Adventures In The Schiaparelli Crater
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Yes, this is a blog post about Mars. And the man who colonized it. Fictionally speaking, of course.
The Martian is a really excellent book by Andy Weir about a six-astronaut expedition to Mars which goes awry, stranding one astronaut alone on the red planet. This is the story of how he survived and was rescued. I’m sorry if you feel I’m committing egregious spoilers here, but the destination isn’t really the interesting part. The interesting part is the journey.
The book was published in 2011 but the masterful Ridley Scott turned it into a motion picture in 2015, with the always-excellent Matt Damon playing the eponymous Martian. I confess, I saw the movie first. I greatly enjoyed it, although I have a few specific notes.
The movie is chock-full of excellent actors and interesting characters, even if we mostly only get to see just the tip of the iceberg with this many players running about. Despite the depressing notion of being stuck alone on a desolate planet that won’t support life, the movie is very much a feel-good experience. There’s a sense of optimism and joy that pervades the entire film. There’s almost no nudity (and the tiny bit that there is is completely necessary to the plot), no sex at all, and very little swearing. Honestly, that’s hard to find in any movie these days.
“As with most of life’s problems, this one can be solved by a box of pure radiation.”
The book has a lot more swearing in it. But honestly, it doesn’t feel gratuitous. Given the situation, it’s completely understandable that The Martian (the character’s name is Mark Watney, but I really like calling him The Martian) does some swearing. But then he gets back to business and gets things done. Much like the film, the book almost feels light-hearted, despite the grim premise. The Martian is genuinely good-natured and very, very funny. He takes his situation and his work seriously, but himself, not so much. It’s quite a fun read.
There are many differences between the book and the movie, but honestly, I understand why most of the changes were made. Books and films are different mediums and have different requirements. Mostly, the film shortened up a lot of the more technical sequences in the book.
Two major differences that stood out to me, and not in a good way were:
“I tested the brackets by hitting them with rocks. This kind of sophistication is what we interplanetary scientists are known for.”
First, in the novel, the character of the head of NASA Teddy Sanders (played by Jeff Daniels) is treated with some disrespect by some of his subordinates in a way that wasn’t shown in the film. Sanders makes a logical decision (that I think I also would have made, given the circumstances) and is openly called a coward by more than one of his team. That didn’t read well and didn’t really fit in with the feel of the rest of the book. This is a minor quibble but it was jarring and temporarily took me out of the story, which I never appreciate in any book.
Second, in the film, the final sequence of The Martian’s rescue by his crewmates played out a bit differently than in the book. The book made a lot more sense. I saw the movie before I read the book, but even while deeply engrossed in the movie, I found the “Iron Man” sequence more than a little silly. I won’t spoil it further for you, but the book was much better in this regard.
One little gem that was in both the book and the movie but was even better in the movie is the scene where some of the NASA staff get together to discreetly discuss a possible rescue plan and decide to call it the Council of Elrond “because it’s a secret meeting.” In the movie, one of these characters is played by Sean Bean, who also played Boromir in The Lord of the Rings. So good…
Now, I’m about to give some advice that I don’t believe I’ve ever given when discussing a book and its associated film. See the film. Read the book. In that order. Yes…I’m actually saying to see the film first.
