I think there was a British flag on a helmet as well.
My wife and I saw the movie last night. I had already read the book, she hasn’t yet, but we both really enjoyed the movie.
A quick question about something I haven’t seen anyone else mention yet: during one of the press conferences early in the movie – I think it was the one where they announce that Watney had died – I caught a brief glimpse of a photographer toward the front of the crowd and I swear it was Ben Affleck.
The commander does no flying, which is a break from normal US practice, where (except for the CSM in Apollo lunar landing missions) the Commander not the “pilot” did the actual flying.
A question - Naomi Scott is listed in the credits as playing “Ryoko,” a name that Kindle claims does not appear in the actual book. Who was she? I don’t remember her at all. (I had seen the cast list before the movie came out, and was in fear that she would be a love interest that Watney was trying to get back to - I’m so glad she wasn’t.)
Is he Pilot in the sense of maritime pilots that know of the sea bottom, currents, shoals etc. of an area of the sea and advises the Commander?
A quick and probably stupid question, Watney mentions that now they know he’s alive they’re sending email data dumps again: why didn’t they do that when they first found him alive?
We went to see it last night and got to the theater late enough that we were sitting towards the side in the front row. It was pretty damn uncomfortable, but once the movie started, I just didn’t care.
I really loved the book and thought the movie was as awesome as I could hope for. Most of the acting was amazing (Jessica Chastain was the weak link, I thought). I am just so happy about problems being solved with science. It’s just so freaking positive.
I’m not the only one who checked JPL’s job openings today, am I? Sadly, it seems they don’t have much need for sociologists.
Other than the antics during the Mars orbit rendezvous, I liked it.
But I have one question: What was a botanist doing on a Mars mission in the first place? It’s not like there was any indigenous plant life to study.
He was impaled with the communications array. No communications array, no communications. Until he goes off to get Pathfinder.
One other thing I noticed: Absolutely none of the previews attached to the movie were for anything remotely resembling science fiction. is there genuinely no SF coming up, or did Hollywood fall into the trap of thinking that since this movie was good, it couldn’t possibly be science fiction?
They all had two skills. He was a botanist and a…something else. If you did find algae, moss, bacteria or newts, you would wish that you had included a botanist.
There were some fantasy/horror previews here. The powers that be in the film industry probably equate them.
When he was talking to the crew of the Hermes, Martinez mentioned that the others had to take turns taking care of his duties on board. They didn’t explicitly say so, but it’s possible that they were growing food on board. So during the long mission, that might have been his primary responsibility.
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)?
Mechanical engineer, because otherwise there’s no movie.
Thanks. 
It was the rations. Possibly vitamin deficiency as well, though the book is explicit that there are more than enough vitamins to go around, and he just needs macronutrients.
The RTG (Radioisotope Thermal Generator) doesn’t emit any radiation unless the casing is damaged. Plutonium 238 decays by alpha particles, which are easily stopped by a thin case (although RTGs are still built strongly for structural reasons). The RTG Watney used wasn’t damaged, so there’s no reason he’d be getting a radiation dose.
He would be getting a dose simply by virtue of being out and about on the Martian surface, but this is more like “increased odds of cancer in 30 years” levels, not an acute health risk.
The original mission plan was going to include an attempt to grow plants in martian soil - though, obviously, nothing like the scale he ended up doing so. He had some seeds with him, grass and other fast-growing plants, and was even briefly considering trying to figure out how to live off those before discovering the potatoes.
I loved the movie.
Does anybody know if it’s accurate that one could take off in an open-air capsule like he did in a thin atmosphere like Mars, and not get hurt by the smallest speck of sand that he’d intercepted once he got up to orbit? Don’t spacecraft take damage all the time from tiny random particles coming in at large relative velocities to the craft?
Makes sense, thank you, I take it this was explained in the book but wasn’t made clear in the movie(or maybe it was and I just missed it?).