Forums > Off-Topic Discussion > "The Martian"

Photographer

Looknsee Photography

Posts: 26342

Portland, Oregon, US

"The Martian" is a recent novel by Andy Weir.  It was a great novel -- very believable, about an astronaut who gets stranded on Mars and finds a way to survive long enough to get rescued.  I recommend the book highly.

It's being made into a movie and the official trailer is now out.  Looks good.

Jun 09 15 09:20 am Link

Photographer

Good Egg Productions

Posts: 16713

Orlando, Florida, US

It's Castaway.

In SPAAAAAAAAAAACE!!!

Jun 09 15 09:24 am Link

Photographer

Tony From Syracuse

Posts: 2503

Syracuse, New York, US

I know about this book as a coworker was so taken by it she would talk to me about it every day while she was reading it.
all I know...is if I was left behind by people and left to die....if they werent even sure I was dead....OH....I would survive, fueled by a rage for revenge.it happens to be one of my quirks...or fears. I suspect it has to do with an incident when I was a teen.

but...there is nothing as primal as being left behind, while the notion those who left you behind are going on with their lives while you are essentially are in a fight for your life.

which is essentially what I believe that drives people to such anger when they find out they missed their flight at the airport when they can still see the plane sitting on the runway next to the window with the gate still attached. you dont view it as something minor. you view it has something dark.

Jun 09 15 02:17 pm Link

Photographer

Allen Carbon

Posts: 1532

Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand

Looknsee Photography wrote:
finds a way to survive long enough to get rescued.

Recommends book. Spoils ending.

Thanks.

Jun 11 15 11:28 pm Link

Photographer

The Grey Forest

Posts: 542

Igoumenítsa, Kentriki Ellada, Greece

Tony From Syracuse wrote:
I know about this book as a coworker was so taken by it she would talk to me about it every day while she was reading it.
all I know...is if I was left behind by people and left to die....if they werent even sure I was dead....OH....I would survive, fueled by a rage for revenge.it happens to be one of my quirks...or fears. I suspect it has to do with an incident when I was a teen.

but...there is nothing as primal as being left behind, while the notion those who left you behind are going on with their lives while you are essentially are in a fight for your life.

which is essentially what I believe that drives people to such anger when they find out they missed their flight at the airport when they can still see the plane sitting on the runway next to the window with the gate still attached. you dont view it as something minor. you view it has something dark.

...impressive analogy

Jun 12 15 12:12 am Link

Photographer

Looknsee Photography

Posts: 26342

Portland, Oregon, US

Tony From Syracuse wrote:
all I know...is if I was left behind by people and left to die....if they werent even sure I was dead....OH....I would survive, fueled by a rage for revenge.it happens to be one of my quirks....

Book good.  Your guess at the plot of the book is bad.  Read the book.

Jun 12 15 11:29 am Link

Photographer

Looknsee Photography

Posts: 26342

Portland, Oregon, US

Looknsee Photography wrote:
finds a way to survive long enough to get rescued.

Allen Carbon wrote:
Recommends book. Spoils ending.

Thanks.

Yeah -- you didn't guess the ending?  Seemed pretty obvious to me.  From the Amazon.com blurb:

But Mark isn't ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills—and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit—he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?

Yeah, he's going to die.  Sure.

Jun 12 15 11:31 am Link

Photographer

Tony From Syracuse

Posts: 2503

Syracuse, New York, US

Read the book?  I read the book...SPOILERS... he works out a way to get one of the damaged pods left on mars up and running...gets himself up into the atmosphere...but he has no fuel...but he is able to attach his pod to a satellite passing by that will pass by earth in a couple days...so he mathematically works out the calculations and makes it so his pod attaches to the satellite...which then proceeds towards earth...and detaches and falls into the atmosphere and lands into the ocean.

he makes it to shore and finds out with great rage that all his fellow astronauts are all stars now...who paint him as responsible for his own death.  he one by one...tracks down his fellow astronauts and kills them in grisly ways while wearing an astronauts suit and a pick axe and before killing each says "houston...we have a problem....a DEAD PROBLEM!. 
dont tell me I didnt read the book fella.

Jun 12 15 01:59 pm Link

Photographer

Looknsee Photography

Posts: 26342

Portland, Oregon, US

Tony From Syracuse wrote:
Read the book?  I read the book...SPOILERS... he works out a way to get one of the damaged pods left on mars up and running...gets himself up into the atmosphere...but he has no fuel...but he is able to attach his pod to a satellite passing by that will pass by earth in a couple days...so he mathematically works out the calculations and makes it so his pod attaches to the satellite...which then proceeds towards earth...and detaches and falls into the atmosphere and lands into the ocean.

he makes it to shore and finds out with great rage that all his fellow astronauts are all stars now...who paint him as responsible for his own death.  he one by one...tracks down his fellow astronauts and kills them in grisly ways while wearing an astronauts suit and a pick axe and before killing each says "houston...we have a problem....a DEAD PROBLEM!. 
dont tell me I didnt read the book fella.

We read different books -- that's not what happens in the book I read.  In fact, that's closer to the movie "Gravity" than to the book.

Jun 12 15 02:28 pm Link

Photographer

Tony From Syracuse

Posts: 2503

Syracuse, New York, US

oh....I see..<cough cough> possibly I didnt read "the martian"

Jun 12 15 02:39 pm Link

Photographer

JDF Photography

Posts: 2064

Marengo, Ohio, US

Anybody remember the movie Robinson Caruso on Mars?

Jun 12 15 06:56 pm Link

Photographer

DOUGLASFOTOS

Posts: 10604

Los Angeles, California, US

JDF Photography wrote:
Anybody remember the movie Robinson Caruso on Mars?

Yep.

Jun 12 15 06:57 pm Link

Photographer

Kincaid Blackwood

Posts: 23492

Los Angeles, California, US

The trailer really looked good. Can't wait to see it.

Jun 12 15 09:36 pm Link

Photographer

DOUGLASFOTOS

Posts: 10604

Los Angeles, California, US

I don't know...It is a Ridley Scott Film....This means we have a chance for Ridley to explain...Prometheus.  lol

Jun 12 15 10:08 pm Link

Photographer

Looknsee Photography

Posts: 26342

Portland, Oregon, US

Tony From Syracuse wrote:
Read the book?  I read the book...SPOILERS... he works out a way to get one of the damaged pods left on mars up and running...gets himself up into the atmosphere...but he has no fuel...but he is able to attach his pod to a satellite passing by that will pass by earth in a couple days...so he mathematically works out the calculations and makes it so his pod attaches to the satellite...which then proceeds towards earth...and detaches and falls into the atmosphere and lands into the ocean.

he makes it to shore and finds out with great rage that all his fellow astronauts are all stars now...who paint him as responsible for his own death.  he one by one...tracks down his fellow astronauts and kills them in grisly ways while wearing an astronauts suit and a pick axe and before killing each says "houston...we have a problem....a DEAD PROBLEM!. 
dont tell me I didnt read the book fella.

Looknsee Photography wrote:
We read different books -- that's not what happens in the book I read.  In fact, that's closer to the movie "Gravity" than to the book.

Tony From Syracuse wrote:
oh....I see..<cough cough> possibly I didnt read "the martian"

Now that I think about it, your plot sounds a lot like a movie I saw -- forget the name, but it starred Val Kilmore and Carrie Ann Moss -- Moss stayed in orbit while a team landed on Mars, discovered that Mars had atmosphere, but the whole crew was killed off before Kilmore got into an old Russian mining probe, got out of the atmosphere where he was rescued by Moss.

Here's a link in Amazon to the book.

Jun 13 15 08:09 am Link

Photographer

Reflected

Posts: 16390

New York, New York, US

Tony From Syracuse wrote:
I know about this book as a coworker was so taken by it she would talk to me about it every day while she was reading it.
all I know...is if I was left behind by people and left to die....if they werent even sure I was dead....OH....I would survive, fueled by a rage for revenge.it happens to be one of my quirks...or fears. I suspect it has to do with an incident when I was a teen.

but...there is nothing as primal as being left behind, while the notion those who left you behind are going on with their lives while you are essentially are in a fight for your life.

which is essentially what I believe that drives people to such anger when they find out they missed their flight at the airport when they can still see the plane sitting on the runway next to the window with the gate still attached. you dont view it as something minor. you view it has something dark.

The Grey Forest wrote:
...impressive analogy

LMAO

Jun 13 15 09:50 am Link

Photographer

DHayes Photography

Posts: 4962

Richmond, Virginia, US

Looknsee Photography wrote:
Now that I think about it, your plot sounds a lot like a movie I saw -- forget the name, but it starred Val Kilmore and Carrie Ann Moss -- Moss stayed in orbit while a team landed on Mars, discovered that Mars had atmosphere, but the whole crew was killed off before Kilmore got into an old Russian mining probe, got out of the atmosphere where he was rescued by Moss.

Digging into the vault of forgotten oldies, "Robinson Crusoe On Mars" is a 1964 movie about an astronaut who survives a crash landing on Mars that kills his crewmate.  With only limited supplies and a thin, almost unbreathable atmosphere (1960s belief that Mars had an oxygen containing atmosphere), the astronaut faces a grim fate.  Using his ingenuity and items cobbled from the wreckage of his ship, he perseveres.  Then the movie takes a fantastic turn when alien slavers arrive to mine minerals. The astronaut manages to free one of the slaves who becomes his, "Friday". 

BTW, The alien spaceships are recycled war machines from the 1953 version of "War of the Worlds" minus the heat ray device.

Jun 13 15 11:09 am Link

Photographer

Allen Carbon

Posts: 1532

Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand

Looknsee Photography wrote:
Yeah -- you didn't guess the ending?  Seemed pretty obvious to me.  From the Amazon.com blurb:

Yeah, he's going to die.  Sure.

Wait, you are surprised that some people don't want to know how the ending will go?


As many books you can find me that the supposed protagonist survives, I can find equally as many books where the protagonist dies.
That's the whole point of it. It's thrilling.

At least the Amazon blurb leaves it an open question.
You flat out just told everyone that theres no tension involved in this because whatever happens, he'll survive.

Seriously there's no defending what you did. It was a total dick move.
Thanks.

Jun 13 15 04:48 pm Link

Photographer

Frank Lewis Photography

Posts: 14486

Winter Park, Florida, US

JDF Photography wrote:
Anybody remember the movie Robinson Caruso on Mars?

Robinson Crusoe on Mars. Great movie. Very good special effects. The story still hold up today.

Adam West with Mona...
https://bestforfilm.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/r_crusoe_1_8a201.jpg

Jun 17 15 05:49 pm Link