The Martian: Post-Movie Symposium You Will Want to Watch

Video Recommendation: Adam Savage, Astronaut Chris Hadfield, and Andy Weir Talk 'The Martian'

I reviewed the book, The Martian, and I reviewed the movie, The Martian, and I liked them both. Adam Savage of Discovery Channel's MythBusters is a huge fan of both and after viewing the movie he invited author Andy Weir and Astronaut Chris Hadfield for a public symposium, which has now been posted on YouTube.

If you liked either or both, you will enjoy this discussion of the movie, the public response, some of the inside story of book and movie, how Weir's life has been affected by response to the book and movie's success, and from Commander Hadfield, his perspective on the science of the story and space travel, today and in the future.

Around the time I became enthralled with the story, someone suggested calling anyone who visited Mars a Martian. And I thought that was preposterous. A Martian, I thought, should be someone who was born there or who lived there permanently. But Commander Hadfield has a great explanation of why it makes perfect sense from a psychological perspective that someone who visits Mars would become a Martian.

This video is full of very interesting perspectives. Certainly from Hadfield as an astronaut, sharing stories of his experiences as an astronaut in training and in space. And from Weir in writing the story and getting it published, as well as his amazing experiences since the book became a phenomenon. And from Adam Savage, who is no slouch in science and a collector of science fiction memorabilia.

This video lasts just short of an hour, but it's well worth the time to sit back and enjoy a conversation between three well-informed space enthusiasts. Especially if you love science or science fiction.

The Martian (Movie): Great Sci-Fi Consumed in the Right Order

Movie Review: The Martian directed by Ridley Scott

The reason I loved the book The Martian was because it was great science fiction.

There are, of course, different kinds of science fiction. There's fantasy (e.g., Lord of the Rings), and there's what I call monster fiction (e.g., Alien), there's speculative fiction (e.g., 2012), and then there's hard core science fiction, where actual science forms the core of the plot. The Martian is a perfect example of the latter.

The book carried it off with perfection, but the movie had a difficult time carrying it off and fitting everything within almost two and a half hours of cinema. Perhaps that was its greatest weakness, trying to do so much with what amounts to so little time.

No mistake, there is science in the film. But some of it gets lost, like the radiation core that is key to warming the rover and saving energy as Watney drives it the thousands of kilometers to Schiaparelli Crater in the hope of being rescued. Watney digs it up and then you see it sitting in the rover, and at one point Watney alludes to how cold the rover is when he's saving energy, but the film never connects the dots to presence of the core.

Through the two and a half hours of the movie, while the time seemed to zoom by, the plot seemed to plod along. I think the problem is that I read the book first.

Because the book covers so many disasters and Watney's science-based fixes, and writer Andy Weir does it with such efficiency, the pace of the story breezes along. The story is suspenseful and fascinating. There is more of Watney's humor present in the book, as well. But the movie spends more time alternating between Watney's time on Mars, NASA's deliberations and preparations on Earth, and the Hermes crew time. All that slows the pace of the story in the film.

If you haven't read the book, I highly recommend you wait to read the book until after you have seen the film.

Thinking about The Martian as a movie, it is highly entertaining. The story holds up and you are treated to some science as aspects of the story line. If you haven't already read the book, you won't know what you're missing and you can enjoy the movie much better. The cast is wonderful and Matt Damon is perfect as Watney - when I found out some time into reading the book that Damon was being cast as Watney, it was apparent from reading Watney's lines that Damon.s sense of humor fits the character.

If you haven't seen The Martian in theaters yet, go see it. Then read the book. They're great science fiction best consumed in that order.

The Martian: You've Got Read This Great Scifi Thriller!

Book Review: The Martian by Andy Weir

A team of astronauts visits Mars, the third to explore the cold, dry fourth planet in our solar system. After a hefty dust storm threatens the mission, he's wounded and stranded on the planet when the rest of the team can't find him and has to leave. His new mission is to survive until the next team arrives - in four years. Using science - real science - the astronaut faces one devastating tragedy after another, relying on his wits and his diminishing resources to stay alive. Written in the voice of the astronaut, it's a personal journey written with great humor and amazing insight into the psychology of someone undergoing isolation and great danger.

This is the well written story of The Martian by Andy Weir, a journey so intriguing I had to keep reading it even when I should be writing or doing chores or sleeping. I finished it in three days, I was so engrossed in the story.

To be fair, my wife's response was, "Meh..." But we often like different kinds of science fiction. I love hard-core science fiction. She more enjoys fantasy scifi.

Andy Weir did a huge amount of research to write this compelling novel, but he is also trained in much of the science. As a result, it's extremely well crafted and its accuracy is spot on.

When Weir wrote The Martian, he first posted it by chapter online. Then fans suggested he post it as an ebook. Others asked that he print it as a paper book. All which he did for free. It became so popular he put it on Amazon, where it's now a best seller. He tried to publish it for free on Amazon but Amazon requires at least some price, so it's no longer free. But in my mind, it's well worth the low price (only $5.99 for the Kindle version).

If you're a scifi reader, and in particular if you're a fan of hard-core scifi (scifi primarily based on actual science), then this is a book for you. I hope you enjoy nearly as much as I did.

Ridley Scott, who brought us the movie Aliens, is making a movie out of The Martian, coming to theaters in October 2015. The trailer (below) looks great. It's how I first learned about the book, and doing more research I found his website and the book on Amazon and read the excerpt there, where I instantly became excited about the novel.

I've since also watched an interview of author Andy Weir by Adam Savage (MythBusters), who read The Martian in one sitting. The interview is below. I hope you'll take Savage's enthusiasm along with mine as motivation to read this great novel.

OK, enough background - now go find a copy, even if it's in your local library.

(c) 2015. Alan Eggleston. All Rights Reserved.