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The Martian Chronicles [DVD][1980]

Rock Hudson (Actor), Gayle Hunnicutt (Actor), Michael Anderson (Director) Rated: Parental Guidance Format: DVD
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 1,215 ratings
£25.50
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DVD
26 Jun. 2018 		—
2
£19.87
£19.87 £20.30
DVD
18 April 2011 		—
2
£25.50
£49.95 £24.00
DVD — —
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£79.99 —
Format Colour, PAL, Full Screen, Mono
Contributor Michael Anderson Jr., Rock Hudson, Jon Finch, Gayle Hunnicutt, Bernie Casey, Bernadette Peters, Christopher Connelly, Maria Schell, Joyce Van Patten, Nyree Dawn Porter, Michael Anderson, Roddy McDowall, Nicholas Hammond, Fritz Weaver, Barry Morse, Darren McGavin See more
Language English
Runtime 4 hours and 41 minutes
Colour Colour

Product description

From the mind of science-fiction giant Ray Bradbury springs what is perhaps his most epic vision. Capturing mankind's first venture into the colonization of another planet - and its tragic first contact with another species.

Product details

  • Aspect Ratio ‏ : ‎ 4:3 - 1.33:1
  • Is discontinued by manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Package Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 19.2 x 13.6 x 1.6 cm; 0.28 g
  • Manufacturer reference ‏ : ‎ 5051429101910
  • Director ‏ : ‎ Michael Anderson
  • Media Format ‏ : ‎ Colour, PAL, Full Screen, Mono
  • Run time ‏ : ‎ 4 hours and 41 minutes
  • Release date ‏ : ‎ 18 April 2011
  • Actors ‏ : ‎ Rock Hudson, Gayle Hunnicutt, Nicholas Hammond, Darren McGavin, Roddy McDowall
  • Subtitles: ‏ : ‎ English
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English (Mono)
  • Studio ‏ : ‎ Icon
  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B003MVXH6I
  • Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 2
  • Customer reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 1,215 ratings

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
1,215 global ratings
Blu-ray review - Very good sci fi and close to the book - The Silver Locusts
5 out of 5 stars
Blu-ray review - Very good sci fi and close to the book - The Silver Locusts
This is a review of the Blu-ray of the Martian Chronicles and an update of my original review which was on DVD. This Blu-ray is a bit sharper and clearer than the DVD is so if you have the DVD and really liked it you might want to upgrade to the Blu-ray. The Blu-ray played like a film from the outset so disc 1 played the first 138 minutes straight through without any kind of episode break, which I liked. Also on my current player and TV setup the DVD didn't just play with blank/black side bars but with some top and bottom ones as well, whereas the blu-ray fills the screen from top to bottom but not side to side. The only negative things are that the special effects (the space ships) really look like cheap models and the DVD had a better cover design.As to the content I watched this series on TV as a kid and thoroughly enjoyed it so bought the series on DVD and got to enjoy it all over again. It's quite faithful to the book and well done so five stars.
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Top reviews from United Kingdom

am1933
5.0 out of 5 stars Dated but still entertaining
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 26 May 2024
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I remember watching this first time around and probably being a bit too young to take it all in.
The premise doesn't really stand up to scientific analysis so be prepared to suspend your disbelief for a bit.
The story is entertaining if a little long winded but it's still worth a watch.
The overall quality of the package is decent enough with the main feature and some extras are thrown in for good measure.
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stu
4.0 out of 5 stars odd one out!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 August 2024
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I remember watching this in the 1980's, the effects were of the time and they look like something from Stingray or Captain Scarlet, only 3 years previous, Viking landed on Mars and sent back pictures, Mars in this instance looks like parts of Nevada, with a blue sky, and clouds. Rock Hudson plays the Captain, since he was a big name at the time they bigged up the part from the book. there are 3 episodes lasting about 97 minutes each, plus extras. there is some narration, probably from Ray Bradbury's original pages. I did read the book ages ago, it is much deeper than this outing. on the whole it seems like they struggled to get this on the screen, as most of us already know, putting complex novels from top S/F writers to the visual media is nothing short of juggling with a dozen kitchen knives at best. the cast all play their parts well despite the challenges, the Martians are portrayed with understanding and sympathy, I hope any Aliens that arrive here do the same when it's our turn! The production crew includes Milton Subostky, he of the Dalek films fame. Watch this with hindsight, we now know what Mars looks like, and sounds like, watch it with a view to a comment on humans and how they see themselves in the cosmos. See you on the rocket.
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P. Sweeting
5.0 out of 5 stars Great series
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 31 March 2024
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Glad it is on Blu Ray at last in the UK, always loved this from the moment I saw it on TV.
2 people found this helpful
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Alan, Scotland
5.0 out of 5 stars Real Science Fiction
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 December 2011
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I was about to buy a Region 1 DVD just to get the DVD set then found the Region 2 set by chance. A long wait but good to see this on DVD.

Like others, I caught bits of this on BBC 2 many years ago and pegged it immediately as the Chronicles, and regretted not being able to see it all from start to finish. This is real science fiction, written by a master - one of the few masters.

C.S. Lewis referred to science fiction as the only genuine consciousness-enhancing drug. Bradbury does not just excite the imagination - he stimulates the mind. There is so much in these stories that is subtle but immense in scope and concept. Who cares about the 1980's production and the lack of whizz-bang special effects - which are often all that a modern film is about since few can write good stories these days - or we're now all watching rip-offs of the same ideas that Bradbury explores in the Chronicles and many of his other stories.

Scientific inaccuracies? In Bradbury's future (remember this stuff was written in 1951) instantaneous contact between Earth and Mars is possible. The technology was such that a lander-type craft was all that was needed to get into orbit, fly to Mars and land again. Bradbury's stories aren't about technology, they are about people, and this production captures that in spades.

As said elsewhere, this is an essential addition to any real science fiction fan's collection.
11 people found this helpful
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Mr. J. Lazzerini
3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, but allowing for it's age, average
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 September 2011
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The film (or episodes) has a low budget feel about it, for example the scenery, the martians with obviously human heads with a false skin to cover the hair and ears, vehicles not in the least futuristic etc. Also I found the acting rather 'wooden' or at times exagerated, but maybe all this should be expected for an american TV series made in the 70's.

However, the story follows Ray Bradbury closely, but somehow lacks the air of mystery and fantasy. For those who read the book when younger, you will be lucky not to feel disappointed. For those who have not read the book, perhaps it could be entertaining.
7 people found this helpful
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HD Cameraman
5.0 out of 5 stars A lost treasure,.... found!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 August 2012
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MARS, not just a planet of red sand....
Just when you thought it was gone for ever up pops this long lost 1980's made for TV miniseries out of the woodwork.

Having looked many times on the www and being unsuccessful, I was amazed when TMC came into view from over the horizon.
Rock Hudson still looks like the all American hero and of course leads his band of merry men onto the surface of The Red Planet to investigate the previous lost expeditions.
It's spooky, eerie, and has its own take on the " could be " fate of the Martians.
The late , great Ray Bradbury was not all that happy with this version of his story but as it is the only one , it's good.

Mourn the quiet melancholy Martians, so intent on not sharing anything.
Be afraid of the mask and the beads gun
Scratch the chickenpox spots, and drink the coffee( so may cups of it!)

Maybe the latest USA Martian rover " Curiosity" will find something to substantiate the myths and findings in this story.
What happens in 2020 when man sets foot on The Red Planet we can only imagine...
Will they find old beer cans and burger wrappers from expeditions 1 & 2 ????

A " Spielberg/Scott" blockbuster must be on the cards for a remake I think!!!!
3 people found this helpful
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Dave S McDowell
5.0 out of 5 stars Takes me back!
Reviewed in Canada on 14 December 2019
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Just about to watch this now, tonight.
My dad always liked sci fi and we used to always watch this when it was on, although I’m sure we probably drove him crazy asking him to explain years ago.
This will be a great trip down memory lane.
Can’t wait!
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e=mc2
5.0 out of 5 stars なつかしい・・・。
Reviewed in Japan on 26 June 2017
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火星年代記はWikiによると1980年にTBS系列で海外ドラマとして放映されており、これを見た記憶がずっと残っていました。字幕だったのか、吹き替えだったのか。とても見たくなり探してみると、今は海外版しかないんですね。これ字幕を出しても英語しかありませんが、とても早口な役者が多いため（？）中学生レベルの英語力でも、字幕はあるに越したことありません。
ミニチュア然とした宇宙船などの特撮のレベルはもちろん低く、見る側がアタマの中で補完する必要がありますが（笑）、火星の古代遺跡などの美術部分は、現代ではCGでやってしまう部分をきっちり作り込んでいて素晴らしいです。
ラストシーンが良いです。覚えていましたが、やっぱり感動しました。
3 people found this helpful
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Huelin
5.0 out of 5 stars martian chronicles
Reviewed in France on 11 February 2013
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bien reçu cette série qui à l'époque était en francais j'avais d'ailleurs vu les épisodes j'avais adoré il faut que ca sorte absolument en langue française
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indijo
5.0 out of 5 stars Not a Disappointment like other screen-adaptions of novels
Reviewed in the United States on 19 November 2007
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As a big fan of science fiction for 30 years and a writer of it for over 20 now, I have come to realize that there is a formula for good science fiction and Ray Bradbury's Martian Chronicles definitely follows that formula and does an excellent job with it. I read the Martian Chronicles while I was attending high school in the mid-1970s and when it was turned into a miniseries in the early 80s, I managed to catch most of it on tv, but I missed it one night and never got to see the whole series in complete until now, on Dvd. Bradbury follows the formula for good sci-fi quite well and the tv series does a fairly good job with it. I have to say that, in most cases I am disappointed with the tv or cinematic reproduction of my favorite science fiction novels, but Martian Chronicles is one of those rare exceptions.

No doubt most young people raised during the 80s and 90s on all that fast-paced action and digital special effects probably would consider the Martian Chronicles too slow-paced and a bit too boring for their taste-buds. But I for one don't give a damn about action and special effects, as long as it isn't done so poorly that it makes it all look fake, like those retro low-budget thrillers from the 50s. The Martian Chronicles has its share of action and special effects, and it is done well enough to look believable, but at the same time it isn't over-done either, and as far as I'm concerned, that's a good thing.

For the Martian Chronicles, in following the formula for good sci-fi, is not reliant upon sensationalistic action and special effects, but on an excellent story-line, plot, setting, and characters. All of these aspects are done so well that the Martian Chronicles miniseries comes across as an exceptional adaption of Bradbury's novel, despite the somewhat low-tech special effects. Some fans might be a little disappointed by the fact that there is no time given to any internal perspective of the space voyages aboard the rocketships and very little given to it after the ships land, but there are some good shots of the ships landing and after they have landed, and beautiful shots of the settings on the Martian planet, including the Martian homes (built like extensions upon caves in the sides of mountains), the Martian architectural shrine, which is a fascinating site to see, and the vast desert landscapes and mountains.

The stories within the miniseries are all very interesting variations on science fiction, including the tragic first contact scenerios, one which puts 3 human astronauts within a grand illusion created by the Martians to fool them into thinking Mars is some kind of heaven, populated by friends and relatives they lost; another in which two parents, the Lustigs, that lost their son David (Michael Anderson Jr) on the second mission, miss him so badly that he comes to them one night, and after they accept him, he gets lost in the town, amidst the crowd, and they discover he's some kind of Martian changling under the mental control of humans who have lost their loved ones.

Then there's the priest (Fritz Weaver) that has heard some miraculous stories that lead him to believe that Martians still exist, so he and his brother-of-the-cloth companion (Roddy McDowel) go into the desert in search of the Martians and encounter three blue spheres of light, which the priest communicates with and learns about the Martians. There's also a scene where the same priest encounters a visual representation of Christ, as the tortured, suffering soul in human form, and it pleads with him to stop thinking about him because it cannot bear the pain, to turn away and let him go. That was perhaps one of the most symbolic, philosophical aspects of the dreadful human condition in the story.

Perhaps the only part of the story that bothered me was when the war on Earth became imminent, and the vast majority of the humans on Mars decided to (or were foolishly suckered to) return to Earth. Where was the sense to that? They were perfectly safe and at peace on Mars, with several towns and settlements in their virgin prime. Why suddenly leave those colonies and return to Earth, because a war had started, not because the situation had improved? Excuse me, but isn't that rather like moths flying into flames or horses running into burning barns?

The only answer to this puzzling action, which was not explained very well, was that the colonies still were dependant upon Earth for resources, and when the war started, the shipments from Earth ended. There was one line between Colonel Wilder (Rock Hudson) and the general at the space center that made this point, but it still seems awfully stupid, and I suppose one could say, a testament to the epitome of human failure, that the entire experiment with Martian colonies should be terminated under those circumstances.

Despite the war and the termination of shipments to Mars, Wilder returns to Earth to save his brother, and apparently a handful of humans actually decide to stay on Mars (the more intelligent ones, obviously). That would have been my decision. I'm sorry, but I simply find it hard to believe that so many humans at the colonies of Mars decided to return to Earth because of a war. In any case, the story continues by covering what happens to the handful of humans that were smart enough to stay on Mars.

The most satirically funny piece in the miniseries is about one man (Christopher Connelly) and one woman (Bernadette Peters) that manage to connect by telephone. They are both alone in towns separated by a thousand miles and when the man decides to go through the whole phone book and finally reaches her, he quickly hops onto a small gyro-plane (mini-one-man helicopter, one of the coolest forms of transport in the series) and flies across the vast desert landscape and Martian mountains to her. When he finally reaches her, she is one of the sexiest human females a man could ever hope to have as a companion. But once they get together on a date, alone in a large, high-class restaurant, as he gazes upon her beautiful form (I have to say, Peters really is an amazing piece of eye-candy in this story) he learns she is completely obsessed with her body, a female narcissus-type, and really only wants a man around to serve her and do things for her, including make her meals and fix all the gadgets and mechanical conveniences that she depends upon.

When she rejects his more physical approach at the door of her home after their date, and admits that she is looking forward to him making breakfast and fixing the hot-tub at the local spa, he decides he's not interested in her anymore and quickly leaves by gyro-plane. I dunno if I would have been so quick to leave such an incredibly beautiful woman like that, in spite of her complete vanity, but then again, I've never even come close to such a beautiful creature in my entire life. I would have fixed the spa, at the very least, and seen where it went after that.

The action scene between Sam Parkhill (Darren McGavin), the owner of a roadside restaurant, and some Martians on sand-ships is perhaps the most memorable action scene of the series. In typical human cowboy-mentality style, McGavin accidentally shoots one of the Martians when it suddenly appears in his restaurant to give him a land-grant for a huge portion of Mars. Later, the Martians run him down and corner him in their sand-ships (ships that look like boats with sails but are designed to move over flat desert- lands, powered by the strong Martian winds). Once cornered, a Martian gives McGavin the land-grant, tells him about the huge portion of land that has been granted to him, and also passes on a cryptic message about Earth.

It's interesting to note that, of all the original astronauts that were part of the missions to Mars, only one expressed compassion and concern for the Martians and their civilization, while most of the others, in typical human ethnocentric form, were only interested in what they could make of Mars for themselves. The astronaut that expressed concern for the Martians was Spender (Bernie Casey). Once they had reached Mars (the third mission), Spender took a small gyro-plane out to explore the land, and when he reported back, he expressed over-whelming sympathy for the fact that the Martian civilization apparently had perished after making contact with humans, due to a lack of biological immunity to some simple human illness like chicken pox.

Spender's talks with Colonel Wilder set the mood for much of the series continual mystery about the Martians and their civilization. It's interesting how Bradbury contrasted Spender's genuinely compassionate vision with the complete ignorance and lack of interest shown by the majority of humans. Even Colonel Wilder was slow to pick up on the vision that Spender presented, but he did, while patiently juggling it with his responsibilities to the mission and the human colonies that he helped to construct.

After they lose Spender, while he does his best to defend the honor of the Martians, cloaked as one of them and pitting Martian weapons against Wilder and Parkhill in a contest at the Martian shrine, Wilder begins to seriously wonder about the Martians and their civilization. Spender gave him the impression that some Martians still survived, and throughout the series, Wilder had a desire to meet one of them. In the end, Wilder does meet a Martian, at the shrine, and we're given a fascinating science fiction and fantasy glimpse upon the speculative nature of the universe and intelligent life, as it is contrasted between a human (Wilder) and a Martian. Wilder learns that they can live and continue humanity on Mars, but only after accepting the fact that it must be different, that some aspects of life on Earth simply wouldn't work there.

I dunno about anyone else, but despite the fact that the Martian Chronicles was populated by characters from the late 70s and the special effects were still low-tech, I think it still does quite well today, because the story-lines, settings, and characters are all done so well. There's nothing about this miniseries that can be faulted as cheap, low-budget, unrealistic (accept maybe the atmosphere of Mars, still a big mystery), poorly played or badly acted. It's all quite good and any true fan of science fiction that hasn't seen it should see it before reaching any conclusions based upon other people's reviews.
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Frank Shirley
5.0 out of 5 stars Still engaging after almost 50 years.
Reviewed in the United States on 1 July 2024
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The item arrived promptly and in good condition. I had watched the series decades ago on public TV and thought many times, over the years that I would like to see it again. I very much enjoyed watching the series again.
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