I think Doug your and ljk's statements beg the question...

How many scientists and engineers does a society need to be viable?

I see these movies and other "out reach" tools as means to the end. If they are not entertaining the masses then they need to be made more entertaining AKA "better" movies. The promoting of a technological aware and interested society is paramount to the survival of our society as I see it.

The clueless movie critic who pans a movie like Roving Mars is doing a huge disservice to public and society especially if the movie is in fact reasonably entertaining. These same dimwits will be bubbling over with praise of poorly scripted, Time wasting and completely stupid movies and yet beat up on a movie that shows the construction and operation of a set amazing machine on Mars! It's not like we haven't had detailed Motorcycle, Car and House construction cable shows for years.

Maybe it's time we start rating the movie critics on their ability to correctly judge the entertainment value of any media!