Space Odyssey: Voyage To The Planets
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| Space Odyssey: Voyage To The Planets |
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 US DVD Cover |
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| Format | Sci-fi Docudrama |
| Created by | Joe Ahearne |
| Starring | David Suchet |
| No. of episodes | 2 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Impossible Pictures |
| Running time | 100 min. |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | BBC |
| Picture format | Widescreen |
| Original run | 2004-11-09 – (UK) |
| External links | |
| IMDb profile | |
Space Odyssey: Voyage To The Planets (released as Voyage To The Planets And Beyond in the United States) is a fictional story of a manned voyage through the solar system presented in the form of a docudrama. Space Odyssey premiered in 2004 and was made by the BBC. It was written and directed by Joe Ahearne and produced by Christopher Riley.
Contents |
[edit] Story
Five astronauts pilot the Pegasus spacecraft on a tour of the solar system. Their mission takes them to Venus, Mars, a close flyby of the Sun, Jupiter’s moons of Io and Europa, Saturn’s moon of Titan, Pluto, and the fictional Comet Yano-Moore. Most of the planetary destinations the crew reaches are followed by a manned landing there. The crew encounter many hardships and disappointments along the way. A Venus EVA that almost ends in disaster when the lander Orpheus encounters launch delays, a Titan probe that fails after deployment and the loss of samples from Jupiter's moon Io all test the crew's resolve. The most devastating blow comes when the ship's medical officer dies of solar radiation-induced cancer in Saturn orbit, forcing the crew to decide whether to continue the mission to Pluto, or abort and return to Earth. In the original British release, the crew decides to press on to Pluto, making history. The American version, broadcast on the The Science Channel, was trimmed for length, the crew deciding to turn back at this stage rather than continue.
[edit] Characters
- Tom Kirby (played by Martin McDougall) - mission commander. American citizen of Amerindian descent.
- John Pearson (played by Mark Dexter) - flight medic. British citizen.
- Yvan Grigorev (played by Rad Lazar) - flight engineer. Russian citizen.
- Nina Sulman (played by Michelle Joseph) - exobiologist. British citizen of African ancestry.
- Zoë Lessard (played by Joanne McQuinn) - geologist. Canadian citizen.
Also, several members of Mission Control, most notably:
- Alex Lloyd (played by Mark Tandy) - mission scientist (SCIENCE). British citizen.
- Clare Granier (played by Hélèn Mahieu) - flight surgeon (SURGEON). French.
[edit] Production
The film had initially been titled Walking with Spacemen[1] due to the involvement of Tim Haines, the creator of the Walking with Dinosaurs series. This title was eventually dropped as Space Odyssey had little in common with the Walking with . . . series.
The series DVD describes the selection of locations in the Atacama Desert, Chile to represent both Venus and Mars. Weather conditions troubled production, needing to be overcast for Venus, but cloudless for Mars.
To prepare them for the roles, the actors undertook basic cosmonaut training at Star City with the Russian space program. Many scenes were shot in simulated zero-gravity aboard a Russian Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft. Backgrounds of the spacecraft interior were later digitally composited in.
The fate of the Titan probe was deliberately ambiguous to prevent any conflicts with the findings of the then imminent landing of the Huygens probe.
The film's score was written by American composer Don Davis, who wrote the music for the Matrix trilogy.
[edit] Tie-in book
BBC Books published a book written by Christopher Riley with the same title as the UK version of Space Odyssey. It was based on the fictional diary entries of the ground staff and crew on Pegasus, with supplementary factual information on the planets they visited and the real robotic missions which have explored them through history. It is illustrated with specially commissioned digital still images and screenshots taken from the drama.
[edit] References
- ^ Space exploration underway with BBC Worldwide, Discovery and ProSieben, BBC Worldwide Press Office, 2003-03-26, <http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/bbcworldwide/worldwidestories/pressreleases/2003/03_march/wws.shtml>. Retrieved on 16 February 2008
[edit] External links
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