Will You Survive "Project Hail Mary"

They wake a man up alone in deep space, point him at a dying star, and call it humanity’s best shot. We have a lot of fun tearing into Project Hail Mary, but the more we talk, the heavier the core question gets: what do you owe the world after the world treats you like equipment?

We break down what makes this sci-fi survival movie hit so hard, from the opening amnesia and creeping dread to the laugh-out-loud moments that somehow don’t kill the tension. Ryan Gosling brings the right mix of panic, competence, and awkward charm, and we spend real time on Rocky, the alien teammate who turns the story into a friendship built on translation, improvisation, and trust. We also get into the science-fiction puzzle box stuff listeners love: astrophage, taumoeba, xenonite containment, and how every “solution” creates a new problem the moment the environment changes.

Then we argue about the ethics. Stratt’s leadership pushes the classic ends-justify-means dilemma to the limit, and we debate whether we would still send the life-saving information back to Earth after forced recruitment, memory tampering, and betrayal. We wrap with our ratings, a spirited comparison to Interstellar, and why this film’s humor and soundtrack make it feel uniquely rewatchable.

Subscribe for more survival movie debates, share this with a friend who loves smart sci-fi, and leave a review. Where do you rank Project Hail Mary, and would you have made the same final call?

Transcript

Soundboard Chaos And Setup

SPEAKER_04 0:24

Hello, survivors, and welcome to another episode of Will You Survive the Podcast. Today we watched a movie called Project Hail Mary. Some of us actually today. I'm your host, Eric. I'm joined by my two co-hosts, Alex. Me and TJ. That's me. And uh place bets on Kalchi to see uh who watched the movie and who did it. Yeah, uh, go ahead and say project for me, real quick. Project.

SPEAKER_03 0:53

It would be nice if you would have said it in the same kind of tone.

SPEAKER_02 0:56

Yeah, I know. Because you said we watched a movie called Hail Mary. So now I'm gonna c I'm gonna cut in project, right? I'm gonna cut it just like that.

SPEAKER_03 1:03

It's gonna be perfect.

SPEAKER_02 1:05

Oh, wait. Project. Hail Mary.

SPEAKER_04 1:08

Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. Oh no. This is not good for me. This the recording isn't showing, maybe it is, but it's not showing that I was also stumbling on my words for like the last ten minutes.

SPEAKER_03 1:26

Oh, it shows.

SPEAKER_04 1:27

And uh I'm not drunk or anything right now. That's sad. Catch up. So we watched Project Hail Mary. You could take that one. I'll think about it. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:40

Uh I think it'll be better if it's Project Hail Mary. That's what I was thinking.

SPEAKER_04 1:46

Okay, let me let me explain. Let me explain. So, what's happening? The reason I was so hesitant to say it is that TJ has been clipping me for sound bites on his soundboard, like repetitively. So anytime he tells me to repeat something or to say something specific, I'm very hesitant.

SPEAKER_02 2:06

Yeah. Uh for example. I hate there's and what's that? I hate him. That was the soundboard, not Eric. I hate him, I hate him, I hate him. Which I I had pranked Eric's uh cousin. I have to do it. You should have him listen to that. Oh yeah, uh here is Eric's cousin being confused. What are you guys doing? Wait, nope, wrong one.

SPEAKER_00 2:32

Not looking at my at my Discord at all.

SPEAKER_04 2:34

And then it it I swear I heard the and then I So Elijah joined the Discord earlier today, and he just joined the call, and then TJ immediately played that, and I was playing Resident Evil and got fooled and thought it was Elijah, and I was like, what the fuck is he talking about? Like why is he so out of like in the middle of a sentence?

SPEAKER_02 2:58

I did that to Elijah too with Eric's sound, and uh he was having like a full conversation, and then I was over here dying laughing. I was not at my computer.

SPEAKER_04 3:14

He wasn't even in the calls, and then you joined like 10 minutes later. That's just funny. Oh man, yeah, so he's been uh terrorizing us with his soundboard. I want a bigger one. Good stuff though.

SPEAKER_03 3:24

That thing's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_04 3:25

Yeah, I want I want more buttons.

SPEAKER_02 3:27

I want a whole like hundred button soundboard. The world can't handle that. I'll be like that dog on TikTok who presses all the buttons to communicate.

SPEAKER_04 3:42

I've been considering getting cozy uh. So TJ, TJ, what'd you think of the movie?

SPEAKER_03 3:48

Bitch. TJ Hungry?

SPEAKER_02 3:51

Hungry? I would get a hit bitch button. TJ, why alive?

SPEAKER_04 3:58

Walk, bitch. Walk. Hungry? Hungry? Outside, it's not dinner time. Bitch. Outside. You just went outside. Bitch. Bitch. Bitch. Hungry? Bitch. I would have like my own little Rocky.

SPEAKER_02 4:16

Yeah, it'd be great.

SPEAKER_04 4:17

Yeah. This one doesn't have opposable thumbs at all, though.

SPEAKER_02 4:20

Which uh that's that's one thing about the movie that was different about the book is that in the book, he just eventually understood Rocky. But you know, because book how books are, you know, it's like Rocky talking and then him talking. Like it's just assumed he understands him. But for this, it couldn't really be him talking in fucking musical notes and we wouldn't understand him. So they gave him that voice. So if he if they both used a walkie-talkie, would it be a Rocky talkie?

SPEAKER_03 4:48

Uh no, no.

SPEAKER_04 4:49

Only if he was made a rocky talkie. Hear me out. What if Rocky made them walkie-talkies? Would those be Rocky Talkies? I'm pretty sure they did use walkie-talkie. I think those would be Rocky Talkies. Didn't they? Yeah. Well, they use like some sort of like system communication. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:03

Alright, well, this is the absolute

First Laughs And Rocky’s Entrance

SPEAKER_03 5:05

epitome of this podcast, jumping straight to the end. Yeah. This is Rocky from I forget his planet name, not from the movie. The planet name. She got that.

SPEAKER_02 5:16

Yeah, the planet name is Iridity.

SPEAKER_03 5:21

Some kept saying Iridium.

SPEAKER_02 5:23

When uh when the uh Andy Weir wrote the book, uh they had just discovered, um, I think it's 40 Iridni or some shit. I don't know. They discovered that, and he's like, I'm gonna fucking write a book about it. I'm gonna make a bunch bunch of shit up about it. But um, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 5:37

So this movie's based on a true story. It is based on a true story, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:40

Nice. Yep. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 5:42

Ryan Gosling saved our lives.

SPEAKER_03 5:43

You know what? No, no, no. Hold on hold on. I got it better. Because this we can actually say, and it can be stated. This movie is based on true events.

SPEAKER_04 5:52

What's the standard for that?

SPEAKER_03 5:53

The event is that it was the uh discovery of the element. That's it. That's the only truth.

SPEAKER_04 6:02

Yeah, but um that's like some conjuring logic there. Yeah, yeah, no. Um, wait, wait, wait. This movie's within two years, right? Oh, it's this year. Spoiler alert. Spoiler alert.

SPEAKER_02 6:13

I mean, the book came out in like 2020 or something.

SPEAKER_03 6:16

You got a do you got an alarm sound on that board?

SPEAKER_02 6:19

Uh can make one. Should I which one should I get rid of? Maybe Oh, do you have to get rid of one? I'll get rid of that one. What's up? I think I like the WhatsApp more. I'll do this.

SPEAKER_04 6:27

No, get rid of that one, please.

unknown 6:29

Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo!

SPEAKER_00 6:32

That's a good one.

SPEAKER_04 6:34

Made it himself.

SPEAKER_02 6:34

Wait, I don't even okay. I think one of you has to do it. Alright, do it in three, two, one.

unknown 6:39

Woo, woo, woo, woo.

SPEAKER_03 6:42

That wasn't bad.

unknown 6:43

Woo, woo, woo, woo.

SPEAKER_02 6:46

Blowing my eardrums out. It's just a freaking cube on.

SPEAKER_00 6:57

Yeah, no.

SPEAKER_02 6:58

Spoiler the warning, guys. This came out this year. Um, yeah. Great movie. Ryan Gossel. Great actor.

SPEAKER_04 7:05

When I hit the top of the glass, you kiss on the lips. When I hit on the bottom of the glass, you kiss the poozy. The Ryan Gosling quote. Y'all don't know Ryan Gosling from SNL? Uh-uh.

unknown 7:21

I think.

SPEAKER_04 7:22

There's a skit where there's two people getting married, and someone clings to the top of the glass, and they're like, Oh, we have to kiss, and they kiss, and then Ryan R uh Ryan Gosling is playing this like, I don't know, this strange fucking from a different planet kind of character. And he's like, What was that? And like, oh, when you tap the glass, you know, it's like a toast, and the the bride and groom have to kiss. He goes, They have to. He goes, Well, yeah, you know, like they tap the glass and they have to kiss. He goes, They have to. Yeah? So he starts tapping the glass and then he just starts making some absurd comments about it. He's like, When I tap the top of the glass, you kiss on the lips.

SPEAKER_03 7:58

When I tap on the bottom of the glass, he's uh, you know, I this movie was funnier than I would have expected. There was a lot of moments where I found myself laughing. Yeah, the interactions were comical.

SPEAKER_04 8:09

Oh, dude, when Rocky just burst in.

SPEAKER_03 8:11

I loved it.

SPEAKER_04 8:12

That was so funny.

SPEAKER_02 8:13

You know, it's made by the same dude who made the Martian, and the Martian had like a little bit of humor in it. Yeah. But this one kind of ramped it up. Um I I that's why I really liked it.

SPEAKER_03 8:23

Especially that that whole scene. So I have a roommate now, and then he gets into that. He can hear everything. I can hear you. Who are you talking to?

SPEAKER_00 8:32

You couldn't hear that.

SPEAKER_03 8:33

You said I couldn't hear that. I can hear this. Yes. You said, Can I can you hear this? I loved all of that interaction. Because he was afraid that he was gonna die on him just out of nowhere. Which was funny because both of them were dumb in their own right, right?

SPEAKER_02 8:49

Like the uh Iridinian was dumb about radiation and I mean, they're just not knowledgeable because um the way that they work is they don't have eyes, they can't see space. So they had no reason to go up into space. But they were smart enough to make a spaceship and get there. Yep.

SPEAKER_04 9:09

But like it's insane to think about in theory a species being that intelligent but not knowing about radiation. I can I kind of agree. It's like it it almost feels like something that you would naturally learn a lot along the way that that's a thing.

SPEAKER_03 9:22

Well, but there was one thing that I wonder if it's a flaw, right? How would radiation kill a rock?

SPEAKER_02 9:28

They wouldn't they're not rocks, they're bugs.

SPEAKER_04 9:30

Yeah, they're they have to have something inside. I guess that I my thought would be that the rock is just the exterior.

SPEAKER_03 9:35

They're not rocks, they're what?

SPEAKER_02 9:37

They've got a fleshy center, they're more like bugs.

SPEAKER_03 9:39

They're more like bugs, okay. Yeah. Um, I gotta say, I absolutely love it.

SPEAKER_02 9:44

Their atmosphere is so thick that radiation doesn't like penetrate it. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 9:48

It also seems like they could be like an intelligent, like a very intelligent species that can because he was problem-solving very fast.

SPEAKER_00 9:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 9:56

Where he was like, Oh, this human isn't gonna be able to survive here. Let me make conditions to which he could survive. And like it was impressive the way that it it told him the first time when he first got to the ship to like go away. Um, because he had, I guess my thought is that Rocky wanted to see him so he could see, like, okay, one is this guy dangerous, but two, like, what can I figure out about this person? Okay, so he needs that suit. Let me make something that can help him.

SPEAKER_03 10:21

I think Rocky already figured out that they were there for the same reason.

SPEAKER_04 10:24

Yeah, so I I think the um well, because Rocky sent the the Yeah, he sent the little solar system uh thing.

SPEAKER_02 10:30

And then he said, Well, he sent two. He did, he sent which the first one was set pretty quick. The second one, it's just like, dude, the music in this movie it's it it adds to the humor. Like it's like it's slowly going towards him, but it's like dumb.

SPEAKER_03 10:47

Yeah, no, that that was absolutely great. That and then uh if I'm not mistaken, when he opened up that bottle,

Alien Physics And Ammonia Breathing

SPEAKER_03 10:55

are you thinking that that was ammonium in there?

SPEAKER_02 10:57

Because he said the apple ammonia, it is it it's ammonia, he breathes ammonia. So as soon as he opened it, just oh no, ammonia smell. Which you would think a scientist would, you know, do what we learned in basic chemistry. Don't stick your nose at yeah, you gotta like the waft. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:17

I had some staff members recently. We got this really strong chemical, it's called uh something 256, and the dilution rate for it is half an ounce per gallon, so it's like incredibly strong. An ounce per gallon, yeah, ridiculously strong. One of my coworkers opens the cap and just goes, and I'm like, Don't breathe that in. What the fuck?

SPEAKER_02 11:39

Just inhale chemicals.

SPEAKER_04 11:41

I'm like, oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 11:42

But um, he so Rocky's atmosphere is ammonia, and then it's like extremely hot. Yeah, yeah. Um, and he kinda they're they in the book they go like go over like how his body works, and he has like vents on the top. So I don't know if you've seen when in that one scene where he's like saving Grace, uh you there's like smoke billowing out, and that's like his exhaust vents. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 12:09

That's really that's interesting. I that the I mean I suppose why wouldn't it? It it's interesting to me that the book is more details on like exactly what Rocky was.

SPEAKER_02 12:17

Yeah, it's it's very detailed like and the um the food scene is a lot different also. Um he uh it's pretty similar where he like shoves it up his ass because he only has like one orifice. But then he also shits out some stuff because his whole body's like a closed little ecosystem. Like it has water in it, but that water never leaves, or like, you know, uh but yeah, in both versions. That's kind of kind of weird looking.

SPEAKER_03 12:48

That one made me laugh. You you eat ugly. You eat ugly. I I eat beautiful. How do you eat?

SPEAKER_02 12:56

Yeah, that that was a um that was a movie only thing, too. In the book, he was like, I really don't want to show you how I eat. He's like, Why do you want to see how I eat? Eating's gross. He's like, Well, for science.

SPEAKER_03 13:13

That would have been more of a uh consistency basis because in the movie he's like, it's beautiful. And I do like that uh in the book he would have said eating is gross. That's one thing that I don't have an affinity for. All of the Carl Jr. commercials, all of these food commercials that have gone to people eating on camera. I don't like it. It's not appetizing to me. I appreciate the old school uh dropping the burger on the on the table type thing where you see it just like with like the stacks, you could see it like that.

SPEAKER_02 13:49

Yes, that's I'm okay with that.

SPEAKER_04 13:53

I don't like people

Food Scenes And Weird Internet Debates

SPEAKER_04 13:55

eating I don't enjoy I don't have anything like I don't have any like weird, like oh, I don't like to see it kind of thing, but it's not like my favorite thing. I I agree, I prefer it like the let me just see the burger.

SPEAKER_02 14:06

Well, like you know, people people these days, there's like the mukbongs and stuff where they just watch what I do not like watching those. Yeah, I don't like those. I don't like it as well. This like one food review dude. Um and he he I like how he does it. He's not all reviews in the your fucking face mountain mashing down stuff in his mouth, you know?

SPEAKER_04 14:30

But like the only food review that I like is Markiplier's like sour Sour Patch Kids food review and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_02 14:37

Today we're trying all flavors of it's just a random cereal, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 14:43

Like that that kind of stuff, but that's just because I think Markiplier is funny, but and I like those those kind those two guys, I don't even know their names.

SPEAKER_03 14:51

You've shown me them a million times, but the guys who said you can taste blue. No, you can't taste blue, you could taste blue.

SPEAKER_04 14:58

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Peyton and Cam over fruits.

SPEAKER_03 15:01

Oh, yeah, and and he like fully freaking proves it. That shit was wild. I'm not gonna lie, he changed my mind.

SPEAKER_04 15:09

He changed my mind. I I a hundred percent believed that, and then Peyton changed my mind that, but like dude, Cam guessed like all fucking three of them. I feel like it was um it's possible, but I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 15:22

I thought one time, yep. Two times, lucky, three times? Whoa, that's that's against the odds. All four times, fuck, dude. He nailed it.

SPEAKER_04 15:31

I feel like he's onto something, but um I now they could have pre-planned it. It's possible. I don't know, but they're usually like Kim usually has no problem telling Peyton that he's dumb. So I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 15:44

That's like my favorite thing about it. That podcast just makes me laugh hysterically because of stuff like that. You've sent me some of the most off-the-wall things from them.

SPEAKER_04 15:53

There's things where I'm like, you gotta, it's gotta be a bit. There's no way. Like you just can't have possibly gone that long in your life actually believing that. I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 16:02

There's some people. Uh maybe, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:05

Like their recent thing, I keep hearing them arguing about what is a fish, and they're both so wrong. Oh, yeah. Peyton just has no idea what a fish is, but then Cam seems to think that dolphins breathe underwater.

SPEAKER_02 16:18

What's an animal and or something? And he's like, fish animals or something.

SPEAKER_04 16:23

Well, no, he goes, uh he's like, What animal are you the least scared of? And he was like, Oh, easy fish, and Peyton's like, no, animal. And he goes, A fish. He goes, No, but like a real animal, and he goes, Yeah. What do you mean?

SPEAKER_02 16:36

Like he goes, fish fish. What do you what do you want me to say? He's like, fish aren't animals, dude.

SPEAKER_03 16:45

Yeah, like that. I think he meant mammal.

SPEAKER_04 16:47

No, no, he knows what a mammal is, kinda. Really? Somewhat. He knows he knows the difference, but he genuinely thinks just fish are not animals.

SPEAKER_01 16:56

What is it?

SPEAKER_04 16:57

It was a whole thing. It's a whole thing. And then he also doesn't believe that rain is evaporation. He thinks it's separate. It's just that's our American uh Yeah. And his reasoning, do you want to hear his reasoning? This shit was crazy. I you should go check out the podcast. It's called the You Should Know Podcast. But um I feel like anybody who's watching us would probably already know of that podcast. You should know? Yeah. Um, I think that's what it's called, right?

SPEAKER_03 17:21

I I know it be you've shown me.

SPEAKER_04 17:24

I think it's the You Should Know podcast. Um he said, uh, so Peyton was saying that that he doesn't believe that rain is evaporation and that um uh the the reasoning is because he was like uh he's like it comes out of the ocean, right? And Cam's like, I mean, yeah, some of it, yeah. And he and Peyton is like, then like how does it get back in the ocean? And Cam goes, what? And he goes, it's it's raining all over the concrete and the grass. What the fuck?

SPEAKER_02 17:50

Yeah, just bro didn't pay attention to that one you know class in uh in second in middle school. Earth science.

SPEAKER_03 17:59

I will say one of my first critiques when you pick this movie this afternoon. I look

Why A Teacher Gets Picked

SPEAKER_03 18:05

it up. I even uh posted it on our ex account, which was uh why is it always like a fucking middle school teacher? Now I'm glad they answered the question right away. He was busted down to being a middle school teacher. That's all he could get, even though he was a PhD and he was yeah, well accredited before the reason, yeah, the reason supposedly went nuts in the paper on how you know water-based life why why does it have to be water-based?

SPEAKER_02 18:33

You know, which is the funny thing about the movie that is every single thing that he has come across, like every water-based. He comes across three separate things, they're all water-based.

SPEAKER_03 18:45

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 18:45

It's the he comes across the uh the astrophage, water-based, rocky, water-based, and then the um the enemy of the astrophage. Yeah, the talmeeba.

SPEAKER_03 18:58

Tal Talmeeba?

SPEAKER_02 19:00

Yeah, Tao Meeba, because they're from Ta Tao Seti. So he was just getting proven wrong left and right. Right. Left and right. Yeah, no, because he was he was really he was like, yo, water does not need to be the basis of life, but just every single thing he came through. Um but yeah, no, then he wrote about the reason he became a guy.

SPEAKER_04 19:18

Let's talk about the the reason he was uh even up in space. Oh would you guys send that information back?

SPEAKER_02 19:26

Yeah, I don't think I would be selfish enough to let everybody die. But heike based on the ending of the movie, you know, I was just hey fuck it, I'm gonna go live with the rock people while you guys just fucking freeze to death, you know?

SPEAKER_04 19:41

Yeah, I I don't know. I think I I don't know if I would have sent that that information. But after that, think you're gonna fucking kidnap me and send me up against my will?

SPEAKER_02 19:53

No. Then again, you know, if he eventually did make it back, he would have been like a hero, you know, could have got him.

SPEAKER_04 20:00

After after they betray him like that, I'm not going back to you in any way.

SPEAKER_02 20:03

They didn't betray him, it was freaking uh Strauss.

SPEAKER_00 20:08

Strauss, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:10

Strat.

SPEAKER_04 20:11

Not Strauss. Strat. I don't know. I would just kind of have to assume that most people are gonna be that way.

SPEAKER_02 20:17

I thought she was way worse in the books, by the way. Really?

SPEAKER_04 20:21

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:22

Uh I could I can give you a list of the things she did. Because she was she had like ultimate control over everything, pretty much. Like the UN got together. They're like, hey, we need one person to be in charge of this specific thing. Like saving she she can do anything. Um the uh first, she basically every like every like copyrightable like material and like trademark material, like she had that it was on the uh Hail Mary, and people were trying to sue her for it, but she's like, Well, I can just do what I want, right? So she went to you know uh and she was like, Hey judge, fuck off. And the judge is like, I'm gonna arrest you, and she's like, Well, you can't. So um and then worst thing, uh in order to breed enough enough astrophage, which it it takes in heat to breed, um you need a really hot place, right? So the Sahara Desert, right? But it's all sand. So what do they do? They make a giant flat black, they paved over the Sahara Desert and put just a just asphalt. So just ruined that entire ecosystem, right? So big black sheet across the Sahara, that's that starts heating up the earth. Right. Um, yeah, no, it was causing like tornadoes in the UK and like Europe and stuff, and like, yeah, no, that was bad. Um, and then that had negative effects. So in order to counteract that uh those effects, she uh nuked Antarctica. Um, so yeah, by the by the end of this movie or like by the end of the book, after she got like, you know, once once the Hail Mary went up, that's when like her immunity ended. So she immediately was just in like so. If you look in the movie, she has a tattoo on her neck, guarantee because that's she's like ousted, like prisoner type beat. Wow.

SPEAKER_04 22:22

Yeah. Yeah, like I don't know. I I don't know if I would trust anybody at that point. Because I would not my thought would not be that it was just her in on it. If that happened, I'd be like, oh, they're all in on it. No, it's what she's gonna put an unconscious person in the ship and nobody else is gonna notice, nobody's gonna be concerned that

Stratt’s Choices And Forced Sacrifice

SPEAKER_04 22:40

I'm unconscious in the ship. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 22:42

Which uh the book goes into that too. The uh captain and the other person were not down for that. They're like, why that's murder? You can't know, I'm not gonna stand for it. So uh they wiped so and so you know how you woke up from the coma and he didn't remember anything? Yeah, the not remembering anything was not from the coma, it was from something separate. She wiped his memory on purpose. So she did the same thing to the captain and the other one, and then she sent him in asleep.

SPEAKER_03 23:12

See, I I thought, and no reason to believe this, they didn't give us any information, but I felt like it was uh it was preconceived that the other two were gonna be unalived on that trip.

SPEAKER_04 23:27

Well, they all were, they all picked uh but I mean all like sabotaged uh en route. I I don't think it was. I think um I'm trying to remember. Uh that was kind of gonna be my next question is was that an assassination or was that genuinely an accident?

SPEAKER_02 23:44

Okay, so I remember. So in the book, uh, they don't go into it in the movie, but um it takes 14 years to get to where they were supposed to be next to Tao Ceti. Um, time dilation and stuff, so it'd be like seven for them or something. I don't know. Um but basically being in a coma for that long can have like negative effects. So they had to like they tested like a shitload of people, and they had like you know, they had the whole team together or whatever, and they all had a specific gene that would make them less likely to die um from being in a coma from that long, but then um, you know, the explosion happened and they lost uh the crew members. Um and it just so happened that Grace also had that gene. So she was like, We don't have any other options, you have to go. Gotcha. Um, and then they just so happened to just die en route.

SPEAKER_03 24:42

So was the book consistent with the movie in the one uh point where at the end Rocky asked him if he was ready to make plans to head back to Earth, and he was like, uh, I'll let you know. Yeah. I thought it was I thought it was kind of cute, and he was like, you know, is that okay? Take your time, take a long time.

SPEAKER_02 25:00

It's pretty one for one, except for the fact that the movie doesn't mention so you so Rocky's food just it's literally full of heavy metals. People can't eat that. Um, and that's what all the Iridians eat. Uh so you know, what is Grace supposed to eat? On the way there, he was eating just like Talmoeba paste, like he was breeding the Talmoeba and eating it, but there's not a lot of nutrition in that. So while that was happening, the scientists on uh Iridny were figuring out what he can eat. And you know, how do you get earth food when you're there? Urban-based, right? Oh, you we we got something from Earth Grace. So what do they do? They clone his meat and they feed he eats himself. Oh no, and he calls he calls them me burgers in the book, but they don't go into that in the movie.

SPEAKER_04 25:53

Would that not cause problems?

SPEAKER_02 25:55

Oh no, no, it didn't get the shakes? No, no, I mean I mean I'm sure they figured it like it out, but um, yeah, cloned meat from him, me burgers. Uh he also at the end is walking with his because of the uh not the the gravity of the the planet is like aging him faster. Um but yeah, no, they they they are like he he was just like fuck it, I'll stay. You know, because like by the time he's there, it's already been like 30 something years or whatever. So like he don't know anybody down back there, you know? So he's you know, he's fine teaching little rock people.

SPEAKER_03 26:38

Which I will say probably one of the the best scenes was the disorientation that they showed when he woke up, first gets out, you know, all of that beginning, and then he yeah tries to discover where he is, and he's like, send a message to Earth. And it was like the message will be received in 11 months, six days, you know, whatever goes through the whole thing. He's like, Oh no, and he's looking at the sun, and he's like, That's not our sun. That is not it was uh it was I felt just as disoriented. I'm like, what the fuck is going on? Where where are we? What is this? Why are we all the way out here? It was pretty quick in the movie. Uh they don't explain a whole lot as they go, they go backwards.

SPEAKER_02 27:24

Yeah, so you'll get like fla in the movie, you'll get like flashes of like him back on Earth. Right. That's pretty much the same in the book, though that's him remembering stuff. Like when uh there was like the little flashback and they were talking about, oh, we gotta make our own gravity. And then he was like, Oh, and then he like automatically knew how to do it. That's basically what happened in the book. Centrifuge. Um, yeah. I don't know where I was going with that, but that's all fucking Strat's fault. She made him forget all that she was hoping that he would get the mission done and then remember.

SPEAKER_03 28:02

Um because I remember that scene, and uh what hit me really hard was the scene of um what was the the woman who went with she died. Uh she wasn't the engine. No, she was the engineer, wasn't she? And she was the one who said that she was gonna go out with a lethal injection with a hint of heroin.

SPEAKER_02 28:24

Oh yeah, yeah, that that they all had uh their own ways of dying.

SPEAKER_03 28:29

Didn't the pilot say the same thing? I'll have what she's having. Yeah, see that was different.

SPEAKER_02 28:34

The way he wanted to go out in the book was a gun.

unknown 28:38

Oh god.

SPEAKER_02 28:39

And he was like, if any of so he was a real OG about he was like, yo, if any of your guys's, you know, eliminate yourself tactics don't work, I'll be standing there with the gun to uh finish it, if you know, but yeah, no, that was and then one guy wanted to go out by like nitrogen, like just narcosis

How Would You Choose To Die

SPEAKER_02 29:00

or whatever, to where you just breathe and pass out.

SPEAKER_04 29:04

I think this is where TJ and I were looking up like would throwing yourself into an airlock be fast or painless way to go, and we found out it's actually one of the most excruciating and painful ways to go.

SPEAKER_03 29:16

Yeah, I wouldn't want to do that. I wouldn't want to go that way.

SPEAKER_02 29:19

No, probably not. No, from what I hear it's painful. We were like, oh, you'd pass out pretty quick, but it actually turns out you'd be pretty awake for a decent amount of time.

SPEAKER_04 29:30

You'd be uh like conscious for like a minute.

SPEAKER_03 29:32

That sounds terrible.

SPEAKER_04 29:34

They say like the first 10 to 15 seconds is like not necessarily like excruciatingly painful, but more just like a very bizarre feeling, and then after that it's just excruciating.

SPEAKER_02 29:45

Yeah. Um Rocky also wears pants in the book. How he does he does not uh wear pants in the movie. Uh it it's like a it's like pants slash tool belt type thing he has. Um I also I like in the movie the way that the uh his what was it called? Xenon, the xenon, whatever, what was it called? Like his little like what he makes shit out of.

SPEAKER_04 30:13

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:14

Oh Xenon metal.

SPEAKER_02 30:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:16

That was what that was what Grace called it.

SPEAKER_02 30:18

Yeah, but like what they had like a different name for it, I forgot. But I like the way that he makes it in the movie better. Like it looks kinda it looks cooler. In the book, it's just him mixing shit. Like goop. Um but yeah, Matt, like I seen a video and it was like, imagine you know, Grace gets back to Iridine and then he sees all the wrecks that are Iridians and they're all wearing clothes. Rocky Rocky's just taken. Or Xena Knight. Xena Knight, yeah. Um, that was some pretty cool shit.

unknown 30:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:52

Yeah, he was able to make everything. He made the ship.

SPEAKER_02 30:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:56

No, I will say it was kind of funny that Grace went back to him with uh his ship in ramen.

SPEAKER_02 31:02

Yeah, he's like, I don't have anything to make him anything with. Which I'm surprised he didn't have like a 3D printer or something.

SPEAKER_03 31:11

I mean, yeah, what what were they intending to do up there? I mean, it was just figure out what's going on.

SPEAKER_04 31:20

So how did how was Rocky dying again when Grace left and then he found out that the astrophage found a way to break out?

SPEAKER_02 31:30

No, not the astrophage, it was the Talmeeba. The Talmeeba found a way to break out. It mutated. So they they had xenonite. Yeah. They harvested it in xenonite, right? And they were breeding it in xenonite. So as they were teaching it to be more adaptive towards nitrogen, nitrogen and stuff, it became it was also adapted to the xenonite to get out.

SPEAKER_04 31:55

And it began destroying it, and that's what so then it started eating out of it.

SPEAKER_02 32:00

Yeah, it it could leak through it to get to the astrophage. So he would have just been floating out in space until he died, which would be a long ass time because they live a really long time. He was there for 42 years before Gray.

SPEAKER_03 32:13

And he was he was with his mate for 187 years. Mm-hmm. It was like how much longer.

SPEAKER_02 32:21

Yeah. I think they live like 600, I think I remember. Um but yeah, oh, the fucking sad thing, yeah, no, that they didn't know about the radiation or whatever, and the only reason that Rocky didn't die from radiation is because his room was like it was surrounded by the tank. Yeah. Yep. And the uh astrophage was blocking the radiation. So he would have he would have ended up dying because the talmeba would have eaten the astrophage, which you know, then the radiation would leak in.

SPEAKER_04 32:51

Yeah. Crazy. Um, well let's see. Honestly, the main thing I wanted to talk about was that I don't know if I would have sent the information back after what she did. Because I guess my question would have also been like, who's to say it goes into the right hands, you know?

SPEAKER_02 33:06

Yeah. That's why they were a couple, I guess.

Book Differences And Plot Mechanics

SPEAKER_02 33:10

For like redundancy. Um the Beatles is what he sent them back on the little battle ships. Um I I g yeah, I f I I figure they would have gotten to some sort of hands. Some scientist would be able to figure it out. What they'd really just need to do is just probably just make another rocket and send it to what was it was going to like Venus or something. Uh dump the dump the Talmeeba there.

SPEAKER_03 33:35

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 33:36

But yeah, no, I feel like it'd be real complicated feelings because they kind of did just send you to fucking die.

SPEAKER_04 33:42

Yeah, it'd be like, and now you're you're begging me to save you.

SPEAKER_02 33:45

Which it's a very like heartbreaking scene in the book. He's like crying out, You're murdering me. This is what you are murdering me, as they're like holding him down. Oh, what was the what was the black dude's name? Carl? Fuck Carl. Motherfucker just stood there, bruh. I thought we were homies, Carl. Yep.

SPEAKER_04 34:05

I don't remember.

SPEAKER_02 34:08

Maddie's headcanon is that Carl had a daughter and he was thinking about her. He's like, we gotta send this white man up in the space. What happened to Carl? He was fucking standing over him while he was getting fucking tackled.

SPEAKER_04 34:20

Oh, oh. I th I I don't know why I thought you meant like Carl was in the ship. No. Carl just let it happen.

SPEAKER_02 34:28

After after he made a oh wow. What the heck? We're talking about fictional people here. Stupid.

SPEAKER_04 34:39

I mean, I love Carl. Um I'm not gonna lie, I've kind of ran through the topics that I wanted to talk about on this movie. How do you guys how do you guys feel about this movie? Where do you rate this, Alex? Because I know we're TJ Dis.

SPEAKER_03 34:54

Two out of ten. Mid movie. It's his favorite movie, but it's a two out of ten.

SPEAKER_04 34:58

Also, he said mid-movie, it's two out of ten. That's objectively not mid. That's worse.

SPEAKER_02 35:03

Ah Matty said that's the most bullshit I've ever heard from you. No, I love this movie. It's a it's a two.

SPEAKER_03 35:10

I don't think I would give it an S tier, but I would give this a solid A.

SPEAKER_02 35:14

I'd give this an S tier, but I'll compromise for a high A.

SPEAKER_04 35:18

Yeah, I'd give it an A plus.

SPEAKER_02 35:19

I uh it's better than uh Interstellar, in my opinion, which was my previous favorite movie. Now it's my second favorite.

SPEAKER_04 35:26

Do you think it's better than Interstellar, Alex?

SPEAKER_02 35:28

They're very different movies, but they're very different.

SPEAKER_04 35:31

I personally I don't know. I feel like I would watch them both for different reasons. Like Project Hail Mary if you want more of the funny side. Interstellar if you want something dramatic and I would say that dramatic.

SPEAKER_02 35:42

I mean, there was a Project Hail Mary was surprisingly funny.

SPEAKER_04 35:46

Yeah, but like Interstellar was like there was not really anything funny going on. It's very dramatic.

SPEAKER_03 35:52

It's very heartbreaking.

SPEAKER_04 35:53

It's an epic movie. Like I would describe it as an epic.

SPEAKER_03 35:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 35:57

And but Project Hail Mary is like, it's a movie. It's fun, it's interesting, it it's funny, it has its moments, its quirkiness. Um I just think it's obviously very movies. I just think very different movie. Um, very different reason to watch each movie. So I don't know. I have a hard time kind of comparing those two. I personally think I would put Interstellar higher.

SPEAKER_02 36:22

Whoa. I would much really I thought you would agree with me. I would put this higher than that because I feel like I'm more likely to put this on than Interstellar at the current moment. You know, but my my you know, opinions change or whatever.

SPEAKER_03 36:36

So I would watch uh I've watched Interstellar multiple times, uh, but usually when I'm in a different kind of mood, I would definitely go for this one. It's hard to compare because they're nothing alike, they're very different, but I really did like the humor that was involved in this. The characters were they were lively. There was a lot of banter going on. There was uh I don't know how to say it with Rocky, they made him like shout out to them. They didn't make him yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:12

Rocky didn't make him like a man.

SPEAKER_04 37:15

I thought that was CGI.

SPEAKER_02 37:17

No, I mean it was probably touched up with CGI, but like he was a puppet, he was chasing freaking Ryan Gossing around in that ball.

SPEAKER_04 37:25

That's very impressive. The ball. Oh my god, the hamster ball is so funny.

SPEAKER_02 37:33

Where it's all slick and it's around his body and he's walking around. Like, you couldn't do that before? I feel like they so could have. They liked the ball. It's like, what's this room? This room's for trash. Ooh, so dirty.

SPEAKER_03 37:47

I don't know anything that uh the voice for Rocky had done before this.

SPEAKER_02 37:53

Uh he's got I think he was just straight up like the puppeteer at first, and then he was doing the voice with Ryan.

SPEAKER_03 38:03

He was puppeteering it.

SPEAKER_02 38:04

And then Ryan was like, Well, now I can't hear anything else but your voice. And like that ended up perfect. I like Rocky's voice. Yeah, then again, Meryl Street. Oh, that was funny. She could do it. Yeah, she really can do anything.

SPEAKER_03 38:18

And uh, same with uh Strand. I I don't know anything. And do you notice her credits, man? She has a lot of German credits, she really is Eastern European.

SPEAKER_02 38:27

Um love that scene where she was singing. Oh, that was great. That uh that gave some like humanity to her. Yeah. In the book that does not happen. She's just a cold heartless bitch in the book.

SPEAKER_03 38:40

Okay, all right.

SPEAKER_04 38:41

I can't like I don't know. On the one hand, I understand where she's coming from. It's like good intentions, but awful, horrible, evil execution.

SPEAKER_02 38:49

Literally, literally, her whole job was just do this by any means possible.

SPEAKER_03 38:53

Yeah, I didn't see this at the time, but looking back, that scene on the aircraft carrier was a scene of foreboding when he said, you know, it must be hard asking people. No, not really. It was like, What you're sending you're telling people to give up their lives and they're doing it. And you're just saying, like shrugging your shoulder, no, it's not hard at all. It's easy to ask people to give up their lives for me.

SPEAKER_04 39:18

I wonder how much of that is coping. Maybe, you know, but it also could she also could just be evil.

SPEAKER_03 39:24

Uh and judging by what she did to him, I mean, but she's she's evil for like a good reason.

SPEAKER_04 39:30

She's trying to save everybody.

SPEAKER_02 39:31

So it's like exactly.

SPEAKER_04 39:34

Like it does make me wonder, like, is she justifying it as in like I have to be the evil one in order to save everybody? Like, I'll be the bad guy if I have to. That's a very like classic.

SPEAKER_03 39:46

That's the ends justifying the means.

SPEAKER_02 39:48

Yeah, you got the whole entire earth on one side of the trolley, and there's this big cosmic fucking train coming towards it. Yeah, and you got this one frickin' science teacher on the other. Do you flip the switch?

SPEAKER_03 40:02

Which is funny. What made him the most qualified for this mission was the fact that he was so utterly wrong on his theory. Yeah. But he was, I mean, just because he was wrong didn't mean that he was ignorant or stupid.

SPEAKER_04 40:16

Well, that's what I was gonna say. Like, I think part of like what's what's good about his character is that as the more it took a while, but the more he kept getting proved wrong, the more he was like, okay, I might have been wrong then. I guess fuck. Like, it's everything just keeps proving you wrong left and right. There's there was no point where he was like, Well, it has to be wrong. Like, maybe I I have to be right here. He was just like, fuck. Yet another thing that proves that I'm wrong.

SPEAKER_02 40:44

There's one uh I just thought of the one uh scene in the book. It wasn't in the movie, so you know how he has the amnesia and he's slowly remembering things. At some point in the book, he remembers, so he's like, Okay, so I'm 30 something years old, and he remembers that he likes kids, and he's like, Oh god, I don't like I don't like where this is going. He's

Ratings And Interstellar Comparison

SPEAKER_02 41:10

like, I'm 30, I like kids, and then he's like, I'm a oh, I'm a school teacher, I'm a school team, oh thank god.

SPEAKER_03 41:22

That's good. That's really good. That could have been a lot worse.

SPEAKER_04 41:26

It could have been like a whole thing, Jesus. Someone comes on the intercom, prisoner.

SPEAKER_02 41:32

See, oh that yeah. Uh do you see the like similarities to like this in Iron Lung?

SPEAKER_04 41:37

A little bit.

SPEAKER_02 41:38

They could be in like a similar alternate universe, you know, because stars are gone in Iron Lung and stars are dying in this. Yeah, and then you know, him, Ryan Gosling like join together, become lovers.

SPEAKER_04 41:49

Become lovers. Interesting. Kiss a little broken broke back space station.

SPEAKER_02 41:53

Broke broke back planet, broke back galaxy. Broke back galaxy. That's great. That's the uh third sequel to Broke Back Mountain. I just keep getting it. What was your first one? Broke back space station?

SPEAKER_03 42:10

Yeah, that was good.

SPEAKER_02 42:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 42:12

I think like broke back galaxy more.

SPEAKER_00 42:14

Broke back Rocky.

SPEAKER_04 42:16

No, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_00 42:18

No, no, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_04 42:20

Pretty sure you would burn your dick off, no?

SPEAKER_02 42:23

Oh yeah, no, in the book, he uh he got like all around his bot. So Rocky didn't save him. Well, Rocky d Rocky got out, saved him, but then he got up and Rocky wasn't in his like container. So he ha he got up, picked Rocky up, and Rocky's like thousands of degrees. Oh uh, and all over his body he got like burnt. Wow. In order to get Rocky back into his containment. But in the movie he just get you can see it, he gets a little uh mark on his arm. That's it. Just a little of his hand, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 42:57

That was uh That was when he rescued him?

SPEAKER_02 43:00

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03 43:02

Okay, so they really under-dramatized that scene, huh?

SPEAKER_02 43:05

I mean it was a pretty dramatic scene when the fucking station was spinning.

SPEAKER_03 43:10

Yeah, but the that book sounds like it was intense.

SPEAKER_02 43:14

Yeah, and then Rocky was out for like a long time, and he was like, Well, I can see that there he's like, I can see that there's like this build-up on top of his uh his carapace or whatever. It must be from that smoke. It must be buildup. Maybe he's not getting enough like you know, well, air, but you know, air into his body or whatever. So he like makes up this whole contraption to like blow the stuff off of Rocky's back. Um, and he does, and then Rocky eventually wakes up and he's like, So, like, what did you do? And he's like, Oh yeah, I seen all that stuff on your back. So I like blew it all off or whatever. And he's like, Ro Rocky needed that to uh survive that was how Rocky was healing. So he was like, damn. I just I almost killed Rocky. I was blowing off his scabs.

SPEAKER_03 44:03

Oh no.

SPEAKER_02 44:05

Yeah. Yeah. Project Hell Mary.

SPEAKER_04 44:09

Great movie, honestly. I mean I we we rated it. I would probably put it like a high, very high A plus.

SPEAKER_02 44:15

And that's why me and Eric are bestest friends.

SPEAKER_04 44:18

Yeah, I mean I would personally put it under Interstellar, but you two seem to disagree, so um Yeah. I mean I think definitely a great movie, a hundred percent worth the watch.

SPEAKER_02 44:29

I think so. I don't know if I could be as good of a person as him. Listen to the audio book, dude who does the voices is really good.

SPEAKER_04 44:36

Alright. Well, with that being said, um anything else? Any final notes on on the movie?

SPEAKER_02 44:43

Um I wasn't like the biggest Ryan Gosling fan, but no, I am I think he's funny.

SPEAKER_04 44:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:49

I thought I thought he was far funnier. I think I said they made him hot.

SPEAKER_04 44:54

I think they made him funny.

SPEAKER_02 44:56

They did make him fun. I mean, like he was pretty funny in like the Barbie movie.

SPEAKER_04 44:59

Yeah, he is a pretty funny actor in general, I think.

SPEAKER_02 45:02

Yeah. He's a good actor too. Like I've I've watched some other movies from his characters. I was like, ew, fucking notebook actor. I didn't really watch any of his movies.

SPEAKER_03 45:14

But uh they definitely showed him as an older millennial with those reading glasses perched on his nose. Peanut gallery.

SPEAKER_02 45:22

There's also one movie that he's in that he uh it's like a very dramatic movie. Like I guess I think he like loses his wife or something. I don't know. He falls in love with a doll and then the whole town plays around like along with it. What I don't know, I gotta look it up. That's a movie though. If you like Ryan Gosling, go find that movie. Yeah, I don't know what you're talking about.

SPEAKER_03 45:44

Falls in love with a doll. I'm being 100%. I don't think I know a whole lot of Ryan Gosling. This is not turned that obscure. I think this is the first one. Well, I guess the notebook if if that was him.

SPEAKER_04 45:55

Yeah, that was.

SPEAKER_03 45:56

Ew, chicken.

SPEAKER_04 45:57

All right. Well, definitely worth the watch. Great movie. Uh Alex, you want to give us the social? Yes. Socials.

Socials, Requests, And Wrap-Up

SPEAKER_03 46:05

Make sure you go check us out on all of our socials. You could see the clips that we post from these podcasts. See which ones you like and go download them and watch them. Go check us out on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram. You search Will You Survive the Podcast. You could also find us on YouTube under Will You Survive the Podcast. And you could send us your emails. Just send those two the boys at Will You Survive the Podcast.com. T H E B O Y S at Will You SurviveThePodcast.com. Make sure you tell us what you would like us to cover. Any movies, any fan favorites. We love zombie flicks, survival movies, anything of the sort. Give us your best and we will go check it out. You could also tell us what you think of the podcast, where we can improve, and uh, you know, we might take your advice or we might not.

SPEAKER_02 46:51

Yeah, we get really loose on that survival aspect sometimes. We're like, Earth is dying in this movie. Survive?

SPEAKER_04 46:59

Well, no, I think the survive is like the troubles of the perils of space, and then also like adapting to things in your environment. Obviously, we don't have to deal with things like astrophage eating the material that we're trying to contain it in. Like, that's not things that we're dealing with, but it does show like you have to be able to adapt. And I I do think in a survival situation that's very important because things you're gonna make a plan and it's gonna go wrong, and that always happens with everything.

SPEAKER_02 47:26

Yeah, we didn't even talk about them gathering the taloeba pre-orbit. Yeah, very low orbit. Yeah, no, dude. That scene, I love the music in that scene.

SPEAKER_04 47:35

The soundtrack, I gotta go back and listen to soundtrack because it is very good. I remember that, but I'm having a hard time remembering exactly what it sounded like sounded like. Cool. Come on, host. Who won? Okay, uh, drum roll. I think TJ won this episode. Mostly because TJ knew pretty much everything about this movie, so I think it's only fair that he wins.

SPEAKER_02 48:01

Yes, I love this movie.

SPEAKER_03 48:02

Not only the movie, he knew the book.

SPEAKER_04 48:04

Yeah, he knew the book too.

SPEAKER_02 48:05

Definitely extra credit there. I mean, I knew the movie and the video game of the last movie we watched, but you know, it's okay.

SPEAKER_04 48:12

This is like I've been very prepared these last couple episodes. You have, you have. This is like I forgot what I was gonna say. Never mind. I had something, but then you cut me off, and then I forgot. No, I don't remember it. Dude, he's so tired. I'm so tired. I don't remember it. Okay, well, uh, next episode, TJ will be hosting, and he's gonna pick. We don't know yet. We'll find out. Project Hail Mary 2.

SPEAKER_02 48:38

Project Hail Mary 2, Electric Boogaloo. No, there actually is some somebody wrote a uh a book from uh Rocky's perspective called Saving Grace. Um yeah.

SPEAKER_04 48:52

Anyways, hosts yeah, I think that's everything, right? I think we've done everything. Cool. Alright, well, until next time, stay alive.