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

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Looks like an awful lot of things track well with the book. Count me in as being super excited to see this one. Almost as much as the new Star Wars movie. Relax....I said "almost". :)
 
Just saw the trailer yesterday and it looks like something I'de like to see.
 
I'm almost afraid to say this, but I'm getting optimistic that they aren't going to screw this up. I can't remember when I've looked forward to a movie this much.
 
TopRamen said:
Just saw the trailer yesterday and it looks like something I'de like to see.
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+1 Never heard of the book... This one looks like it might be worth picking up and reading... Once I'm done with my classes and incompletes.
 
Well, After hearing these rave reviews, I think I'll be picking up a copy soon. Hopefully I can finish it before the movie comes out :)

Nate
 
djs said:
saw this this morning on xkcd- thought of y'all
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That's true. The novel is full of things like that. But ... it makes all that nerdy engineering stuff really exciting.

When Mark Watney says "I'm going to have to science the **** out of this" in the trailer I got chill bumps. I am a techy nerd. I think that's a good thing. And I think this film might just create more techy nerds. :)

-- Roger
 
Why does it have to be November? Why can't it be June??? I can't wait!!!
 
nute said:
Well, After hearing these rave reviews, I think I'll be picking up a copy soon. Hopefully I can finish it before the movie comes out :)
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Heh, if you like it AT ALL, you'll finish it long before then. Like before July 4th, or before the Summer Solstice. Or, before the weekend is over.

I just checked what I wrote in the "Wool" thread, to verify how fast I read it. One message I mentioned I was about 1/10 into reading it. The next message about 24 hours later.... I'd completed reading it. It just grabbed me so much that once I got past halfway reading it that night, I figured to go and finish the whole thing.

There is only one other book by a sci-fi writer that I ever got this enthusiastic about, though it was not fiction, the plot was thin, but it was not only an entertaining read but also very informational, useful , and those who read it to the end tend to remember that book, and its content, for many many years *.

Anyway, this time around I'm reading some every few nights. Savoring it, enjoying re-reading even if there are no "spoilers" left to uncover. It's been over a year since the first read. Also as I said I can now try imagining the actors in those scenes, and with the two trailers that have come out, that is even more fun.

Also, having seen the trailers, the movie is not going to follow the book word for word and scene by scene. But that's fine as long as they keep with the spirit of the book and do not wreck the plot. As I said, the teaser trailer wit the crew before leaving Earth orbit, that is 100% new, but it's well done and a great way to jump into knowing about the crew. And the second trailer, wow.

This is getting the major movie blockbuster treatment, except NOT in a Michael Bay sense where plot < explosions, and plot < special effects, and plot < massive hype.

The one line in he trailer that lends the most credence to the movie being faithful in spirit is directly from the book: "I'm gonna have to science the **** out of this". Of course that is a great line in the book to begin with.

I think it's in good hands. It may be that when done, we can appreciate both the book and the movie separately, much as for the book and movie versions of "The Right Stuff"

BTW - in my re-read, I recently came across this speculation by Mark Watney as to whether there was a website on Earth that was documenting his activities, and his choice of name for what that site might be named. While I've tried to avoid spoilers, I don't think it is significant since this does not affect the plot at all, only a "throwaway" funny speculation line by him that wasn't true. So, well, I checked it out and such a website does exist!

https://www.watch-mark-watney-die.com/

But it is only a placeholder page, that says "Hardcover coming soon". So it's been left unattended for a long time (Hardcover released Feb 11th, 2014). Main reason they would have this page is that it is common practice when mentioning a theoretical or other fictional website name, for companies to at the least register the name so no cybersquatters get hold of it. And sometimes such sites are used for marketing. But that wasn't the reason Andy Weir wrote that line. And the book publishers did about as little as possible to have the site at all, short of just registering name only and doing nothing at all with it.

- George Gassaway

* - That OTHER book I mentioned:
51qadDpmUCL._PIsitb-sticker-arrow-big,TopRight,35,-73_OU01_AC_UL320_SR210,320_.jpg
 
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Well I finished the book yesterday.... You could say I liked it. Definitely one of the best books I've read.

Nate
 
rocketgeek101 said:
You're in luck! It's now coming out on October 2nd. :)
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Wow. I just checked. It's TRUE. Moved to Oct 2nd.

Well, without Thanksgiving to complicate just when, I'm going to try my best to see it the first time it is shown locally.

If it opens at midnight (12:01 AM Oct 2nd), ImmaGonnaBeThere. Going to try to keep an eye out for any publicized advance screenings, if any.

- George Gassaway
 
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For more fascinating things about the book, Adam Savage (the mythbuster) did a fantastic interview (1 hour).

[video=youtube;5SemyzKgaUU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SemyzKgaUU[/video]
 
Ah, I meant to post a link to that interview, you beat me to it.

WARNING - LOTS OF SPOILERS, so those who have not read the book yet should wait till after reading the book (or seeing the movie)
 
So my sister just bought me a copy of 'The Martian'. I had to tell her that I'd already read it twice on Kindle and listened to the audio book. So naturally I was thrilled to have a hard copy, and I immediately read it again. And, I figured out why. I told her it was 'engineer porn'. And, I realized that was exactly true. Made me wonder what other engineer porn there might be out there. A few books that come to mind:

The Soul of a New Machine
The Door Into Summer
Star Driver
Rocket Boys

There must be many others; can you come up with more?
 
The Martian is a brilliant book. Weir has the rare ability to break down science/tech into consumable and easily understood bits. For me it was the perfect balance of detail and pace - with James Patterson on one end (no detail) and Clancy on the other (field manuals in novel form). Very impressive for a first novel, I will surely buy his next offering.

Funny that Gassaway mentioned Wool, I just stumbled across that on Amazon and have it queued up behind 'Salem's Lot.
 
Crash-n-Burn said:
The Martian is a brilliant book. Weir has the rare ability to break down science/tech into consumable and easily understood bits. For me it was the perfect balance of detail and pace - with James Patterson on one end (no detail) and Clancy on the other (field manuals in novel form). Very impressive for a first novel, I will surely buy his next offering.

Funny that Gassaway mentioned Wool, I just stumbled across that on Amazon and have it queued up behind 'Salem's Lot.
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I HIGHLY recommend that you move WOOL up in your que...
 
Something I found out recently, it's not actually Weir's first novel, just the first that's been published in any sort of wide release.
 
Has the third trailer been posted yet?

[video=youtube;Wygmxzp6VzY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wygmxzp6VzY[/video]
 
I like Matt Damon, but I'm worried about getting Matt Damon in outer space fatigue. He's been in two other recent sci-fi movies and one of them wasn't very stellar.
 
I'm not excited about Matt Damon playing Mark Watney. He doesn't fit the description. I listened to the audiobook and R.C. Bray has kind of a raspy voice. That's always going to be Mark Watney's voice to me. You can hear a sample of the book at this link:

Audible - The Martian
 

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