Is there anything more infuriating than people who know nothing about science trying to make a film/write a book about science? It seems like they didn't have a single person on board who knew anything about ANYTHING. I'm not even a scientist and I could have come up with a dozen ways to work around all these "issues" that were driving the story onward.
This film is a plot hole after another plot hole, the most infuriating part being that the whole story didn't need to happen.
!!!!!Here come the spoilers!!!!!!:
1. There's no way the mother would have passed the health checks while being pregnant. They're pretty thorough. Not only that, she appeared to be a good 5+ months pregnant when the mission started - absolutely no way in hell no one would have realised (even discounting the vigorous health checks).
2. WTF did they feed the newborn baby? The mother died, and I presume no one thought to pack baby formula for the astronauts to drink.
3. They could have brought the child back when the mission was due to return. First of all, 2/3 gravity isn't a big enough difference to even on its own to cause irreparable damage. I'm certain they could have helped get his body used to a higher gravity by exercising him and making him wear weights or something. Even without all that, they could have simply helped his body and his heart adjust to Earth's high gravity by for example putting him in a freaking water tank, idk. There are ways.
4. He (Gardner) has instantaneous communication with earth, and access to the internet (and presumably everything it has to offer), he's apparently a genius, and he was indeed raised among humans - even if they were only "scientists", rather than "loving parents" who would teach him all about life - yet somehow half the time he's acting like a socially retarded 5-year-old who has never seen even a picture of horse?! Uh-huh. This whole person-from-a-different-time-or-space-is- overwhelmed-by-the-present thing has been done a million times before; it's an old joke, and this time they failed massively.
5. Even though he's now old he could have still done the physical therapy I mentioned earlier. Better late than never!
6. I love how in the beginning of the film they make a point to mention that Earth's resources are pretty much depleted and all that jazz, but then 16 years later they can afford to send a rocket to space just to send a Martian and his father back home. You know how many resources it takes to build a rocket and fuel it? Even if the rocket was part of a mission that was already going there (conveniently leaving so soon after Gardner nearly died), those seats are valuable, and there are no spares.
Alas, that's not even all of it, but those are the biggest, most glaring plot holes that drove me nuts due to the fact that they rendered the whole film pointless.
And all this is ignoring the generally poor story line, shallow character design, crappy writing, and mediocre acting. Ugh.
This film is a plot hole after another plot hole, the most infuriating part being that the whole story didn't need to happen.
!!!!!Here come the spoilers!!!!!!:
1. There's no way the mother would have passed the health checks while being pregnant. They're pretty thorough. Not only that, she appeared to be a good 5+ months pregnant when the mission started - absolutely no way in hell no one would have realised (even discounting the vigorous health checks).
2. WTF did they feed the newborn baby? The mother died, and I presume no one thought to pack baby formula for the astronauts to drink.
3. They could have brought the child back when the mission was due to return. First of all, 2/3 gravity isn't a big enough difference to even on its own to cause irreparable damage. I'm certain they could have helped get his body used to a higher gravity by exercising him and making him wear weights or something. Even without all that, they could have simply helped his body and his heart adjust to Earth's high gravity by for example putting him in a freaking water tank, idk. There are ways.
4. He (Gardner) has instantaneous communication with earth, and access to the internet (and presumably everything it has to offer), he's apparently a genius, and he was indeed raised among humans - even if they were only "scientists", rather than "loving parents" who would teach him all about life - yet somehow half the time he's acting like a socially retarded 5-year-old who has never seen even a picture of horse?! Uh-huh. This whole person-from-a-different-time-or-space-is- overwhelmed-by-the-present thing has been done a million times before; it's an old joke, and this time they failed massively.
5. Even though he's now old he could have still done the physical therapy I mentioned earlier. Better late than never!
6. I love how in the beginning of the film they make a point to mention that Earth's resources are pretty much depleted and all that jazz, but then 16 years later they can afford to send a rocket to space just to send a Martian and his father back home. You know how many resources it takes to build a rocket and fuel it? Even if the rocket was part of a mission that was already going there (conveniently leaving so soon after Gardner nearly died), those seats are valuable, and there are no spares.
Alas, that's not even all of it, but those are the biggest, most glaring plot holes that drove me nuts due to the fact that they rendered the whole film pointless.
And all this is ignoring the generally poor story line, shallow character design, crappy writing, and mediocre acting. Ugh.