Expert: Marcia Studley - 7/22/2009

Question
Hi,

    I'm hoping you can help me with a TV movie.  I don't know what it's title is.  It is from the ewarly to mid 70s.  It is (technically a Sci-Fi movie).  Astronauts finally land on Mars.  One astronaut is walking on Mars when he suddenly says he doesn't feel well.  He then just starts fading away until he disappears.  The ship and the remaining astronauts return to Earth.  The Government doesn't tell anybody about the death of the astronaut.  Instead they have an identical looking substitute replace him.  The rest of the movie is about the substitute's efforts to not let anybody, including the astronauts' wife know that he is not really the astronaut.  I remember I didn't really care about most of the movie but the opening sequence on Mars really interested me.  Do you have any idea the name of this movie or where I can go to find it?



Thanks



Mike Hutchison  

Answer
HI Mike,

The closest thing I could find is an episode of a TV series called Out of the Unknown.  The episode was called Counterfeit Man and concerned a mission to Jupiter.  Here's the link for you to check out:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059061/

I searched from 1965 to 1985 and couldn't find a single movie that matched your description.  I hope it's the TV show above.  If not and you can think of anything else that might help, please let me know and I'll try it again.

Onward!