The Martian book vs movie

ANDY WEIR’S THE MARTIAN: WRITING A BOOK

Andy Weir was fond of science fiction from his childhood and enjoyed reading Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov. When he was fifteen years old, the future author of The Martian got his first job as a programmer. He then changed a few companies and even participated in the creation of Warcraft 2 within Blizzard. Andy Weir had his first writing experience back in the ’90s with the publication of his first work on his website. His first science-fiction work was called “The Egg,” a short story that, now, after its success, receives significant attention on the web and even on YouTube. Andy Weir initiated an interest in Mars and began to describe variants of the missions due to his vision. From the very beginning, the author had an extremely serious attitude toward the topic and the Red Planet itself, with a desire to create a fictional but precise science book. Andy Weir’s book The Martian is focused on a man who struggles for his own life on the surface of Mars.

Andy Weir completely devoted himself to reading and finding information on astronomy, mechanisms of orbital launches, modeling, and botany. He bought dozens of books on the history of different space missions and claims he still remembers all the main dates and events. The initiator initiated publishing the first chapters of his book on his blog and received the first positive reviews and feedback from science fiction fellows. Even though The Martian was distributed free of charge on the web, the author edited the complete version for the Amazon e-book service and then had a full printed edition of his work. The book debuted in 12th place on the New York Times bestseller list and received the title of one of the most prominent science fiction books over the years from The Wall Street Journal. As a result of significant success, the rights for the movie adaptations were bought by 20th Century Fox already in 2013. In October 2015, The Martian movie by Ridley Scott confidently attacked cinemas all over the world, and I invite you to analyze the Martian book vs. movie differences.

MARK WATNEY: SPACE ROBINSON

The Martian is a more adventurous story with its peculiarities than classic science fiction. Surviving extreme conditions within the Mars environment. Mark Watney and his story have more common features with Robinson Crusoe than with characters by Isaac Asimov and Stanislaw Lem. We conceive an incredible survival story of astronaut Mark Watney using his space notebook, divided into days (sols—24 hours and 39 minutes per day on Mars). Such a format creates a feeling of a pseudo-documentary story, everyday personal feelings rather than just fiction. Mark Watney does not accept the thought and the fact that he will probably die on the Red Planet, so the protagonist can’t just lie and wait for the doom. To maximize his chances for survival, he must take into use all knowledge, supplies, and ideas to achieve the ultimate goal—to stay alive on Mars, with or without the help of NASA.

Mark Watney has an accommodation module, two Mars rovers, and multiple NASA astronaut staff. Andy Weir’s main character starts his new space life with the calculation of all belongings and supplies he has, because he obviously can’t count on any income, instead for red rocks. He emphasizes that a serious failure of any of his life systems will cause his inevitable death. The main issue after accommodation and safety is food and water supplies. Mark Watney finds sweet-sour chicken stores and vitamins, but he wants to grow plants and potatoes to have carbs and a big chance of surviving. Some readers may consider such a story to be boring, but we can see the hard work of an extremely motivated person. Martian’s motivation is to survive. Mark Watney just can’t sit and wait for external help, relaxing. In addition, hard work helps Mark Watney to keep his mind clear and focused while fighting the upcoming circumstances.

THE MARTIAN MOVIE

Ridley Scott has made us an excellent gift and reminds us that he is the kind of visionary who once reinvented the science fiction genre (I mean, of course, “Alien” and “Blade Runner”). The Martian movie turned out to be partially a comedy. Matt Damon does not wear serious mimics as a born world hero. He tends to be closer to the audience and lures them positively to his character and the whole story. The movie gives us a prominent soundtrack that combines both modern technical scores and rock classics such as Jimmy Hendricks’s “All Along the Watchtower,” ABBA, and “I Will Survive”. Despite a constant desire to find some scientific inaccuracies within the Mars topic, you find yourself thinking to satisfy the movie and trust in what is happening. 20 minutes of watching is quite enough to dive deep into the story and participate in it. The very difference is your comfort and safety in the seat. Ridley Scott’s The Martian is an important movie in the sense that it motivates people to read Andy Weir’s book, to find other science fiction books, to explore a topic, and to develop themselves. The movie, particularly entertaining, popularizes science more than any book and can lure a big audience.

Differences between the Martian book and movie

• In Andy Weir’s book, the evacuation from Mars was to happen on the 6th sol, and it was the 18th in the movie. Burning news from the satellite photos appeared on the 54th day in the movie and on the 49th day in the novel.
• The book gives us just one extract with a few lines, dealing with Mark Watney’s self-surgery, whereas, in contrast, the movie impresses with a 5-minute emotional scene
• The process of soil fertilization within the module was more detailed in The Martian novel. Mark Watney emphasizes that the excrement of crew members was technically dead, and he had a constant need to mix this stuff with his own “fresh” income regularly. Andy Weir does not give his protagonist a second premise to grow plants, as is depicted in Ridley Scott’s movie. He had to cover all unused floors and surfaces. 91 square meters of the floor and an additional 20 meters presented by two tables, five beds, and a floor of two balloon modules. These two white tents were noticed by NASA in the satellite shots.
• The process of getting water for the plants was simplified in the movie. The book shows us a more prolonged and sophisticated process. Author Andy Weir provides us with detailed science calculations, especially when Mark Watney decides to create a vacuum in his module.
• Venkat Kapoor, in the book, had no previous connection with Maindy Park, an analyst who noticed that Mark Watney is still alive. While telling about her findings, the girl was crying, despite her confusion about Capoor. Two white balloon tents were the main difference between the current and past shots of the surface.
• Jeff Daniels, as Teddy Sanders, NASA Executive, was the one who delivered the sensational news to the mass media in a movie instead of Annie Montrose in a book. In addition, the novel’s Sanders said the phrase that NASA will do their best to bring Mark Watney back, and it had no additional sensation.
• Matt Damon tests his Mars rover using progressive expeditions, with more and more distance from the module every time. However, the logic in the book is even more obvious and safe. He makes circles near his station to be close enough to walk if something happens.
• Annie Montrose is far more emotional and rude than her movie variant, depicted by Kristen Wiig.
• The depressurization of the life module in the movie was simplified. In the novel, Mark Watney had only one big premise, and he was thrown out for 50 meters while inside the airlock module. Then the astronaut had to move it like a telephone box to reach the rover for some time while restoring the atmosphere.
• The first conversation between Mark Watney and his crew after they found out the truth was using text email, not a video as shown in a movie.
• Mark Watney in a book makes a sophisticated process to store his potato. He throws it for some seconds out of the module to vaporize water and kill the bacteria.
• Andy Weir details the cause of the first supply shuttle failure. 300 kg of protein cubes turned out to be unstable during the launch, and this weight dramatically changed the trajectory after smashing the aft closure.
• A comic scene in which Rich Purnell describes his plan with a stapler is added to the movie.
• Mark Watney in the book creates his Mars notebook in text form, and a video in Ridley Scott’s movie.
• After the destruction of the harvest, 200 kg of potatoes remained in Watney’s storage, with many fewer visual stores in the movie adaptation.
• The movie omitted an interesting decision of Ares’ crew, in addition to the desire to take Mark Watney back home. They agreed that in case of any failure with a new mission and Chinese supply delivery, they would kill each other, with Beth Johanssen staying to survive.
• During his thorough preparation, the book’s Mark Watney seriously injured his back and had to make himself a hot bath and provide relaxation to restore the ability to work. However, Matt Damon then states that he had not taken a bath for six to eighteen months.
• Andy Weir gave his Martian one more serious problem—an astronaut unintentionally broke his communications using Pathfinder for a month before the expedition to Schiaparelli.  So this extremely dangerous journey was accomplished without direct communication with NASA. The route itself was generally simplified and shortened in a movie, omitting giant sandstorms, which could spoil solar batteries. The scene where Matt Damon leaves a note in a rover was added to the movie.
• While The Martian movie ends in a college class, Mark Watney, in the book, completes his story in a park and even gives some aggression to a little boy who asks if Watney wants to come back to Mars.