Mark Watney wasn’t supposed to survive. That was the first thing the NASA briefing got right. The second thing they got right was that he was, in the words of the Director, “unreasonably, irritatingly resourceful.”
Mark answered the screen. “We are all just stardust and bad lip-sync, my friend.” the martian in isaidub
Years later, when the Hermes swung by and the MAV shot him into space like a screaming metal bullet, Commander Lewis pulled him into the airlock. He was dehydrated, covered in Martian dust, and grinning like a madman. Mark Watney wasn’t supposed to survive
The rover journey to Schiaparelli Crater. Fourteen days of driving through dust storms. He had downloaded (illegally, he noted with a chuckle) thirty dubbed movies onto a jury-rigged drive. As the rover trundled across the endless red waste, the tinny speakers blared: “Avan yaaru? Ivan yaaru? Naanga yaaru? (Who is he? Who is this? Who are we?)” from a particularly confusing scene in Kaththi . “We are all just stardust and bad lip-sync, my friend
He grew his first potato. He held it up to the camera, then to the screen, where a dubbed version of Theri was playing. On screen, Vijay’s character was also holding a baby. The dubbing artist, with misplaced intensity, yelled, “En magaluku dhaan indha ulagame! (This whole world is for my daughter!)” Mark looked at his potato. “This whole world is for you, too, Spud,” he whispered.
He paused for dramatic effect, just like in the movies.
From that day on, isaidub became his lifeline. Not for science. For sanity.