TREES ON MARS
Copyrights HTV-West 2003
Produced and written by David Monaghan
Directed by Andrew Zikking
Executive Producer: James Garrett

PART THREE



NARRATOR:
THE BEAGLE MISSION TO MARS HAS BEEN DRIVEN BY COLLIN PILLINGER'S LIFE LONG VISION.

Collin Pillinger:
I was a Bristol boy, and some way inspired by the fact Sir Bernard Lovell built the Jodrell bank telescope, and first told the world about Sputnik, and I remember seeing his names on the school honours board, and that he was in the public eye, and something must have rubbed off on me from these times.

Jodrel rostrum and radio telescope,

Pillinger in lab shot.

NARRATOR:
AS AN ORGANIC CHEMIST AT UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL, THE SPACE RACE MADE COLLIN PILLINGER INTO A NEW BREED OF ROCK STAR.

Pillinger at desk.

Collin Pillinger:
Today we are going to see a selection of the techniques which have been developed in our laboratory to study the chemistry of the moon. I began my career looking for life on the moon.

Moon Face Zoom.

Collin Pillinger:
We've discovered the carbon in lunar samples originates from the sun. And it may sound very strange these days, but then people believed that in the mare regions, the dark regions, were dried up sea beds, and there could have possibly been evidence of organic molecules, left over from materials, organisms, or species that live in that water.

Moon Zoom Out

NARRATOR:
COLLIN FOUND NO SIGN OF MOON FISH, BUT DISCOVERED A GIFT FOR INSPIRING OTHERS ABOUT SPACE.



APOLLO Splash Down In Water.

Mark Simms:
I was thirteen at the time. It was just after the Apollo 11 had gone to the moon and brought the moon rocks back. And it was on display here in Bristol, and I went with my father, and we queued up and we looked at the moon rocks and went away. My father knew a friend, who knew friend, who knew Collin, and arranged for a private tour of his private laboratory, and Collin actually took me around and showed me the rocks and the work he was doing. I never realised that a long time later I would actually be working together on a probe to go to Mars.

Collin Leaves Laboratory.

Collin Goes To Cupboard And Unlocks Safe.

NARRATOR:
WHEN AMERICA ANNOUNCED ITS NEXT STOP WAS MARS, COLLIN HOPED HIS STUDIES ON MOON ROCKS WOULD GET HIM A JOB ON THE BIG MISSION.

Collin Pillinger:
The contract the university has with the Americans for the study of lunar samples requires strict security.

NARRATOR:
THIS TIME AMERICANS WERE NOT TRUSTING OUTSIDERS.

Viking mission control.

Viking launch.

Collin Pillinger:
I wanted to be part of Viking.

Face of Pillinger with sample.



Collin Pillinger:
I actually submitted a proposal to be part of Viking.

Collin Pillinger:
But Viking turned out to be an all American mission. It was the first mission to a planet after all.

Viking mission take-off shots: Viking Mars launch 1976.

Music: Is there life on Mars?

Crows in trees.

Rosemary Grymes, NASA:
People have been fascinated with the various results from the Viking experiments.

Animated film of Mars.

Viking 1 and Viking 2 were sent to search for signs of life.

Zip images of Mars surface.

Viking animated mission graphics from 1976.

Music: "Horse with no name"
Lyrics:
On the first part of the journey
I was looking at all the life
There were plants and birds and rocks and things
There was sand and hills and rain

Collin Pillinger:
But it had been done with such a blast of trumpets and a billion dollars had been spent finding life on Mars

Viking Orbiter Going Around Mars.

Viking Control Room Are Overjoyed.

Viking Silhouette On Surface.

Rock Panorama.

Cells Dividing.

Life Growing.



Lyrics:
The heat was hot and the ground was dry
But the air was full of sound
I been to a desert on a horse with no name
And it was good to be out of the rain
In the desert, you can't remember your name
'Cos there ain't no one for to give you no pain

Rosemary Grymes, NASA:
The Viking experiments hoped to reveal whether there was active life on the surface of Mars today, by asking a metabolic question, and the results of those experiments have come in for interpretation and reinterpretation.

Heather Cooper:
There is a very large feeling that evidence is firming up that life was found by the NASA Viking space probes in 1976.

Black And White Pics Of Mars.

Cross On Mars Map.

Petri Dish.

Heather Cooper:
Now there were four experiments on the Viking, and one of them was called the labelled release experiment, and it was designed by a guy called Gil Levin.

Rostrum Gill Levin.

Heather Cooper:
And so this experiment, what it basically did was to look at the soil of Mars on the planet, and it actually gave the soil a nutrient, and it gave the bugs, if there were any, something to eat.

Cells dividing.

Heather Cooper:
The bugs eat the nutrient, they started reproducing, they started giving off gas, and the amount of gas builds up.

Viking Control Room Men Looking Sad.

NARRATOR:
BUT WHEN A SECOND EXPERIMENT FAILED TO CONFIRM SIGNS OF LIFE, NASA OVERRULED DISSENTING SCIENTISTS, TO SAY THEY'D FOUND A DEAD PLANET.

Viking Animation On Surface.

NASA Voice:
Viking 1 returned images of a sterile landscape.

Gill Levin Discoveries.

Rostrum Gill Levin.

Heather Cooper:
Gill Lenin showed us the data, and I am absolutely convinced that Gil Levin has discovered life on Mars.

Collin Pillinger:
The Announcement sort of fell flat and Mars ceased to be of interest. No life, no money, no more missions.



Mars recedes from Earth rapidly.

Explosion on planet.

NARRATOR:
IT WOULD TAKE A ROCK FROM ANOTHER WORLD TO REVIVE COLLIN PILLINGER'S DREAM OF FINDING LIFE ON MARS.

Comet animation.

END PART THREE