u/Betty-Adams

https://x.com/shrugsinchinese/status/2052850496357150907

Something positively delightful I found on Twitter!

You know what would be awesome. An extended cut of this where we hear Rocky talking about his crew. It would be heartbreaking, but awesome.

Rocky: These are the names of my 22 crewmates. They were brave, just like you...
Dr. Grace: *immediately has a traumatic flashback to Stratt betraying him that proves he wasn't brave at all*
....

The scene where Rocky shows Grace the Eridian ship! This scene has been puzzling me ever since I saw it for two reasons.

One, I could not make sense of why the scene switched from showing Grace marveling at all these beautiful, amazing things to a close up of Rocky tapping at some random, boring control panel. I took the raised portion to be buttons, or perhaps sounding surfaces to make notes. I thought maybe it was to point out that human design looks boring to Eridians?

Two, I always wondered why it was this moment that caused Grace to flashback to Stratt's betrayal in the movie. Why would a really fun experience, all wonder and beauty cause that memory to surface? Usually there was some connection to the moment when memories would come up.

For instance, in the book, what triggers the Stratt betrayal flashback is and exhausted Rocky giving Dr. Grace a little pep-talk after their very first Tauomeba experiment fails.

"We work more." He says. "We no give up. We work hard. We are brave."

And Dr. Grace tries to internalize the pep talk by telling himself, that yeah, he might not have all the answers yet, but at least he's the kind of guy who would volunteer for a suicide mission to save Earth, so yes he is brave, he will work hard, and he can do this dog-gone-it! Then the flashback hits and the realization that he did not choose to be here, that he was forced paralyzes him with the realization of his own cowardice until Rocky senses his depression and comes over to comfort and stimulate Dr. Grace to action.

My point being there was a very obvious stimulus for that flashback in the book. Grace's thoughts in the moment, were directly, logically connected "I am brave, I must be brave, I agreed when Stratt asked me to come." Memory says, no Stratt asked you to come and you said no and cried about it.

In the movie I could not see what the connection was, until I saw someone refer to the "control panel" Rocky was touching as a crew manifest.

So I rushed over and counted, and sure enough there are 23 raised nubs organized in a pattern that makes perfect sense for the crew of a ship. Captain, 1st officer and 2nd officer around what is pretty clearly a representation of the Blip-A. Then the rest of the crew spread out in groups probably indicating their various specialties. Rocky is probably pointing at his own name/symbol on the chart.

And what would Rocky be saying as he shows his friend Grace the names of his fallen comrades.

"They were so brave. They worked to the very end. Just like you and your crew! They were brave. We were all brave. We worked so hard. We are brave."

Which would then logically trigger the, 'Heck yeah! I'm pretty gosh-darn brave! Just like all these super cool Eridian astronuats and my good friend Rocky who is very brave and whose opinion of my I value highly!"

BOOM, perfectly logical train of thought for that memory of Stratt betraying him to climb aboard and absolutely wreck his mental image of himself.

Brilliant! The detail in this adaption never ceases to amaze amaze amaze me!

Link to Post: https://x.com/fishy_doofus/status/2051289630629368238/photo/1

Everyone "knows" that ghost happen because a spirit has unfinished business. There is something they need to do, a loved one that needs help, a wrong that must be avenged. So when Yao and Ilyukhina find themselves haunting the Hail Mary, they are not terribly surprised. They agree, they will not be free to pass on until, if, until Grace finds the answer. So they wait, they try to communicate when he wakes up, they are so very relieved when he does wake up. They are helpless watcher though, until the Blip-A is detected, and the tunnel connects, and when the eager little rock climbs over to them, it isn't alone. There are others on the Blip-A. Others that can see Yao and Ilyukhina, can pass through the xenonite wall, others that tenderly watch their last crewmate sleep. And then the adventure, and then the success, and the ships part ways, and Yao and Ilyukhina are sad to say goodbye to their 22 new friends, and they wonder aloud why they are still here when the problem is solved, but their new friends don't wonder, they still must escort their living crewmate home. Who else will watch Grace sleep with Rocky headed back to Erid?

And then the Tauomeba escape, the Grace turns that ship around and rushes back to Rocky, and Yao and Ilyukhina are happy to see their 22 friends again, and strangely as soon as Grace and Rocky have each other again. Well, let the living watch each other sleep. The mission is complete. It is time for all 24 spirits to finally go home....

Sorry, I saw this beautiful art and it did something to me and I had to make it all y'all's problem.