Penny on M.A.R.S.
Penny on M.A.R.S. is an Italian teen dramedy television series that premiered on Disney Channel in Italy on May 7, 2018.[1] The series is a spin-off of the Italian series Alex & Co. The series is commissioned by 3Zero2 in cooperation with The Walt Disney Company Italy. The series premiered on June 4, 2018 on Disney Channel in the United Kingdom.[2] On April 2018, the series was renewed for a second season.[3] The second season began premiering on 18 February, 2019, in the United Kingdom. The show’s third and final season premiered on 17 February, 2020, in the United Kingdom.
| Penny on M.A.R.S. | |
|---|---|
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| Genre | |
| Created by | Beatrice Valsecchi |
| Written by |
|
| Directed by | Claudio Norza |
| Starring |
|
| Theme music composer | Giordano Cremona, Federico Mercuri, Marco Sissa and Colin Paul Buffet |
| Opening theme | We are the M.A.R.S |
| Country of origin | Italy |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 39 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Nadia Grippiolo, Lucio Wilson |
| Producer | Piero Crispino |
| Production locations | Milan, Italy |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 22 minutes |
| Production companies | |
| Release | |
| Original network | Disney Channel (Italy) Rai Gulp Disney+ (Italy) |
| Picture format | 480i (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV) |
| Audio format | Stereo |
| Original release | May 7, 2018 – July 3, 2020 |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | Alex & Co. (2015-2017) |
Plot
Penny passes the auditions to enter the M.A.R.S. high school, one of the most exclusive performing arts schools in the world. The M.A.R.S. has strict rules and is very competitive, Penny and her schoolmates have to pass a daily test. But Penny is special, she has a secret that must keep over all: she is the daughter of Bakìa, one of the biggest pop stars of the moment, who has managed to make nobody know about her daughter by enrolling her in a boarding school in Switzerland so that she could have a "normal" childhood and not hinder her career.
Now Penny is growing up and wants to follow her dream: attending the M.A.R.S. together with Camilla, her best friend, and finally live like all the girls of her age. That's why she signs up for the M.A.R.S. with a fake name, she wants to test her talent and make it by herself without having to deal with her mother's cumbersome success.
The only one at the M.A.R.S. who knows her real identity is Camilla. They are like sisters and nothing can separate them, or that's what they thought until they fall in love with the same boy at school, the charming Sebastian. And while she follows her dream, Penny will also have a mystery to solve: finding out who her father is.
Episodes
| Season | Episodes | Originally aired | UK First aired | UK Last aired | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First aired | Last aired | ||||||
| 1 | 16 | May 7, 2018 | May 25, 2018 | June 4, 2018 | June 28, 2018 | ||
| 2 | 10 | April 8, 2019 | April 19, 2019 | February 18, 2019 | March 5, 2019 | ||
| 3 | 13 | July 3, 2020 | July 3, 2020 | February 17, 2020 | March 9, 2020 | ||
Cast
Main
| Character | Actor | Seasons | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |||
| Penny Mendez | Olivia-Mai Barrett | Protagonist | |||
| Camilla Young | Shannon Gaskin | Main Co-Protagonist | |||
| Sebastian Storm | Finlay MacMillan | Protagonist | Co-Protagonist | ||
| Sofia Hu | Olivia Chan | Co-Protagonsit | |||
| Nick Weber | Damien Walsh | Co-Protagonist | Recurring | ||
| Mike Weber[n 1] | Co-Protagonist | ||||
| Luke Walsh | Co-Protagonist | Co-Protagonist | |||
| Aleksandr "Sasha" Lukin | Ryan Dean | Co-Antagonist | Co-Protagonist | ||
| Lucy Carpenter | Jessica Alexander | Antagonist | |||
| Tom Lauder | Jack Christou | Co-Antagonist | Co-Protagonist | ||
| Pete Swanson | Giacomo Vigo | Co-Protagonist | |||
| Rob Walker | Keenan Munn-Francis | Protagonist | |||
| Vicky Bernhard | Kira Malou | Co-Protagonist | |||
| Martha Patel | Amani Lia | Antagonist | |||
Recurring
| Character | Actor | Seasons | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |||
| Freddy Wolf | Ben Richards | Recurring | |||
| Bakìa | Merissa Porter | Recurring | |||
| Debbie Cornish | Hanna Hefner | Recurring | |||
| Raul Storm | Joseph Rye | Recurring | |||
| Mitch Storm | Charlie Gardner | Recurring | |||
| Bruce Gold | Michael Rodgers | Recurring | |||
| Roberto Piccolo | William Kenning | Recurring | |||
| Sean McDougal | Alton Terry / Yonv Joseph[n 2] | Recurring | |||
| Ella Johnson | Nathalie Rapti Gomez | Recurring | |||
| Tosca Bauer | Melanie Gray | Recurring | |||
| Arianna Rossi | Arianna Di Claudio | Guest | |||
| Mrs. Grady | Giorgia Massetti | Guest | |||
| Lisa Cunningham | Katie McGovern | Guest | |||
| Andrew Young | Douglas Dean | Guest | |||
| Mr. Carpenter | Andrea Scarduzio | Guest | |||
| Mrs. Carpenter | Cecilia Gragnani | Guest | |||
| Head physician | Mauro Cipriani | Guest | |||
| Mr. Maki | Yoon Coon Cometti | Guest | |||
| Dave Marshal | Leonardo Ferrari | Guest | |||
| Adrian Glaser | Andrea Beruatto | Guest | |||
| Simo Ferrari | Asya Rotella | Guest | |||
| Mr. Richter | Timothy Martin | Guest | |||
- Mike Weber is played by Luke Walsh in Seasons 1 and 3, and by Damien Walsh in Season 2. Damien Walsh also plays Nick Weber in the first two seasons.
- Credited as Alton Terry in Season 1, Yonv Joseph in Seasons 2 and 3.
Production
In April 2017, it was announced that The Walt Disney Company Italy planned to produce an English language spin-off from the successful series Alex & Co.[4] The start of shooting for the 17-part first season was planned for Autumn 2017. Penny on M.A.R.S. was produced in English instead of Italian because it was believed that the series could be sold better internationally. The characters Penny, Camilla, Bakìa and Freddy Wolf from Penny on M.A.R.S. had performances in the special episodes (the last episodes) of Alex & Co., in which the spin-off series was introduced. On June 29, 2017, the spin-off series after the last episode of Alex & Co. was officially announced in a teaser, thereby also announcing the title Penny on M.A.R.S..[5]
The first table read for the first season was on September 20, 2017.[6] Shooting for the first season began on September 28, 2017 and ended on December 15, 2017.[7] The shooting took place in Milan and the surrounding area.[8] The backdrop of the Music Arts Reiner School (short M.A.R.S.) is the building of the design department of the Bovisa's headquarters of the Polytechnic University of Milan.
Soundtrack
The first album from the series was released on May 4, 2016 in Italy. It contains the following list of songs:[9]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "We Are the M.A.R.S." (Olivia-Mai Barrett & Ryan Dean) |
| 3:00 |
| 2. | "Rain and Shine" (Olivia-Mai Barrett & Shannon Gaskin) |
| 3:14 |
| 3. | "Nobody's Perfect" (Merissa Porter) | Gaetano Cappa | 3:16 |
| 4. | "Never Doubt I Love" (Olivia-Mai Barrett & Finlay MacMillan) |
| 3:40 |
| 5. | "So Sure" (Olivia-Mai Barrett & Finlay MacMillan) |
| 3:24 |
| 6. | "Rain and Shine - Ci sarò, ci sarai" (Federica Carta & Olivia-Mai Barrett) |
| 3:14 |
References
- "Disney Channel - Penny on M.A.R.S. - Una nuova serie". YouTube (in Italian). Retrieved 2018-05-12.
- "Penny on M.A.R.S. starts in the UK". Instagram. Retrieved 2018-05-12.
- "Penny on M.A.R.S. - la conferenza stampa della nuova serie Disney" (in Italian). Retrieved 2018-05-12.
- "Arriva Nella, principessa cavaliere che non aspetta il principe azzurro" (in Italian). 2017-04-08. Retrieved 2017-10-14.
- "Penny on M.A.R.S. promo". 2017-09-24. Retrieved 2017-10-14.
- ""First Penny on MARS read through"". 2017-09-20. Retrieved 2017-10-14.
- "Filming information by MotoreCinema" (in Italian). 2017-09-29. Retrieved 2017-10-14.
- "CASTING PER NUOVA SERIE TV DISNEY "PENNY ON MARS"" (in Italian). 2017-07-04. Archived from the original on 2017-10-14. Retrieved 2017-10-14.
- "Penny On M.A.R.S. (Musica dalla serie TV)". iTunes Store. Retrieved May 16, 2018.