Vash

I had absolutely zero expectations going into Project Hail Mary (I didn’t even bother watching the trailers LMAO)

During the first half of the film, I distinctly remember thinking, “I think I’m too dumb to follow along LOL” because of all the scientific jargon being thrown around (it also doesn’t help that I’m not exactly a sci-fi gal hajshdah) But as the story progressed, I honestly found myself caring less about the science and more about Grace’s internal conflict.

What surprised me most was how this supposed sci-fi film gradually shifted into something incredibly human. I’ve always associated sci-fi with cool, distant tones, but PHM managed to infuse the genre with so much warmth. At its core, it was really about a friendship that taught Grace to trust himself. I think it’s incredibly beautiful to see how much someone else’s presence can mean a lot to anyone. As Grace says, “You gave me everything,” and I think that sentiment carries a different kind of weight when it exists outside the realm of romantic love.

Honestly, the character dynamics brought so much heart to this sci-fi story that could’ve easily felt clinical or detached, and I think that’s what ultimately stayed with me. Also coincidentally, the composer for PHM is the same composer for Spiderverse so RAHHHH

Because while Eridians are incredibly strong and tough on the outside, on the inside they are actually quite fragile:

They have no immune system, so anything that makes it past their enclosed carapace and internal heating will pretty much kill them

They have no natural defenses to radiation of any kind

In general they have very little organic matter so anything that targets their cells directly is quickly lethal

They are partially cold-blooded and live at a very narrow temperature range (about 20 degrees C)

They rely almost entirely on one, highly developed sense and are helpless if deafened (can't even remember the layout of a room)

They are completely helpless while asleep and can't control when that happens

They will forcibly become dormant after eating AND when badly hurt enough (their equivalent of going into shock)

They require more energy to function than humans do, and have very little organic matter to burn in the case of starvation

In contrast, humans:

Have an aggressive immune system and internal mechanisms for dealing with cell damage

Have adrenaline which allows them to temporarily ignore injuries and perform abnormal feats of strength

Are persistence hunters built for economy of movement and capable of extreme levels of endurance

Exist in a very wide range of habitats and on a diverse diet

Are very hardy in general, able to survive massive injuries, lack of sleep, prolonged starvation, and intense environmental conditions if given proper care

The quintessential example of this dichotomy between strength and endurance is the Going Fishing incident in the book: Rocky is able to survive and move in G forces that are killing Grace and to physically wrestle off the chair crushing him, but he collapses from his injuries almost immediately after. Despite being injured himself Grace then carries his 400lb friend up a ladder, is badly burned returning him to his atmosphere, and then proceeds to get some basic medical care, hype himself up on pain meds and keep working (albeit rather badly, lol) while Rocky forcibly sleeps.

"The fun thing for us for that end sequence was his costume -- what he would have left over from the ship. I don't really think you see it in the film but the trousers that he's wearing, they're cut from one of the flight suits. And we've done a belt buckle that's made of xenonite that Rocky would've made for him. And all of the sewing on it is a little bit - it's nowhere near as good as Jenny would normally do, so we had to purposely ask Jenny to do bad sewing at the top of his trousers, so it'd look like he would've done it.

And then our brilliant breakdown department, run by Tim Shanahan, they break everything down to look like it's 10, 20 years old. So his cardigan and the t-shirt's all faded. And even on the laces -- the laces in his chuck taylors -- because your laces always break after a certain period of time, so we found stuff that was on the ship, like elastics and stuff. There's a nice big close-up actually in the film, so you can see that they're not normal laces, they're like stuff that he would've got from the ship that he's made as make-shift laces."

Grace mate bad as hell statement.

hey don't worry? completely unrelated giant dump of heartwarming PHM doodles ok??