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MISSION TO MARS

Date: Oct 12 2000

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

Plot: The first manned mission to Mars is interrupted by a mysterious accident and it is up to four astronauts to launch a rescue mission to track down the missing astronaut (Cheadle) and find out what happened. The crew includes a recently widowed husband (Sinise), a married couple (Robbins and Nielsen), and a technical guru (O’Connell).
Clip: Jim (Sinise) is talking to his friends Luke (Cheadle) and Woody (Robbins) the night before the big mission. Luke was picked to go even though all three really wanted to. They talk about what it would be like if they could go together.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Luke

Jim

Woody

Luke: Three commanders. One ship. I don’t think that’s going to work. There’s not enough rocket fuel in the world to get those egos off the ground.C’mon.

Jim: No we would’ve made a great crew.

Luke: Maybe, if this man (Jim) was left seat.

Jim: Yeah. God. You know man, I’m a pretty good stick jockey. Call me if you need flight testing.

Luke: What is… what this stick jockey? C’mon, Mr. Cover-of-Time-magazine.

Woody: I landed a crippled Mach-2 Shuttle.

Luke: That’s a stick Jockey???

Jim: All right, I may be a little modest, but putting the first footprints on Mars that’s for guys who wrote their Ph.D. thesis on how to colonize the place. For guys who read too much science fiction as a kid and still wearing these little Flash Gordon rocket ships around their necks.

Woody: Ehhhh, you read every damn science fiction book I did and you’re just not man enough to wear jewelry. That’s all.

DISCUSSION
These guys are all good friends and are in the habit of busting each other’s chops. It sounds like they are insulting each other, but it is actually a sign of their friendship.
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Discussion

Mission to Mars was fun to watch and the visual effects are amazing, but it has a lot of flaws. The creators of this movie rushed to finish it before another movie with a similar plot. As a result, both movies feel somewhat undeveloped. There are a lot of similarities between Mission to Mars and other movies, such as 2001, Contact and Close Encounters. I give it a 5 out of 10 Have you seen MISSION TO MARS and you want to share your opinion? Or maybe you have seen another movie recently you want to talk about? Well, come to the “Movie Madness” message board and tell us about it! From the front row, Senior Movie Snob