If you ever had the thought your child could grow up to be an astronaut, you might want to rethink that after watching SBS docu-drama series Mars.
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It features a unique blend of nail-biting scripted drama and feature film calibre visual effects, intercut with documentary truths and interviews from present day scientists and innovators leading the research and development of space technology. It dramatises the world they are creating as they pull off mankind's greatest feat - interplanetary travel and colonisation of the red planet.
The problem is, how can we know the affect this could have on brave souls who offer themselves up to - in the words of Captain Kirk - "boldly go where no man has gone before".
A recent episode brought home how the isolation could play tricks on the mind, leading one coloniser to open the airlock and kill himself and one other. In subsequent episodes we see how the devastating tragedy forces everyone on Mars and Earth to question the mission. That's just in season 1, Mars 2 awaits.
Meanwhile, in the present day, SpaceX continues to work on pioneering rocket technology that could one day help mankind actually reach the red planet.
Of course you could also binge on Fox Sci-Fi with Star Trek: The Next Generation and X-Files from the beginning to spook you into never contemplating boarding a space flight even if you won the lottery. SBS Viceland also screens X-files although it's schedule is up to season 7.
For a step back in time by comparison, you can discover how the future of space travel was viewed back in 1968 by director Stanley Kubrick, as you revisit the classic 2001: A Space Odyssey, on Foxtel Movies Ultra HD December 27 at 10.25pm. In 1999, moon astronauts uncover a mysterious black obelisk. Come 2001, between Earth and Jupiter, a spacecraft's intelligent computer makes a mistake that kills most of the human crew. It then continues to kill to hide its error.
You remember Hal, don't you? And just think, it's already 50 years since man walked on the moon.