Season 1

**Season 1** of Penny on M.A.R.S. premiered on May 7, 2018 and ended on May 25, 2018 in Italy. In the UK it premiered in June 4, 2018 and ended on June 28, 2018.

It has a total of 16 episodes.

## 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.

## Cast

### Main Cast

* Olivia-Mai Barrett as Penny Mendez
* Shannon Gaskin as Camilla Young
* Finlay MacMillan as Sebastian Storm
* Damien Walsh as Nick Weber
* Luke Walsh as Mike Weber
* Olivia Chan as Sofia Hu
* Jessica Alexander as Lucy Carpenter
* Ryan Dean as Sasha Lukin

### Recurring Cast

* Merissa Porter as Bakìa
* Hanna Hefner as Debbie Cornish
* Ben Richards as Freddy Wolf
* Joseph Rye as Raul Storm
* Charlie Gardner as Mitch Storm
* Michael Rodgers as Bruce Gold
* Melanie Grey as Miss Tosca Bauer
* Alton Terry as Mr Sean McDougal
* William Kenning as Mr Roberto Piccolo
* Nathalie Rapti Gomez as Mrs Ella Johnson
* Arianna Di Claudio as Arianna Rossi

## Episodes

1. Penny's New Life - Part 1 (5/7/18)
2. Penny's New Life - Part 2 (5/7/18)
3. Sebastian at M.A.R.S. (5/8/18)
4. Friend in Need (5/9/18)
5. Parent's Open Day (5/10/18)
6. The Payback (5/11/18)
7. Nobody's Perfect Indeed (5/14/18)
8. Just Acting (5/15/18)
9. Your Father Is a Hero (5/16/18)
10. The Audition (5/17/18)
11. Feelings For You (5/18/18)
12. Enemy Countries (5/21/18)
13. The Gig (5/22/18)
14. The Protest (5/23/18)
15. The Charm (5/24/18)
16. The Big One (5/25/18)

## Songs

* **We Are the M.A.R.S.** (theme song) (Cast of Penny on M.A.R.S.)
* **Rain and Shine** (Olivia-Mai Barrett and Shannon Gaskin)
* **So Sure** (Olivia-Mai Barrett and Finlay MacMillan)
* **Never Doubt I Love** (Olivia-Mai Barrett and Finlay MacMillan)
* **Nobody's Perfect** (Merissa Porter)

**Alex & Co. songs:**

* **Live It Up**
* **The Universe Owes You One**

## Trivia

* The first promotion of the series aired on June 29, 2017. As the series hadn't started being filmed yet, it is a 15-second video with Penny and Camilla explaining briefly the plot and Alex announcing more details coming soon.
* On March 2, 2018, the first trailer was released, announcing the series for May 2018.
* On March 27, 2018, the full trailer was released, announcing the Italian premiere date: May 7, 2018.
* The cast had the first table read on September 20, 2017.
* Filming for the series began on September 28, 2017 and ended on December 15, 2017, one week before the planned date.
	+ The first rehearsals were on September 22.
	+ On September 28 there were dance rehearsals.
	+ Olivia-Mai Barrett started filming on September 29.
	+ The first scenes at the M.A.R.S. were shot on October 6.
	+ Jessica Alexander recorded a song on October 13, probably the version of Live It Up she sings in Sebastian at M.A.R.S..
	+ On October 30 the cast had a promotional photoshoot and shot a videoclip.
	+ On November 6, Shannon Gaskin, Olivia Chan, Luke Walsh and Damien Walsh recorded the version of We Are the M.A.R.S. they sing in The Protest.
	+ Ben Richards finished filming on November 24.
	+ The last episode includes a performance named *M.A.R.S Big One*. These scenes were the last ones to be shot and they were filmed on December 14 and 15 in Teatro Fontana of Milan.
	+ On December 16, all the main cast had a promotional photoshoot and recorded some interviews.
	+ After finishing shootings, on March 7, 2018, Olivia-Mai Barrett and Shannon Gaskin recorded a song in a studio in London. As they said in social networks, its title is *Pennilla or Vanilla*.
* Starting with Sebastian at M.A.R.S., the first 3 minutes of every episode were published on the Disney Channel Italy App one day before it airs.
* There is an extra episode titled "Penny & Sebastian Special", usually referred as the 17th of the season. Although it is formatted as a 22-minute episode and includes the main theme and credits, it only features a summary of the two main characters relationship story along Season 1.
	+ It premiered on March 8, 2019 on Rai Gulp in Italy and was published on YouTube the next day by Disney Channel Italy.
	+ It is also available on Disney+ Italy as a related movie.

## References

1. ↑ Jessica Alexander: "First Penny on MARS read through"
2. ↑ Filming information by MotoreCinema Facebook page
3. ↑ Luke Walsh: "Day of rehearsals over"
4. ↑ Choreography rehearsals on Jessica Alexander's Twitter profile
5. ↑ Olivia-Mai Barrett: "My first day of filming tomorrow?!"
6. ↑ Ben Richards: "That's a wrap for me"