Recycling On Mars

[dave walsh]

I meant to flag up tonight's premier of "The Martian" on Ch4 but failed to do so. It is, technically, extremely interesting but the focus is also on decent behaviour and moral issues. I happened across a copy of the book in a remaindered shop and stayed up all night reading it-echoes of Apollo 13 but much more! When the film arrived in Bury I watched it in an awful Multiplex at 10am in the cold morning-I was that keen. It's great. although I was slightly disappointed but not sure why, except that the emphasis on the trip to the rendezvous and the crater on the way is different. Read the book if you can. Comments please, especially on the comms aspects and lash ups!

NB Matt Damon is also very impressive in "Seven Years In Tibet"-a very under-rated film of a famous book in my opinion!

Dave

[mark_in_manc]

I enjoyed watching it on video with my nerdy brother in law.

I thought the tarp-and-gaffa-tape way of sealing up large holes in the pod in which he tries to grow things was unlikely, but then I don't know what atm pressure is on the surface of mars...let's see...just above zero!

[dave walsh]

Yes, he is as worried as you in the scene when another storm builds up as he is counting his remaining spuds but it holds! The Irish lived on them and little else [pre-famine]. Less afterwards. Maybe my own ancestors but I can't prove it? The Rolling Stones survived on potaoes and scrambled eggs for six months, when dirt poor. Protein and Carbs!
When the helmet cracks it seems to be preceded by a hole in the space suit he's wearing which is not addressed but maybe I'm wrong about that Marc Watching it again. I'm still impressed by the technical resolutions throughout, especially to make contact-using 1997 technology?. I realise that the last quarter or so of it is my problem, as it diverts and becomes, in many ways, a typical made for TV US film with a chirpy ending but overall, it's still extremely impressive. Ridley Scott has lost his way a little over the years but will never be forgotten re the predictive Blade Runner [1982 happening now] along with Dennis Potters "Cold Lazarus" [1993] which includes Uber and neuro plasticity/chemistry!

The Martian book is essential reading and the guy who wrote it did an amazing job re thinking up the interlocking orbital scenarios etc. Another, underplayed, aspect is the eco-system and the value of plants when you really need them-here or off world, which is what the main character has learned in the "final end". ["Dear Landlord " Dylan 1968]. "Man thinks, cause he rules the world, he can do with it as he please. And if things they don't change soon, he will! Dylan, ["License To Kill" from Infidels 1983].

By the way it's a bit of a "Mars Fest" at present. See Ep 1+2 of Missions [BBC4] from last Thursday! Promising!

Dave W

[Argus25]

Originally Posted by dave walsh

Comments please, especially on the comms aspects and lash ups!

NB Matt Damon is also very impressive in "Seven Years In Tibet"-a very under-rated film of a famous book in my opinion!

Dave

I think you mean Brad Pitt for Seven Years in Tibet ??...?

It was impressive that Matt knew ASCII and that helped him communicate with Earth with limited resources. But there were aspects of the Martian movie that made little sense, like a plastic sheet being used to repair a big hole in the wall, and maintain about our atmospheric pressure inside, with only a few % of that outside in the Martian atmosphere. Still, overall, for a modern Sci Fi movie, I really liked it.

[Sideband]

I read the book before seeing the film and loved both being an avid Sci-Fi fan. They are definitely getting better at creating 'real' planet scenes in the studio.

[paulsherwin]

This subject isn't really relevant to the forum.