So it turns out that they don't just load up a SCUD, point it at Mars, press the button and go back to their day jobs while waiting the two years for the probe-age to begin. Here's a bunch of animations that those NASA guys made while twiddling their thumbs. I think Sean O'Keefe just had his guys make pretty movies to keep them from asking "Are we there yet?"; I also strongly suspect that these guys made all those "shock and awe" propaganda animations that showed us how we were gonna kick Iraqi ass PS2 style.
Mars Exploration: Multimedia