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On my way to my holidays, I watched The Martian on the plane. At the beginning of the movie, a disclaimer said that the movie had been "edited for content." In fact, it seems no profanities were allowed on screen at all. There were many moments where Mark said "fudge" instead of another word I don't know if I can write here. At the end of the movie, the word "shit" was reversed.

When Mark learned the Ares III team didn't know he survived yet, and that all he wrote was broadcast to the entire planet, there was an ellipsis. Just after that we saw two NASA guys, one saying to another "He didn't meant that."

My question is: Was the ellipsis meant by Ridley Scott (this was cool because, not knowing what was said allowed me to imagine something way more obscene than originally,) or was it censored by my airline, and if so, what was the content of Mark's text?

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3 Answers 3

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In the source novel, he's a bit curt with them when he finds out.

[11:41] JPL: Tell us about your “crops.” We estimated your food packs would last until Sol 400 at 3/4 ration per meal. Will your crops affect that number? As to your question: We haven’t told the crew you’re alive yet. We wanted them to concentrate on their own mission.

[11:52] WATNEY: The crops are potatoes, grown from the ones we were supposed to prepare on Thanksgiving. They’re doing great, but the available farmland isn’t enough for sustainability. I’ll run out of food around Sol 900. Also: Tell the crew I’m alive! What the fuck is wrong with you?

Which leads to him being chastised for his inappropriate language.

In the film's original screenplay, its (literally) spelled out what he said

The whole room waits patiently. Tim reads the response.

TIM: He says... “They don’t know I’m alive? What the--” (hesitates) “What the... f-word... f-word in gerund form... f-word again... is wrong with you... f-words.”

VINCENT: Mark, please watch your language...

Which pretty much reflects what we see in the un-bowdlerised version of the film. You also see him say "What the fuck!?" several times, however you see it from outside the rover, so it's muffled into silence.

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    I believe this neglect to answer the specific question (at least, as it appears in the body of the question), that yes, the un-bowlderised movie has the "please watch your language, this is being broadcast to the entire planet" followed by some unseen outburst that everyone else to reacts to, rather than saying exactly what was said.
    – starpilotsix
    Commented Jul 16, 2016 at 13:30
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    I don't think answering the specific question asked is ever redundant. You don't have to re-describe it, but saying "Yes, in the unedited film it was left unstated and just shown as a reaction" seems appropriate, rather than information from the script, which while certainly great for additional context, doesn't actually answer the question and is thus not as necessary as the answer itself.
    – starpilotsix
    Commented Jul 16, 2016 at 13:35
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    I agree with starpilotsix : this answer missed the point, but maybe I wasn't clear enough in the original question. But as you linked a similar question where you answer to mine, I'll still validate it.
    – Orange Lux
    Commented Jul 16, 2016 at 13:43
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    Not quite. The question specifically asks what follows the "everything you type is getting broadcast to the world" notification, and whether THAT, in the unedited film, is more profanity that is cut by the censored version. The answer to that is never stated in your answer, that no, it is not a censoring cut, in the original it's left as a "imagine what he said yourself." The part from the script you quote and the lipreading was BEFORE the notification of his words going out to the world (and may also have been censored by the airline, I don't know, but it wasn't exactly what was asked).
    – starpilotsix
    Commented Jul 16, 2016 at 13:43
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    Actually, if memory serves, in the novel Watney wrote "BOOBIES" right after being notified to watch his language since communications with NASA were broadcasted live. Or did I imagine that? In that case, I guess that says more about me than it does about Watney...
    – Sredni Vashtar
    Commented Jul 16, 2016 at 15:28
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In the novel Mark writes

Look! A pair of boobs -> (.Y.)

Although in the original serial posted to Andy's website it was something about felching (don't look that up please) and a blooper scene leads me to believe they almost went with that in the movie because it's a scene of Teddy explaining what felching is to Annie (again don't look it up) and then everyone laughs.

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I think you all are missing, the actual next line to where he refers to NASA as a “Bureaucratic Felcher” anyone that would like can look it up, just be warned its not a very pleasant saying.

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    Hi, welcome to SF&F. My understanding is that line isn't in the movie itself, but in an earlier version of the script. If you follow the link to the related question in the comment on the question you'll see that has already been noted.
    – DavidW
    Commented May 25, 2019 at 12:56

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