In 2012, a Dutch company called Mars One announced grand plans to colonize the red planet. Over 200,000 people applied to participate in the effort and become the first humans in the universe to establish a permanent colony on Mars.
Seven years later, Mars One collapsed into bankruptcy among accusations of mismanagement and the dream to send humans to live on Mars died.
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Now Ridley Scott Associates (RSA Films), the “Alien” director’s commercial production company, is set to make a documentary series about the enterprise after signing an exclusive access agreement with Mars One founder Bas Lansdorp, Variety can confirm.
Tentatively titled “Mars One: No Going Back,” the series will have access to thousands of hours of video archives as well as the people behind Mars One and, of course, the applicants who were prepared to leave earth behind forever.
“Whilst the series lays bare the true story of Mars One and covers the wider controversies surrounding the endeavour which some have called a suicide mission, the narrative is driven by the firsthand experiences of the participants, humanising their motivations for embarking on such a life-threatening journey,” reads the synopsis.
Dominic Crossley-Holland, RSA’s head of unscripted, said: “This is an amazing opportunity to create a genre-bending documentary series about this pop culture-defining space story that captured the world’s imagination. We are fascinated by the human psychology at the heart of this story, namely why someone would willingly want to leave earth on a one way mission. Our team of world class storytellers will create a truly innovative series that is nothing like anything else on (or off) the planet!”
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