National Geographic Abu Dhabi redefines television storytelling with scripted documentary that explores how we'll colonize MARS

Abu Dhabi - MENA Herald: National Geographic Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi Media’s first free-to-air Arabic speaking documentary channel, has announced the premiere of MARS, an unprecedented scripted documentary and global event series that showcases the dramatic setbacks and successes of the modern scientific space revolution, while envisioning humankind’s first attempt to colonize the distant planet.
This epic six-part scripted documentary tells the inspiring story from the vantage point of a fictitious crewed mission to Mars in 2033. Executive producers Ron Howard and Brian Grazer hand-selected Everado Gout to direct all six episodes of the series, filmed earlier this year. The scripted portion focuses on Earth’s first crewed mission to MARS aboard the spacecraft Daedalus. Its maiden voyage in 2033 is crewed by a carefully selected international team of six uniquely qualified astronauts.
MARS premieres on Sunday, 13th November at 10 pm, with every episode airing at the same time on subsequent Sundays, on the National Geographic Abu Dhabi. Set both in the future and in the present day, MARS will redefine television storytelling by combining feature film-quality scripted drama and visual effects with best-in-class documentary sequences to drive forward a cohesive, edge-of-your-seat story of mankind’s thrilling quest to colonize Mars.
Abdul Hadi Al Sheikh, Executive Director of Television at Abu Dhabi Media, said: “This incredible series forms an important part of National Geographic Abu Dhabi’s ongoing commitment to excellence, demonstrated through the production of world-class documentaries that combine visually spectacular storytelling with narratives that are sure to enthrall even the most inquisitive of minds. The series highlights Abu Dhabi Media’s dedication to delivering interactive and intelligent content that caters to local and regional audiences.”
MARS moves its characters out to colonize the Red Planet – while presenting real-life arguments that we need to get there as soon as possible. Leading global experts behind the mini-series clearly see a human settlement on Mars as the best way to ensure the prolonged existence of our species. Mars is 249 million miles from Earth, and the trip from Earth would last about eight months.
Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, founder and CEO of the spaceflight company SpaceX and well known for harboring ambitions to send humans to Mars features in MARS and says, "The future of humanity is fundamentally going to bifurcate along one of two directions: Either we're going to become a multi-planet species and a spacefaring civilization, or we're going to be stuck on one planet until some eventual extinction event. For me to be excited and inspired about the future, it's got to be the first option."
Sanjay Raina, General Manager, National Geographic Abu Dhabi MENA said: “You can call it television pointing the way for reality as we tell a science-supported, but cinematic story of humankind’s first steps onto a new planet. We consulted a series of globally renowned experts and have successfully redefined visual story-telling with MARS. The documentary and scripted drama formats have combined to deliver a unique reality-based format. MARS has the potential to become the favorite mini-series among millions of Arab viewers and light up the edutainment industry. It is an exceptional production and highlights our standards and capabilities to accomplish such a path-breaking assignment.”
Of all the planets in our solar system, none has captured our collective imagination like Mars — a mysterious, indelible part of the zeitgeist. The quest to send humans to Mars has engaged the top minds in science in a modern-day space race, and it has infiltrated pop culture through blockbusters like Andy Weir’s “The Martian” and through out-of-this-world tweets from astronaut Scott Kelly.