Three astronauts prospecting for uranium on Mars strike it rich but avarice soon leads to strife, or is some other force at work? The story plays out a bit like 'The Treasure of Olympus Mons' but with a twist ending (which is very similar to one of the better known 'Twilight Zone' sci-fi stories). Even by 'Tales of Tomorrow' standards, this is a particularly cheap looking effort, with the astronauts' 'Mars base' being a tent with a distant rocket painted on a backdrop (the top of which is glimpsed at one point). The show, which stars a pre-'Forbidden Planet' Leslie Nielsen, was broadcast live and the actors occasionally stumble over their lines. Interesting primarily as a historical document as shows like this did much to stimulate interest in manned rocketry at the dawn of the cold war, when the space-race was just beginning. The version I watched online still has the original embedded advertising, which is incredibly dated but oddly interesting in its own way.
Review of Appointment on Mars
