How the Martians invaded Hollywood

Mars has been the flavour of the week — in both the science and movie worlds - but our obsession with the red planet goes back a long way.

Mars has been the flavour of the week, partly because of NASA’s announcement that it has found water there and also because movie goers have been lapping up Ridley Scott’s new blockbuster The Martian in which Matt Damon plays an astronaut stranded on the red planet.

This heightened interest is just a new phase in a centuries-long fascination with our intragalactic neighbour. Many scientists and writers focused on the planet and speculated on whether there might be life there.

Then, in the 20th century filmmakers began turning speculation into entertainment.

Possibly the earliest film about life on Mars was a 1910 short, A Trip To Mars, by Thomas Edison’s film company. The plot follows a scientist who discovers a formula for “reverse gravity”. When he accidentally sprinkles some of the formula on himself he is propelled to Mars where he encounters giant tree-men and a colossal pointy-eared Martian, who blows him back to Earth.

It was more about special effects than science, cleverly splicing footage of the tiny space traveller alongside giant Martians.

The poster for the 1951 film Flight To Mars.

Although 1924 Soviet film Aelita: Queen Of Mars had impressive effects, futuristic costumes and sets, it had a different intent. The hero, Moscow radio engineer Los, believes he has received a message from Mars and fantasises about a Martian woman named Aelita. He builds a rocket to reach the planet and becomes embroiled in an uprising against the brutal Martian ruler, Aelita’s father.

Spoiler alert: It’s all a dream and Los is forced to deal with reality on Earth. But the style of the Mars scenes influenced many other science fiction films of the time.

With rocket science literally taking off after World War II, later films tried to be more realistic. The 1950 film Rocketship X-M depicted an accidental landing on Mars after a moon mission goes awry. On Mars the crew finds signs of an advanced civilisation that has crumbled back to the stone age.

In the 1951 film Flight To Mars, a Mars mission lands in time to thwart a Martian invasion of Earth.

This image released by NASA this week shows dark, narrow, 100m-long streaks called recurring slope lineae flowing downhill on Mars that are inferred to have been formed by contemporary flowing water. Picture: AFP

Both Rocketship X-M and Flight To Mars featured ships resembling real post-war US and Russian rocket technology. Both were shot in American deserts to simulate the barren Martian landscape and rushed into production to cash in on the popularity of 1950 film Destination Moon, which was intended to be a “scientifically accurate” portrayal of a moon landing.

The 1953 film Abbott and Costello Go To Mars would parody all of these films, using a similar rocket and space suits, but adding more laughs.

In 1955 Conquest Of Space saw a Mars mission sabotaged by a delusional captain. While it looks dated, the effects were state of the art for the time. Billed as a “true story from tomorrow” it was more accurate than some movies, depicting Mars as harsh, inhospitable and devoid of life. But the crew also discover water, so the scriptwriters pre-empted NASA’s announcement this week by 60 years.

Matt Damon in a scene from The Martian about an astronaut stranded on Mars.

The 1964 film Robinson Crusoe On Mars centred on Commander Draper (Paul Mantee) surviving on the desert planet, with only a monkey and an alien slave, he names Friday, for company. It is a gritty survival story, not unlike the new Matt Damon flick, but a bit inaccurate — Mars is shown as a warm planet with a breathable atmosphere. Still, it was practically a documentary compared to the silly, campy Santa Claus Conquers The Martians (1965) about Martians kidnapping Santa.

In 1990s Total Recall, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mars was colonised by humans living in sealed dystopian cities. The film, based on a Philip K. Dick story, won an Oscar for its effects and popularised the concept of terraforming — transforming Mars into a planet more like Earth.

Terraforming was also the basis of 2000s Mission To Mars about a crew landing to begin its transformation.

Originally published as How the Martians invaded Hollywood