Maybe they had come up with a different solution to the astrophage problem, and it did not go as planned?
I absolutely loved the film and rate it as one of the very best science-fiction films I have ever seen. It’s a combination of an intriguing premise, many scenes of visual wonder, some warmth and humor in the scenes between Grace and Rocky and some neat plot twists which keep the story going. Gosling really carries the film and Rocky is one of the great creations of cinematic puppetry.
If I remember correctly, the transit to the planet was just one part of the life cycle; after they reproduced, they went back toward the sun. And since the astrophage was being decimated by the taumeba, far fewer of them were making it back to the star. Presumably enough, or the taumeba would have starved and died off.
So, Earth could see that Tau Ceti was NOT dimmed, which was why Grace was sent (ditto Rocky and his ill fated companions). Per the paths of stars that were affected, Tau Ceti was on the path and should have been dimming.
I don’t think the stars were actually dying - but the astrophage was absorbing a significant chunk of the output. So the star itself wasn’t affected, but anything relying on that light and energy was.
I wonder if there will be a director’s cut DVD/BluRay that has the whole 225 minutes…
Unlikely as a directors’ cut. The directors called the 3:45 cut “embarrassing”, so it is unlikely they will attach their name to it. I could see some of the deleted scenes being including in a DVD, but not as a complete movie.
“Our first official test screening went great, but we do a lot of earlier screenings for friends and family and other filmmakers and writers. This movie was massive. When we finally got the assembly cut down to under four hours long, we subjected some filmmaker friends of ours to a three-hour and 45-minute cut of the movie, which was embarrassing.”
Lord noted that the feedback the directing duo got was unanimous: “Get it way shorter.”
“You just don’t know how the scenes are going to land with an audience,” Lord said. “We thought everything was charming, but some of those charming things didn’t land. It made it really easy to get it down to three hours.”
It also slammed home the terminality of the mission and its eventual crew.
The movie is now available for streaming rental or purchase on Amazon Prime, FYI, with a Blu-Ray release scheduled for August.
After I saw it the first time, I read the book, then caught it in the theater a second time (which I’ve only done twice in my life up until now). It holds up really well as an adaptation of the book. I’m glad I saw the movie first, because the “Grace say Grace will die. Rocky fix” scene wouldn’t have hit as hard if I knew it was coming. On the second watch I was able to notice how the film slyly alludes to some of the elements of the book that got left out - DuBois and Shapiro’s relationship, how long Rocky had been alone on his ship (and was therefore so overenthusiastic to meet Grace), why the probes for sending the mission’s findings back to Earth are named after the Beatles, how they have literally all of the world’s knowledge on a laptop, and so on. You get to notice little details like how Rocky always taps one of his feet twice when asking a question. The book is drier and focuses more on the hard science, but the movie adaptation really gives the characters a chance to shine and does a better job of portraying Grace as a fish out of water who learns to, as Yao puts it, “find someone to be brave for”.
I honestly think it might be one of my favorite movies of all time. It’s very intelligently written and doesn’t talk down to the audience or condescend. It’s both serious and funny. It’s got punchy, extremely quotable dialogue. The fact that there are only three major characters (Grace, Rocky, and Stratt) means they all get time to be well-developed and have solid narrative arcs. Grace and Rocky are one of the best examples of platonic friendship I’ve ever seen in film, and Gosling and Ortiz have amazing onscreen chemistry. Rocky is executed so well it didn’t even occur to me that he was a puppet and not CGI. I never thought I would care so much about a crab-shaped rock with no eyes. The cinematography is gorgeous. The soundtrack is perfect and I’ve had “Sunday Morning Coming Down” stuck in my head for DAYS now. It’s an emotional roller coaster that got me teary-eyed a few times, which is rare for me.
If you missed the theatrical run, it probably won’t look as impressive on your TV as it did on the big screen, but it’s well worth watching.
Try the audiobook! The way it handles Rocky’s dialogue is great.
And Ray Porter is a superb narrator.
Audiobooks aren’t really my cup of tea, but apparently it’s free with my Amazon Music account, so maybe I’ll give it a listen the next time I’m on a long-ass bus trip.
You might enjoy it. Especially on a bus trip.