AMC is going to Mars. Hot on the heels of its Emmy wins for Mad Men and Breaking Bad, the cable channel is making its move into sci-fi by developing a new series based on Red Mars, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Writer-producer Jonathan Hensleigh (Armageddon, Die Hard: With a Vengeance) will be in charge of adapting Kim Stanley Robinson's classic 1992 novel, which describes a team of humans as they attempt to colonize the planet.

Here’s the Slashfilm plot synopsis: A Princess of Mars by Edward Rice Burroughs was first published in 1917. The movie will follow Civil War vet John Carter, who is transplanted to Mars, where he discovers a lush, wildly diverse planet whose main inhabitants are 12-foot tall green barbarians. Finding himself a prisoner of these creatures, he escapes, only to encounter Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium, who is in desperate need of a savior.

Creating a world set 170 years in the future is what a team of Honolulu-based game developers considers a challenge. On the Net: www.avatar-reality.com Make the planet Mars, populate it with ultra-modern cities, flying cars and millions of gamers, and that's what they call a whole lot of fun. The development of Blue Mars, an online multiplayer game set to debut in beta format next year, is bringing dozens of former Square USA employees back to Hawaii under the company Avatar Reality Inc. The company, founded in mid-2006, is helping revitalize a local gaming industry that saw the loss of more than 200 game developers when Square closed its Honolulu office in 2002.

The first astronauts to explore Mars will undoubtedly face challenges, some of which may mirror those depicted in a new mini-series and documentary chronicling humanity's initial steps on the red planet. "Race to Mars," a martian multimedia event orchestrated by the Discovery Channel Canada, follows the efforts of six spaceflyers on a 600-day mission to reach the red planet and hunt for life before China's unmanned probes. The first installment of the four-hour miniseries airs tonight for viewers in Canada. "This will be the definitive story of the human mission to Mars," said Paul Lewis, president and general manager for Discovery Channel Canada, in a statement. A six-part documentary "Mars Rising" – narrated by veteran space actor William Shatner – will follow the mini-series beginning Oct. 7 to present an in-depth look at the inherent hurdles facing a human expedition to Mars. A companion book and multimedia Web site further explore issues raised in the $20 million television events.

Mars has two moons, Deimos and Phobos; both orbit in the same direction. Standing near the equator on the Martian surface one night, you watch them both. To your astonishment, Deimos appears to be slowly moving from east to west relative to you, while Phobos is slowly moving from west to east. How can this be? Supporting calculations will score extra points!

The 1974 Ford Cortina used in hit BBC police drama Life on Mars has been auctioned on eBay, raising almost £13,000 for Comic Relief. The car, seen in two hit series of the show about a modern-day police officer who finds himself transported to the 1970s, sold for £12,800. Its description on eBay admitted "one or two battle scars" from chases. The current series of Life on Mars, starring John Simm, is the last. The Comic Relief telethon is on Friday.

The Autobots and Decepticons are from the planet Cybertron, but apparently were on Mars in 2003 wreaking havoc on the Beagle 2 "Rover" (which was actually a lander). Click on "Watch The Exclusive Announcement Now" to check it out.

Astronauts are stomping around Mars without ever leaving Earth in Canada, where filming is underway for an ambitious new documentary and mini-series that blur the line between science fact and fiction. Clad in spacesuits on sets awash in red dust, actors are portraying future astronauts in the television mini-series Race to Mars, a Discovery Channel docu-drama aimed at realistically depicting a manned mission to the red planet. The three-hour program, a six-part documentary Mars Rising, and a related Internet site Mars Interactive are set to debut in Fall 2007 on the Discovery Channel and its broadcast partners.

Director Jon Favreau confirmed to Sci-Fi Wire that Paramount has put the the long-gestating film adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars on hold, pending the success of his next directing project, Iron Man, and the upcoming eleventh Star Trek film. The eleven volumes of Burroughs' classic adventure series center around a Civil War veteran who takes shelter in a cave when pursued by a group of Apache Indians. Once inside, he suddenly finds himself transported to Mars, where he's taken prisoner by 12-foot-tall green men.

Scientists have set their sights on the human exploration of Mars within a generation - but Discovery Channel and Galafilm Inc. will bring the Red Planet experience to audiences across Canada and around the world even sooner than science, announcing today that principal photography has begun on Race to Mars. This landmark three-hour docudrama imagines and simulates with breathtaking realism the first human mission to Mars based on the science being developed and tested today. Production on Race to Mars, starring Michael Riley (Supervolcano, This is Wonderland) as astronaut Captain Rick Erwin, commenced today in Montreal and St-Hubert, Quebec, and will continue through mid-June.

U.S. Navy Capt. Michael Foreman, set to fly to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard NASA’s STS-120 shuttle flight, will appear in the television program Trading Spaces: Boys vs. Girls to assist in transforming a typical 10-year-old New Jersey boy’s bedroom into a Martian landscape. Foreman will help in the installation of a mission control center and a Mars Exploration Rover that will double as a bed. The program appears at 11:00 a.m. or 11:30 a.m. EST on Dec. 3, but will be rebroadcast Dec. 5 and Dec. 9 at 7:30 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. (0030 and 0300 GMT on Dec. 6 and Dec. 10) on NBC’s Discovery Kids channel (Check local listings).

As Tom Cruise's WAR OF THE WORLDS exits the theaters, the only true movie adaptation of the H.G. Wells classic novel, produced by Pendragon Pictures, continues enjoying strong DVD sales in the U.S. and Canada. Now, Pendragon Pictures announces the international release of the Director's Cut of H.G. WELLS' THE WAR OF THE WORLDS. The never-before-seen Director's Cut features new enhanced special effects, new scenes and faster pacing. Director Timothy Hines comments, "I had the opportunity to re-cut the film for the foreign release and subsequent U.S. distribution and I'm proud of the end result. Virtually every scene in the film has been reconceived and retimed from the original Summer release. It plays remarkably better.

THE MARS UNDERGROUND is a landmark documentary about renowned aerospace scientist and visionary, Dr. Robert Zubrin, and his struggle to get the first human mission to Mars off the ground. Shot entirely in breathtaking High Definition (HD) and directed by accomplished documentarian, Scott J. Gill (Porn Star: The Legend of Ron Jeremy, The Blood Earth), THE MARS UNDERGROUND brings to life Dr. Zubrin’s vision, known as "Mars Direct", through startling 3-D CGI animation of the launch, voyage and landing of spacecraft, as well as glimpses into the future of man’s reign on Mars.

Now Playing Magazine caught up with screenwriter Ehren Kruger who spoke about his current project, the long-gestating film adaptation of an Edgar Rice Burroughs classic. "I'm in the writing process for John Carter of Mars, working with the director — Kerry Conran," Kruger informed Now Playing. "He's in, too, with his visual design team — the effects, and the sort of outlandish worlds that need to be created for that. He has to design all that. So we're pretty [well] along with the script.

Can you help discover water on Mars? Finding water on different regions on Mars has implications for understanding its complex geologic history, the possible existence of past life and the sustenance of potential future astronauts. Many space missions have taken photographs of the surface of the red planet, and some of them might show a subtle clue pointing to water on Mars that has been missed. By close inspection of images, following curiosity, applying scientific principles, applying knowledge about features on the Martian surface, and applying principles of planetary geology, such clues might be brought to light.