Throng

8:30pm Saturday, September 12 on TV2

Tim Burton (Batman Returns, Edward Scissorhands), the master of deft, dark humour, turns his hand to a classic genre - the Martian invasion of Earth - in the Saturday Blockbuster, Mars Attacks!

When a squadron of flying saucers land in the Nevada desert, a group of skull-faced Martians exit the gleaming craft. Although they claim to be peaceful, they promptly 'vaporise' a gathering of unfortunate earthlings, kicking-off a bizarre high-tech war with wild special effects.

Playing the earthlings under intergalactic siege is a stellar cast. Led by Jack Nicholson, the star-studded ensemble includes: Glenn Close; Annette Bening; Pierce Brosnan; Danny DeVito; Martin Short; Sarah Jessica Parker; Michael J Fox; Rod Steiger; Tom Jones; Lukas Haas; Natalie Portman; Jim Brown; Lisa Marie; and Sylvia Sidney.