I doubt many people were looking forward to the new National Geographic series, Mars, as much as I was. I am really caught up with idea of humankind permanently living on Mars.

The series is half documentary and half drama and takes place in 2033. Sounds like a novel idea. Except that the documentary parts are great and the drama portions are as flat as week old beer. In the first episode, the crew of six spend a lot of time staring at computer screens. The dialogue is dull. You look forward to the breaks in the story when the cut over to interviews with people involved in space exploration, including Elon Musk. The 2015 film, The Martian created a lot of interest in Mars. The story was compelling and Matt Damon carried the film. None of that exists in this series. At least not in episode one. But I’m committed to seeing it through to the end.