Good Night Oppy Gives NASA’s Mars Rovers a Heartfelt Retrospective

NASA’s Spirit and Opportunity rovers landed on Mars in January 2004, carrying the hopes and dreams of everyone involved in the mission. The two remote-controlled robots arrived prepared for the important task of exploring the rocks and soils surrounding their landing sites in search of clues to the potential history of water activity on the red planet. While the expectations for the mission were undoubtedly high, what the two rovers were able to accomplish far exceeded what anyone could have possibly imagined.

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Good Night Oppy, the latest documentary from Ryan White (The Case against 8, The Keepers), warmly and lovingly digs into the life these two rovers built for themselves and the impact they had on those who worked with them. Through archival footage, conversations with the scientists and engineers who worked on the project, and impressively realistic CGI recreations of their experience on Mars by Industrial Light and Magic, the story of Spirit and Opportunity is told from their inception to their ultimate demise.

While the film focuses on both rovers for much of its run time, it’s the titular Opportunity who takes center stage. Spirit certainly went above and beyond, lasting a little over 6 years—well beyond the 90 days planned for mission—but “Oppy” plugged along the surface of Mars for nearly 15 years.

Early on, we meet Steve Squyres, the principal scientist on the project and one of several interviewees. Through Squyres, we’re introduced to the mission’s inception: the idea of combining geology with space science and creating something that could do the work of a geologist where we humans can’t quite go yet. We learn how the rovers came to life, traveled the expanse of space to our neighboring planet, traversed the Martian terrain, and made history.

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As the interviewees share their personal stories of working on these missions—the emotions they felt and the impact the project had on their lives and families—we start to get a sense of how both Spirit and Opportunity became more than just robots to so many people. Good Night Oppy artfully recognizes this and evokes a sense of personification à la WALL-E that deftly tugs on viewers’ heartstrings through the animations and the occasional inviting voiceover narration from Angela Bassett.

Ultimately, the film tends to veer a bit away from the hard science of the mission and instead homes in on the personal, emotional, and societal impacts of the rovers. It’s possible this could disappoint some of the more serious space nerds, but the approach keeps the film more accessible to all and paints a holistic, historical picture of what the mission meant to the world and those who worked on it. Good Night Oppy tells its story with poignancy and warmth and is unabashedly filled to the brim with heart.

Good Night Oppy is playing now in limited theaters and will be available to stream on Prime Video beginning November 23, 2022.