Mars Attacks! (1996) | Sci-Fi Saturdays

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They’re not Slime Creatures from Outer Space, but Martians on the attack-ack-ack!

Mars Attacks is an homage to both a classic set of trading cards as well as the alien invasion films of the 50s. Its star studded cast gives it the feel of a big event film, but unfortunately it doesn’t quite deliver the goods.

First Impressions

The trailer sets up a star studded, apparently comedic, space invasion by martians. They appear to come in peace, but it is soon apparent that it is all a ruse as the Martian leader begins blasting members of Congress with a laser gun. National monuments are destroyed, and the White House is invaded in what appears to be a callback to alien invasion films from the 1950s. It also had a Christmas release. Of course it did. Jack Nicholson, Pierce Brosnan, Glenn Close, Annette Bening, and singer Tom Jones star. The only thing that is not blatantly promoted in the trailer is that the film is directed by Tim Burton.

Presented below is the trailer for the film.

The Fiction of The Film

Outside Lockjaw, Kentucky on May 9th, a herd of burning cows run past a farm as a lone flying saucer returns to the planet Mars. The next day President James Dale (Jack Nicholson) is informed of an incoming invasion fleet of hundreds of ships. His scientific advisor Professor Donald Kessler (Pierce Brosnan) believes the Martians to be advanced, intelligent and peaceful, while General Decker (Rod Steiger), a hawkish advisor, urges nuking them on sight. Television fashion host Nathalie Lake (Sarah Jessica Parker) interviews Kessler, whom she is immediately attracted to. This ruffles the feathers of her live-in boyfriend, GNN Anchor Jason Stone (Michael J Fox).

Outside Perkinsville, Kansas, Billy-Glenn Norris (Jack Black) is volunteering to join the Army while his family, including brother Richie (Lukas Haas) and Grandmother Florence (Sylvia Sidney) say goodbye to him. In Las Vegas, Nevada, casino entrepreneur Art Land (also Jack Nicholson) and his wife Barbara (Annette Bening), as well as ex-Boxer Byron Williams (Jim Brown) hear the news that the aliens will be landing in Pahrump, Nevada. In Washington DC, Byron’s ex-wife Louise (Pam Grier) and her two children Cedric (Ray J) and Neville (Brandon Hammond) are also shocked by the reports.

When the Martians land in the desert, a government created translation device lets General Casey (Paul Winfield) know that they come in peace. But that is only a ruse. The Martians quickly pull out ray guns and begin vaporizing many of the assembled crowd including the General, Billy-Glenn and Jason. Nathalie and her dog Poppy are captured. Against the continued urgings of General Decker, the President chooses not to be rash, and instead records a greeting to the aliens assuming “cultural misunderstandings.” The Martians apologize and ask instead to speak with Congress.

This goes as expected when the Martians vaporize most of Congress. They kidnap Kessler, severing his head from his body and keeping it alive on a weird alien device. He is reintroduced to Nathalie, whose head has also been removed, and grafted onto Poppy’s dog-body. A curvaceous blonde, actually a Martian in disguise, is picked up by the President’s press secretary Jerry Ross (Martin Short). She ends up killing him after getting access to the White House where she attacks the President and First Lady (Glenn Close). The Secret Service shoot the alien, and escort the President out of the building. Unfortunately the First Lady is crushed by a falling chandelier.

A full scale invasion is now underway, with flying saucers melting the Eiffel Tower, recarving Mount Rushmore, and blowing up Big Ben. Art’s new hotel is destroyed with him inside just as he is finishing a pitch meeting with investors. Byron, leading a small group that includes Barbara, singer Tom Jones (himself), and a hotel waitress named Cindy (Janice Rivera), head to the airport so he can fly back to Washington DC to his ex-wife and kids. At the airport Byron boxes with a number of Martians, allowing the others to make their escape. He is quickly overcome by dozens of aliens and apparently killed.

The President and General Decker are killed by Martians who manage to get inside the bunker where they have been planning their defense. In Kansas, a Martian is about to kill Grandma Florence when her headphone cord pops out of her stereo, playing loud Slim Whitman music. The sound causes the aliens’ head to explode in its helmet. Richie gets word out that Slim Whitman records will kill the aliens and the world fights back, popping Martian heads worldwide. The President’s daughter Taffy (Natalie Portman), apparently the only political figure left in Washington, gives Richie and his Grandma medals. Byron somehow has survived and makes it to his family, while Barbara, Cindy and Tom Jones emerge from a cave in the Nevada wilderness along with a number of animals.

“We know they’re extremely advanced technologically, which suggests – very rightfully so – that they’re peaceful.” – Professor Kessler

History in the Making

Mars Attacks is Tim Burton’s seventh film overall and his first foray into the world of science-fiction. He was known most famously for his two superhero films, Batman and Batman Returns, as well as his eccentric, fantastic, and oddly designed films that include Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, and Edward Scissorhands. Mars Attacks features some of the zaniness that his earlier films, but comes off a little flatter. Even though it has dozens of characters, they come off as less interesting–probably due to getting less screen time. He would later go on to direct a remake/reboot of Planet of the Apes, which is a much more typical sci-fi film that is mostly an update of the classic 1968 film, but with an entirely new twist ending.

The inspiration for Mars Attacks comes from the oddest of places. Sci-Fi Saturdays has reviewed films made from short stories, books, comics, and television shows, but this is the first film (and possibly only film for this article series) that is based on a series of trading cards. The Topps Company, which has been producing sports related trading cards since 1938 began to branch into non-sport areas in the late 50s. Their first non-sport series was Space Cards in 1958, and are probably best known for their film and television tie-ins including their Star Wars sets. In 1962, Topps produced a 55-card series with art by popular comic book and pulp artists Wally Wood and Norman Saunders. The 5¢ packs of cards sold relatively well, but were soon decried as too violent and sexualized for children by parents groups and eventually were pulled from the shelves. Today these cards can sell for hundreds, if not thousands of dollars per card due to their kitchiness and rarity. Surprisingly, it was not the first film based on a series of trading cards. That honor goes to 1987s The Garbage Pail Kids Movie, also based on a Topps property which parodied the popular doll line, The Cabbage Patch Kids.

Genre-fication

One of the most unique elements about the Mars Attacks trading card series was the story elements on the back of each of the cards. While the imagery on the front showed many outrageous ways that Martians were killing humans, the flip side contained a paragraph of text that told a portion of the story depicted by the art. Put all together, the 55 cards became a 55-page graphic novel about the Martians invading and subjugating Earth. All manner of rays were used to kill the humans; death rays, frost rays, shrinking rays. Eventually bugs were enlarged and sent on the attack, as well as Martian robots. Cities and national monuments were destroyed by the flying saucers. All seemed dire until Earth launched rocket ships for a counter-attack in the last few cards. The world brings the fight back to the Red Planet, before blowing it up completely in a decisive victory. The film did not follow the plot of the trading cards, but took many cues from the graphical and sometimes comical violence on the front of the cards.

Tim Burton and screenwriter Jonathan Gems (who later admitted he was unaware of the text on the back of the cards until after he completed his draft) instead took inspiration from the visuals of cards as well as classic alien invasion films from the 50s and 60s. Some of the movies that Mars Attacks references or spoofs include Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers, Invaders from Mars, and The War of The Worlds. How these films were an influence is relatively obvious. The Cold War elements of these invasion films are repeated as the foreign invaders come to destroy the world. The Martian flying saucers take their design cues and movements from Earth vs the Flying Saucers, while the general alien invasion, and the deaths of the Martians follows War of the Worlds. However, instead of aliens catching a virus and dying, they are killed by the falsetto vocalizations of Slim Whitman, which causes the Martian brains to explode within their space helmets.

Societal Commentary

Burton doesn’t say much in the film about social issues. Even his normal avant-garde design scheme is toned down as seen in his earlier film Edward Scissorhands. He does juxtapose elements from various time periods, something that can be seen in a number of his films. For example, Mars Attacks seems to be clearly set in the modern era, but there are many throwback elements to the 50s and 60s in the film, including the military vehicles and uniforms, Professor Kessler’s pipe smoking character (who looks like a My Three Sons Fred MacMurray doppelganger), and the television set for Nathalie’s show, complete with 60s ball style chairs.

If anything, the film pokes the most fun at the political and military institutions. Grandma Florence laughs uproariously when Congress gets vaporized. “They blew up Congress,” she laughs, pointing to the TV. Burton also satirizes the two types of military generals, the hawk and the dove. Some of this may be a riff on elements from Dr. Strangelove, or just the idea that some military leaders are warmongers (like Decker), while others, like Casey, just don’t want to make waves–thinking that will get them ahead. There’s also a line from the President that is ripped right out of the 90s. He asks “can’t we all just get along,” which is the famous line attributed to Rodney King, the man whose videotaped beating by LAPD officers led to the 1992 Los Angeles riots.

The Science in The Fiction

Mars Attacks ignores 40 years of advancements in real-world technology and science-fiction ideas, to place its alien technology firmly in the mindset of the 1950s. The aliens are goofy, big-headed, big-eyed creatures in stereotypical flying saucers that use ray guns. They need to breathe nitrogen (hence the helmets), but also invent a nitrogen-rich gum allowing the Martian girl to wander around Washington DC wearing a human rubber mask. The Martians also are big into vivisections, removing Kesslers head from his body and swapping Nathalie and Poppy’s heads and bodies. They seem to get a strange glee from torturing, destroying, and generally decimating the planet. It’s a very similar vibe to the eccentric behavior of the creatures in Gremlins.

The Final Frontier

The film might have fared better by taking more elements from the cards, such as the giant insects which the Martians create to attack the humans. Two years before the film’s release, Topps released a 30-ish anniversary set of cards, as well as began publishing the first of several comic books series, also based on the events in the card set. Since then, a number of related properties continue to pop up branded as Mars Attacks, including comics, trading cards, and toys.

Mars Attacks is an interesting film that ends up being a lot of the same thing over and over again. The all-star cast is fun for a while, but eventually it comes down to what interesting ways will the Martians end up killing the characters. Many of the actors’ appearances amount to nothing more than cameos and feel like they are wasted resources. And while the film was a reaction to a lot of classic alien invasion films, and coming hot on the heels of Independence Day, it doesn’t seem like it’s a strong enough parody. Thirteen years later Monsters vs Aliens, an animated film where classic versions of Hollywood monsters combat similar-looking aliens, would create a much better parody featuring an inept President (Stephen Colbert) and hawkish military advisor General W.R. Monger (Kiefer Sutherland).

Please excuse Sci-Fi Saturdays as it goes into its annual hiatus during September in order to prepare for 31 Days of Horror, where a new horror film is reviewed every day during the month of October. There will be new, horrific sci-fi films on Saturdays, along with a mix of modern and classic horror films, including some prominent anniversaries this year. This will be the 5th year of articles for 31 Days of Horror, so please feel free to revisit the online archive of previous articles. Until then, pleasant dreams.

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