History Film / TheMartian

** In a scene from the book that was cut from the movie, Mark has a few choice things to say about using 18th century navigation techniques (using a protractor and observations of Deneb, and a watch and rotations of Phobos) to navigate in the 21st century, on another planet. He also defies the trope by refusing to defile a historical site and use ''Opportunity'' to re-establish contact with NASA, when he is only a few days away from the ARES 4 MAV and a much more powerful communications array.

''The Martian'' is a science-fiction film based on Andrew Weir's [[Literature/TheMartian novel of the same name]]. Set in the year 2035, the film follows astronaut Mark Watney (Creator/MattDamon) in his efforts to survive alone on Mars after his crewmates were forced to abandon the mission site believing him dead. Upon learning that Mark is alive, the crew takes a major risk heading back to Mars to rescue him.

The film, directed by Creator/RidleyScott and starring Matt Damon, was released in October 2015. Official trailers for the movie can be found [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue4PCI0NamI here]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej3ioOneTy8 here.]]

* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: [[spoiler:Watney is teaching new astronauts at NASA, Lewis is reunited with her husband, Vogel is living with his family, Beck and Johanssen have a baby, and Mitch is teaching kids golf. Meanwhile, the rest of the eggheads at NASA can enjoy another launch to Mars (with Martinez aboard) and everyone (Teddy, Kapoor, Park, etc.) can rest easy as mankind continues its expedition to the stars]].

* TalkingWithSigns: Since Watney's first contact with Earth after being left behind is video-only, he has to communicate by writing on plastic tub lids and holding them in front of the camera. After a little while, this becomes impractical -- especially for receiving messages, since that more or less limits it to yes and no questions -- and starts using hexadecimal instead.

* CelebrityParadox: At one point, Mark mentions ComicBook/IronMan. Assuming that the world of ''The Martian'' contains the MCU and not just Marvel comic books, then he's completely failed to notice that [[Creator/SebastianStan Beck]] and [[Creator/MichaelPena Martinez]] look a ''lot'' like characters from [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse Marvel films]]. Johanssen, team's tech, was both [[Film/FantasticFour2015 The Invisible Woman]] and had a cameo in ''Film/IronMan2''. It's not clear if he's ever met Kapoor, but he'd be surprised as the resemblance to someone from ''Film/DoctorStrange2016''. Furthermore, one of the Asgardian actors in ''Film/ThorRagnarok'' looks suspiciously like Mark himself.

* LighterAndSofter: In comparison to Ridley Scott's other stabs at Science Fiction (''Film/{{Alien}}'', ''Film/BladeRunner'', ''Film/{{Prometheus}}''), ''The Martian'' is considerably more optimistic than those other films, given its hopeful tone and very positive viewpoint of NASA. Some critics have even argued that the film is probably the lightest film he's ever done.

** In the book [[spoiler:Beck is the one to retrieve Mark, and the "Iron Man" maneuver is discussed but dropped as being too dangerous. The Hermes is able to approach the MAV within tether length, so Beck and Watney are always safely tethered and the Iron Man maneuver is unnecessary.]] In the movie [[spoiler:the closest approach is outside of tether length, thus Lewis overrides Beck and goes out to rescue Watney herself, fitting her role as TheAtoner for leaving him behind in the first place. When the tether falls short, Lewis prepares to do an untethered space walk to close the gap when Mark invokes the Iron Man maneuver instead. Fortunately, Lewis had not yet unhooked as the tether line plays a major role in catching Marka and bringing him in safely.]]

* SigilSpam: The NASA logo appears ''everywhere'', even on the soles of the EVA suits' shoes. The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_insignia logo]] is protected under federal laws that make it illegal to use it in a way that indicates NASA endorsement of something if no such endorsement exists. For that reason, the official logo is often replaced with a generic alternative in works of fiction (for instance, in ''Film/{{Interstellar}}''), a very specific form of [[BrandX Greeking]]. In the case of ''The Martian'', NASA actually produced a number of tie-in videos (released on their TV channels and Website/YouTube) as a way of drumming up interest in the exploration of Mars. The Jet Propultion Labratory logo turns up in several places as well.

* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Mark Watney's in-universe reaction to playing Music/{{Donna Summer}}'s "Hot Stuff" after retrieving the RTG. And then the dancing starts.

* ActorAllusion: Creator/SeanBean takes part in a secret meeting named for the Council of Elrond from ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', which had a [[Film/TheLordOfTheRings film adaptation]]... in which Sean Bean played Boromir... who takes part in the Council of Elrond. Bonus points in that he's the first to explain the significance of "Project Elrond" to Annie Montrose who is completely lost by the reference.

** After Mark sends a goofy picture of himself to NASA when they ask for a publicity shot, Annie complains she can't use it and needed a picture with his face, to which Kapoor responds that can't be done because Mark can't take off his helmet outside. In the book, this made sense because of the helmet's tinted sun visor, but in the film [[InSpaceEveryoneCanSeeYourFace Mark frequently has the sun visor pushed back and his face is clearly visible in the sent photo.]].

* MillionToOneChance: Downplayed. To meet their launch window, NASA takes the calculated risk of skipping the pre-flight tests and inspections on the Iris probe because past experience shows that they only reveal problems 1 in 20 times. Unfortunately, probability was a harsh mistress.

* MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness: Hard sci-fi. The movie is firmly grounded in reality (apart from the Mars wind issue). Even the potato/poop plot turns out to be a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9s9UXXAmlTg viable survival strategy]].

** Mars will come to fear my botany powers.
** [...] I've colonized Mars. In your face, Neil Armstrong."

** As Vincent Kapoor notes, it takes 12 minutes for a one-way message to between mars and earth, so the entire operation would already be over by the time NASA received the first message. Understandably, the climax of the film is edited to appear like Hermes's communications are being received by NASA almost instantaneously for a dramatic build-up and.

* WhatYouAreInTheDark: [[spoiler:The Chinese scientists have a classified booster that could give NASA one last chance to save Watney after the Iris explodes. They discuss the fact that if they choose not to help, no-one would ever know they ''could'' have helped and didn't. They choose to help, doing so in a manner that forces the politicians both in the USA and China to get dragged along by the scientific collaboration.]]

* AmericaSavesTheDay: Subverted, [[spoiler:after the Iris supplies probe explodes soon after takeoff, China gives NASA their booster so they can put together another plan before Watney starves to death]].

* AdaptationalWimp: In the book, Mitch Henderson is a hard-ass "DrillSergeantNasty sports coach" and demonstrates this attitude in the fallout over the Ares crew's decision to implement the "Rich Purnell Maneuver" that he surreptitiously sent to them. In the book, Henderson knows that NASA has to pretend everything is going to plan and stands his ground against Teddy's threat that if he ever finds proof Henderson was involved, he will fire him. In the movie, Henderson is rather unassertive in their confrontation, and when Teddy tells him straight up to resign as soon as the Ares III mission is over, he accepts the decision without protest.

* MacGyvering: The solution to every problem is to use all available resources (including many that were simply lying around from previous missions) in unexpected ways like a wooden crucifix providing kindling to start a fire to make water.

* NotSoAboveItAll: During the "Council of Elrond" scene the normally uptight Teddy Sanders insists that if they're going to make ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' references, he be given the codename "Glorfindel".[[note]]In the book (not in the film), Glorfindel was an elf-lord who briefly led the Company, then put Frodo on his own horse so he could ride ahead of the Ringwraiths and cross into Rivendell. There's a huge amount of backstory on Glorfindel's awesome courage and leadership in the unpublished ''History of Middle-Earth'' -- back in the First Age he killed a motherfuckin' ''Balrog'', for Eru's sake -- which may be why Teddy wants to use his name.[[/note]]

** Subverted in-universe, when Mark Watney is talking about digging up the Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator to provide heat for his extended rover trips. The narration proceeds normally, with shots of him digging it up and prepping it for transport until he gets to a point where he says "as long as it doesn't break," then the camera cuts to him in the rover, riding with the RTG, and grinning.
--->'''Mark:''' I almost said "everything will be okay" out loud.

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Mark proposes flying like Film/IronMan by puncturing his glove and using that to propel him toward the Hermes. It's rejected as a plan, but when he does it anyway, he is promptly blasted backward against the wall. He then discovers controlling his flight vector is [[RealityEnsues exactly as hard as he was warned about]].

* GoOutWithASmile: Watney makes sure his SpacePirate joke is the last entry in his CaptainsLog before shutting down the Hab computer and leaving on the risky journey to the MAV.

* NotSoAboveItAll: During the "Council of Elrond" scene the normally uptight Teddy Sanders insists that if they're going to make ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' references, he be given the codename "Glorfindel".[[note]]In the book (not in the film), Glorfindel was an elf-lord who briefly led the Company, then put Frodo on his own horse so he could ride ahead of the Ringwraiths and cross into Rivendell. There's a huge amount of backstory on Glorfindel's awesome courage and leadership in the unpublished ''History of Middle-Earth'', which may be why Teddy wants to use his name.[[/note]]

-->'''Mark:''' I'm definitely gonna die up here... [[BaitAndSwitchComment if I have to listen to any more god-awful disco music]].