History Awesome / TheMartian

--> '''Watney:''' [[TheDeterminator I'm not gonna die here.]]

--> '''Watney:''' In the face of overwhelming odds, I'm left with only one option: I'm gonna have to ''science the shit out of this.''

* Space exploration is inherently awesome, but Watney takes it [[UpToEleven to eleven]]. Doubly awesome in the book, where Watney explains that he never expected to be "the first" at ''anything.'' He was on the third manned mission to Mars, and wasn't even first out on his own trip. Instead, he accumulates a ''massive'' number of "firsts" during his ordeal. Even the ''Hermes'' crew get in on it, being the first crew to go to Mars twice, something even Watney cannot lay claim to.

** And he does.

* Meta for the entire ''The Martian'' phenomenon. An aspiring author-turned-software-engineer writes a book that he offers for free on his website, self-publishes for $0.99 on Amazon, then is picked up by a major publisher, becomes a bestseller, and finally becomes a major motion picture. Try selling a rags to riches story like that to Hollywood. RealityIsUnrealistic indeed.
* Can't forget the very first line.
-->'''Watney:''' I'm pretty much fucked.

* In a meta kind of way, the three InUniverse style promos for the film are pretty brilliant. But the third one, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fdKyszL1Zo "Our Greatest Adventure"]], takes all the cake for having freaking ''UsefulNotes/NeilDeGrasseTyson'' host the video! And he's shown with gray hair, as if he's really there in 2035. Damn, Dr. NDT looks pretty good for being 75! Considering Neil [[WebVideo/CinemaSins picked apart bits of]] ''Film/{{Gravity}}'' and ''Film/{{Interstellar}}'' that were scientifically inaccurate, his part in promoting ''Film/TheMartian'' is really encouraging for the science part!
* In another meta kind of way, the movie wanted to be just as strongly grounded in scientific reality as the book, and so they actually grew potatoes on the set! [[http://arstechnica.com/the-multiverse/2015/08/ars-talks-with-matt-damon-on-being-astronaut-mark-watney-in-the-martian/ "Ars Technica interviews Matt Damon"]]

** And then you make that happen.

* Rich Purnell, a seemingly random kid, figures out the exact math for getting the ''Hermes'' back to Mars in time to save Watney.
** "Steely-eyed missile man" is a traditional NASA accolade for someone who comes up with an ingenious solution quickly while under pressure. It's the highest compliment that can be paid to someone at NASA. In the whole story, it's only ever applied to one person: Rich Purnell.

** Doubles as a Heartwarming Moment.

* Space exploration is inherently awesome, but Watney takes it [[UpToEleven to eleven]].

** Doubly awesome in the book, where Watney explains that he never expected to be "the first" at ''anything.'' He was on the third manned mission to Mars, and wasn't even first out on his own trip. Instead, he accumulates a ''massive'' number of "firsts" during his ordeal. Even the ''Hermes'' crew get in on it, being the first crew to go to Mars twice, something even Watney cannot lay claim to.

* There's something distinctly awesome about Watney proclaiming himself a "SpacePirate".[[note]]Since Mars doesn't belong to a country, it legally counts as international waters, and Watney at one point commandeers a rover on Mars without anyone giving him explicit permission to do so, making him technically a pirate.[[/note]] Call him "Captain Blondbeard".

** The entire ''Hermes'' crew proves that Watney is not the only guy who can science the shit out of a problem [[spoiler:by building a bomb that blows out an airlock and vents out air, which allows the ship to decelerate fast enough to improve the viability of Watney's extraction.]]
** [[spoiler:Tony Stark, your lies have been exposed. Mark Watney is Iron Man.]]

* It's rare that an ''inanimate object'' gets a Crowning Moment of Awesome, but Pathfinder does. After Mark explains to the audience what might be wrong with it, how he hopes he fixed it, and how he'll know if it's been fixed (the high-gain antenna orienting towards Earth, because Earth sent a signal telling Pathfinder where it was to do that), the chapter concludes with Pathfinder's boot log, including a bunch of nonfucntional systems (that were on panels of the probe Watney removed to take it back to the Hab). Finally, the last lines of Pathfinder's computer humming away close out the chapter:

** Doubly awesome in the book, where Watney explains that he never expected to be "the first" at ''anything.'' He was on the third manned mission to Mars, and wasn't even first out on his own trip. Instead, he accumulates a ''massive'' number of "firsts" during his ordeal. Even the ''Hemes'' crew get in on it, being the first crew to go to Mars twice, something even Watney cannot lay claim to.

* The ''Hermes'' crew have a decision to make: They can follow NASA's direct orders and land the ship back on Earth, likely dooming Watney to die on Mars...or they can go along with Purnell's plan, technically commit an act of treason, and stay in space for many more months -- with all the risks to themselves that the trip would entail -- to take their shot at saving their friend. If even one member of the crew decides to go home, they all go home. Despite knowing all the risks and everything they would be giving up, not one member of the crew says "no".

* A seemingly random kid figures out the math for getting the Hermes back to Mars in time to save Mark.
** "Steely-eyed missile man" is a traditional NASA accolade for someone who comes up with an ingenious solution quickly while under pressure. It's the highest compliment that can be paid to someone at NASA. In the whole story it's only ever applied to one person - Rich Purnell.
* The scene where they pick him up, even if it is made a bit more dramatic than the book version was.
** When the entire Ares III crew prove that Watney is not the only guy who can science the shit out of a problem [[spoiler: by building a bomb to blow out an airlock to vent out air and decelerate fast enough to make Watney's extraction more viable.]]

** Doubly awesome in the book, where Watney explains that he never expected to be "the first" at ''anything.'' He was on the third manned mission to Mars, and wasn't even first out on his own trip. Instead, he accumulates a ''massive'' number of "firsts" during his ordeal. Even the ''Hemes'' crew get in on it, being the first crew to go to Mars twice, something even Watney cannot lay claim to.

* It's rare that an ''inanimate object'' gets a Crowning Moment of Awesome, but Pathfinder does. After Mark explains to the audience what might be wrong with it, how he hopes he fixed it, and how he'll know if it's been fixed (the high-gain antenna orienting towards Earth, because Earth sent a signal telling Pathfinder where it was to do that), the chapter concludes with Pathfinders boot log, including a bunch of nonfucntional systems (that were on panels of the probe Watney removed to take it back to the Hab). Finally, the last lines of Pathfinder's computer humming away close out the chapter:

* Mark Watney proves his the foremost expert on survival on Mars, in four words spelled out with rocks in Morse code for NASA's orbiting satellites: