#violette thoughts

The Project Hail Mary credits list Ray Porter as one of Rocky's "rejected" voices from the tunnel scene.

That's the same guy that narrates the audiobook!

(Unless there are 2 Ray Porters who've worked on this franchise)

we all know thomas and all of the miraculous writers love foreshadowing, and we know Truth is full of them (i.e. “as long as it (the guardianship) doesn’t change things between us”). or plot twist, maybe it’s foreshadowing a storyline with emilie that we haven’t heard yet 👀 (i’m looking at you episode 9)

…so um

(Minor spoilers, I guess)

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In the book, Eridian culture is very specific on "don’t look at someone while they're eating".

I know the difference with movie Rocky, but I think that's mostly due to the different ways the Eridian eating process is shown.

Yet I also like to believe thet there is still a similar rule for (movie) Eridian culture. And that Rocky was just messing with him (because of those 46 years of boredom).

My point was that, in the book, Rocky is very pouty about letting Grace examine the chemical make-up of one of his prepackaged meals. I know it’s probably because they're in space with limited resources. That's a good point, but that's not my point.

What if dividing up food (like a buffet type thing) is a normal community practice. But once they get their share, that is where it ends. Everyone eats in private, meaning no one's trying to steal things off anyone else's plate.

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So . . . I was thinking about how "all the astronauts were there by choice" and yeah, Ryland very clearly wasn't sent up in space by choice. That was still very messed up.

But, if they stuck with this story, then Stratt technically would not be lying to say he joined the program by choice.

Yes, upon first meeting, Ryland was essentially drafted into working on Astrophage. Just like the rest of the project's scientists were. And he apparently kept this in mind.

However!

Ryland was also allowed to leave after finding out the composition of Astrophage.

He went back to his lab and straight up demanded (to Stratt's face!) to be let back on the project because he couldn't stand by and watch the world break apart. Not when his students would inherit that world.

I saw a discussion that said he was brave enough to continue working on Astrophage, despite knowing that it could melt metal within less than a fraction of a second.

It was powerful enough to evaporate metal!

That's crazy, and I feel like a lot of people would get far away from that stuff if given the choice.

Ryland went back to a lab full of this stuff of his own volition.

Maybe he wrote it down. Maybe he just had full conversations by himself just to hear an Eridian voice.

But if he’s sitting for almost 5 decades in a solar system where he’s the only one continuing the Tau Ceti mission, has no idea what to do, but is going to try stuff anyway in case it's useful.

Then I think he’s going to document it. Even if it just gives him something to do.

And maybe he does have some of the logs with him. For sentimental reasons. He especially has them if they're just committed to memory.

I think I found one in the book, but I don’t really know how much it means

(Spoilers)

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The first time that Grace is telling Stratt about his experiments with trying to understand Astrophage, she was still working on her tablet.

Then he said something about his work, figuring out that they use light to move.

She puts her tablet down, and Grace notes he has "accomplished the rare feat of getting her undivided attention"

The scene that reminds me of this is when Grace and Rocky are talking about the ability to see light. When Rocky realizes that humans can see stars, planets, all of space from a distance, he sets down what he was working on to take that all in.

Ryland has a certain supply of oxygen, food, and other systems aboard his ship that keep him protected from the vacuum of space.

Meanwhile, we are on Earth. Our natural habitat.

Inside my house, there is oxygen. Outside my house, there is even more oxygen. There are also a lot of plants that I love. Ryland is many light-years past "outside".

Also Rocky keeping him on a sleep schedule. Tried to stay up a little past when I was tired, but I thought "humans stupid without sleep". (Nicely done, Rocky. Reminding people to take care of themselves.)

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Saying that these two books/stories are opposites isn't even a joke anymore, it's just an accurate description

Yeah, the stuff about Earth coming together to save one man in space vs. One man in space trying to save Earth.

But also all the space program people going on almost no sleep trying to figure out ways to send supplies to Mark?

Rocky would never allow that.

Grace destroying his circadian rhythm almost destroyed the mission. "Humans stupid without sleep". Wise words, Rocky.

I also realized that Ryland and Mark end up with opposite problems.

Watney has a ton of vitamins, the issue was him running out of calories.

Grace survived on Erid because the Taumoeba gave him calories, but he got no nutrients from that. The Eridians had to synthesize the necessary vitamins and minerals.

If there was ever a time to trade lunches, that'd be it.

This one isn't really opposites, but more of a funny parallel. Ryland spending weeks making chain links compared to Mark spending weeks in the rover. And at the end of it, they’re both just really sick of these things.

Also Rocky being there to care for Grace vs. Watney constantly endangering himself (mostly with fire).

Bonus: I saw a post that said Ryland should just take off running when he first gets his biodome, and so I just kept picturing that when I got to the scene of Watney returning to the Hab, and he just ran around like crazy.