Script Review: MISSION TO MARS
by Bert Ehrmann

On Saturday, July the 17th, I was able to attend the WIZARD WORLD convention in Chicago Illinois. There, other than being amazed at how much wrestling and Beanie Baby crap was on sale – all the while watching a poorly taped dub of the movie THE MATRIX, I was able to purchase the script to the movie MISSION TO MARS. This movie is due in theaters next Summer, with filming set to start any day.
    
If this Summer's movies THE MUMMY was a "candy coated" version of INDIANA JONES and LAKE PLACID was a "candy coated" version of Jaws, then MISSION TO MARS must be next Summer's "candy coated" version of 2001, A SPACE ODYSSEY (think the monolith). The movie deals with the crew of the first manned flight to Mars finding an ancient alien artifact in their exploration of the planet. The crew of this flight accidentally activates this device and are all, except one, killed by it. This lone survivor is able to send a single short message back to Earth which puts in motion a rescue mission.

The crew of the rescue flight must deal with everything from their ship being pelted by micro-meteorites to an engine explosion. However, they do (most of them anyway) make it to the surface of Mars and find the lone survivor of the first mission. It is soon discovered that this alien artifact is not a malevolent device but benevolent device, and the race is on to find out just what it's use is before the crews of the two Mars flights are trapped by a massive sand storm.

Although the basic underlying idea is sound, a rescue mission to the far away planet of Mars, I disliked very much how the story evolved in the script. I also found several similarities to other movies (several of the scenes with the second crew to Mars hearken back to the shuttle scenes in the movie ARMAGEDDON, the timetable of the movie is much like that DEEP IMPACT in that each movie unfolds over the course of several years and it's striking similarities to the end of 2001, A SPACE ODYSSEY).

Hopefully, MISSION TO MARS will get another rewrite, the version of the script that I read was a rewrite by TED TALLY, which will strengthen the characters and improve the storyline.  Look for MISSION TO MARS to open the Summer of 2000.  7/19/1999

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