March 14, 2000: Mars Panel Discussion - Richard C. Hoagland

Art Bell hosts a wide-ranging panel discussion led by Richard C. Hoagland and joined by journalist David Giamarco and political lobbyist Stephen Bassett, examining the aftermath of the Mission to Mars opening weekend. The film earned $23.1 million, the second-highest March gross of all time, despite an unprecedented campaign of negative press reviews that Hoagland finds deeply suspicious.

Hoagland reports that he saw the film in a packed Albuquerque theater and found it far better than critics suggested, arguing that the overwhelmingly negative coverage feels orchestrated. He identifies multiple coded references to his research embedded in the film, including the repeated use of 19.50 as a departure time, Egyptian imagery inside the face structure, and rotational physics themes throughout. Time magazine's Richard Corliss explicitly credits Hoagland's 1987 book The Monuments of Mars as the source material, yet the film's 90-page press kit contains no mention of his work.

Bassett frames the film as part of a larger disclosure dynamic, noting that NASA administrator Dan Golden announced on CNN the same weekend that humans would reach Mars within 10 to 20 years. He urges listeners to demand high-quality photographs of Cydonia from NASA, arguing the agency works for the public and owes them answers.