On Monday our oldest son, who is in first grade, had the day off from school. So we enjoyed a family trip to Space Center Houston. Although we’ve been there before, we hadn’t seen the new exhibits about Mars and NASA’s exploration of the Red Planet. One of the most amazing things about those exhibits was the opportunity to touch a rock from Mars, which, of course, we did. More importantly, however, I saw this display, which included pictures of Marvin the Martian and a 1962 Mars Attacks trading card from a series that inspired the 1996 movie Mars Attacks!

That 1996 film, directed by Tim Burton, was a parody of science fiction B movies from the Golden Age of Hollywood. It featured an incredible number of well-known actors and celebrities in starring and supporting roles, including Jack Nicholson as the President of the United States.  Here’s the pre-title sequence: