Roving Mars (IMAX/Blu-ray + DVD-Video)
Picture:
C+ Sound: B+/B- Extras: C+ Film: B-
A
constant favorite subject of documentaries and especially IMAX-produced ones is
outer space and space travel. Like most
productions in the IMAX format since its introduction in the mid-1970s, George
Butler’s Roving Mars (2004) runs
about 40 minutes and is a likable, worthy successor to the legacy of such
productions. Just when you think one of
these might be dumb or boring, each installment becomes like a progress report
to see how NASA is succeeding, even with some setbacks.
However,
this is a little choppier in its editing, overuse of video and the various
aspect ratio framing within the frame can be off-putting, but the content
overrides this for the most part and it succeeds despite not being the best of
its kind.
The 1080p
1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image on the Blu-ray and anamorphically
enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on the DVD-Video are almost the same as various formats
are used and the 70mm IMAX footage is the only footage that looks better on
Blu-ray if that. This just cheats and
uses too much video instead of real film of any kind. We would have settled for 16mm. Video can look plugged up color wise and
pasty detail wise. The DVD also has a 1.33
X 1 image that shows much of the video was 1.78 X 1 to begin with and all come
from a digital internegative, which holds it back in 1080p. Both discs have decent Dolby Digital 5.1
sound, but the Blu-ray adds PCM 24/48 5.1 mix is superior in richness, better
soundfield and fullness throughout. That
makes the Blu-ray better, if by a margin narrower than one would like.
Two
extras are included and they are featurettes, one of which (in Disney fashion)
is a 1957 archival piece worth seeing called Mars & Beyond, running nearly an hour (for TV?) and may be
dated, but holds up on some levels that make it both charming and reminds us of
how the company was always trying to make the sciences exciting. Mars:
Past, Present & Future is about the people who made the Mars Rover and
is shot in HD. It is shown that was on
the Blu-ray only. Though not a great or
perfect space documentary disc (like the Blu-ray of Shuttle Discovery’s Historic Mission from HDNet, reviewed elsewhere
on this site), it is fun and worth a look.
- Nicholas Sheffo
