I watched the first episode and it wasn't bad. The production design is pretty good. They copied "The Martian" in terms of the look of the spacesuits and hab and interiors. They went brighter with the colors, but that works. All the exterior shots are heavily red-tinted, but that is also done well, giving it an alien feeling. And the desert that they filmed in, in Australia, looks like another planet.
The Coober Pedy area where it is filmed is actually something of a Mars analogue, with strong acidic weathering of the rocks. The world's largest poly-hydrated magnesium sulphate deposit is near by at the ironically named Moon Plain. There are also some nice examples of inverted relief in the area. Coober Pedy is a world famous opal mining field, with many people living underground and with underground shops, hotels , and churches, to escape the summer heat.
Quote from: Dalhousie on 06/07/2023 07:44 amThe Coober Pedy area where it is filmed is actually something of a Mars analogue, with strong acidic weathering of the rocks. The world's largest poly-hydrated magnesium sulphate deposit is near by at the ironically named Moon Plain. There are also some nice examples of inverted relief in the area. Coober Pedy is a world famous opal mining field, with many people living underground and with underground shops, hotels , and churches, to escape the summer heat.I know that there have been several movies filmed there, including Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. It's really something to look at, although you have to be looking down at it to see the full dramatically alien landscape. I assume that they filmed in the winter when it was actually bearable. That means this show must have filmed in mid-2022. "Stars on Mars" was only announced in April and only put on the schedule in May. I don't know what that really means. Does it mean that it sat around without a buyer for a long time? Or did they just keep it quiet? (It could have been public but under a vague name like "William Shatner Project #307.") There was a reality show that appeared during the pandemic that had been sitting around for at least a year because it was bad and no network wanted it. When they ran out of programming, they decided to put it on, where it got trashed by critics. It's hard to believe, but sometimes networks spend tens of millions of dollars on a show that they then don't like and don't want to air.I'm rambling...Anyway, the first episode of "Stars on Mars" was fun. It was an amusing take on The Martian. I expected to hate it and didn't. I kinda enjoyed it. And if you want to know, "McLovin" was the first celebrity kicked off of Mars.
News reports here suggest it is being filmed now. How reliable this is I do not know. I'll be in Coober Pedy in a couple of weeks, will ask about.