Here’s how The Martian was sold to me:
Remember this scene in Apollo 13?
My friends who are engineers tell me that this scene is the most Engineer Scene In The History Of Engineer Movies. Which, they point out, we don’t have enough of.
The Martian, I was told, is pretty much two hours of this scene.
As it turns out, the movie is 141 minutes. But, yeah, with credits and setup and all that, yeah. Pretty much two hours of a problem being described following by the tools available being shown. We have an Engineer at hand who uses those tools to fix the problem.
Which is then quickly followed by another problem.
If you’re hoping for memorable characters, you’re pretty much out of luck. BUT. If you love the idea of a botanist explaining how making more food works… I mean, dig this little speech (one of MANY):
The problem is water. I have created 126 square meters of soil. But every cubic meter of soil requires 40 liters of water to be farmable. So I gotta make a lot more water. Good thing is, I know the recipe.
If you’re an Engineer, of course, you’ve already seen the movie twice in the theater but, if for some reason you’ve found yourself without time and were wondering if you should check it out because you already read the book or you caught Neil deGrasse Tyson spoiling the crap out of the movie and figured that now you don’t need to see it… well, you should totally check out The Martian.
So… what are you reading and/or watching?
(Featured Image is “Edison’s Telephonoscope” by George du Maurier from Punch Almanack for 1879)
For me, the best engineer scene in “The Martian” ( a film that certainly can be termed “all engineer all the time”) was when they walked into the hanger and there were all these engineer guys standing around not being actors and wearing ugly shirts with the sleeves rolled up. It only lasted a few seconds, and I don’t know if the guys playing the engineers were guys playing engineers or engineers they got to stand around looking “engineer-y”, but I actually nudged Femrex and whispered: “The engineers!”Report
Speaking of space stories, I’m about 2/3 the way through Saturn Run and holy crap is it good. Like, I’m going to be really sad when I finish it, good. It has all the engineering stuff too, but the characters actually have some real depth and backstories. It’s also amazingly realistic in the way it looks at the way human culture would respond to these scenarios. Highly, highly recommend it.Report
Haven’t seen the movie yet, but I enjoyed the book.Report
I had a couple of engineering/science quibbles with the movie, but nothing big enough to ruin it for me.Report
Andy Weir (who wrote the book) admits the big one (that the atmosphere on Mars isn’t thick enough for windstorms to be dangerous), but without that there’s no story.
Weir is, by the way, exactly the nerd with a wicked sense of humor that you’d want him to be.Report
Well, and also that Martian soil is far too toxic to grow potatoes in. Oh, and radiation levels on Mars are high enough that Matt Damon would have been dead from cancer in a matter of months. Other than that, though…Report
@zac
Did you read the book (I haven’t)?Report
I did, yes. Scored a copy for my birthday six months ago.Report
Did the book talk about perchlorates or radiation? I can see the movie glossing over those.Report
It did not; I know about that stuff only because I independently learned a ton about Mars over the last year in the process of writing and running an RPG campaign for a group of friends which partly takes place on Mars.Report
Interesting. I know that folks have looked at those issues, and microbes will handle the perchlorates (they eat the stuff). The radiation is more of a concern, and would encourage doing work at night to avoid additional radiation, as well as burying the habitat (absent some new shielding material/technology).
So what he did isn’t impossible, but it would have been nice if the book at least touched on those two topics.Report
Yeah, although to Weir’s credit he is aware of the radiation thing.Report
Given the scientific/engineering illiteracy evident in two previous Mars movies (Red Planet & Mission to Mars), the Martian is a breath of fresh air.Report
Proposed Onion headline: “Mars RPG Needs Women”.Report
Thankfully, half of the group members are women, so it’s not a total sausagefest. 😉Report
There was two things the movie did that caught my attention, and one other one I think the book did.
One spot was a camera shot of the Hermes approaching Earth during a braking maneuver (they hadn’t decided to slingshot yet), and I could see Earth (far too big at that distance) in the background, and the camera was looking at the rocket plume.
Then the whole Iron Man stunt to the Hermes.
Finally I’m very skeptical the replacement bulkhead on the habitat would last very long.Report
I love that scene from Apollo 13. The best detail for me, (and I’m an engineer!) is that when they dump all the stuff out on the table, out tumbles a roll of duct tape. Which pretty much means, “Duct tape??! We’re saved!”
Yes, The Martian is like that. It recreates the joy of dreaming something up and making it work, which is what motivates us. It also recreates the other feelings one gets when something doesn’t quite work, or gets trashed for some reason.Report
The point in The Martian where I was like, yeah, OK, this movie will do nicely, was when he grabbed the roll of duct tape at his hip. YESSSS! I yelled.
Other than The Martian, I finished watching Dark Matter, which was splendid – I’m looking forward to Season 2 – and I’ve taken up with The Good Wife again. I’m also watching some macaque show on Netflix, I think it’s called Monkey Thieves or something, which makes really good stuff-to-watch-while-mostly-doing-something-else. And I’m watching Indian Summers on Blu-Ray: it has some good parts so far but also some bloody annoying parts (one episode in).
Reading-wise, I was in the middle of a bunch of things but have been swept away by Rainbow Rowell’s Carry On. Once I’m done with it will probably get back to reading Elephant Don, which is super-interesting but curiously poorly proof-read for something from U of Chicago Press.Report
Spaced showed up from the library today! Thanks to whomever suggested it; I know it was someone here. Have watched all of 1st season already.Report
Spaced is awesome.Report
I too really liked Dark Matter, and am eagerly awaiting s2. And I don’t really like TV.Report
I’m not an engineer, but I really enjoyed it. The Tolkien call out struck me as really fun.Report
Second ep of X-Files was much better than first.
I finished S1 of In the Flesh; some of the finale was a little stagey (the creator is a playwright) but it was still a very well-done show, and I will check out S2 when I get a chance.
I finally broke the seal on Sandman: Overture. Maybe do some reading of that tonight.Report
Holy cow, that Sandman book was gorgeous.Report
Grease Live is exceeding expectations.Report
Reading the new Tim Powers, Medusas Web. Really enjoying it. It has the feel of his Fault Lines books with old Hollywood intersecting with odd magic in a secret history. Great fun.Report
And there’s a new Coen bothers movie coming out this week (coincidentally, also about Hollywood). Life is good.Report
Sunday I checked out an exhibit of Islamic art: illuminated manuscripts, stone carvings, etc. from the court of a variety of dudes, including one stunning ceremonial flintlock so encrusted with gold/jewels/swag, from Malamud’s court IIRC, that I only wondered later if the damn thing actually would fire.
Also had some tasty elk for dinner. Something not had for a long time.Report
Last day to bet before Iowa. Wonder if I ought to look at how the betting’s going?Report
No politics! But, you’re right. We should have a betting sidebar post…Report
Betting isn’t politics, even if you’re betting on the political horserace.
(Actual betting is happening in England. Not legal stateside).Report