#phm meta

[kiapet2]

It's commonly accepted in this fandom that humans have extremely fragile bodies in comparison to Eridians, but I think that's actually an oversimplification.

Because while Eridians are incredibly strong and tough on the outside, on the inside they are actually quite fragile:

They have no immune system, so anything that makes it past their enclosed carapace and internal heating will pretty much kill them

They have no natural defenses to radiation of any kind

In general they have very little organic matter so anything that targets their cells directly is quickly lethal

They are partially cold-blooded and live at a very narrow temperature range (about 20 degrees C)

They rely almost entirely on one, highly developed sense and are helpless if deafened (can't even remember the layout of a room)

They are completely helpless while asleep and can't control when that happens

They will forcibly become dormant after eating AND when badly hurt enough (their equivalent of going into shock)

They require more energy to function than humans do, and have very little organic matter to burn in the case of starvation

In contrast, humans:

Have an aggressive immune system and internal mechanisms for dealing with cell damage

Have adrenaline which allows them to temporarily ignore injuries and perform abnormal feats of strength

Are persistence hunters built for economy of movement and capable of extreme levels of endurance

Exist in a very wide range of habitats and on a diverse diet

Are very hardy in general, able to survive massive injuries, lack of sleep, prolonged starvation, and intense environmental conditions if given proper care

The quintessential example of this dichotomy between strength and endurance is the Going Fishing incident in the book: Rocky is able to survive and move in G forces that are killing Grace and to physically wrestle off the chair crushing him, but he collapses from his injuries almost immediately after. Despite being injured himself Grace then carries his 400lb friend up a ladder, is badly burned returning him to his atmosphere, and then proceeds to get some basic medical care, hype himself up on pain meds and keep working (albeit rather badly, lol) while Rocky forcibly sleeps.

The TL:DR is that Eridians are harder to damage, but easier to kill. They're like an rpg character with high armor and low health. I think Rocky would consider Grace to be very delicate at first, only to be blown away by how deceptively tough his friend can be.

[llamasocks-lou]

Twice, Ryland Grace is faced with the same pivotal decision: to save himself, or to save an entire planet.

The first time:

He is surrounded by white (bravery) and is wearing yellow (cowardice)

The world is telling him to be brave, but he can’t, not yet, because he is a coward.

He has lost his identity and autonomy

The decision is already made (he must die)

He is all alone (he doesn’t have the bravery gene)

The second time:

He is surrounded by yellow (cowardice) and is wearing white (bravery)

He is in the middle of his namesake: a field of rye. The field is the yellow of cowardice; that is who he was, but he can’t be that, not anymore, because he is brave.

You know who you are. You’ll do great.

The decision is already made (Rocky must live)

Rocky’s ball is beside him (he has found someone to be brave for)

[phmthoughts]

Wait. Hold on. Wait. You mean to tell me that Rocky brought his special clothing for celebration when he moved in with Grace, just in case? Pardon me while I go sob in a corner. The quantity of hope still packed into that little carapace, after everything that happened to him (or, perhaps, the quantity of hope that blossomed anew when Grace arrived...).

(Edit: Oh no, it gets worse. Does that mean the whole Eridian crew packed their party clothes, in the hope of having a successful mission and thus cause for celebration? And only Rocky ever got to wear them? And why does Grace have a party hat on the Hail Mary? Did the human crew pack party things with the same hope in mind?)

[briarlovesclara]

yes yes stratt is very scary and whatnot but i feel like we are overlooking how intimiadting grace made her too (largely in the book). because you expect the leader of the petrova task force to be cold and ruthless and scary, but then her... assistant? second officer? her guy walks in with her and he's very sweet, personable, and incredibly smart. and there's so much dissonance because you're talking with stratt about the biggest ethical decision of your lifetime and he's, like, annotating papers for her in the background. or you accuse her of being cold and calculated and this ray of sunshine just matter-of-factly goes "yep! she'll do whatever it takes!". and at the end of your meeting, probably the worst day of your life, the dictator of the world who has just calmly convinced you to do some atrocity or another stands up, gestures to him, and they casually walk out together chattering about something else like they've already forgotten you're there. that's so terrifying

[kerink]

fit check! i was sick of having to look up references for what clothes grace has on the mary/erid so i compiled them as best i could.

some notes: 1) i couldn't find a white long sleeve that looked the same, but it's such a simple thing i didn't feel it was that important. 2) there's a logo on his shorts but i couldn't figure out what it was, i'd guess a nasa one. 3a) i couldn't find the same bucket hat, but there's the logo. 3b) i couldn't find that tie dye shirt to save my life. 4) the jumpsuits are exactly the same except color and i could only find the full ref for white. 5) couldn't find either ilyukhina's dress or his track suit. again, the track suit is easy so no ref needed.

obviously this is just what we can be 100% certain he has, who knows what else yao and ilyukhina had packed. honestly, i would also assume he has everything he had while on the stratt vat and in baikonur since they probably just loaded all his belongings when he was shipped off.

[spicymargaritas]

the little teasing head wiggle stratt does at the end of the movie, when rocky is introducing himself. you know she’s watched that video so many times.

she’s not shocked by rocky’s existence because she’s so familiar with that video when we see her view it. we know the beetles have been recovered because they have his videos but they have to get out of the frozen ocean and back on land before they start the taumoeba farm. when she says “let’s begin,” she means, alright, project rewarm the earth going into effect now. and yet, stratt can’t help but smile and laugh at how absurd it all is - aliens are real, yeah, but even more so than that, grace did it. he found a way to save earth and someone to be brave for. she knew he could do it, she’d known when she sent him and this just confirmed it. and she knows that despite the pain she caused him, and herself, it was worth it.

grace looks exhausted but happy, he met an alien friend up there in space after he didn’t even want to go because of course he would, it’s grace.

i’m just so glad they included that scene because it’s one of my favorites. i smiled like an idiot while tears ran down my face from the previous scene.

[tocourtdisaster]

I've seen so many posts lately about how Grace wouldn't add swears to their translator but I 100% think he did.

He's not morally against swearing, he said holy fucking shit when he saw the Blip-A for the first time, the only reason he doesn't swear normally is because he trained himself out of it because he teaches middle schoolers. If I'm remembering right, he even calls one of the kids a smartass in his internal narration at one point. He's spent so long not swearing that he's not just going to fall out of the habit immediately.

We know that at some point, he learned Eridian swearing anyway because Rocky swears in the final chapter of the book. And I think he learned most of them when Rocky reamed him out after leaving the taumoeba collector out at room temp.

Plus, Rocky is an adult and Grace treats him like one, which includes adding swear words into their translator so that Rocky can express himself.

[eva-strapp]

I really like the way Project Hail Mary presents controversial research. The main concept explored in Grace’s paper, that life does not need hydrogen/ water to evolve, is not proven to be correct based on what we see in the book. However, aspects of his paper are eventually proven to be true. Life can evolve outside of the Goldilocks zone, and water’s role in the development of life can be more complex than originally thought (how Rocky’s biology works and evolution of life on Erid).

It’s an interesting way of exploring the presentation scientific research, you may not be correct 100 percent of the time, but the research that you conduct can pave the way to expansive thinking. While the main hypothesis might be incorrect, if methods and procedures are utilized properly, the ideas and research that results from the experiment are not wasted! They can be repurposed for future research or be used as evidence to support the prevailing line of thought. This aspect of half truths felt like a tribute to the practice of academic writing, and added a lovely layer of realism.

It goes to show that Grace’s hypothesis really could have evolved to have some weight behind them if he had given it time. Stratt and the rest of his field at the beginning of his process were definitely barking up the right tree.