[ Post a Response | EVEN DeepER Blurting! ]
Posted by DexterBG on 1/19/2009, 3:15 am, in reply to "DBNS: Don't Touch That Dial!"
This is one of my favorite of the anti-Red scifi movies. And maybe a cut above (in some ways) "The 27th Day". Although the latter was more restrained about delivering the anti-commie preachy stuff, until very end. And may have made a better choice as a MST3k episode. Check out "The 27th Day" sometime.
As for "Red Planet Mars", I'm uncertain as to its intent. I once thought it to be some kind of attempt at Christian Scifi. But later I developed the notion that it was more anti-religious. The way it portrays people of faith as so panicky. The whole of the so-called "free world" goes into a panic, after hearing how good the Martians have it on Mars. And yet little reason is given for this, other than it threatens humans' faith in their own established industries and services. Will the Martians' way of life topple our Medical establishment, and our energy producers (coal and oil)? Why wait, panic now!! Perhaps the movie is right about one thing. The way Wall Street might react to the news.
Particularly annoying is Linda Cronyn. Her mood swings are down right manic depressive. At the drop of a hat, she's practically screaming about the end of the world, at the top of her lungs. A real PMS moment, when you see her explode. While Chris Cronyn sort of stands there wondering if this is the same calm scientist woman he married? She basically represents what much of the rest of the panicking free world is thinking.
In the end, the couple discover the trick that has been played on them, and the world. And decide to sacrifice their lives, to prevent it from becoming known and prevent the world from plunging into total chaos. Which makes it a bit of a sham religious faith. Even though the final Martian transmission gives the viewer pause to wonder if there wasn't some truth to it all? Or was it just wishful thinking on everyone's part to interpret the message the way they did. This ambiguity and other things about the movie, caused me to wonder whether it was a story about faith or delusions? Science Fiction isn't known for being favorable to religious beliefs.
In the end, it's the vengeful machination of a madman (evil scientist) that ends up uniting the world under a common faith. Purely by accident, or by God's plan. But one can't but wonder if mankind won't find a way to screw this all up again?
The Cronyn's radio transmitter reminded me of something from "Forbidden Planet". At least it had a bit of Art Deco style going for it. And they had to count the Oscilloscope's lines very quickly to get the the numbers received. Eight and nine, were particularly tough. And how the heck to you express a "Zero" value? As ten?! How do you tell the Martians about that convention? Chris didn't transmit Pi's value out to 32 decimal places, where the first zero appears. And as some of us know, the going can get tough without the zero. Like writing a novel without the letter "e". It takes a lot of working around.
-Dex-
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