Summary

  • To maintain scientific accuracy in The Martian, Andy Weir imagined Neil deGrasse Tyson overseeing his work, leading to praise from the astrophysicist.
  • Despite its accurate portrayal of crucial science, Neil deGrasse Tyson found a major plot hole in the film's opening scene involving a dust storm on Mars.
  • The Martian's success is credited to Andy Weir's extensive research and scientific knowledge, ensuring the story stayed true to real-world facts.

While penning down The Martian, Andy Weir implemented a hilariously effective trick to ensure his fictional story was scientifically sound, but did his offbeat method actually work? Directed by Ridley Scott, The Martian unpacks a unique outer space adventure in which a man named Mark Watney (Matt Damon) gets stranded on Mars after his team leaves him behind. Determined to survive until a rescue team arrives, Mark meticulously calculates his limited resources and employs his scientific knowledge to overcome all odds.

Some sci-fi movies care little about real scientific facts because their narratives are too far from reality. However, others, like The Martian, cannot ignore real science because scientific rules are the primary drivers of many of their main story elements. Understanding the importance of science in his story, The Martian's original author, Andy Weir, adopted one distinctive method to avoid plot holes and scientific inconsistencies.

The Martian Matt Damon
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Andy Weir Imagined Neil deGrasse Tyson Looking Down His Shoulder

The Strange Trick Worked Wonders

Perhaps one of the biggest struggles sci-fi writers face is maintaining scientific accuracy in their stories. To ensure his story in The Martian did not stray too far from the facts, Andy Weir implemented a strange but effective trick: he imagined Neil deGrasse Tyson looking down his shoulder as he penned his novel. As the final outcome in the book and the movie adaptation confirms, Weir's method worked wonders and helped him create a story that even earned Neil deGrasse Tyson's praise. The astrophysicist, who is often critical of science in films, said The Martian "got crucial science right."

Neil deGrasse Tyson Still Found A Major Plot Hole In The Martian

A Scene In The Martian's Opening Arc Has Flawed Science

Matt Damon as Mark Watney in astronaut suit on Mars in The Martian

Despite commending The Martian for its accurate portrayal of "crucial science," the renowned astrophysicist still discovered one major plot hole in the film's narrative. In The Martian's opening arc, Matt Damon's astronaut character, Mark Watney, gets left behind on Mars by his crew because he gets struck by debris, and his team is forced to depart after a severe storm hits the planet's surface. Purely from a storytelling standpoint, everything seems fine in this opening arc. Neil deGrasse Tyson, however, noticed a major scientific error in this early scene.

He revealed that Mars' atmosphere is so thin that even winds blowing at 100mph would feel like a gentle breeze on the planet's surface. Owing to this, the dust storm was not exactly a logical reason for Mark's crew to leave him behind. Despite having this one scientific discrepancy, the film deserves credit for getting nearly everything else right. If it wasn't for Andy Weir's extensive research and knowledge surrounding what he wrote in The Martian, the film probably would not have been half as successful as it was and may not have even found its place among the top films on Neil deGrasse Tyson's sci-fi tier list.