Ridley Scott’s Most Optimistic Sci-Fi Now Feels Like Fantasy

Martian colonies are a ubiquitous sci-fi image, but the reality of making one actually happen is complicated. It would be ludicrously expensive and extraordinarily dangerous. The logistical headaches are endless — you can’t exactly pop back to Earth if you forget your toothbrush. Navigate all that, and you’re left with big questions about the physical and mental impact of living in such an isolated and hostile environment. There is scientific value to Martian exploration, including potential answers to big questions about how life begins. But whether humans need to be present for work we can delegate to robots is an open question.

Further complicating matters is the fact that NASA is facing deep budget cuts likely to truncate its ambitious Artemis program, while the world’s most prominent private space program is led by a megalomaniac with a long history of fabricating timelines. Elon Musk had projected an unmanned Martian mission in 2024, having already walked back claims that a manned mission would reach Mars this year; when he talks about building a self-sustaining Martian city of a million people within 20 years, the appropriate response isn’t to gaze at the stars, but roll your eyes.

Given the state of American space exploration, watching a well-funded NASA manage an emergency on its Martian colony feels as much like fantasy as it does sci-fi. The Martian was released just 10 years ago today, but in policy terms, it seems closer to a lifetime.

The year is 2035, and a Martian expedition has just been hit by a nasty dust storm. The crew flees the planet, but is forced to leave behind botanist Mark Watney (Matt Damon), who was struck by debris and assumed dead. What follows is essentially a spiritual remake of Robinson Crusoe on Mars, as Watney must find a way to survive his dire circumstances, make human contact, and return to civilization.

First and foremost, The Martian is a crackling good adventure. Ridley Scott’s sci-fi is best known for taking a dour view of humanity and our place in the stars, with Prometheus and Alien: Covenant raising questions about our cosmic relevance before providing decidedly pessimistic answers. But The Martian makes you cheer on every triumph and groan at every setback. Watney’s life matters to Mark Watney, and that’s enough to get you invested.

It helps that it’s a funny, breezy film. Like Crusoe, Watney provides a constant narrative for the benefit of posterity and his own sanity, which pulls from the snarky tone of Andy Weir’s source novel. That tone continues when Watney reestablishes contact with Earth, as Donald Glover’s oddball astrophysicist stands out amid the increasingly large international team that assembles to bring him home. Maybe we’re not important in the grand scheme of things, but we’re still pretty damn smart, and it’s satisfying to watch human ingenuity triumph against the brutal hostility of space.

Critics agreed, with The Martian being praised for its upbeat and scientifically accurate-ish thrills. NASA’s involvement with its production was unusually in-depth, and while there’s no shortage of technical nits to pick, the film was clearly seen as a boon to the agency’s image. A variety of scientists praised it for elevating the profile of NASA, Martian exploration, and their entire field, with physicist Brian Cox calling it “the best advert for a career in engineering I've seen.”

Launching such a career is trickier today. Recent cuts to scientific research have been broad and brutal, and public trust in scientists is eroding; 23% of Americans don’t believe they act in the public interest, a 10% jump from 2019 and one large enough to ensure that conversations about science’s role in society will remain annoying for the foreseeable future. 77% is still a pretty good approval rating, and there isn’t necessarily much overlap between a NASA mission planner and the FDA guy begging you not to poison your pets with raw food. But when someone who thinks vaccines are foul sorcery is put in charge of a superpower’s health department at a time when everything from alternative medicine to unpasteurised milk consumption is growing more popular, it’s hard to escape the sense that our view of science’s value is shifting.

Polls do indicate that NASA remains popular and a majority of Americans want to see human footprints on the red planet, although that’s going to be difficult if the agency’s budget is reduced to spare change and SpaceX is ordered to reject any candidate deemed too woke. It seems The Martian succeeded in boosting the public’s perception of a Martian colony, but who will pay to make such an alluring fantasy come to life — and who will be trusted to make it happen — is another matter.

Whatever happens in real life, Mars will remain a pop culture staple. You might not see a million-strong Martian city in your lifetime, but you can always fire up Surviving Mars, watch For All Mankind, or revisit Mark Watney’s improbable survival story. A decade later, The Martian still works because it gives us what Mars has always represented in fiction: a chance to face the most challenging frontier imaginable and emerge triumphant together.