Last Days on Mars

04 November 2011

John Howell

The human race still hasn’t made it to Mars (much to my disappointment) but at least we’ve had some fictional journeys in the meantime. The Last Days on Mars is a new science fiction thriller set on Mars to be directed by Ruairi Robinson. Robinson is best known for the short robot film Blinky (the robot is pictured here). You can watch the trailer to Blinky on YouTube below. The Last Days on Mars screenplay is by Clive Dawson, with effects being created by the team from Peter Jackson’s Weta Workshop.

Here’s the film's official plot summary:

"As their last day on Mars draws to a close, the astronaut crew is on the verge of a major breakthrough – collected rock specimens reveal microscopic evidence of life. Meanwhile, communication is underway with AURORA, the approaching spacecraft that will relieve the crew of their operations. In their last hours on the planet, two astronauts go back to SITE 9, a cavernous valley on the surface of Mars, to collect further evidence of their discovery. But a routine excavation turns deadly when one of them falls to his death and his body taken host and re-animated by the very life form they sought to discover."

Sounds interesting, but I’ve been disappointed by Mars films’ before, especially the anemic Mission to Mars in 2000. While it wasn’t a sensational hit, Red Planet starring Val Kilmer, which came out in the same year, was far superior. In 2050, a dying Earth sends a mission to colonise Mars in a desperate attempt to avoid obliteration. Kate Bowman (Carrie-Anne Moss from the Matrix films) is the mission’s commander. Like the Last Days on Mars, aliens were involved here too.

No official release date for the Last Days on Mars yet, but we'll keep a look out for more news and publish it when we find it. Perhaps Ruairi Robinson can weave an intriguing science fiction tale while we wait for the Russians, Chinese or the US to make it there for real.