Martian Chronicals on DVD (1 Viewer)

[Cees Alons]

Haven't read The Martian Chronicles for a long time ("Golden eyed they were..."). If I remember well, Bradbury loved the theme and wrote many short Martian Chronicles stories over time (perhaps even with some contradictions, as I thought then) and braided them together later (explaining there were several expeditions). Those questions and points raised in the spoilers are indeed essential plots in the originals.

Cees

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

I thought the offending expression was a Bogart line from Casablanca.

 

[Cees Alons]

Offending expressions do not get less offensive when uttered by Bogey!

Cees

 

[Michael Boyd]

Weren't a couple of the stories redone on Bradbury's Anthology series on the USA network? Seems like I remember seeing the one about the dead son who comes home and ends up being a shape changing Martian.

 

[Zen Butler]

I would think it would make it to dvd. If I'm not mistaken, Anchor Bay had the VHS. Personally, I will give it a rental first. I was young when I saw it. Sometimes those childhood favorites are quite different when viewed years later. This is what happened when revisiting his literary works. Loved them as a child, but quickly outgrew them.

With the exception of the average and stodgy Something Wicked This Way Comes(1983). I haven't seen a stellar Bradbury adaption.

There would be some interest in checking out Martian Chronicles, if only for nostalgia sake.

 

[Scott Strang]

Well it looks like Martian Chronicals is coming to DVD this September.

Don't know about ya'll but I'm really looking foward to this.

 

[David Lambert]

Scott, I owe you and everyone else in this thread an apology. When I posted my news (with cover art) about this at the end of May, I meant to go look for this thread. I simply forgot...my bad!

 

[Scott Strang]

..I meant to go look for this thread. I simply forgot...

Ahh it's no biggie. But I must admit I'm surprised to see it actually coming out.

Also August 10th is a lot better than September 7th for a release date.

 

[John Watson]

This is one I want too. Moody atmosphere.

BTW it is "Chronicles"

 

[Sean Campbell]

Excellent! I saw it back when I was about 5 and haven't seen it since. I remember thinking it was great and some of the imagery has haunted me for years. Thing is... will seeing it again destroy the memory?

 

[david_slater]

i already have mine pre-order at amazon.con

 

[AndyMcKinney]

In answer to one of the spoliers:
It wasn't Rock Hudson's character who "returned" to his hometown on Mars, it was Nicholas Hammond's character, who was a member of the second expedition, which also had no survivors and prompted the Earth to send Hudson to Mars to investigate both disappearances.

Also, someone else asked about whether some of the stories were re-made later. That is indeed true. Several of Bradbury's original short stories were made as individual episodes of The Ray Bradbury Theatre throughout its run. Several years ago, these episodes were compiled into a single VHS release (which I picked up used at a flea market) entitled: Ray Bradbury Theatre: The Martian Episodes. Some of the stories in the NBC mini-series were re-made on this tape, in addition to others that did not appear in the 1980 version.

 

[TonyD]

i didnt think this was a good show either, but i can see why some people think it was good.

unfortunately i read the book well before the mini series aired so my opinion was going to be jaded from that.

i wish i saw the show first.

 

[Sam Favate]

Finally got around to watching this this weekend, and I concur that the first two parts are pretty good, but the third is a let down. The segment with Bernadette Peters is like a 70s sitcom inside of a science fiction movie, and it's awful. The ending isn't satisfying in that I didn't feel like things were explained very well, although I did get what Hudson and his family were doing at the very end and it did end on a sweet note.

Still, overall, I'd have to say it was a disappointment. It was too random and scattershot to tell a cohesive story. Funny how so much sci-fi on TV in that period (1978-1981) was that way (Battlestar, Buck Rogers, etc.). Perhaps it was that the powers that be at the time just didn't get it, but were anxious to cash in on the success of Star Wars.

Perhaps a new mini-series of the Martian Chronicles is in order, on the level of Sci-Fi's Dune miniseries.