Movie, "The Martian", due October 2nd, based on Andy Weir's great book

I listened to most of the audio version The Martian on the drive back from NARAM. So, that makes three times I've read (or now heard) the book. But still had about 2 hours to go when my iPod reset to the start and I could not find a way to fast forward to where it last was. Noooooooo!

Matt Damon seems fine to me, for this. One could quibble over someone else being cast in the role but I think he probably did a good job with it. Man this movie sure has some great casting.

I listened to the audiobook and R.C. Bray has kind of a raspy voice.

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And I guess you expect "Annie" the foul-mouthed NASA PR lady to sound like he does too?

Of course! :wink:

georgegassaway said:

And I guess you expect "Annie" the foul-mouthed NASA PR lady to sound like he does too?

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New Trailer!

Last warning, don't see movie trailers if you want to read the book first (and you really REALLY ought read the book first, to double your enjoyment of this story).

Having said that, for those who have read it or are not going to read it before the movie, enjoy the Jimi Hendrix edition of a new trailer for the movie:

[video=youtube;ej3ioOneTy8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej3ioOneTy8[/video]

BTW - a pic showing Kristen Wiig, playing the character of Annie Montrose, the foul-mouthed NASA P.R. lady.

Cool, glad they could rehash the whole friggen plot again with a different soundtrack in the three minutes given.

I wish that the studio would do a preview like they did for October Sky. I managed to get 20 tickets to the preview, posters, and other souvenirs. The theater was filled with rocketeers and other science geeks. It was great.

A fan of the book, mailed Andy Weir this potato.

Yeah, no package, just the potato with the address written on it (postage apparently on other side, looks like clear package tape that would have been holding the postage on)



Other fans have also sent potatoes, but not this way.

That's awesome. Do you have a source where I can read more?

Zeroignite said:

That's awesome. Do you have a source where I can read more?

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Heard of it on an interview Andy did with Leo Laporte, on the New Screensavers episode 14.

https://twit.tv/shows/new-screen-savers/episodes/14?autostart=false

They showed a pic of the potato. Also later found it when googling:

andy weir potato mail

Several interesting hits besides the potato.

Back to the interview, Andy said that while he did not have any input on the script, he did read the script and liked it ( He had praise for Drew Goddard). Yes, some differences, and some things cut (the movie would be too long), but if given the choice himself of what to cut, he said he'd have made the same choices.

This is also another reason for.... reading the book first.

Heck, the movie The Right Stuff was over 3 hours long, and even so, it cut out a lot of stuff from the book.

39 days to go......

- George Gassaway

That potato mail thing is funny. I love it. My wife and I have now both read the book (Kindle edition) and we started on the second pass through the audio book last night. We've also watched the Andy Weir Google presentation/Q&A and the interview he did with Adam Savage.

I haven't been this excited about a movie in years. I'm hoping seeing it will be a good 60th birthday present (just a few days early).

BEC said:

That potato mail thing is funny. I love it. My wife and I have now both read the book (Kindle edition) and we started on the second pass through the audio book last night. We've also watched the Andy Weir Google presentation/Q&A and the interview he did with Adam Savage.

I haven't been this excited about a movie in years. I'm hoping seeing it will be a good 60th birthday present (just a few days early).

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FWIW - there is a ComiCon panel that Adam Savage hosted, which had guests join every few minutes. Andy Weir joins the panel at about 21 minutes. He asks Adam about Mythbusters possibly testing some things that happen in The Martian, and Adam was all for trying some of them. Literally willing to give some of his own blood to have as a supply to test a certain chain of events early in the book......


[video=youtube;ZX7KrgynRGo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZX7KrgynRGo[/video]

BTW - Alton Brown and Chris Hadfield are among the other guests that join in.

While going through the store on the way to the checkout, I passed the book/magazine rack and picked up a copy. Just finished (re-re-re) reading Redshirts, and started in on The Martian this afternoon. I don't have high hopes, from what I've read so far. I've just made it to page 80 - just after NASA reviews satellite shots of the landing zone (trying to keep spoilers to a minimum). Andy Weir is a computer programmer, not a chemist - this much is glaringly obvious.

Finished the book earlier this evening. Most of the science was correct. He waited until the middle of the book to explain how some of his equipment used ambient conditions (spoiler...). That was one of my gripes earlier in the book. One thing of note that he got right was temperature - Kelvins, not degrees Kelvin. I liked the humor; (pg 152) "Look! A pair of boobs!". The personalities and interactions came through well. I give the book an A, hope they don't mess it up in the movie.

Hoped to see another "the Martian" trailer of some sort. And here it is, another "Viral Video".

"Our Greatest Adventure"

Neil DeGrasse Tyson, 20-something years older, explains the Ares 3 mission to Mars (leaving in a few months) during a future episode of Startalk (sometime in the mid to late 2030's) . It also channels some of the style of his recent version of the "Cosmos" series. None of the crew are seen other than a couple of pre-flight P.R. images of the whole crew.

[video=youtube;-fdKyszL1Zo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fdKyszL1Zo[/video]

"On behalf of Startalk, we'd like to wish the Ares 3 crew a safe journey…"

So this makes 3 viral videos and 2 actual classic style trailers. Can't think of any major movie to have that many.

- George Gassaway

WOOHOO!

I signed up on Fandango to let me know when tickets would be on sale for The Martian, got an e-mail notice a short time ago.

A theater is showing it Oct 1st, Thursday night, a day early. I went for the 10:15 showing in 3D.

I've also signed up to be notified if there is an advance screening a few days earlier. What if I get to see an advance screening, what to do with the Oct 1st ticket I just bought?

Gee, what a problem....

What a stupid question, me.....

See it for the second time! I've already read the book twice and heard the audiobook. Might even squeeze in a "condensed read" of the book again.

And..... just before I hit the "post" button, a commercial for the movie just came on...

UPDATE - Found there's two clips and another "Ares Live "promotional video not shown in this thread before.

WARNING - there is one, titled "Checks out", which is an actual scene from the movie. It's a very key scene, which is a HUGE spoiler if you have not read the book. So I'm not going to post a link, those who have read or heard the book can Google for it on youtube.

This other clip, "Storm Report", is from chapter 1 of the book and given everything else posted, not a spoiler.

[video=youtube;s0V-kqIe4pw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0V-kqIe4pw[/video]

And then there is this, not a clip:
Leave your Mark - Fake future commercial by Under Armor, starring Ares-3 crew member Mark Watney

[video=youtube;T5WvVytqHFc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5WvVytqHFc[/video]


- George Gassaway

I thought she did a great job in the movie Paul and in the latest Walter Mitty movie.

georgegassaway said:

BTW - a pic showing Kristen Wiig, playing the character of Annie Montrose, the foul-mouthed NASA P.R. lady.

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It is early, but, so far, it is getting a 96% critics rating and almost 9 stars at IMDB! That puts it up there with the best reviewed films of the year.


-- Roger

The fact and fiction of Martian dust storms

https://phys.org/news/2015-09-fact-fiction-martian-storms.html

"Once every three Mars years (about 5 ½ Earth years), on average, normal storms grow into planet-encircling dust storms, and we usually call those 'global dust storms' to distinguish them," Smith said.

It is unlikely that even these dust storms could strand an astronaut on Mars, however. Even the wind in the largest dust storms likely could not tip or rip apart major mechanical equipment. The winds in the strongest Martian storms top out at about 60 miles per hour, less than half the speed of some hurricane-force winds on Earth.

Focusing on wind speed may be a little misleading, as well. The atmosphere on Mars is about 1 percent as dense as Earth's atmosphere.

Yes, we know. And so does Andy Weir.

If you watch most any of the interviews where he talks about the book he admits that the initial storm situation was done to serve the story setup, not because it could really happen that way. He had other ideas for how to strand Watney on Mars in the first place, but that one seemed to work the best, or so he says. It does detract a little from what follows, but that is one of the few spots where he "cheats" to tell the story rather than sticking to what really could be done.

Just read it this weekend. Fantastic. I have a few quibbles where I was thrown out of the story, but I won't talk about as it will give things away. The trailers definitely give away some things though.

I caught the wind-storm "blooper" while reading the book. It occured to me that the people managing the rovers on Mars sometimes wait anxiously for wind storms just to blow the dust off of solar cells. So, the winds weren't very likely to be a problem for astronauts on Mars. Hearing the author say that he understood that it wasn't realistic when he wrote it makes it okay for me.

-- Roger

Man, with better luck, or more acurately if I was a slave to my e-mail, I could have seen the Martian tonight!

I signed up to be notified of a preview screening. Last week, I heard a "ding" in my e-mail but usually do not check it to immediately see what latest likely piece of junk mail I might have gotten. Anyway, 17 minutes later, I check and it's notice of an advance screening, click the link. But by the time I did, I was the 129th to click and all the passes were gone. If I had checked the e-mail when I heard the "ding"...... I'd not be on TRF right now, the movie would have ended a bit ago and I'd be on my way back.

Then today, a notice of another screening, Tuesday the 29th. But I was out bike riding and by the time I got back it was too late (if I'd not done the ride, I likely would have heard the ding and checked in time). I did sign up for a "contest" where they'll draw names for passes (it's a fancy way of fishing for e-mails but I used the one I reserve for junk mail bait anyway). I'm not expecting to win, but worth a shot.

At least I have my confirmed ticket for Thursday Oct 1st.....

Oh, wait, just heard a "ding" in my e-mail, could it be yet another notice of a screening? So yes, I must slavishly check my e-mail immediately to see. Nope, but at least not junk mail. Oh well.

- George Gassaway

Advanced screenings shortly before the official opening are a good sign. They want to get people talking about the film. When critics aren't able to see the film until opening day, you can bet it is a stinker.

We are going to see the film with friends, but their son will be in the hospital the week it opens. So, we won't see it until a week later. Please, no spoilers!

-- Roger

Thanks to this thread, I bought it on Kindle because the library didn't have a copy available in any format and I didn't want to wait until they got one. I'm about a quarter of the way through so far.

OK, now they've gone and made me cry…..

But I'm so glad to have seen this one.

Another "viral video", showing the likely reaction around the world to a situation like Mark Watney finds himself in. Including vigils, posters, and well-wishing messages (similar thing happened to an extent during Apollo-13, but the candlelight vigils and some other tech are way different....others old style).

That big (apartment?) building with the three pieces of artwork… OMG…. that started to turn the faucet on….

"Bring Him Home"

Little over a week away… sniff….

- George Gassaway


[video=youtube;rOXVVvBAl1o]https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=88&v=rOXVVvBAl1o[/video]

Because of this thread I bought the book off Amazon. But I couldn't wait that long so I found an online version and read the whole thing before my Amazon version even shipped, haha. Now I can't wait to go see the movie!

rc dude said:

Because of this thread I bought the book off Amazon. But I couldn't wait that long so I found an online version and read the whole thing before my Amazon version even shipped, haha. Now I can't wait to go see the movie!

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I loaned the hardcover to my son who is a slow reader (and has school work to do...), so got the e version on my tablet (finally found something to use it for). It's a habit forming read. One of the best stories I've read in a long time. The Wool/Silo series was pretty good too, but The Martian really grabs my attention. I'll probably go through it one more time before the movie comes out. I told my co-worker about the book, and he power read it too.

Adrian

Just got my 8 PM Thursday 10/1 ticket for the 3D version. I truly haven't been this excited about a movie in years. And have been listening to the audiobook again.

BEC said:

Just got my 8 PM Thursday 10/1 ticket for the 3D version. I truly haven't been this excited about a movie in years. And have been listening to the audiobook again.

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So you're enjoying the audiobook? I haven't tried it yet. I've read the ebook version. But I might need to listen to the audiobook to get ready for the movie...

The audiobook is excellent.