Duppeydube,
Your expectations of seeing a NASA like image of ANYTHING through a telescope is a common trap for novices.
What most people are not aware of is the NASA images are not taken using Earth based telescopes, but with probes that are orbiting the planet! We wouldn't bother with probes if we are able to view the planets from Earth with the same quality otherwise.
AND, there are also several practical and optical limitations that dictate how much magnification a given scope can offer AND the prevailing atmospheric conditions of the night too! So even if you could max out your 10" dob at 500X on an exceptional night, Mars will still be a tiny blob!
Doesn't stop here either. Mars is currently experiencing a global dust storm that is obscuring the surface so the planet appears as a featureless orange ball! These global dust storms are not uncommon and unfortunately this dust event has coincided with the best Martian opposition in 14 years! It's peeved MANY people!!!! Crap happens on a global scale sometimes
Likewise the gorgeous colour seen in photographs of nebulae and galaxies, especially those advertising telescopes, are a complete misrepresentation of how things appear through a scope. Those photos are produced using cameras with an exposure time of upto several hours! Truth is our HUMAN eyes are poor at the low levels of light that deep sky objects are, and the colour receptors are just not triggered, so we essentially see things in shades of black and white.
Alex.