I won't lie about this: I probably, in essence, read the book twice in reading it once. Because I kept wanting to find out "what happens next" and skimming ahead a little, then I'd go back and read in detail. Wash, rinse, repeat. Which probably took way longer than if I had just read the damn thing.
How did they condense/strip that book down into a 2.24 hour movie?
I'm interested to find out.
As an aside, USA Today (aka "The Great American Birdcage Liner") thought the weakness of the book was the protagonist's unflappability and apparent unwillingness to contemplate existential matters. Well, no fucking shit! He's stuck on Mars with no way to contact Earth and no source of long-term food. How he deals with all that is the book, and frankly, when you're up to your neck in an alligator-infested swamp (or marooned on a barren world), contemplating your navel is not going to be very high on the agenda.
Also, too, the selection process to be on an Ares mission would have been very careful to select for less emotional 'get things done' sort of people. These particular astronauts would not be anything like the people we deal with every day...
ReplyDeleteIt was stated elsewhere that (in Star Trek terms) you'd want on a four person crew, three Spocks and one Scotty with a little cross training of one of the Spocks as a McCoy. No Kirks, please!
ReplyDeleteGreat interview while we wait... Adam Savage & Andy Weir
ReplyDeleteI'm trying to not raise my expectations too high... (*cough* Gravity) but can't wait for the movie either.