Ratings hacked???


Normaly I find the ratings on Imdb a bit low. Recently I found some recent productions with unlikely high ratings. Like "Arrival", not bad but no 8,4!

And now...

Mars... 8 stars... Realy???

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This is more about showing civilians what we have accomplished to get interest back in the space program, it's sad people had to be tricked, but O well eat your vegetables, knowledge is good for you.

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Knowledge is good. It is also power.






Schrodinger's cat walks into a bar and doesn't.

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Depends on the corporations backing the knowledge. Not that I'm against going to Mars.

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It feels to me like it's primarily a giant Elon Musk / SpaceX promotional video. Maybe I'm being a bit cynical. But if you spend enough money to start a space company, then get a network to develop an entire mini-series to promote your work... puffing up the ratings on a web site is small potatoes. 😉 Not saying they did, just... yeah, definitely not an 8 for me.

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You want to know why it isn't an 8 for you? It's because people like you aren't educated enough to comprehend the advanced work and effort put into making something like this as realistic as possible. Also, a giant SpaceX promotional TV series? Really? No, it's showing how people, from gigantic space agencies or private industries are trying to bring back mankind's goal as a species. As explorers, and our government doesn't care for this type of investment in space exploration. It's greed and power as their top interests, not spending resources into something that contradicts their own selfish goals.

BTW, it was Ron Howard and Brian Grazer that produced this, not Elon or SpaceX. They used public video and interviews that were used for things like this. Seriously, check the production lists, Elon is nowhere to be found.

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It's not a fair argument, but ad personam never is. In my opinion (believe it or not, people can have a different opinion or taste) the series is boring, definitely not worth an 8. I like documentaries about space exploration and I'm a die-hard science fiction fan, but the two intertwined together irritate me. As an experienced and educated engineer, I also don't have a problem with "comprehension" (not that there is much to "comprehend" here).

It is obvious Elon (thanks for double-checking, though) didn't produce a National Geographic show, but they didn't just "use public video and interviews". According to Justin Wilkes, who is the producer of the show: "his team were granted unprecedented access to Elon Musk and the whole SpaceX team", whom he called "some of the greatest minds that are dreaming up and actually engineering this mission.". Which resulted in the overrepresentation of SpaceX and made part of the show look like a SpaceX commercial (whether it is good or bad is another matter).

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the two intertwined together irritate me.

I feel the same way about this show. I would like them to cut down on the documentary part circa 2016 to 5 minutes and simply focus on Mars 2030s the rest of the show, not back and forth with each commercial.

can't outrun your own shadow

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I think they should have used a different format (your idea, to limit the length of the documentary part is also not bad). It would be fun to have a complementary show with commentary outlining the scientific challenges related to each episode. It's just not fun when they break the narrative. Maybe they needed a justification to pay for a SciFi series?

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Yes - I do like like the idea of having a complementary show - kind of like what we have with The Walking Dead's Talking Dead.

It would welcome a reformat of the show. Everything else is good so far.

can't outrun your own shadow

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Exactly, Talking Dead and Talking Bad were my points of reference. Except, in this case, it would be more scientific.

The show definitely revved up, I'm curious about the two remaining episodes.

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"It's because people like you aren't educated enough to comprehend the advanced work and effort put into making something like this as realistic as possible."

Whereas people like you are, but then fit into the stereotype of being an intolerant, easily irritated individual who criticizes anyone who does not share their respect for a television program...

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aereaus, or maybe it's just that it's not really that well put together. If you're so smart and educated, how is it possible that you don't understand that people might have a different opinion that might conflict with yours?

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I'm fairly confident that insulting people isn't that way to get anyone to listen to you.

I do like this series.

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I agree...and thank you for the informative corrections on the series' backdrop. Viewers not appreciating "Mars" is like Ray McKinnon's "Rectify" being largely ignored by viewers and Awards, both. Higher intelligence does not seem to loom very high on the horizon of too many of our public endeavors these days. Entertainment, recreation and emotion seem to be the card everyone plays, which is what Networks and Studios cater to. Very basic...if there was no market for a reality show about the Kardashians, a network wouldn't sink their money into it. Interesting that a beloved TV character such as Spock probably would have appreciated "Mars"; yet, the same public who favors Spock, doesn't favor "Mars". This latest Natl Geo effort is informative, yet providing a level of entertainment with the futurized storylines. The performances all around were quite strong. I loved that casting involved some rarer-seen actors, making the storylines seem more believable as I watched. (So tired of seeing Samuel L. Jackson, Morgan Freeman, Bradley Cooper, etc. every time I look at a screen.) America is barely hanging in at 14th on the "Most Educated in the World" category. Would seem we could all do with a bit more of "Mars" and a little less of "The Bachelor".

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It's hilarious that you super smart people seem to think that intelligence is why someone would be more likely to enjoy this show. Also, smart people are more likely to eat carrots. I have no data to back that up but since we're winging this whole discussion I figured why not.

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"as realistic as possible."

What a sad statement.

People like you aren't educated enough to comprehend the holes and gaps in the physics of the show. It moves from the implausible through the impossible every episode. It's a space drama - all kinds of ridiculous things happen to make for a dramatic story. It isn't close at all to realistic.

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I got the same vibe.

But thing is. Musk kind of started the whole lets settle to mars thing - the serious discussion version. And if they want to build series with any credibility you have to include musk in it.

At least the spaceship isn't called BFR or ITS though it looks a lot like it.

Spacex is the reason why this might actually be documentary instead of fiction so you have to give credit where credit's due.

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Musk kind of started the whole lets settle to mars thing - the serious discussion version.


If we don't get to Mars, it will be because of people like you who think like this.

Fact: Civilizations have had serious discussions about reaching other planets for the purpose of settlement throughout human history. Humankind's superstitious need to destroy scholars, knowledge and libraries https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_destroyed_libraries is a primary reason our technology has not advanced further up to this point. It can take thousands of years for people to rediscover knowledge that has been lost.

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There's zero mention of SpaceX in the 2nd episode, so I think we can put this theory to rest now.

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The Flash is rated 8.2, The Leftovers is rated 8.0.
Now THAT is something you should get angry about!

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The Flash is rated 8.2, The Leftovers is rated 8.0.
Now THAT is something you should get angry about!


The ratings of US tv shows on this site, are almost always higher than they should be. I think you can almost certainly subtract a 1 from virtually any US show to get a more accurate rating. Network tv shows are the biggest beneficiaries of this phenomena, but the USA and TNT series are overrated by quite a lot too.

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Yep just compare the Ratings of The Flash with The Leftovers and it should be clear to everyone why you shouldn't give much credit for the imdb ratings.

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Ratings for TV series are normally higher than film ratings. 7.7 (which is a current rating of this show) would be a very good rating for a movie, but for tv series is quite low. As for The Arrival I agree it is strongly overrated, but people are naive, you know)

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Ratings aren't allowed for this show on IMDb. There's obviously something going on.

I. Drink. Your. Milkshake! [slurp!] I DRINK IT UP! - Daniel Plainview - There Will Be Blood

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Ratings aren't allowed for this show on IMDb. There's obviously something going on.


I wasn't able to rate the show with my first attempt as there was no option to, but I think they have fixed it already.

Still not able to rate it?

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We get it you are old and dont like remakes/re-imaginings of old concepts. You can move on to another board now a complain about Hannibal TV series or Sherlock TV series that you rated 4/10

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which is probably about right. It's definitely NOT an 8.






Schrodinger's cat walks into a bar and doesn't.

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After watching a few episodes my initial 4 is raised to 5. I'm interested in the concept, but it is a bit poorly executed.

Yes, I do try to watch it every sunday. And yes, if it was pay-tv I would have asked my money back sofar.

But no, the effort put into something woud never justify a high rating if the result sucks!

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And 7.6 is probably a bit high. I'd say more like 7.2.

And it's obviously the Russians who are doing the hacking.







Schrodinger's cat walks into a bar and doesn't.

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I am Donald Trump, Russians have never hacked anything, my great buddy Vlad would never allow that ;)

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I actually gave it 10. Just because I would like to see it developed further ;) In fact, I loved it.

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10 is not a good signal if you would like it to see a bit of development. 10 means: "you are perfect, don't change a thing!" 

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