Red Planet (miniseries) facts for kids

Red Planet is an exciting animated miniseries from 1994. It was made by Gunther-Wahl Productions. This show is based on a science fiction novel called Red Planet by Robert A. Heinlein. It tells a cool story in three half-hour episodes.

Story of Red Planet

The story of Red Planet takes place on a faraway mining world called New Aries. It's a tough place to live. The surface is a red desert with harsh weather. Dangerous creatures also live there.

Meet the Characters

• Jim Marlowe (voiced by Benny Grant) is a teen growing up on New Aries.
• P.J. Marlowe (voiced by Haven Hartman) is Jim's younger sister.
• Willis (voiced by Pat Fraley) is Jim's new pet. Willis is a "roundhead," a small, furry creature. He can copy human speech like a parrot. He can also record conversations. Willis has a special connection with the mysterious "Locals" of New Aries.

Trouble on New Aries

Jim and P.J. are about to go to boarding school. But then, their mother (voiced by Marcia Mitzman Gaven) makes a discovery. She is the colony's doctor. She finds a substance in the mines that is making the miners sick.

The school's headmaster, Marcus Howe (voiced by Roddy McDowall), and the colony leader (voiced by Nick Tate) learn about Willis. They work for the Beta Earth Mining Company. They plan to steal Willis. They want to study him to create a medicine for the sick miners. This would help the company save money.

Willis records their whole conversation. Jim, Willis, and P.J. decide to escape into the desert. Their life-support gear starts to run low. They find shelter inside a large, meat-eating plant. The plant uses photosynthesis to make oxygen. This helps them stay alive.

Meeting the Locals

Jim, P.J., and Willis run from many dangerous creatures. Eventually, the mysterious Locals find them. The Locals are very angry about the attempt to capture Willis.

It turns out the Locals are an intelligent and advanced race. They live underground. Jim and Willis's friendship is very important. It helps save the colony from the angry Locals.

Willis's Transformation

After their adventure, Willis tells Jim it's time for him to leave. Willis is not a child anymore. He needs to change into an adult. One of the colony's doctors guessed that Willis was a young Local. Willis is not a different species.

Willis tells Jim that this change will take a very long time. They will probably never see each other again.

A New Future

Many years later, New Aries has changed. It has been terraformed into a green, Earth-like world. Humans and Locals now live together peacefully.

Willis is now a full-grown Local. He has become friends with Jim's young granddaughter. He spends time with her. He tells her stories about the adventures he had with her grandfather.

Episodes

The miniseries had three episodes:

• Part 1 (May 14, 1994): written by Martin Isenberg, Robert Skir, and Julia Jane Lewald
• Part 2 (May 21, 1994): written by Julia Jane Lewald
• Part 3 (May 28, 1994): TBA

How the Show is Different from the Book

The Red Planet miniseries changed some things from the original novel:

• The story happens on a made-up planet called New Aries. In the book, it was on Mars. New Aries is said to have stronger gravity than Mars, closer to Earth's.
• Jim's little sister, P.J., is a main character in the show. In the book, Jim's classmate, Frank Sutton, had this role.
• The main problem in the book was the colony leader stopping people from moving for winter. This was to save money. In the show, the problem was poison in the mines making miners sick.
• In the book, Willis was taken by the school headmaster because pets were not allowed. Then the colony leader took Willis to sell him. In the show, both the headmaster and the colony leader planned to steal Willis. They wanted to study him to find a cure for the poison.

Why They Made the Show

Karen Barnes was a vice president at Fox Kids. She said that Red Planet was chosen for a show because it has many "characters that kids can relate to." This means kids could understand and like the characters.