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courtesy of Pepsi
Soda-popper shopping a Mir trip reality show
By Jeff Bercovici
Creating a reality show about putting people into outer space is like sending a manned mission to Mars: theoretically possible, but probably a lot more trouble than it’s worth.
One producer after another has loudly announced plans for such a show only to watch the project succumb to the pull of gravity.
The latest party to take up the challenge, however, may actually have the resources to make it happen. PepsiCo is putting $35 million into a series that will offer contestants a chance to travel with Russian cosmonauts to the International Space Station.
That sum--$20 million of which cover production costs, with the balance going to Russia’s under-funded space program—represents about a third of the soft drink giant’s annual promotional budget.
PepsiCo hasn’t gone public with its plans yet, but it’s said to be shopping the concept around to networks.
The impetus for the project appears to be the attention generated over the summer by pop star Lance Bass's failed bid to make the trip into orbit.
Had his plan worked out, Bass, of the boy band ‘N Sync, would have become, at 23, the youngest person ever to go into space and the third-ever “space tourist,” following Dennis Tito and Mark Shuttleworth, each of whom paid $20 million to join a Russian mission.
Naturally, Bass’s trip and the training leading up to it were to have been filmed and turned into a reality series.
David Krieff of Los Angeles-based Destiny Productions told reporters that three companies, including a “huge soft drink” maker and a Procter & Gamble-like conglomerate, had agreed to pay Bass’s way.
Krieff claimed that other stars were lining up to follow Bass in their own installments of “Celebrity Mission.” He also talked about doing a series called “Big Mission” that would feature non-celebrities riding into space.
Bass never got his space shot, however. In August, Russia’s space agency took his name off the list for the Oct. 28 launch, saying that the sponsors had failed to pay the $20 million.
Such mix-ups are characteristic of the short but inglorious history of space flight reality shows.
The first such show, “Destination: Mir,” had the backing of NBC but hit a roadblock when Russia’s space agency elected to “de-orbit” the titular space station, sending it crashing into the Pacific Ocean in March 2001.
Produced by “Survivor” creator Mark Burnett, “Destination: Mir” was to have featured “Survivor”-style elimination among contestants training at Russia’s Star City facility. Burnett is said still to be working on the show, now called “Destination: Space.”
Weirder was a show called “Ancient Astronaut.” Conceived by Image World Media, the show proposed to explore whether long-forgotten alien visitors built Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids by challenging contestants to replicate the builders’ feats. The winners would have received cosmonaut training and a trip into orbit in a Soyuz spaceship.
September 30, 2002
© 2002 Media Life-Jeff Bercovici is a staff writer for Media Life.
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