you might be hooked.  I’m ready to see what happens next—and how in the world we’re going to make it a reality. The future of our species may be at stake.