# The Martian. Book or Movie? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 23, 2018, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-book-or-movie/812927 "2018-04-23T00:27:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2018, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-book-or-movie/812927/41 "2018-04-24T14:22:15Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Weir has said he wishes he’d gone with an engine test failure/explosion instead, but not why he didn’t ask for that in the movie script too. > > A truly remarkable number of other things went right in both. That would have fixed my other big problem with the story: The return craft for the each mission is dropped off years in advance so enough fuel and by catalyzed. But if we have a Mars with winds strong enough to knock over a ship, what happens if a crew is halfway on their way to Mars and their ship gets knocked over? ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2018, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-book-or-movie/812927/42 "2018-04-24T15:06:31Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > That would have fixed my other big problem with the story: > > The return craft for the each mission is dropped off years in advance so enough fuel and by catalyzed. But if we have a Mars with winds strong enough to knock over a ship, what happens if a crew is halfway on their way to Mars and their ship gets knocked over? There’s no problem - They orbit Mars for a few weeks instead of landing, then go home on the ship they were going to anyway. That’s how they did the trips in the first place - the Hermes was the reusable ship that went back and forth between Earth orbit and Mars orbit. It stayed in orbit while they were on Mars (remember, they were only supposed to stay for a month), then they took the return craft back up to it. So if they get to Mars and the pre-placed return craft isn’t usable, they just stay in orbit for the month and go home. Or leave earlier if the orbital mechanics work. ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2018, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-book-or-movie/812927/43 "2018-04-24T15:31:08Z")
Personally the book gave a clearer view of how close Mark comes to killing himself through simple mistakes or oversights. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2018, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-book-or-movie/812927/44 "2018-04-24T23:28:07Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > …but when both the book and the movie are good (which seems to be the case here) I think it’s often better to watch the movie first. I used to think the opposite and made a point of reading the book first, but a movie is always going to have to simply, condense, and omit things. So if you read the book after seeing the movie then there will still be plenty of content that’s new to you, and if the book is a good one then there will often be more depth to it. I agree with this in general. Obviously, it’s subjective, but cases where I’ve seen/read both, I tend to enjoy the movie more if I see it first and the book no less. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2018, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-book-or-movie/812927/45 "2018-04-25T14:09:19Z")
I thought reading the book kind of spoiled the movie for me. Still, if I saw the movie first, I may not have chosen to read the book. For me, it was an A- book, C+ movie. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2018, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-book-or-movie/812927/46 "2018-04-25T19:21:04Z")
> [@Peanuthead](#): > > In most cases a book is far superior to a movie made from it. I don’t know why people keep saying this when there are no just a few exceptions, but SO MANY examples to the contrary. It may be simply that people are more empotionally invested in book they truly love. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2018, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-book-or-movie/812927/47 "2018-04-25T20:49:03Z")
I suspect it’s a selection effect. When a movie is made based on a good book, lots of people know and love the book, and so they say the book is better. When a movie is made based on a bad book, most people never even hear of the book, and so they don’t realize the movie’s better. Similarly, when a book is based on a movie, the movie is almost universally recognized as better, but movies based on books are more common than books based on movies. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-book-or-movie/812927/48 "2018-04-27T16:19:48Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Similarly, when a book is based on a movie, the movie is almost universally recognized as better, but movies based on books are more common than books based on movies. Movies based on books have a legitimate chance to be better than their source. Books based on movies almost never do. When a book is good enough to be made into a movie, it’s generally made with a major studio, an A-list cast, and a talented seasoned director. It’s released years or even decades later and that time is often put to good use to find the right way to tell the story. When a movie is popular enough to be adapted into a book, it’s generally farmed out to a hack writer, based on an early version of the script, and is rushed through production so it’s on store shelves while the movie is fresh in people’s minds. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-book-or-movie/812927/49 "2018-04-27T20:10:50Z")
Whether you prefer the book to the movie may depend on how much of a science geek you are. In the book the science behind every decision and event is laid out in detail, with a little of Watney’s wit thrown in to keep it from being too dry. I imagine that a lot of the general public who enjoyed the movie as a humorous adventure/survival movie, would find themselves skimming through pages of “boring” science so then can get back to the action. The largely positive reviews of the book in this thread, probably represent a straight dope selection bias. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2018, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-book-or-movie/812927/50 "2018-04-28T15:54:32Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > Whether you prefer the book to the movie may depend on how much of a science geek you are. [XKCD](https://xkcd.com/1536/) agrees. ---
**Author:** ![Hrududu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Hrududu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hrududu)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2018, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-book-or-movie/812927/51 "2018-04-29T00:55:32Z")
Really enjoyed the movie. Gave up on the book barely 10%/15% in. He glossed over exciting things like how he got stuck there in about a paragraph. Then went into excruciating detail on how to grow potatoes. It felt like the writer had done a ton of research on certain topic and wanted to put all that research into the book. After reading page after page on how to make water I put the book down. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2018, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-book-or-movie/812927/52 "2018-04-29T02:40:25Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > [XKCD](https://xkcd.com/1536/) agrees. Not everybody wants to watch an astronaut science the shit out of something. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2018, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-book-or-movie/812927/53 "2018-04-29T07:34:18Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Not everybody wants to watch an astronaut science the shit out of something. They ought to want to! ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2018, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-book-or-movie/812927/54 "2018-04-29T14:56:13Z")
> [@Hrududu](#): > > Really enjoyed the movie. Gave up on the book barely 10%/15% in. He glossed over exciting things like how he got stuck there in about a paragraph. Then went into excruciating detail on how to grow potatoes. It felt like the writer had done a ton of research on certain topic and wanted to put all that research into the book. After reading page after page on how to make water I put the book down. FWIW, Mark does explain in detail later on the accident that made the rest of the crew think he was dead. ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2018, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-book-or-movie/812927/55 "2018-04-29T19:19:56Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > > > Not everybody wants to watch an astronaut science the shit out of something. > > They ought to want to! Actually, a good part of his time was spent sciencing the shit _into_ something. One thing that struck me after reading the book was the sheer extravagance of the Hab and its equipment in the movie. I rather imagine it was needed for visual impact and to keep the story moving, but Holy Frijoles, I shudder to contemplate the number of unmanned missions it must have taken to get all that stuff up there. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2018, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-book-or-movie/812927/56 "2018-04-29T19:41:49Z")
Well, it was mostly a tent, and a big tent doesn’t weigh much more than a small tent. So you might as well at least give the astronauts some room. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-book-or-movie/812927.md?page=2)