ness !!

romance is a deeply human cultural concept. not only that, it's a very specific and niche cultural concept even among humanity! the idea of "romantic love" as a distinct thing has not even existed for very long relative to human history, doesn't exist in every human culture, and what we mean by it changes extremely rapidly. like... the use of the split attraction model and classifying orientation on two separate axes has existed in its recognisable form for literally ten years. even the idea of orientation being something that you can classify people by is historically recent!!

all this to say. those concepts are not universal. they are not objective, measurable, or observable. they are models and labels which some people have developed, for the purposes of communication and understanding within their cultural context. sometimes they are useful. sometimes they are not.

and what is the cultural context of grace and rocky's relationship? there isn't one!!! they have absolutely zero shared context. everything they have, they build from scratch, in a situation of total isolation from both of their own species and societies. they don't share physical environments, they don't share sensory perceptions, they don't share biological functions. THEY ARE ALIENS TO EACH OTHER.

so why would either of them find it useful or important to define their relationship with A LITERAL ALIEN according to their own locally- and historically-contextual cultural conventions? and WHYYYY would their own cultural conventions be remotely understandable or translatable to each other?

the relationship they have is the relationship they have. the only way it can be defined is as the relationship they have. there has been and will be no other relationship in the history of either of their species that fits into the same classification. there has been and will be no cultural context for defining it in either of their worlds. no-one but them will ever be able to understand their experiences or what their relationship means. it's okay!!!

they don't neeeeed to have san francisco queer community style relationship negotiations where grace explains that he's asexual and so if they have sex it still won't mean he's experiencing sexual attraction, or where rocky talks grace through the implications of eridian polygamy conventions. none of that would mean anything to either of them!

in which simon singlehandedly salvages a social interaction (full page under cut)

It includes:

A telesync of the movie (with English soft subtitles)

A digital copy of the movie (with occasional Russian hard subtitles)

My transcript of the movie (more on that here)

Audio recordings of the movie

A PDF of the book

An EPUB of the book (for e-readers)

The full audiobook

A copy of Andy Weir's doc on Eridians

A copy of Andy Weir's spreadsheet on Astrophage physics (among many other things!)

A draft of the screenplay for the film from 2022

An audio recording of the director's commentary

My transcript of the director's commentary

The telesync subtitle SRT file

The audiobook, audio recordings, and commentary all have their properties programmed so they (should) work just like songs with a track number, album cover, artist, and so on if you download them.

There are two audios of the movie, one is the entire film untouched and one is that same audio cut up and broken down into separate scenes for convenience.

Additionally, there are two versions of the transcript, one with time stamps that match the audio and one without. The time stamps (+ their titles from the audio) are outlined in that version, so if you double-click on that tab or click "show outline," they'll all show up and you can pick a specific scene.

The first few seconds of the commentary are missing unfortunately as my US friend who was kind enough to record it for me had some technical difficulties at the start, but the commentary starts around the shot of the robot arms right before the shot of "good luck!" written on Grace's sleeping bag. It's also about 40-45-ish seconds behind the audio recording if you can only listen.

There's also a google doc with some instructions to follow if any of the files aren't working, which usually happens when too many people try to access or download something at the same time.

There are two different versions of the transcript, the first is made to listen along to the commentary, while the second is more intended to be read on its own. The first is a direct transcription of everything that's said (an attempt, at least), while the second is slightly cleaned up for easier reading, meaning things like jumbled sentences and stuttering were removed or reorganised, but nothing has been actually paraphrased or anything. Both are broken down into different scenes based on how their conversation goes, and the listening version includes timestamps. 

what if one day he’s just chilling in his dome and then out of nowhere, one of the salvaged speakers from the Hail Mary in his house starts crackling. and then a screen lights up with a voice going “incoming transmission, please hold.” And Grace is like “haha. what”

and then the screen clears up and this like. bored teenager is on the other side. maybe chewing gum, kinda scribbling on something off screen, and Grace is just staring at them, trying to parse out what… what the heck was happening.

After a few seconds of nothing, he just goes “hello?”

and the person on the other side jumps, startled out of their skin. they lock eyes. and then slowly, their face goes pale.

Grace swallows and tries again. “Hello?”

This time the person yelps in fright, dropping everything in their hands in a jumbled frenzy. they shoot out of their chair and run off screen, and Grace can hear them shouting. Shouting for people, for someone, screaming “IT HAPPENED, IT WENT THROUGH, THE CALL WENT THROUGH” and all Grace can do is sit there and process the fact that he’s looking at what looks to be a Mission Control room on Earth. And then all of a sudden there’s many more faces— HUMAN faces— cluttering up the screen, all of them wearing lab coats and uniform and winter coats, all stunned speechless. They stare at each other for a long time.

“Dr. Ryland Grace?” one asks, hesitantly.

Grace fidgets. “Uh… Yeah?”

went through the effort of making this gif just to remind everyone of rocky scooting closer to grace on the beach

I made my post into something a little more visually appealing! Behold my wonders; I eyeballed about 98% of this. The two things I got information from the official reference for was the shoelace detail and the back sheathe (provided to me by a friend after asking). Everything else took me almost a week and ~6 hours of hunting. I also personally took all the movie screencaps you see on the board.

Simon is missing his left arm, up to the shoulder. Like at the bicep.

Simon is not just a eel, he's fused with the seed and explodes into a tree.

The seed was on the left arm, fused, reversed Pinocchioed him, and got ripped off.

He kills Elli by exploding into a fucking tree.

He met God.

God gave him prophetic visions and fucked him up. Promised Simon would live, and like a Genie, didn't specify how.

Also some time manipulation bullshit was happening.

Homeboy is played by Mark(iplire), who is Korean. (Draw him Korean you cowards /j)

Simon would not necessarily be impressed/ emotinal from looking at stars. In a flashback he's seen stars before, but knows they're ghost light. He would be grateful being able to see them again though.

He WOULD be very emotinal about any plant life. He found a new will to live when he found the little seed. He had a breakdown when the little charm cracked. (Plants represent hope)

His "job" on Eden was to nourish the last tree with the people he killed. Hence his nickname. (Uncertain, flashbacks were very quick. He was also VERY young.)

There's a lot symbolism regarding trees (the hull window crack)

Simon is resourceful and smart! Like smart smart! Let him be smart with Rocky and Grace!

Yes, Simon can be aggressive, but is only in situation where his life is threatened. He's also remorseful. He's apologetic and does want to make up for his wrongs, even if it wasn't his fault.

Simon is not religious, but he did meet an eldritch god. He even renounced the religious teaching on Eden. Hated that he didn't get a choice. (I DO love some religious angst tho)

Don't get me wrong, there's a LOT of religious/ christian symbolism

Speaking of, he had an Eden tattoo on the left side if his neck, but the COI branded(?) over it

COI = Consolidation of Iron (group of a few starship, satellites, and spacecrafts tring to pool resources to survive). Ava was the Captian of the tow ship and SM-13 execution Expedition.

Eden colony = desendents of Martians (Humans who colonized Mars) basicly a death cult. "Father" is presumably the leader.

Injuries include the bends, multiple concussion, isopropyl poisoning, super radiation, acid like burns and mutations from the blood, the effects of precieving and being precieved by an eldritch god. And lizarding his arm.

His left eye glows :3

Grace is not a coward. He thinks himself a coward, but he's not.

Like Simon, Grace did not go down without a fight. He ran, yes, but when he was being sedated he shouted how he would sabotage the mission. Do everything he can to make it fail, just so the wouldn't risk putting him on the exhibition.

He was ready to throw hands with Rocky when they first met.

He is incredibly brave. He did a space walk without training. He trusted Rocky that he wouldn't explode in the space bridge. He CLIMBED ON THE BURNING EXTERIOR OF THE HAIL MARY TO RETRIEVE THE COLLECTION DEVICE.

Grace is not a crybaby. He crys for very real, reasonable reasons! When he was betrayed? When they found a solution to save their stars? When his friend survived? When Rock gave him a way to return to Earth? It would be weird for him NOT to cry! (Edit: person in the tags you're so right)

He might be scared meeting Simon, but he would not be a coward.

Grace was a (7th grade) middle school science teacher. He was a really good one too. But that also mean he probably was cussed out before. He would not be offended/scared being cursed at. Homeboy was also on a military ship for a good minute. "Swearing like a sailor" is a phrase for a good reason.

He still doesn't curse tho. (In the movie)

Grace is still a teacher! :D

Grace had several Gs of force pressed on him getting the universe's worst concussion. Honestly wouldn't be surprised is he had a skull fracture.

Movie! Grace does not have a scar from saving Rocky. BUT! Who cares, it's sweet :3

They BOTH have a "This is bigger than me" mentality. They both risked everything to ensure the survival of humanity. They were willing to die.

It's not selfish just wanting to live.

I don't think either of them would have a problem doing anything to survive. (Eating the Taumoeba or Me-burgers)

THE ASTROPHAGE PROJECT WAS A GLOBAL EFFORT NOT JUST USA!

Rocky risked his life and almost died to save Grace. The atmosphere of the Hail Mary is toxic to him.

Rocky is NOT Grace's pet! That bitch is a sentient, very intelligent person who saved the Stars!

Rocky's only "naive" because of cultural misunderstandings and language barriers.

There were plants on the Hail Mary. Presumably, they could grow plants on Erid (?)

Markiplier is ≈5"10 and Gosling is ≈6"0 (Really doesn't matter, headcanon what you want!)

"👎" IS A COMPLIMENT IN THE PHM FANDOM! NOT RUDE!!

The Blood Moon is AT-5. Tau Ceti is the star Grace and Rocky traveled to. Adrian is the planet they get the Taumoeba from.

Adrian is named after Rocky's mate. (Popular headcanon they are MASSIVE 💖)

How BloodyMary works in my head

Space Youtubers AU

Rocky's ship is called Blip-A. It does not have an official name.

Adrian works on Grace's bio-dome.

Erid's atmosphere is mainly ammonia and the planet consists of other heavy metals. Which are deadly to humans... hence the bio dome... (now mutated Simon on the other hand 👀)

(Canon to me) Rocky mate bad as hell, statement. Adrian also big as fuck.

Elli is an amalgamation of all the scientists on the SM-8. Notable "head scientist" and "whisper" (who you can hear throughout the movie its so creepy)

Elli is NOT named in the movie. Her modeler, Molly Brown, nickednamed her.

Simon getting overwhelmed with Ava telling him the password was so real (also password1). Rocky eating shit in his little tunnel. Grace, at the same time, so focused that there was life on Tau Ceti that he didn't put two and two together (or notice rocky falling carapace over ass)

All three are extremely resourceful

The Blood Eel is "Elli" not "Ellie"

Simon's fear response is to FREEZE (the blood drop, hearing noises, seeing Elli on screen, seeing God, seeing himself)

Hot as hell too.