# The Martian film - seen it thread. Unboxed spoilers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 30, 2015, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-film-seen-it-thread-unboxed-spoilers/733095 "2015-09-30T23:46:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-film-seen-it-thread-unboxed-spoilers/733095/161 "2015-10-07T17:05:53Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Speaking of the ethics: How many other people died of preventable causes while Watney was stranded? And how many of them could have been saved, for the same amount of expense as it took to save that one man? What expenses? I think the rocket used for the first (failed) resupply launch was already being assembled for a future (Ares 4?) pre-supply mission. The Chinese rocket was already being assembled for their Mars probe. NASA employees don’t even get overtime pay. They did have to modify 2 probes, but that cost should be miniscule compared to the whole ARES program cost. Though it just occurred to me: Why was the Ares-4 MAV already on Mars, but not the Ares-4 Hab & supplies? (I did read the book, but I don’t remember if there was an explanation for this.) ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-film-seen-it-thread-unboxed-spoilers/733095/162 "2015-10-07T17:20:20Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > Why was the Ares-4 MAV already on Mars, but not the Ares-4 Hab & supplies? (I did read the book, but I don’t remember if there was an explanation for this.) It takes a while for the MAV to synthesize the rocket fuel - I’m remembering around a year. Since it already has to go early, they send it along with the previous Ares mission (3 in this case) so the pilot on Ares 3 can land it from orbit instead of it needing to be an automated landing (it can’t be landed under control from Earth because of the 20-minute delay in transmission time). There no point in sending all the other supplies that early, and a potential downside if they get covered by sand or damaged over a matter of years. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-film-seen-it-thread-unboxed-spoilers/733095/163 "2015-10-07T18:16:39Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > In the book, he had a large supply of multivitamins to meet his nutritional needs, but he needed calories, which the potatoes provided. I don’t think the movie mentioned the vitamins. I did see one brief mention of taking a vitamin pill. ---
**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:** [October 7, 2015, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-film-seen-it-thread-unboxed-spoilers/733095/164 "2015-10-07T18:18:42Z")
Haven’t read the book. Great movie - I really liked it! The Council of Elrond gag was funny, and Boromir was sitting right there! I’m impressed Teddy knew his Tolkien well enough to want to be Glorfindel. The trailer was unfortunately misleading, both as to Jimi Hendrix’s “All Along the Watchtower” and implying that that was Watney’s wife and child. I didn’t buy that the _Hermes_ crew could be kept in the dark for two freakin’ months as to Watney still being alive. They would be in touch with family and friends, and have newsfeeds from Earth, I presume. Why never show Watney’s parents? Might’ve been a good scene - but might’ve diluted the focus on Mars/Mission Control/_Hermes_, I guess. Was Watney wearing Navy aviator’s wings on his shirt in one of the scenes? What do we know, from the book, of his background? Would the MAV burn up, all or mostly, when it fell from orbit, given the thin Martian atmosphere, or would it just make a new crater? According to Wiki, Martian exteriors were filmed here (as they were on two previous Mars-related movies): [Wadi Rum - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wadi_Rum) A nitpick: The U.S. and NASA flags were on the wrong side of the podium in the press conference scenes. > [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > …Facebook-feed comment: _Saving Private Ryan, Interstellar_, now _The Martian_. The film industry has worked very hard to keep bringing Matt Damon home. Heh. I read it somewhere as “America has spent a lot of money to rescue Matt Damon over the years.” > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > By the way, there was a scene in which he walked out of the shower in the hab and we saw his backside. I can’t remember specifically, but were we meant to see that he’d lost weight (due to reduced rations) or that he was starting to show the effects of riding around in the rover with the plutonium power source behind him (i.e., signs of skin cancer)? I thought it was maybe a mix of malnutrition, vitamin deficiency (no mention in the movie of multivitamins that I remember), “bedsores” (wearing a spacesuit too much without the chance to really bathe) and radiation burns. > [@Chronos](#): > > Speaking of the ethics: How many other people died of preventable causes while Watney was stranded? And how many of them could have been saved, for the same amount of expense as it took to save that one man? I don’t think I would have wanted the film to dwell on that excessively, but it would have been interesting for at least one of the characters to mention it. Others have already responded to this. I’ll add that Henry Kissinger, of all people, argued in one of his White House memoirs that the same might have been said of Columbus before he sailed over the horizon in 1492. If all social problems must be resolved, and all other demands for funding met, before we explore the universe around us, then those voyages will never be made - but they may well hold the answers to at least some of those very problems! Exploration and discovery are essential to the human spirit, I believe, and worth the time, treasure and talent we spend on them. _The Martian_ gets that. ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-film-seen-it-thread-unboxed-spoilers/733095/165 "2015-10-07T18:36:49Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > What expenses? I think the rocket used for the first (failed) resupply launch was already being assembled for a future (Ares 4?) pre-supply mission. The Chinese rocket was already being assembled for their Mars probe. NASA employees don’t even get overtime pay. They did have to modify 2 probes, but that cost should be miniscule compared to the whole ARES program cost. In the novel the booster they hijacked was for a Saturn probe: “What about an Ares 4 presupply?” said Teddy. “Land it at Ares 3 instead.” “That’s what we’re thinking, yeah,” Venkat confirmed. “Problem is, the original plan was to launch presupplies a year from now. They’re not ready yet. \ “There’s also the booster,” Venkat said. “The only way to get a probe to Mars with the planets in their current positions is to spend a butt-load of fuel. We only have one booster capable of doing that. The Delta IX that’s on the pad right now for the EagleEye 3 Saturn probe. We’ll have to steal that. I talked to ULA, and they just can’t make another booster in time.” “The EagleEye 3 team will be pissed, but okay,” said Teddy. “We can delay their mission if JPL gets the payload done in time.” ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-film-seen-it-thread-unboxed-spoilers/733095/166 "2015-10-07T18:49:35Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I didn’t buy that the _Hermes_ crew could be kept in the dark for two freakin’ months as to Watney still being alive. They would be in touch with family and friends, and have newsfeeds from Earth, I presume. All such communications would run through NASA and be subject to censoring. > [@](#): > > Why never show Watney’s parents? Ridley Scott’s focus was on \*avoiding \*melodrama. > [@](#): > > Was Watney wearing Navy aviator’s wings on his shirt in one of the scenes? What do we know, from the book, of his background? That wasn’t mentioned. It could have been Martinez’ shirt, though. Even Lewis’. > [@](#): > > Would the MAV burn up, all or mostly, when it fell from orbit, given the thin Martian atmosphere, or would it just make a new crater? The Martian atmosphere is about 0.5% the density of Earth’s, so, crater. Unless it hits a rock, then, crunch. > [@](#): > > Exploration and discovery are essential to the human spirit, I believe, and worth the time, treasure and talent we spend on them. _The Martian_ gets that. I thought the moral topic was more about risking multiple lives to save one, not the risks of exploration - that was taken for granted in the film. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-film-seen-it-thread-unboxed-spoilers/733095/167 "2015-10-08T02:10:48Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > It takes a while for the MAV to synthesize the rocket fuel - I’m remembering around a year. Since it already has to go early, they send it along with the previous Ares mission (3 in this case) so the pilot on Ares 3 can land it from orbit instead of it needing to be an automated landing… OK, I remember now, thanks. Obviously I need to go read the book again… ---
**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:** [October 8, 2015, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-film-seen-it-thread-unboxed-spoilers/733095/168 "2015-10-08T03:06:44Z")
The only pill I remember seeing was a valium pill, not a vitamin. “I’m going to dip this potato in a crushed valium now, because nobody can stop me”. And while he could have been getting his vitamins from pills, that still leaves him needing protein and (to a lesser extent) fat. He was getting some from the freeze-dried rations, of course, but probably not enough (yet another contributor to his apparent poor health late in the movie). Yes, we do need fat in our diets. It’s not something that comes up often, especially in rich countries, since most First World diets have far more fat than is needed. But when you’re eating almost entirely potatoes, yeah. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-film-seen-it-thread-unboxed-spoilers/733095/169 "2015-10-08T03:32:50Z")
I though it was crushed Vicodin he was using instead of ketchup. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-film-seen-it-thread-unboxed-spoilers/733095/170 "2015-10-08T04:05:11Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > TAnd while he could have been getting his vitamins from pills, that still leaves him needing protein and (to a lesser extent) fat. He was getting some from the freeze-dried rations, of course, but probably not enough (yet another contributor to his apparent poor health late in the movie). Potatoes actually have a decent amount of protein. 10 per day would be enough to meet FDA recommendations. Watney had to have been eating around that number just for the calories. I’m aware of the idea of [rabbit starvation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_starvation), in which one has problems if virtually all calories are from protein. It’s not clear to me what the problems are for a carb+protein diet, though. Rabbit starvation seems to come about because the liver can’t metabolize that much protein. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-film-seen-it-thread-unboxed-spoilers/733095/171 "2015-10-08T04:37:17Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The only pill I remember seeing was a valium pill, not a vitamin. “I’m going to dip this potato in a crushed valium now, because nobody can stop me”. I thought he said vitamin. One of us misheard. ---
**Author:** ![Mince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@Mince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mince)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-film-seen-it-thread-unboxed-spoilers/733095/172 "2015-10-08T05:43:15Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > I thought he said vitamin. One of us misheard. You both misheard. It was a crushed Vicodin. The idea that “no one can stop me” implies it was something illicit, eliminating vitamins. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-film-seen-it-thread-unboxed-spoilers/733095/173 "2015-10-08T12:13:55Z")
Wife and I remember vicodin. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-film-seen-it-thread-unboxed-spoilers/733095/174 "2015-10-08T13:26:49Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The only pill I remember seeing was a valium pill, not a vitamin. “I’m going to dip this potato in a crushed valium now, because nobody can stop me”. > > And while he could have been getting his vitamins from pills, that still leaves him needing protein and (to a lesser extent) fat. He was getting some from the freeze-dried rations, of course, but probably not enough (yet another contributor to his apparent poor health late in the movie). > > Yes, we do need fat in our diets. It’s not something that comes up often, especially in rich countries, since most First World diets have far more fat than is needed. But when you’re eating almost entirely potatoes, yeah. Didn’t the Irish peasantry in the 19th century live on a nearly all-potato diet (until the potato blight caused a massive famine)? Not well, I assume, but for more than a couple of years … ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-film-seen-it-thread-unboxed-spoilers/733095/175 "2015-10-08T13:37:25Z")
> [@Mince](#): > > You both misheard. It was a crushed Vicodin. The idea that “no one can stop me” implies it was something illicit, eliminating vitamins. I heard him say Vicodin, after noting that he’d run out of ketchup. And I wonder if he never ate another potato, after he returned to Earth. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-film-seen-it-thread-unboxed-spoilers/733095/176 "2015-10-08T13:40:06Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I heard him say Vicodin, after noting that he’d run out of ketchup. And I wonder if he never ate another potato, after he returned to Earth. “… and for a side, would you like salad, mashed potato, or fries with that?” "Uh … I’ll take the salad 🙂 " ---
**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:** [October 8, 2015, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-film-seen-it-thread-unboxed-spoilers/733095/177 "2015-10-08T13:46:20Z")
Potatoes might have enough protein as a whole, but they don’t have complete proteins. Proteins are made up of 20 different amino acids, and humans need all of them. Some of them, our bodies can make on their own, but the rest, we need to get from our diet, and those are called essential amino acids. Very few plants contain significant amounts of all of the essential amino acids: For that, you usually need to either eat particular combinations of plants (like grains and legumes), or eat animal foods. The 19th-century Irish did eat a diet very heavy on potatoes, but that’s not all that they ate. They also had milk, cabbage, and a few other cheap vegetables, and the milk and the other vegetables were enough to complete their proteins. The biggest thing Watney has in his favor is that the typical American diet has a heck of a lot more protein than we actually need. So the small amount of stored rations he had, even with as little of them as he’s eating on a daily basis, just might have enough to meet his needs. But it’s still definitely something to be concerned about, and probably one more thing that he had to calculate out. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-film-seen-it-thread-unboxed-spoilers/733095/178 "2015-10-08T13:48:25Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Potatoes might have enough protein as a whole, but they don’t have complete proteins. Proteins are made up of 20 different amino acids, and humans need all of them. Some of them, our bodies can make on their own, but the rest, we need to get from our diet, and those are called essential amino acids. Very few plants contain significant amounts of all of the essential amino acids: For that, you usually need to either eat particular combinations of plants (like grains and legumes), or eat animal foods. > > The 19th-century Irish did eat a diet very heavy on potatoes, but that’s not all that they ate. They also had milk, cabbage, and a few other cheap vegetables, and the milk and the other vegetables were enough to complete their proteins. > > The biggest thing Watney has in his favor is that the typical American diet has a heck of a lot more protein than we actually need. So the small amount of stored rations he had, even with as little of them as he’s eating on a daily basis, just might have enough to meet his needs. But it’s still definitely something to be concerned about, and probably one more thing that he had to calculate out. Apparently, it is controversial as to how much the Irish ate to supplement potatoes. > **[Could I survive on nothing but potatoes and milk?](https://www.straightdope.com/21343924/could-i-survive-on-nothing-but-potatoes-and-milk)** ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-film-seen-it-thread-unboxed-spoilers/733095/179 "2015-10-08T13:53:35Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I heard him say Vicodin, after noting that he’d run out of ketchup. And I wonder if he never ate another potato, after he returned to Earth. In the book he expressed an intention to emigrate to Australia, because it is the furthest on Earth that it is possible to be from Idaho. ---
**Author:** ![Nefario](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/59ef9b/32.png) [@Nefario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nefario)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-film-seen-it-thread-unboxed-spoilers/733095/180 "2015-10-08T14:23:19Z")
Forgive me for not remembering character names… In the book, Watney thinking he might not survive, writes messages to all the Hermes crew including advice to one of the men saying “…he should tell (the non-captain woman) how he feels…” and those two end up sharing quarters on the trip home and Watney takes that mans bunk. Only his message to the captain is in the movie. According to my wife, in the movie this man has a wife and two kids on earth (which are shown at the end) plus an affair going on in space. Is this correct or did the movie deviate from the book and we’re imagining an affair? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-film-seen-it-thread-unboxed-spoilers/733095.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-martian-film-seen-it-thread-unboxed-spoilers/733095.md?page=10)