# Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars coming to Spike TV **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 8, 2015, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kim-stanley-robinsons-red-mars-coming-to-spike-tv/739863 "2015-12-08T22:15:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2015, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kim-stanley-robinsons-red-mars-coming-to-spike-tv/739863/1 "2015-12-08T22:15:45Z")
and J. Michael Straczynski (Babylon 5) and Vince Gerardis (Game of Thrones) will be coproducers. Not sure how I feel about this. Loved the books and I’m more than a little nervous about seeing it brought to any TV, let alone Spike. Spike announced today that it plans on adapting Kim Stanley Robinson’s award-winning novel _Red Mars_ into a television series. \*Red Mars \*is the first book in the _Mars Trilogy_, a series of science fiction novels that chronicles the lives of a group tasked with terraforming and settling on the harsh surface of Mars while Earth suffers from overpopulation and environmental disasters. All three books — _Red Mars, Green Mars_ and _Blue Mars_ — are award-winning and have seen translations in over 20 languages. > **[Kim Stanley Robinson's 'Red Mars' Getting TV Series On Spike](https://www.techtimes.com/articles/114416/20151208/kim-stanley-robinsons-red-mars-getting-tv-series-on-spike.htm)** > > Spike plans on bringing the first book in Kim Stanley Robinson's 'Mars Trilogy,' 'Red Mars,' to television for 10 one-hour episodes. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2015, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kim-stanley-robinsons-red-mars-coming-to-spike-tv/739863/2 "2015-12-08T22:54:18Z")
[Link](http://variety.com/2015/tv/news/red-mars-spike-series-order-1201656112/) This should be interesting. On the one hand, i’m incredibly excited, because the Mars series is one of my favorite sci-fi works. On the other hand, i’m a little dubious about whether they will be able (or willing) to pull off the stuff that made the book so compelling. > [@](#): > > “The heart and soul of ‘Red Mars’ is about humanity. This group of strangers must find a way to live together and survive under the most daunting conditions mankind has ever faced to become the first living generation of Martians. They will be each other’s greatest source of strength — and if they can’t coexist — the greatest reason for failure,” said Spike’s exec vice president of original series, Sharon Levy… The challenges of the early arrivals are, indeed, fascinating, and i love the science and engineering stuff. But one of the things i also loved about all three books was the depth of the political and economic debates over the future of Mars. I’ll be very surprised if much of that, especially the rather anti-capitalist undertones that characterize many of the conflicts, make it into the series. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2015, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kim-stanley-robinsons-red-mars-coming-to-spike-tv/739863/3 "2015-12-08T23:32:34Z")
“I am not convinced this can be adapted reasonably faithfully, given the medium in general and this outlet in particular.” There, that outta save some typing and bandwidth. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2015, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kim-stanley-robinsons-red-mars-coming-to-spike-tv/739863/4 "2015-12-08T23:46:56Z")
Red Mars: ++ JMS: +++ Spike: - - - - I think 10 episodes could cover the book adequately Brian ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kim-stanley-robinsons-red-mars-coming-to-spike-tv/739863/5 "2015-12-09T00:03:50Z")
This should be interesting. On the one hand, i’m incredibly excited, because the Mars series is one of my favorite sci-fi works. On the other hand, i’m a little dubious about whether they will be able (or willing) to pull off the stuff that made the book so compelling. Especially, as others have noted, because it’s Spike in charge. I’d have much more confidence in someone like AMC or Netflix or HBO doing it. > [@](#): > > “The heart and soul of ‘Red Mars’ is about humanity. This group of strangers must find a way to live together and survive under the most daunting conditions mankind has ever faced to become the first living generation of Martians. They will be each other’s greatest source of strength — and if they can’t coexist — the greatest reason for failure,” said Spike’s exec vice president of original series, Sharon Levy… [Source](http://variety.com/2015/tv/news/red-mars-spike-series-order-1201656112/) The challenges of the early arrivals are, indeed, fascinating, and i love the science and engineering stuff. But one of the things i also loved about all three books was the depth of the political and economic debates over the future of Mars. I’ll be very surprised if much of that, especially the rather anti-capitalist undertones that characterize many of the conflicts, make it into the series. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kim-stanley-robinsons-red-mars-coming-to-spike-tv/739863/6 "2015-12-09T03:27:55Z")
I remember liking _Red Mars_ quite a lot, the next one half as much and then I didn’t even care about the third. There were three books, right? I’d be real interested in seeing this. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kim-stanley-robinsons-red-mars-coming-to-spike-tv/739863/7 "2015-12-09T03:52:12Z")
I loved all three books. Hope it’s done well; I’ll become a fan if so! ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kim-stanley-robinsons-red-mars-coming-to-spike-tv/739863/8 "2015-12-09T05:26:23Z")
Merged two topics about this.