copyright disclaimer: I do not own any copyright on this film

The Martians

Episode 3, 29 January 1980

As established at the end of the second episode, Mars was evacuated shortly before a worldwide nuclear war terminated all life on Earth. Wilder travels back to Earth in November 2006 in the hope he can rescue his brother and his family. He returns to the Zeus project mission control facility but discovers a video recording the deaths of everyone, including his brother, when enemy neutron bombs detonated nearby.

Only a few scattered humans remain on Mars. One of them is Benjamin Driscoll, the lone inhabitant of First Town. One day, as he wanders around the abandoned settlement, he hears a telephone ringing. Initially confused, he soon realizes it is an opportunity for companionship. After breaking into a home just in time to miss another call, Driscoll sits down with a phone book of Mars and starts dialing at A. After days of no answers, he changes his strategy and starts calling hotels; then, guessing where he thinks a woman would most likely spend her time, he calls the biggest beauty salon on Mars, in New Texas City. When a woman answers, he flies 1,500 miles to New Texas City to meet her.

Genevieve Selsor turns out to be thoroughly narcissistic and entirely obsessed with her own good looks. Driscoll asks her out on a date, during which she reveals that she decided to stay behind simply because "they wouldn't let me take all my clothes with me back to Earth." She enjoys having access to all the clothes, makeup, footwear, and so forth in New Texas City without having to pay for anything. At the same time, she laments that she has to do all the cooking and technical maintenance herself. She rejects Driscoll's advances but still expects him to make a nice breakfast while repairing her sauna. This is a significant departure from the original 1950 short story, "Silent Towns", in which Selsor is not self-absorbed and expectant of Driscoll's labor; instead, she is overweight, sticky with chocolate and desires to watch movies. The male character (named Walter Gripp in the original) finds her too expectant and clingy, as she shows Gripp her ideal wedding dress. In both versions of the story, Gripp/Driscoll decides that solitude is preferable to her continued company and abandons her.

Meanwhile, Peter Hathaway has retired on Mars with his wife, Alice, and daughter, Margarite. A mechanical tinkerer, Hathaway has wired an abandoned town below his house to sound alive at night with noise and phone calls. One night, Hathaway sights a rocket in orbit and puts on a laser light show to signal the rocket. At first he thinks his attempt has failed, but then the rocket returns to land. It carries Father Stone and Colonel Wilder, who have returned from Earth. They reunite with Hathaway, who is troubled by his heart when they break the news of Earth's nuclear destruction, but brings the crew to his house for breakfast. Wilder remarks that Alice looks just as she was as when he last saw her, at their wedding. After breakfast, Wilder explores the surrounding area, particularly some headstones he saw earlier. He returns, pale, having learned that Hathaway's wife and daughter died in July 2000 from an unknown virus.

As the Hathaways toast their guests, Peter Hathaway's heart finally fails. As he dies, he begs Wilder not to call his family because they "would not understand." Wilder then confirms that Alice and Margarite are robots built by Hathaway to replace the dead originals. Wilder and Stone depart, and the robots continue with their meaningless daily rituals until the chance arrival of Ben Driscoll. The Hathaway robots appear relieved when Driscoll decides to stay with them.

In March 2007, Wilder visits Sam Parkhill again to inform him that the Earth has been destroyed and Mars is all they have left. Parkhill tells him about the "land grant" that he received from the Martians.

Traveling the wastes alone by night, Wilder has a long-wished-for encounter with a Martian. Each sees the Mars he is accustomed to: Wilder sees ruins, while the Martian sees a living city with a festival in progress. Each seems to be an immaterial phantom to the other. Neither knows if he precedes the other in time, as they each argue that the other resides in the distant past. Despite this, they manage to come to an accord, with the Martian explaining what he can of their way of life before he and Wilder part as friends. Wilder then takes his family into the ruins of a Martian city, saying that they will live there and learn the Martian way. The first night, he burns copies of "Capital" and "The Wealth of Nations." After promising his family that they will get to see real Martians, he points at their reflection in a pool of water and declares, "Those are the Martians". Finally, he pushes a button on his remote control to blow up the last remaining rocketship which could return them to Earth.