The Martian | Canadians First Time Watching | React & Review | a LOT funnier than expected!!!

[@Matrim42]

“Why would you bring Vicodin on a trip to Mars?” You can still throw your back out even on an alien planet.

[@BarryHart-xo1oy]

Very true.

[@RobertMorgan]

The better question for my Martian Expedition Medical loadout is what CAN'T we take? Because that kit would be massive, because you're on your own entirely. Like in Antarctica, you get appendicitis, you have to either know or learn how to do an appendectomy, and know what to have for that AND have it available. Or you can wait a few months...

[@kensmith2829]

Weir, the author, prided himself on how scientifically accurate he aimed to make the book. He said there was one except, however. A storm on Mars could never be strong enough to do what happened in the opening scenes, as the atmosphere is too thin. The wind could get extremely fast, but it wouldn't have enough energy to do much. It was put in there just as a plot device.

[@Codex_0613]

to add to that, the author wanted the story to be man vs nature so he had to deliberately make that exception to turn Mars into the main villain of the whole thing

[@-_James_-]

Not even that fast. Maximum wind speeds on Mars are around 60mph.

[@kensmith2829]

@@-_James_- I meant to say that even if the winds were physically able to get to a very high speed, it still wouldn't cause an issue.

[@nt78stonewobble]

To be fair, we could also imagine other risks on Mars that could lead to an early abort to a mission. Volcanic activity might still be possible there. Other seismic activity or ground movement, possibly with seasonal changes, could also make a landing site unsafe.

[@BenJuan26]

Another concession (that I believe he was informed of after he had published the chapter) was that the hydrazine reaction would be way too exothermic and basically cook the entire hab.

[@Hobbie375]

24:40 “The airlock’s on its side, and I can hear a steady hiss. So either it’s leaking or there are snakes in here. Either way, I’m in trouble.” - The Martian by Andy Weir

[@TomH2681]

Martian space snakes.

[@Hobbie375]

@@TomH2681 “There’s literally everything in Space, Morty!” -Rick Sanchez on the subject of space snakes

[@realisticphish]

This is one of those situations where the book and film are both amazing in their own ways

[@pistonburner6448]

@@TomH2681 They eat the biker mice, if they can catch them.

[@Spazzboy911]

"If we're going to call something Project Elrond I want my code name to be Glorfindel" Dude was serious, too

[@alexanderstewart439]

That was my fav scene because the guy who played Boramir was sitting right there!

[@SCWillson]

He was demonstrating his geek cred.

[@llamallama1509]

The atmosphere of Mars is very thin but still thick enough for storms. There are occasional planet wide dust storms that cover the entire planet with dust clouds, that's actually scientifically accurate, however high speed wind in air that is just 1% the density of Earth's just doesn't have enough mass to push around big objects and that is the biggest liberty with reality the book takes, the rest of the book is pretty good on the science. The movie isn't quite as accurate as the book but is still fairly good. Also when you said it takes months to get to Mars, that's true when Mars and Earth are well aligned, when they're not it takes much longer or is impossible. You basically have to wait for Mars and Earth to align which happens about every two years.

[@pete_lind]

Mars atmosphere is 1/100 what we have on earth , so how much power a cat 5 storm would even have . 90 m/s wind on earth has about 729 000 W/square meter . 1/100 of that is 7290 W/ square meter , that still 19 m/s wind on earth , you can feel the sand grains hit your face . Its a bit simplified math but it will do in these applications .

[@Garryck-1]

@@Krusesensei - Where do you think the microbiology came from? The poop. Also.. at the time the book was written, we had not yet learned about the perchlorate problem.

[@Garryck-1]

@Darkstar - Yep. In fact, all the lifeforms living inside us are the only things keeping us alive. They do a bunch of essential tasks that our bodies can't do on their own.

[@jchitt]

@@Krusesensei The microorganisms come from the poop. Also, perchlorates are not everywhere on Mars. In Acidalia Planitia alone, there are areas of high concentration but also areas of low concentration of perchlorates. Much like it would be here on earth. I suspect some of the room on Hermes is to distance from the ion engines. Which would be a smart move. Also, I suspect that they would have protected against radiation since the trip to Mars alone would have killed them with radiation had they not. So a maneuver by Venus wouldn't have impact. Also, radiators work on radiating heat.. to space. The effect of solar radiation on the radiator panels wouldn't be great but the radiation to space would make up for it.

[@donsample1002]

ARJules -- In the book Mark had some Earth dirt, with the requisite soil bacteria for his botany experiments. Making farmable soil was a much more involved process than just adding water and poop. (And the movie cut a lot of the water making process too.)

[@RedKytten]

My favourate thing that came from this book: In the book, Watley had to calculate power per sol usage a lot. Enough that he eventually invented a unit of measurement for it as a shorthand. Since it was one just for him, he decided to call it a "Pirate-Ninja". Since then, JLP has been using it informally (since they need to calculate power usage a lot as well). Engineers have been referring to it with each other, and it is even used in meetings with management.

[@Garryck-1]

Pirate-Ninjas. *THE BEST* unit of measurement ever invented!

[@bobandy13]

JLP?

[@RedKytten]

@@bobandy13 Sorry, meant JPL. Jet Propulsion Laboratory. California group that does most of the research and building for NASA. Edit: Err... rocket and materials research anyways.

[@Deathbird_Mitch]

Many things in science and technology are named this way.

[@Garryck-1]

@@Deathbird_Mitch - My all-time favourite is the 'thagomizer' on the tail of the Stegasaurus.

[@mikeevans1625]

This movie does a great job of summarizing the book -- which is fantastic. But it's really Matt Damon's charisma that makes this movie so good.

[@immortaljanus]

They actually left out the best parts of the book, where Mark had to avoid an incoming storm and he had to fix a tipped rover. But yeah, a film has certain limitations so... still great.

[@ticketman1000]

@@immortaljanus ya I’m sad they left out the flipping because in the book it gave me the same feeling as the airlock scene where it looked like all hope was lost but then a solution that was at the same time a basic and ingenious idea.

[@brianhildreth9099]

LOVE the book. Obviously I know you can't cram a whole book into a movie, but the movie is great too! A few changes and a bunch left out, but very, VERY well done. Fantastic reaction, by the way.

[@lisalaunius7389]

A better adaptation than most. Not word for word (it would take hours) but it got the plot points across

[@fir3gaming664]

Matt Damon REALLY made this movie. Like they said, the humor made the science much more digestible in a movie length. Also love some of his quotes from this movie, "I'm gonna have to science the shit out of this"

[@jthoward]

My absolute favorite part of this movie is him digging up pathfinder. Something about old tech like that being used again to help save someone’s life just feels awesome to me.

[@Michaelonyoutub]

that and the fact that it is totally possible for human to do that stuff one day, just find our old space tech and get them working again or retrieve them for a museum. Just last year someone figured out that the Apollo 11 lunar accent module could still be in orbit of the moon, completely preserved, which means we could retrieve it.

[@Timmayytoo]

Yeah, I'm such a space nerd I actually have Matchbox versions of Pathfinder and it's lander, so when I realized what he was doing, it was all I could do to not shout YES! in the theater.

[@dezm0n679]

Random suggestion: play OuterWilds if you don't already. Tip: don't read/watch anything about this game before playing(even Steam page ideally), thank me later

[@VivianDarkbloom1]

Antiquated is the correct descriptor.

[@crash406]

The problem would be finding the software to get the hardware working.

[@TheNeonRabbit]

The atmosphere on Mars WAS really thin until Arnold Schwarzenegger activated that reactor thingy

[@andrewburgemeister6684]

Hahaha, but was that real or dream though?? 😛

[@alundavies1016]

Praise Be To The Governator

[@920WASHBURN]

Not true. That was just a prop

[@maybachyard]

😂🤣😭

[@jasonrd316]

See you at the party, Richter!

[@maingun07]

With very few exceptions, almost everything in the story is scientifically accurate. I have a suggestion for reading the book. Pick a weekend when you're not planning on doing anything. They left so much out of the movie. Every single chapter in the book ends in a cliffhanger where Mars is doing its damnedest to try and kill Whatney and will leave you thinking, "How the hell is he going to get out of this one?" To call the book a page turner is like saying breathing is nice.

[@wolfkniteX]

Mark Whatney: "Fuck you, Mars."

[@jean-paulaudette9246]

I found the book extremely engaging, difficult to put down. It's decent length, but a quick read regardless. Easy to let hours slip away while reading.

[@tadcooper9733]

The main exception being the entire reason he's stuck.

[@TomVCunningham]

@@tadcooper9733 Yeah the storm and the toxicity of the Martian soil are the big exceptions to scientific accuracy. Also Watney cutting his glove to produce thrust without killing himself, which he only thought about doing in the novel.

[@jean-paulaudette9246]

@@TomVCunningham and was instantly denied by the commander.

[@KevinTarka]

"Wouldn't the soil need a microrganisms?" That's, quite literally, what the shit is for.

[@gracjanstanosky9698]

You're talking to someone who doesn't know where the liver is 😉

[@falcychead8198]

The book goes into it in much more detail. The shit is freeze-dried, packed, and dumped out on Mars, so there would probably be no organisms left alive; its value would lie in the chemical nutrients. In the book, because Watney is the mission botanist, he has some samples of Earth soil for experiments, which contain the needed microorganisms. He spends time cultivating a small patch of soil first, then uses that to spread through the rest of the soil.

[@falcychead8198]

@@gracjanstanosky9698 Who doesn't know where the liver is? The meat section, between the hamburger and the pork chops.

[@gracjanstanosky9698]

@@falcychead8198 Without black peper?

[@crash406]

@@falcychead8198 they were going to be on Mars for Thanksgiving, which is why they had potatoes with them. The book also mentioned green beans sent with them, but he needed the calories from the potatoes. In the movie's extras, there's a segment where each candidate has a psychological evaluation after spending 10 days in isolation. There's a profile of each astronaut's role for the mission; Watney's shows that he was also a mechanical engineer in addition to being the botanist. So, they left their overqualified gardener/fix-it man on Mars.

[@donsample1002]

The Vicodin: A) The hab was equipped with a full suite of medical supplies, just in case. (Beck, AKA Bucky, was a medical doctor.) B) They didn't mention it in the movie, but at several points in the book Watney is in severe pain, for one reason or another, such as a lot a backbreaking labour moving dirt around.

[@dongilleo9743]

In addition to the designated mission doctor, all of astronauts on a mission like this would have some level of basic cross training to enable them to do each other's jobs, including medical treatment in case the doctor couldn't perform. That way, even if someone is injured or dies, another crew member can still perform their tasks. Watney shows he has some basic medical training when he treats himself after being impaled.

[@crash406]

@@dongilleo9743 the book mentions that he had more than enough morphine to end himself a couple times over. Apparently, something about the human spirit just said, 'Hell No !!'

[@perryallan3524]

@@dongilleo9743 In Real Life all USA Astronauts get medical training better than an EMT, and less than a Dr, up to and including simple surgeries. Unknown to the patients they see in a certain clinic part of astronaut training is after a number of medical classes there are months in a medical clinic treating patients for injuries and illnesses as "Dr's in Training" under the supervision of a real MD (the patients do not know that they are astronauts, although it is known in the city that is where the astronauts get their medical training and experience). So they have all used the stapler to close wounds and done stitches, dispensed common drugs, set bones for simple breaks, etc. NASA wants all the astronauts to be able to handle common health issues and common emergency medical issues. They work with a specific Medical College and Clinics for the training program (and the Medical Society is in full support of this program). There are ongoing medical refresher and new drugs and techniques courses and perhaps refresher stints in the medical clinic as just another medical trainee.

[@aidanadkins5922]

As for the soil, its explained in the book that Mark mixes soil samples from Earth with the Martian soil, so the microorganisms needed to grow plants multiply and spread through the whole farm.

[@chaosmage1756]

I believe that adding earth microorganisms/nutrients was also part of the reason for the poop

[@logandarklighter]

You need bacteria in the soil to do various things. Viable growing soil isn't just dirt. It's all the stuff IN the dirt. Micro-organisms (bacteria) from poop can mix and adapt to eat things in the soil - it's a whole process. Interestingly - using human feces for this will work - but not indefinitely. If you do it exclusively without mixing things up or changing crops (or fertilization methods) then in about 5-7 years you'll start getting diminishing returns until you basically "tire out" the soil and it becomes more and more unusable. However - Mark Watney isn't concerned with that at all. He just needs a stock of CALORIES. RIGHT NOW. And as much as possible. By the time the issues with soil degradation became an issue - he'd either have been long gone from Mars or dead. So it didn't matter. Watney himself notes this in the book. Of course the whole accident with the airlock makes all of this a moot point. It doesn't just kill the plants - it killed all the BACTERIA in the soil too!

[@rodrigocamina2691]

The NASA Phoenix lander first detected chlorine-based compounds such as calcium perchlorate in the martian soil. The levels detected are around 0.5%, which is a level considered toxic to humans. These compounds are also toxic to plants...Unless you have a way to take the perchlorate out of that soil, even if you mix with earth soil samples, potatoes on mars soil would not work...But I still love this movie... :)

[@GamerGrovyle]

​@@rodrigocamina2691There's actually a near magical method of getting the Perchlorate away from the potatoes. You wash them. The Perchlorate is in the dirt, wash it off and the potatoes are safe again. Even if he ingests some Perchlorate it would take years to cause the nasty side effects.

[@michaeljacyna1973]

Perfect example of a story that doesn't need a traditional villain. Just teamwork, smarts, and the will to survive.

[@christinamann3640]

The villain, or antagonist, in this movie is a whole dang planet.

[@ephennell4ever]

Watney [glaring out the window at the martian landscape] ... "So you're gonna try to kill me, Mars?!? Well take your best shot! I dare you!"

[@craftsecond]

The classic "Man vs. Nature" trope, only the nature in this case is straight up otherworldly.

[@RobertMorgan]

Nature and physics are always a great villain, if only because they are ruthlessly INDIFFERENT to your plight. The scariest sci-fi death I can think of is going adrift into space, the empty vacuum happy to let you live to death in your suit. Helpless. Hopeless, according to the math. That's also a scary thing to think about with astronauts, they're the best of the best, so they're intelligent enough to be able to know definitively in a bad situation they're f-ed. When you know you need X of something or it's over, and you have less than X, you can't hope, you can't pray, you can't manifest, you just failed. You missed your trajectory to your intercept by 1.3 meters and now you're speeding into the darkness at 100 meters/second and accelerating, and you're already beyond rescue range...

[@Overlord0011]

If I was Mark, when I got back to Earth, I’d just make bunch of business cards identifying myself as a space pirate.

[@lukemcniven4131]

So funny that Simone really doesn't know much about space and says so often, but she knew immediately that spaceships just can't turn around. Lots of people would know space kills plants but wouldn't realise that spacecraft don't change direction. You're a gem 😂

[@bobbybobbatunday9959]

Not unless you have a star fury. 😉

[@simianinc]

To try and break into movies, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck wrote a film script called Good Will Hunting. Their script won an Oscar and kick-started their acting careers. I strongly recommend the movie to you.

[@ZacCostilla]

Robin Williams played his part masterfully in Good Will Hunting

[@Mr59Kenzo]

Excellent film

[@MikeTaffet]

Break into movies? They were in movies before Good Will Hunting.

[@Edd25164605]

YES. Fantastic movie!

[@Jumpman67]

@@MikeTaffet Yes but they weren't getting regular work. So they made their movie instead.

[@jean-paulaudette9246]

26:43 In order to turn Hermes around, they would need to decelerate for an equal amount of time that it's been on the way back to Earth, then begin accelerating again from zero in the new direction...so essentially, it would take them twice as long as they've already been travelling, to get back, and that would not leave them with fuel/power enough to return to earth, once they got back. Also, the Hermes no longer has equipment for a planetfall, since it was single-use items that brought them down the first time, and much of that got left behind when Mark was left.

[@6666Imperator]

especially given the fact that resources on these missions are relatively tightly packed anyways as any extra weigth increases the amount of energy and therefor fuel to bring it into space.

[@jean-paulaudette9246]

@@6666Imperator And, as you bring to mind, we have to calculate the supplies of food, water and oxygen aboard, never designed to provide for such an extended mission. (though, as a player of sci-fi role-playing games, I have adopted the policy of always laying in double the projected amount of necessary consumables, plus half again the amount, for 'luxury items.' Anythng less seems to me criminally negligent as a ship's captain.)

[@BazelWarv]

Not sure if anyone else has mentioned this but when you said you enjoy the levity despite dire situations. In the book, one of the main reasons Mark was selected for the mission was his personality. He has traits that are beneficial to maintaining a good morale when working as part of a team. Something that can come in handy in space where everything is trying to kill you at any moment

[@sjh3217]

I like how you translated the Mandarin dialogue on the spot when you were lacking subtitles

[@Jhars39253]

I know, idk why I thought that was so cool

[@xdragon2k]

I'm surprised they used real Chinese.

[@Jhars39253]

@@xdragon2k what did you expect? Fake Chinese?

[@xdragon2k]

@@Jhars39253 You'd be surprised how they used to fake foreign language.

[@magicomerv]

@@Jhars39253 Hollywood “Chinese” is used all the time, it’s hilarious

[@Smokie_666]

The book (and audio book) is even better than the movie. Damon really nails the role of Watney in all aspects, but the book goes into more details and includes some obstacles that are not present in the movie. If anyone likes the movie, you will love the book.

[@Ben-no8yl]

Yeah it killed me when I saw the 90 day journey he prepared for was relegated to a 5 minute montage

[@Garryck-1]

@@Ben-no8yl - Likewise.. I was SO looking forward to seeing that trip in detail.

[@Rancorous_Ryan]

Thank you, I'll check it out!

[@vgalea]

Just taking the trip to Ares 4, the movie left out two major crises that he had to deal with en route.

[@DamonCzanik]

The real star here is the story. Enjoy the movie? Get the book. I read it in a weekend & listened to the audio book. Non readers: the audio book is amazing & better than the movie. It's not just the director, Damon, or the supporting cast (though they're all great). The humor, Watney, the science, drama is all better in the full story.

[@kschneyer]

In the novel, it is very clear that Watney's sense of humor, his tremendous intelligence, and his disregard for rules are collectively responsible for his survival.

[@krannok]

"Do Martians find him and go to Earth?" No, that's Stranger in a Strange Land. Great book, but it's never been made into a film. I'm not sure how well it would work as a film, there are large parts of it that are difficult to grok.

[@Elios0000]

also the whole sex cult thing in the 2nd half...

[@stathissdz2125]

The book is fantastic and it answers some questions one might have from the movie - like the question of bacteria in the soil. A definite must read! Also... Sean Bean DOESN'T DIE!

[@wcookiv]

That would have been one heck of a twist.

[@Eidlones]

His character killed his career tho, that counts :P

[@jculver1674]

Also, can we appreciate that there was entire scene filled with Lord of the Rings references, and Boromir was literally in the room?

[@brendonharadon7728]

@@jculver1674 Too bad they didn't have him say "Fine but I'm Boromir" after the Glorfindel comment. Woulda been the cherry on top

[@davidmarquardt9034]

Yep, this must be the only role where Sean Bean is not written to die. Also Mars gravity is 1/3rd that of Earth, the Moon is 1/6th of Earth. Thus the escape velocity is lower and they need less fuel. It's not always a bad thing to talk to yourself. However if you answer back in another voice and it tells to you tie up your family and dump gas on them and set them on fire, you v got a big problem, call the exorcist.

[@houdin654jeff]

Most of the science in this movie (and the book) are pretty accurate. The book was written as a series of posts on his website and a lot of the inaccuracies he came up with were pointed out by readers before it became a book book. The two things that Andy Weir admits are inaccurate or hand wavy are storm at the beginning and the radiation shielding. The atmosphere of Mars is less than 1% the density of Earth, so a 200 kph sandstorm (which do occur on Mars) would have as much force as a soft breeze here. It could not possibly tip a ship or carry a dish as debris, but it makes for a good reason to strand an astronaut on Mars. The other issue is radiation. Mars has no strong magnetic field, so the surface gets much more radiation from the sun and cosmic sources than we do, and spending as much time as Mark did without proper shielding would give you “so much cancer that your cancer would get cancer.” Blocking radiation like that needs either a few cm of lead, 50 cm of water or a full meter of rock between you and the world. In order to avoid that, Weir gave them perfect, flexible, thin, light radiation shielding. That’s not physically possible as far as the laws of physics dictates, but it removes a lot of cumbersome shields. Also, you’re right about the soil needing more than just water and fertilizer. In the novel, Mark has some Earth soil with all the usual bacteria and microbes that allows for plant growth. He wets some Martian soil, applies the Earth soil, and the bacteria and microbes in the soil multiplies and spreads. He calls it dirt doubling and has to do it a few times to get enough crop worthy soil.

[@trequor]

Why dont astronauts get supercancer on their EVAs?

[@paulstelian97]

@@trequorLimiting exposure time. You don’t get cancer from a couple hours. You get cancer from 1000 hours.

[@hplexicon]

Mark Weir admitted that he used artistic license for the storm in the beginning, everything else is either current or near future tech.

[@RyoHazuki224]

I really love this movie, just such a feel-good but grounded in science movie. The best part I love about it is: There is NO villains. There's nobody scheming to ruin plans or get in the way or somehow exploit the tragedy for their own gains. They could have easily made like somebody at NASA be some greedy dude looking to reap some government grant or some shit. But nope, just pure human struggle and conflict and overcoming things. The only real villain is Mars itself, surviving. Its like Cast Away, where the protagonist has to just surmount impossible odds.Thats why I love this movie

[@Klaus-em3ix]

It's a good movie but they sell billons to rescue one man. That's strange!

[@kcojco]

Omg when Sean’s character talks about “Elrond” and secret meeting I died 😂😂

[@BUZKiD]

Neil Degrasse Tyson who is astrophysicist said that this movie is his favorite sci-fi movie ever which is amazing.😁😁

[@jean-paulaudette9246]

High praise, coming from him!

[@Orion_TheyThem]

@@jean-paulaudette9246 that man should Not be held in Any high regard. He is a predator. Pure and utter trash who needs to be restricted from any kind of contact with women.

[@plague_seeker9354]

@@Orion_TheyThem What the fuck are you even talking about

[@LCsaint22]

@@plague_seeker9354 In 2018 a former classmate of his accused him of raping her in 1984. After that was made public 3 more women accused him of misconduct (1 anonymously). In other words, innocent until accused. His employer suspended him while they investigated, found nothing to substantiate the claims, and so he was reinstated. edit: correction, she shared her story in a blog post in 2014 and it got public attention in 2018.

[@plague_seeker9354]

@@LCsaint22 Was gonna say, that sounds like a load of hogwash as he seems to be a really good dude and I hadn't heard anything about him doing that, rightfully so if it is unsubstantiated.

[@bigyeticane]

I low key love Jeff Daniels' acting in this movie. He is a shrewd NASA director, but he believably gushes for a few seconds whenever Watney's prospects begin to look up.

[@MariaPetrescu]

Have loved that actor ever since seeing him on The Newsroom, definitely showed a lot of range, after his Dumb and Dumber years!

[@bujin1977]

25:40 "You can't sacrifice 5 lives to save one person". They put 8 lives at risk to save Matt Damon in Saving Private Ryan, so...

[@juansantos-lq2kz]

And look what happened to them.

[@sofarharishon2394]

but if it's successful, there wouldn't be a sacrifice... a risk maybe. but hopefully you get all 6 back....

[@brozy5720]

Matt Damon has a tendency for being sought after. The Martian, Saving Private Ryan, Interstellar, the Bourne franchise.

[@zeph0shade]

My favorite description of this movie is in the xkcd webcomic by Randal Munroe: "You know the scene in Apollo 13 where the guy says 'we have to figure out how to connect this thing to this thing using this table full of parts or the astronauts will all die'? The Martian is for people who wish the whole movie had just been more of that scene."

[@smartalec2001]

The Ares 3 mission brought a bunch of earth soil samples with them, for Watney to do botany experiments on, testing how to grow things on Mars. Watney mixed all those earth soil samples with martian soil to create workable soil with micro-organisms etc. This was all ruined when it was all exposed to Martian vacuum, though. Watney didn't have any more earth soil to work with.

[@bvbinsane1vanity]

He used everyone’s shit. You see him rehydrate it.

[@smartalec2001]

@@bvbinsane1vanity He did. However, that was for fertiliser for the potato's growth, rather than the soil.

[@stephenlackey5852]

That last part where he says, “You solve one problem, and then you move onto the next one. You solve enough, and you get to go home.” If you’re having a bad day, that hits really hard. I don’t know who needs to hear this today, but… Just do one thing. If you can do one thing, move onto the next one, and it’s already a better day than you were having.

[@MrSuperHappyPants]

Thank you for the video. The book might have saved my life. I tore through it in 2 days at a time when I was legitimately suicidal. The levity in the story is what saved me. Being able to stare at adversity and find a way to make a joke - it's what kept me going. If you like the writing, Andy Weir's second novel (Artemis) has been optioned for a film. I think production is nearly done, but of course covid messed up their timeline for release date. But I tore through that book in 2 days as well. Can't wait for the movie. Project Hail Mary (Weir's third and most current) is also slated for a film.

[@aryblack]

Hey MrSuperHappyPants, I hope you're in a better place now and that you are safe. It can sound cheesy and fake but I get you and I will listen if you need to reach out. Sending a hug.

[@clydewilliams271]

❤

[@StarkRG]

It's only 6-ish months of travel if you leave at the right time, that right time happens about once every two years, and the return and departure windows usually don't match up. There was also only one interplanetary transfer vehicle, the Hermes. By the time they were on their way back to Earth there was literally nothing they could do to get back any sooner than the Rich Purnell maneuver, and even that was only possible because Andy Weir specifically chose the dates for his story to take advantage of the rare alignment of the transfer windows.

[@Dan-Ellis]

He also had to make sure that the date he chose guaranteed Thanksgiving would take place while they were on Mars - super cool :)

[@jchitt]

Hohmann transfers to Mars are a little over 8.5 months. But otherwise, yeah. :)

[@donsample1002]

ARJules -- Hermes has an ion engine providing constant thrust, so it isn't using Hohmann transfers, and the Iris supply mission wasn't launching at the right time for one, either.

[@shainewhite2781]

I read the book, before the movie came out, in 2012. I got it from the library and I said to myself, "I wonder if they'll turned this into a movie," and it did! My parents and I enjoyed it very much! It's not just a Sci Fi movie it's also a comedy drama as well, and it won 3 Golden Globes including Best Picture, Musical or comedy.

[@unity1016]

This is my second time to watch this reaction. In the meantime, I've watched many other reactions to this movie. George, you are the only reactor to question the storm in the beginning. And, the only one to question the soil. (The book explains that.) Dude, I'm impressed. It's amazing what you can see/understand about people when you watch them react on KZbin.

[@mrfomo217]

Love how emotionally invested Simone is. Such a sweet, sensitive person. And don't worry, I like you as well, George.

[@Sowde38]

I like the critical role shirt she was wearing

[@WraithWTF]

The main thing that's a stretch science-wise is the storm at the beginning...while massive dust storms do happen on Mars, you were right that Mars' atmosphere is way too thin to be tipping over spacecraft or hurling a satellite dish like that. Outside of that, the science in the movie is pretty damn accurate.

[@donsample1002]

Without some sort of miracle radiation shielding Mark also would have died several times over from radiation poisoning.

[@dirzz]

@@donsample1002 on the surface of Mars without shielding you would get exposed to about 8 rads, compared to 0.62 rads on earth. Studies has shown that human body can withstand a dose up to 200 rads without permanent damage. Studies also shown that a human can definitely survive 600-day mission on mars + 180 day journey with manageable levels of radiation. So no, Mark would not die from radiation poisoning, let alone several times over.

[@randalthor741]

As long as you eat the skins, a diet of nothing but potatoes and a little dairy provides everything you need to be healthy. It's also a ton of carbs, though, so you'd better be active if you don't want to get fat. So having him survive on basically nothing but potatoes is actually pretty realistic. The few nutrients he needs that aren't provided by the potatoes would come from the food stores: he'd only have to eat a little bit from the packaged food each day.

[@EclecticSundries]

In the book he didn’t “Ironman”. Beck entered the MAV and attached to him and they reeled them in

[@cosmicslice7267]

I actually got choked up when I realized he was going after Pathfinder (and its companion Sojourner). I get very attached to the Rovers. When we lost Oppy to the storms on Mars it was also really sad. The cool thing about this movie is how scientifically accurate it is. All of the science in this is solid. Physicist Kip Thorne advised on it. (I work part-time for a theoretical physicist.)

[@donsample1002]

In the book, Mark's journey to Schiaparelli took him close enough that he considered doing a detour of a couple of days to Opportunity, but decided he'd already desecrated enough historical sites on a Mars, and it wouldn't really gain him much. (He'd broken Pathfinder earlier so at that point he was out of touch with Earth again.)

[@andynator501]

I remember going out and buying a new TV just to watch the Pathfinder landing.

[@anonymes2884]

Yeah, George is 100% correct - Mars' atmosphere is way too thin for a storm like that to occur. Andy Weir freely admits that for the novel he needed an instigating incident and so, basically, just made that part up. In the _book_ that's pretty much the only liberty taken, more or less everything else is at least plausible scientifically (the film stretches things a bit more for cinematic impact, time constraints etc.). Great book adapted into a great movie that then made for a great reaction :).

[@SC457A]

I always enjoyed this movie. The emotions get pretty intense and Damon did a great job pretty much acting alone. Very similar to the job Tom Hanks did in Castaway.

[@HAbarneyWK]

I've felt they did a better job with all the emotions in the movie. While reading the book Ive rarely felt his desperation but Matt did an amazong job (it might only be me though 😅)

[@bjornstjernebjornson9046]

It's a very good movie based on a great book. The closest movie I've seen to this in sci-fi, is The Andromeda Strain (1971) based on Michael Crichton's book of the same name.

[@rupeoverlay3153]

Great movie

[@unity1016]

I loved Andromeda Strain.

[@kschneyer]

One or two of the silliest things in the film (e.g., the "Iron Man" maneuver) do not appear in the novel, although Watney (being Watney) does suggest it...

[@jamezmcc]

Matt Damon was such great casting. His incredible screen presence and charisma carries huge sections of this movie. He's just great.

[@terpcj]

Something that I love when watching reactions to this movie is seeing it from the point of view of people who didn't grow up in or work in aerospace as I did. I forget that things like orbital mechanics, especially in regards to spacecraft, as well as a mental catalog of historic equipment we've sent up, aren't something most people "just know". It adds a whole 'nother layer to the viewing experience for me, especially with the questions you ask and the solutions y'all posit. Very enjoyable.

[@ThePixel1983]

I'm no scientist, but I played enough KSP to know how bad most movie spaceflight is.

[@LMoftheCoast]

@@ThePixel1983 and I was about to make this exact, same comment :D Amazing how a little indie game like KSP made watching this, and other “scientifically accurate” sci-fi movies so much more digestible, and those that aren’t so much more egregious. ;)

[@terryv2006]

You’d know why they can’t just “ turn around and go back “

[@WJS774]

I've never worked in the sector, but I always remember reading about the Gemini program, and how they had to discover all that stuff because nobody had ever done it before and how it is _not_ intuitive that if you point your nose at something and do a burn you end up moving _away_ from them.

[@terpcj]

@@WJS774 Yeah, orbital mechanics when you don't know about orbital mechanics can be confounding. That was very much Buzz Aldren's bailiwick. Apparently, rendezvous was his #1 topic of conversation -- the astronauts of the era often mention, with a smirk, how "Buzz always wanted to talk about rendezvous."

[@vincentdesjardins1354]

05:58 'How long does it take to go to Mars ? 7 months' Technically true (7 to 9 months with our current chemical engines) but that's only when Mars and Earth are conveniently "aligned" (called the Hohmann transfer window) which only happens once every 17 months. So we can't go there 'in 7 months' whenever we want. Outside the (short, few weeks) Hohmann transfer window the trip can take years and most of the time isn't even feasable with our current technologies.

[@noneya3635]

It is also more commonly known as Mars and Earth being in "opposition." Also in the book Hermes uses an ion engine which basically continues to accelerate as it travels so it's speed is better than that of a standard chemical rocket engine. Also, can't forget the fi part of sci fi.

[@Xoferif]

If you haven't already, check out Andy Weir's latest book, "Project Hail Mary". It's at least as good as The Martian, and is (Hollywood f*ckups permitting) also being made into a major motion picture. (The audiobook version is very good, too, if you don't like waving your eyes at pages.)

[@Orion_TheyThem]

Jessica Chastain was also in Interstellar. There was definitely a crossover in the cast. Both films are really great. Interstellar definitely poses a lot more philosophical questions and delves more into theoretical science, i.e. time travel. I really love both movies, though.

[@Yggdrasil42]

Unfortunately it also has the weird "love as a physical force" subplot, which I'm not a fan of. The rest is great though.

[@alexanderstewart439]

She was also in The Dark Phoenix.

[@noxfior]

​@@Yggdrasil42 it's more of a philosophical element mixing with the physical of the known and unknown before us - in a sea of things we still don't understand about the world, some of which were shown in the movie itself, it's pretty weird to be hung up on the force of love but to each their own lol the point was that love pushed people to make certain decisions which ultimately is what saved other people - in that way it is a tangible force, as it has tangible impact. Interstellar is not the first work by far to explore this idea.

[@traepoint]

The atmosphere is really thin. To get the wind storm like in the movie the winds would need to be much higher, if at all possible.

[@StarkRG]

It's the one concession Weir made to storytelling. He needed to create a scenario in which the crew would evacuate and Watney would be left behind, presumed dead. Winds on Mars get extreme, 100kph or more, but even the strongest wind is going to have trouble rustling a flag, let alone ripping a metal antenna from its mounting and knocking an adult human far enough away to not be easily found right away. However, if that doesn't happen, the story doesn't happen.

[@engineer-of-souls]

Like Weir has said himself: "I knew at the time I wrote it that the storm was inaccurate. I made the decision to sacrifice accuracy for drama. I had an alternate beginning where an MAV engine test causes an explosion, leading to all the problems, but it just wasn’t as interesting. In a man-vs-nature story, I wanted nature to get the first punch in. An interesting side effect is that the general public now knows Martian sandstorms aren’t very damaging (because it’s so often pointed out as the largest accuracy flaw in the film), and they didn’t know that before. So I inadvertently taught millions of people an essential piece of information about Mars. 🙂"

[@phoneguy7589]

Wow, thanks George for the translations. I always assumed what they said but it was nice to confirm it sir!!!

[@foodwallet1223]

I'd recommend reading the novel. It's so good and it goes into even more detail. The film adaptation does a great job though. Matt Damon nailed the role of Mark Watney. I love how he plays Dr. Mann in Interstellar but Watney is so different from him in character despite both of them being astronauts in a desparate situation.

[@jameshunt9208]

"Fly towards me Jessica Chastain" 🤣 I don't blame you one bit man.

[@uosdwiSrdewoH]

Pathfinder was the name of the lander that was dropped on Mars and it had a little rover called Sojourner which communicated with the lander and that sent pictures back through the software in the lander which is how it talked to and got updates from Earth. Another very real thing that adds to the realism and makes me forget it's a movie.

[@aidanfarnan4683]

I love the use of humor and levity in this book and film, combined with how they make the loss of the potatos hit just *SO* hard. "Ah yes, float towards me Jessica Chastain." and "I could fly around like Iron Man." also made me spit-take with silly giggles.

[@DavePigott2000]

NASA scientists actually asked Andy Weir how he got the science *so* right - it's an amazing book

[@joelwillems4081]

Some scientists may have asked that. Weir asked the internet community of nerds to help him science the s--t out of his book. There are some wannabe writers on Quora who try to do the same thing. But they are asking questions like, what temperature does water boil at or if it's possible to freeze yourself at the North Pole and be brought back to life later. Weir had to have the intelligence to ask the right questions in the first place. Basically to fine tune his characters' knowledge.

[@kathyastrom1315]

One thing I love about the NASA scenes is all of the utter geekiness on display! They are all on the same mindwave, except for the PR person. From the bureaucrat Teddy knowing enough Tolkien to name check Glorfindel to Kapoor completely understanding Mark’s space pirate reasoning.

[@alanhilton3611]

I really enjoy the real use of Science and physics in this film especially the humor that Matt Damon brings to his character... fun fact the air pressure on Mars is so low that the storm at the Beginning wouldn't have had hardly any impact then again without that event I guess they wouldn't have been any film.... an answer to your question George they couldn't just turn the Ship Around because it requires too much fuel which is why they had to do a slingshot the Apollo or the Hermes the physics is still the same.

[@Turnabout]

You two would really enjoy the book. Answers a lot of the questions you had during the viewing.

[@Dan-Ellis]

Fun fact! A clever person who read the book calculated the volume of the hab and worked out that to burn that much Hydrogen & Oxygen to make the water he required would have produced so much heat, Mark Watney would have cooked to death. Andy Weir was disappointed that he didn't realise this in advance because that would have given him another opportunity to science his way out of it. (one solution he came up with was to bring big cold rocks into the hab to use as heatsinks)

[@matthewarend7197]

The reason you can’t send someone right away is that Mars and Earth are moving in relation to each other. You need to wait for a transfer window when the planets are close enough to each other to make the trip feasible. That happens roughly every 26 months, plus 9-10 months of travel time.

[@GrouchyMarx]

Enjoyed watching this with you, however it appears you guys missed the credits at the end. There are scenes of each character thru the credits and what they did back on Earth that was pretty fun to see. Of course before there was The Martian, there was "Robinson Crusoe on Mars" (1964). 🖖😎

[@zeph0shade]

"Turning around" was a potential option for Apollo 13 (that was thankfully not used) only because while compared to anything we're used to they were going very very fast, it was still very very slow compared to how fast you're travelling between planets. I think a burn to go back to Mars when they were halfway would have at best used up all of their fuel which would have left them stranded there as well.

[@TTM9691]

Great edit; I only saw this once, and I had no trouble following this video. 3:55 Simone: "I should read a f**king book." HA! Great reaction, yet again.

[@michaelvincent8208]

Talking to yourself is the best way to keep yourself organized, and your head straight.

[@trygswyrmwoodside3229]

The atmosphere was way too dense, gravity was way too high, and straight mars soil is generally considered to be full of perchlorates that need to be removed before you could eat food grown in it. There are a bunch of other issues as well, but it's a good book and movie if you give it some scientific leeway.

[@alanhembra2565]

Mars has a thin atmosphere. That’s why it’s difficult to parachute probes without them crashing.

[@StarkRG]

Weir didn't deal with perchlorates because he didn't know about them, it would probably just have required washing the soil before use, an annoying first step, but not a difficult one. The power of the storm at the beginning was the one concession Weir made to storytelling, he needed a way to get the rest of the crew off while leaving Watney behind, everything else is as scientifically accurate and/or plausible as he could make it. The gravity you see in the movie is purely the practicalities of making film on Earth. Short of actually going to Mars, the only way to simulate Martian gravity would be in a centrifugal space station, and even then you've gotta be careful about showing things falling as the coriolis force you'd notice in such a centrifuge wouldn't exist on Mars.

[@IgnisKhan]

As I recall the only other major "unrealistic enough to make the whole story impossible" was radiation shielding on the Hermes. Neil deGrasse Tyson was big on that -- we don't yet know a foolproof way to get astronauts to mars without giving them all cancer. But then they got him to do a fake 5M video from future-NASA explaining that they'd solved that problem ... without ever saying how. As I understand it, _we don't actually know_ how bad the radiation problem is, and might not until we put mammals in a spacecraft and send it outside Earth's magnetic field for a few months. NdGT likes to flex on sci-fi movies, but he doesn't know, either.

[@GoldTopSlinger]

You really don't have to give it all that much leeway. A few things were fundamentally false, but the majority of it was sound. Sure, there are things to point at as sketchy, but without that there would have been no book or movie. Weir did a great job with the science.

[@wesleyrodgers886]

@@alanhembra2565 and when the world uses metres and we use feet..

[@alexfang5661]

I highly recommend Weir’s new(er) book, “Project Hail Mary”. It’s got a lot of similar type humor and lots of engineering and theory of relativity stuff. It’s REALLY good

[@alternateuniverse422]

I cannot say enough how much I loved this book. Rocky. ❤❤❤

[@jeremyharris6055]

I absolutely LOVE this movie. There is a directors cut that adds about 20-25 minutes of stuff and it was pretty awesome.

[@captin3149]

When you were questioning whether Pathfinder's signal was compatible....that's why they used the replica. It COULD talk to Pathfinder. Also re: Talking to himself and losing his mind. He's not talking to himself. He's leaving a video record for in case he dies.

[@stgm]

The thought of Simone being alone on Mars saying "I don't even know how to properly grow potatoes!" is pretty funny.

[@Xenotric]

i love that they tried to keep as much stuff scientific as possible, while there is still loads of movie science to make the story better they tried to at least keep things as close to plausible as they could

[@zodaxa6141]

The potatoes story is one of my favorite part of the book. The hilarious thing is the only reason they had potatoes was to make a thanksgiving meal.

[@jacobcenter7374]

Late as heck, but I'll add this anyway. Yes, the soil would need more than just the bacteria found in human feces. A detail that the movie skims over for time that is covered in the book, for his original mission there Mark had several samples of Earth soil, which contained all the kinds of bacteria he would need here. He mixed that with the fertilized Martian soil to create an environment fit to grow potatoes. And he's got TONS of vitamins, like essentially an unlimited amount, so all he needs are calories

[@karlluigi1987]

3:47 You are actually right, the sand storm in this movie is not actually realistic, they just made it big for cinematic purposes.. or else the movie would have end in just 10 minutes

[@MrDarkwing78]

Exactly. For the record, I specifically searched for someone who had already made this comment. Good man.

[@hassetjifrebro8222]

In the book he is able to grow the potatoes by mixing the Mars “earth” with earth… earth. Slowly spreading micro biologies etc. Building fertile soil

[@Journeyman.71]

The humor may be necessary for the audience, but, I believe it's also necessary for his survival! The humor is the result of his personality and character, which colored his outlook at attitudes, contributed to him being able to do what it took to survive!

[@donsample1002]

Pathfinder was a 1997 lander, and it carried a little rover called Sojourner, that was basically just some solar panels and a camera sent mostly as a proof of concept

[@nlingrel]

The "Ironman" move is technically physically possible, but the way it was portrayed in the movie is just cartoonish. In space, you have to align your thrust vector with your center of mass to travel anywhere without inducing unwanted roll/pitch/yaw. When you see him being propelled forward but his hand is out to the side of his body that's just not how physics works; he should be spinning out of control like that -- an extended arm with thrust pushing against it is just a lever to spin the rest of your body. If you want to have any chance (and I'm talking the slimmest possibility) of controlled flight, you would have to stick your wrist between your thighs and shoot the air out of your glove like you were farting, basically. Needless to say, in the book he only suggests the idea as a joke and doesn't actually attempt it.

[@recoil2952]

Id like to note at 29:00 you started Translating and performed great. Exsactly what she needed to know and i was impressed and subbed. Good job sir with that . As a fellow linguist

[@MichaelEdwards_Edits]

I would highly recommend "Hidden Figures" & "First Man"

[@granjmy]

New sub here. I just watched your Armageddon reaction, now here for this one. I just wanted to THANK you for making the movie sound loud enough for your audience to hear. And I enjoyed having the film cover most of the screen so I could actually watch it without straining. Very enjoyable, guys.

[@Dinkdownn]

This movie really surprised me. The humor made it perfect.

[@W.TX806]

I've only watched a few of your reactions but this one was the best so far. Your emotions were what I was feeling the first time I watched this movie. And you both seem plenty smart. I loved the real time Chinese translation (Mandarin?). Also, the editing captured most of the high points. Wonderful job.

[@VanderNugget]

If you like the story and the characters, you should listen to the audiobook! The narrator is every bit as entertaining as Matt Damon. It is a fairly faithful adaptation and the vast majority of the good dialog is right from the book.

[@Raptus_Gaming]

If you're talking about the audiobook on Audible, I wholeheartedly agree. Wil Wheaton does a fantastic job and although I love Matt Damon in this movie it makes me wonder how Wil Wheaton would've done in this movie

[@Twist-The-Friendly-Hunter]

From what I've been told, pathfinder wasn't THE Mars rover that died. It was supposed to land but didn't slamming into the ground.

[@ClutchSituation]

The atmospheric conditions are the one thing that any scientist will tell you is the most stretched version of the narrative.

[@GamerGrovyle]

24:50 Quote by Mark himself from the book: "Even NASA has not been able to find something that works better than duct tape. Just regular old duct tape. Duct tape is magical and should be worshipped." 27:51 People can get injured doing space travel. If someone breaks a leg or hypothetically get impaled by a communications antenna they would appreciate having some Vicodin to dull the pain so they can still function. 29:37 In the book they explain that in exchange for the Taiyang Shen they'll be allowed to have one of the Astronauts for the next Ares mission to be a Chinese that they train. This would essentially prove that they are equals to America in the Space Program. They also mention that "Having a Chinese Astronaut on an American Space Program? The Politicians would sell their mothers for a chance like that." 34:42 Mars days are actually only 40-ish Minutes longer than Earth Days. Not long enough to cause any major issues long term.

[@coreyhendricks9490]

One Of Matt Damon's Great Performances

[@labooje2662]

Neil Degrasse Tyson and Chris Hadfield both praised the book (and movie) for its meticulous approach to the science and detail. Andy Weir really did an amazing job making sure everything checks out in the book. There's many times while reading it I went cross-eyed from the scientific explanations.

[@JoeD0403]

The two of you have such great chemistry. I really enjoy watching your reactions 👍

[@paulchaisson8301]

Others have probably mentioned it, but the book was crowd-sourced for scientific accuracy. There's only like 4 things wrong, one one of them is the initial storm - while winds could get that high, the air is too thin to cause that big of an issue. But it got left in because plot needed an inciting incident. Two other issues are we have no suits a single person can put on by themselves, and we have no hab that can withstand the solar radiation with a Martian atmosphere/negligible magnetic field (handwaved because those are engineering questions that will be solved by the time we have manned missions to Mars). The last one is when Watney is playing chemist with the Hydrazine, the hab would have turned into an oven from the chemical reaction. Also solvable, just turn off the space heaters inside the hab.

[@shadowbannedmel]

Loved your reaction! I think you'd really enjoy The Abyss, a James Cameron movie that takes place deep in the ocean, the other vast largely unexplored expanse. This one is known for its CGI, which was cutting edge and paved the way for Cameron's Terminator 2.

[@miriam8376]

Yesssss, but the theatrical version Only. The director’s version makes the ending so cringe and preachy

[@samueltheprideofafrikarobi9319]

"I'm gonna have to science the sh*t out of this." Best line in a move. Ever.

[@whittyone7794]

Amazing reaction from you both. Please add Secondhand Lions to your list. It’s a gem!

[@KaySan666]

I have no idea if you continued to watch right to the end, but there are a few after credit scenes. you see the hermes crew and ground staff in the post-rescue months/years

[@captainchaos3667]

"Doesn't soil need more stuff?" - I don't know if the movie addresses this, but in the book Mark has some earth soil with him, for botanical experiments.

[@terryv2006]

I loved how real and hopeful this movie felt. Check out Gravity with Sandra Bullock to feel what it’s like to spacewalk.