1585: Similarities
| Similarities |
 Title text: I just came from The Martian, and I just have to say: Forget BB-8; I want a pet Sojourner! It's always been the cutest of our Mars rovers. |
Explanation
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This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect: The whole explanation needs better flow. If you can address this issue, please edit the page! Thanks. |
Fifty Shades of Grey began as a fan fiction of a well known brand (the Twilight book series). It was originally written on the internet by E. L. James. It was then transformed into a successful book series which was later turned into a movie released in February 2015.
The Martian was originally a serialized story written by Andy Weir on his blog which was later compiled into an ebook for people to easily download, then published into a physical book, and has now had a movie created based on it. The movie was officially released in the US on the same day this comic was released (October 2nd 2015). Randall indicates in the title text that he has just seen the movie. This is very likely, as premiere movies often have a sneak preview after midnight on the release day, so it is possible for him to see the movie and then post this comic early on the actual release day.
It is possible that the brand that the Martian derives from is NASA itself. The Martian has been compared to Apollo 13 by Randall. Apollo 13 does indeed glorify the roles of the NASA engineers; and the Martian does a similar thing.
That Randall would go see this movie as soon as it was released was already made perfectly clear back in June when he released the comic 1536: The Martian showing how excited he is about the book. He then really looked forward to the movie. It is not clear from the comic if he liked the movie. Since he now compares it to a book series that has been described as mommy porn it could indicate that he was not so satisfied with the movie. On the other hand he may just have noticed this connection and found that it would make a great joke here on the release day.
Since Fifty Shades is a kinky love story between two young people and The Martian is a very technical story about surviving completely alone on a hostile planet, the two books could not be any more different, hence the joke due to the juxtaposition. Cueball continues the joke by joining the two titles using red for Mars, to make a new book title, that should cover both books: Fifty Shades of Red. Ponytail is very enthusiastic about the book concept, saying it would be irresistible (at least for her and Cueball).
The BB-8 mentioned in the title text is the astromech droid from the upcoming movie Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and is available as a toy (see also BB-8 on the official Star Wars home page). Sojourner was the Mars Pathfinder robotic Mars rover used by the protagonist of The Martian (Matt Damon in the movie) to allow him to contact Earth. Randall indicated that he thinks the Sojourner is much more cute than BB-8, and that he would like to have one as a pet. He then states that the Sojourner has always been the cutest among all the Mars rovers. There have been 4 so far the other three being Opportunity, Spirit and Curiosity which have already been used in xkcd comics: 695: Spirit, 1091: Curiosity and 1504: Opportunity.
Transcript
- [Ponytail is talking to Cueball.]
- Ponytail: So it's a work of fiction about a well-known brand. written on the Internet by an enthusiast, republished as a bestselling book, and then made into a big movie.
- Cueball: Yup.
- [Ponytail holds her hand to her chin. Beat panel.]
- [Ponytail is talking to Cueball again.]
- Ponytail: Yeah, The Martian and Fifty Shades of Grey are basically the same book.
- Cueball: "Fifty Shades of Red?"
- Ponytail: Man, tell me you wouldn't read that.
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refresh comments!Discussion
- Origins
I've heard 50 Shades of Grey started out as Twilight fan fiction, but don't know how The Martian came to be. 108.162.216.115 05:56, 2 October 2015 (UTC)
-- Still missing from the explanation is what kind of brand The Martian is about... -- 162.158.114.217 08:18, 2 October 2015 (UTC)
- NASA? 108.162.229.238 08:22, 2 October 2015 (UTC)
- A Mars bar? --141.101.98.65 09:09, 2 October 2015 (UTC)
- I'm going with NASA. --PsyMar (talk) 09:30, 2 October 2015 (UTC)
- The Martian has a feel a lot like Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles and other Mars stories. Jv (talk) 18:37, 2 October 2015 (UTC)
- Maybe duct tape
- It is Twilight fan-fiction. The original version is still availble for free. They just renamed the characters and removed references to Christian being a sparkling vampire and published it as a new book.162.158.115.22 08:43, 2 October 2015 (UTC)
- Allegedly removed by the author, first from the fan fiction sites and then her personal site just prior to publication! And you're right, the original is 89% similar to the published trilogy. Names have been changed to protect the author from legal battles, and crucial changes from "holy cow" to "holy crap" were also made.
- [http://www.literarykiss.com/2012/10/communication-in-fifty-shades-of-trey.html I even found a few graphs about its literary horror and crap references, for people like me who are easily amused. Unfortunately it's so bizarre I'm feeling the effects of Poe's law here. Is it really that bad, or is this some parody? I'll never read the books to find out. --Fedora-tionOfPlanets (talk) 11:28, 2 October 2015 (UTC)
I believe Ponytail is not terrified by suggested title. That's more like she thinksthat Cueball will almost certainly read it and dares him to say otherwise. --141.101.80.53 11:46, 2 October 2015 (UTC)
- I agree; the tell is italicized, and that emphasis indicates she's using an American idiom to indicate her enthusiasm for the idea. 108.162.219.143 12:11, 2 October 2015 (UTC)
- To clarify: in English (American?) slang there are two ways to use "tell me you didn't/wouldn't X".
- A) "(please/AUGH) tell me you didn't X" can be translated as "I am horrified to think you did/would-do X, please reassure me you didn't/wouldn't do it:" (usually preceded by a pleading "please" or some exclamation of horror): "please tell me you didn't cross the streams", "ARGH! Please tell me you didn't tell Blackhatguy my email-address, living address and greatest fear!"
- B) (smugly/challenging) "tell my you didn't/wouldn't X" would be translated as "I know you well enough to be 99% sure that you actually _did_/_would_ do X, and I really enjoy your blushing right now because you realise I caught you red-handed, but you cannot lie about it to deny me": "Oh dear Randall, tell me you wouldn't watch a debate between the reanimated corpses of Feynman and Einstein. *Randall blushes in guilty admission* Haha I knew you would"
- 162.158.90.193 12:31, 2 October 2015 (UTC)
- I agree, that was my reading of it too. 108.162.221.141 12:48, 2 October 2015 (UTC)
- I also agree that she thinks it's a great book idea, I made the change. Not sure how I like the wording I jsed so please edit. Bbruzzo (talk) 12:53, 2 October 2015 (UTC)
Considering the timing, I wouldn't be surprised if Randall did indeed saw the movie, but had the comics ready in advance and after the movie only added the title and published it. So the part about him not liking the movie based on comics is unfounded. -- Hkmaly (talk) 11:47, 2 October 2015 (UTC)
- It also seems like pure speculation. Is Randall's opinion on Fifty Shades of Grey even known? 108.162.216.114 15:08, 2 October 2015 (UTC)
Is the sojourner used to communicate in the movie? It seems like it is just kept around to beetle around the hah module and the Lander is used for comms. 141.101.98.180IB
As you've given me a spoiler for the film, I've added a spoiler warning Kev (talk) 16:52, 3 October 2015 (UTC)
Curiously, in Italian the third book of the series (fifty shades freed) has been actually translated as "Fifty Shades of Red". --162.158.23.193 13:22, 2 October 2015 (UTC)
Is it of any relevance that "red" is a common safe-word for bdsm?141.101.80.79 15:29, 2 October 2015 (UTC)
- My first thought was that it's a reference to menstruation. And isn't there an infamous tampon scene in the book/movie? PhantomLimbic (talk) 10:50, 6 October 2015 (UTC)
Just saw The Martian today, and it is really great. Now I think I have to put the book on my x-mas wish list ;-) (and of course a pet mars rover) --Kynde (talk) 19:55, 10 October 2015 (UTC)
So "The Martian" could be more validly compared to "John Dies At The End"? 173.245.54.52 21:18, 30 October 2015 (UTC)
Why are there no references to the London Fire Brigade's "Fifty Shades of Red" campaign? See here: http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/558213/Fifty-Shades-of-Red-London-Fire-Brigade-tweets-funny-callouts --172.68.34.58 05:01, 1 February 2017 (UTC)
Isn't there a new mars rover Perseverance? Sarah the Pie(yes, the food) (talk) 21:57, 10 February 2021 (UTC)
- Yep there is. Just added it to the list. Trogdor147 (talk) 05:23, 21 June 2023 (UTC)
