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The Martian
I was having a geek out over The Martian on twitter today and I thought I'd share here too :)
So, The Martian, if you haven't heard of it, is an excellent book by Andy Weir about a man, Mark Watney, left behind on Mars when a storm strikes the Ares III mission. The plot is whether or not he can survive, and whether or not he will be rescued. But for all that it's a feel good, uplifting story about solving one problem at a time, people helping each other, and the sense of humour of the characters has you laughing. There's now also a film, staring Matt Damon, which is missing some of the book's content but captures the tone of the film wonderfully and makes me smile a lot. There's an extended edition being released with extra footage and two new deleted scenes, which unfortunately is US only. Which brings me back to twitter, because I promised some friends links to the extras that I'd found online. And then I also shared some recs. And we had a gif war. Because reasons.
Let's start with the Ares Live YouTube channel which has lots of official goodies including a prologue series of video. I am especially fond of these two:
The Right Stuff - in which NASA offers a declassified look at the psychological testing involved in preparing the ARES 3 crew for their #JourneyToMars. This has the Aquaman hilarity in it - if you've read the book ;) - and also Commander Lewis being awesome.
Chem Cam - in which Astronaut Mark Watney continues with research for the Ares 3 mission. Classic Watney humour.
Now here's a guide to description of the extra scenes in the extended edition. Some googling will find you a few of these, mostly quiet Mark moments going about life on Mars and his 'pop up tent'. But my top two:
End Scene - a moment in space at the end before those fingers touch that green plant.
Sleeping Arrangements - the deleted scene in which Lewis finds something out and shares.
(Do we blame Chem Cam and Sleeping Arrangements for Watney/Beck/Johanssen or fandom? *grins*)
There is, of course, also some good fanfic to sink your teeth into as extras. Two I'm fond of are:
The Hermes Mutiny Golf Club by waldorph (Teen and up, 2227 words) - I want to know what the f**k Sean Bean's character was doing at a golf course with kids.
homesick at space camp by alessandriana (Teen and up, 12182 words) - When the producers of The Watney Report had contacted her about doing a final wrap-up show on the one-year anniversary of the Ares 3 mission's return, Annie'd nearly thrown herself off a bridge. She'd thought she was done with this shit. [Or, seven times they lied to the press.]
And for when you don't have time to rewatch the movie or want a new slant on things, here, have two fanvids:
Synchronicity by niyalune - Ingenuity, space, and getting home.
Under Pressure by violace - "Every human being has a basic instinct to help each other out. This is so fundamentally human that it's found in every culture without exception." ―Andy Weir, The Martian
If anyone has any more links or recs they'd like to share, or anything The Martian related, feel free because seriously this book and film make me happy :D
This has been your Martian geek out post. Enjoy. Earth normal will resume shortly.
So, The Martian, if you haven't heard of it, is an excellent book by Andy Weir about a man, Mark Watney, left behind on Mars when a storm strikes the Ares III mission. The plot is whether or not he can survive, and whether or not he will be rescued. But for all that it's a feel good, uplifting story about solving one problem at a time, people helping each other, and the sense of humour of the characters has you laughing. There's now also a film, staring Matt Damon, which is missing some of the book's content but captures the tone of the film wonderfully and makes me smile a lot. There's an extended edition being released with extra footage and two new deleted scenes, which unfortunately is US only. Which brings me back to twitter, because I promised some friends links to the extras that I'd found online. And then I also shared some recs. And we had a gif war. Because reasons.
Let's start with the Ares Live YouTube channel which has lots of official goodies including a prologue series of video. I am especially fond of these two:
The Right Stuff - in which NASA offers a declassified look at the psychological testing involved in preparing the ARES 3 crew for their #JourneyToMars. This has the Aquaman hilarity in it - if you've read the book ;) - and also Commander Lewis being awesome.
Chem Cam - in which Astronaut Mark Watney continues with research for the Ares 3 mission. Classic Watney humour.
Now here's a guide to description of the extra scenes in the extended edition. Some googling will find you a few of these, mostly quiet Mark moments going about life on Mars and his 'pop up tent'. But my top two:
End Scene - a moment in space at the end before those fingers touch that green plant.
Sleeping Arrangements - the deleted scene in which Lewis finds something out and shares.
(Do we blame Chem Cam and Sleeping Arrangements for Watney/Beck/Johanssen or fandom? *grins*)
There is, of course, also some good fanfic to sink your teeth into as extras. Two I'm fond of are:
The Hermes Mutiny Golf Club by waldorph (Teen and up, 2227 words) - I want to know what the f**k Sean Bean's character was doing at a golf course with kids.
homesick at space camp by alessandriana (Teen and up, 12182 words) - When the producers of The Watney Report had contacted her about doing a final wrap-up show on the one-year anniversary of the Ares 3 mission's return, Annie'd nearly thrown herself off a bridge. She'd thought she was done with this shit. [Or, seven times they lied to the press.]
And for when you don't have time to rewatch the movie or want a new slant on things, here, have two fanvids:
Synchronicity by niyalune - Ingenuity, space, and getting home.
Under Pressure by violace - "Every human being has a basic instinct to help each other out. This is so fundamentally human that it's found in every culture without exception." ―Andy Weir, The Martian
If anyone has any more links or recs they'd like to share, or anything The Martian related, feel free because seriously this book and film make me happy :D
This has been your Martian geek out post. Enjoy. Earth normal will resume shortly.