From Jurassic Park to The Martian: Five science fiction films that get botany (mostly) wrong

Science fiction films are a firm favourite for many. And whilst the genre specialises in speculative ideas, there is still a much-needed place for factual accuracy. Often, however, scientific detail falls by the wayside in big production films. Why let facts get the way of a good story, eh? Sadly for some, these glaring errors can be a distracting plot hole too far. In this episode, botanist James Wong gives his analysis of the botanical accuracy, or lack thereof, in his favourite sci-fi films. From The Martian to Jurassic Park, who knew plants were so hard to get right.
But it’s not all bad, some films almost get it right. In 2015’s The Martian, botanist-turned-astronaut Mark Watney survives being marooned on the Red Planet by growing his own potatoes. Producing arguably more calories per square metre of growing space than any other conventional crop, potatoes are a logical choice. But the problem lies in how they travelled to Mars.
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[@OccamKant]

The reason why he had potatoes instead of seeds is that they didn't intend to stay there. It was supposed to be a short mission and the shrink wrapped potatoes were not pre-cooked. If they were, you could see the skins fall off them. They were raw vacuum sealed potatoes, there for a special occasion. Thanksgiving I think. They were intended to be cooked on-site, so there should be no problem with using them as seeds.

[@user-sq1hh1un9k]

A little off topic but the wind storm in the Martian was " overblown " . A 100 mph wind there would've been like a gentle breeze here because of Mars atmospheric density .

[@mtbbk]

Interesting video

[@sercero]

The martian is probably Hollywood misunderstanding the book. That is why its 99% accurate. They did not write it

[@comosdedos]

"99% accurate" but they still pretend martian gravity is the same as earth's, when it's less than half that of earth. *Nothing* about the movie could have happened realistically - both the potatoes and the scientist behave like it's the same gravity as earth, but it isnt.
I'm not aware of how the book treats this though.

[@sercero]

@@comosdedos True. I guess it was filmed on earth 😆

[@emmalewisart641]

Great vid, I always thought the green rivers in Promethius were actually blue to my eye, which would indicate 'glacial milk', just a product of ice compaction, not algae.