In my experience, it’s always better to watch the movie first and then read the book after, since if you like the movie then you’re just going to get more out of the book. Going the other direction, you’re just seeing a less complete version of something that you liked in its whole form.
And if you don’t like the movie, then you don’t need to bother with the book.
I’d vote for the movie. The book ads a lot more complications which are very realistic and handled very well, but I felt detracted a bit from the dramatic build. The movie is just about perfect as far as pacing.
Book.
The movie is pretty good, though.
I’ve neither read the book nor seen the movie, so I’m monitoring this thread carefully for recommendations.
The book teaches us how to create boobs in ASCII.
If nobody else will, I will acknowledge this. Well Done.
Anyhoo, the book is better and you should read it if you are interested. Having said that, the movie is a faithful adaption and the scenes of the Mars landscape are quite well done. The movie does give sense of the visual scale and solitude he would have had. Plus, this is really a fun a role for Matt Damon.
The movie cuts out a lot (as need to fit in a two hour movie), but the book could also use a good editor. I remember there being a completely unnecessary chapter that was just the two NASA guys complaining about airport security.
Another vote for the book, but it’s close - the movie is excellent as well.
Here’s the thing, though. I saw the movie first, and then decided to read the book. When I read the book, I “heard” Matt Damon’s voice for all of Watney’s narration ! It actually made the book that much more enjoyable.
As a side note: I just finished Weir’s 2nd book, “Artemis”, and it is nothing like “The Martian”. I was a bit disappointed, sad to say. There was some good science, as you’d expect, but felt a bit rushed.
The ASCII boobs made it into the movie.
(.)(.)
Did they? In the book, weren’t they during the first real convo with NASA? In the movie, Vincent tells him to watch his language, and the you see everyone reacting to Mark typing something, but not actually what he typed.
I have yet to finish Artemis as I found myself really loathing his protagonist, who - unlike Watney - did everything to herself.
My data point is that the book is better, but I also loved the movie, having seen the movie first.
This is very good advice.
Definitely. The exteriors were filmed in Jordan: The Martian (film) - Wikipedia
I believe the ASCII boobs he used was this: (.Y.) or this (oYo)
Saw the movie first, then read the book. The last time I was able to make it through a book for a movie I’d already seen would have been the first few Harry Potter books. So, pretty darn good in both forms, but a lot more backstory and detail in the book, as well as a few more unnecessary and boring parts. Love how he completely handwaved the biggest science gaff in the story, without which he wouldn’t have had a story.
I much preferred the book, which is true for me in almost all cases, with one exception. (The Lord of the Rings trilogy.)
I agree that both the book and the movie are great and worth your time, but I have to give my vote to the book solely based on the ending. I saw the movie first, and was a little disappointed with the ending (the actual resolution of the problem – not the epilogue), and then read the book and was pleased that the ending made much more sense.
Do you mean
the fact that even the strongest winds on Mars wouldn’t be much more than a light breeze on Earth, and not nearly bad enough to knock over a spaceship?
I enjoyed the book more. The movie screwed up the rescue rendezvous by overplaying the crappy improvised bomb to blow the door off and it just looked like a cookie-cutter Hollywood plot device.
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.