Review: 11389 Project Hail Mary
Posted by benbacardi,
At the beginning of February, LEGO revealed a set based on a new license that was completely unexpected: 11389 Project Hail Mary, inspired by the upcoming film of the same name, which is itself based on a 2021 book by writer Andy Weir.
Another of the author's books, The Martian, was turned into a successful film back in 2015. Having read and enjoyed the books, and the previous film adaptation, I was excited to learn of Project Hail Mary's screenplay and very much look forward to seeing the story come to life on the big screen.
The announcement of a LEGO version of the titular ship was a surprise, and a welcome one—but has LEGO managed to do the film (and book) justice? Those hoping to avoid spoilers for the story may wish to come back to this review once they've watched it!
Summary
11389 Project Hail Mary, 830 pieces.
£99.99 / $99.99 / €109.99 | 12.0p / 12.0c / 13.3c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
A satisfying build and clever mechanics, let down slightly by the chunky display stand
- Very clever mechanism to separate and rotate the ship
- An accurate likeness to the film's spaceship
- An excellent little diorama included
- Rocky's character is not as accurate as I'd hoped
- Bulky and slightly unsightly display stand which is somehow still not sturdy enough
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Project Hail Mary tells the story of a scientist and teacher, Ryland Grace, waking up aboard a spaceship—the Hail Mary—in a remote solar system, alone, and with amnesia. Through the course of flashbacks and exploration, he slowly figures out his history and the mission's purpose, where (in typical Weir fashion) it takes a variety of unexpected turns. As the primary setting for the tale, the spaceship is a logical choice to represent in a LEGO set.
I'll get this out of the way at the beginning—the film adaptation has clearly made some changes to the design of the ship from the vehicle depicted in the book, and likely for good reasons. The LEGO set is understandably based on the film's updated version. Core features remain the same or similar, but as the film is not yet released, my only frame of reference is the book and the film's trailers.
Characters
The set is primarily a display model of the Hail Mary, held at an angle off the ground by a stand that incorporates the film's two main characters at its base—scientist Ryland Grace, and (spoilers!) the intelligent alien he discovers and names Rocky.
Grace is depicted wearing a red spacesuit, which seems pretty accurate to the one shown in the film trailers. As a suit designed for spacewalks outside the spacecraft, it has a very detailed print showing straps, control panels, outlets, and connectors, both on the front and the rear. His face is printed with stubble, and shows a slight smile on one side and a wider grin on the other. He is also wearing glasses in one expression, but not the other.
Rocky, however, can definitely not be represented in minifigure form! An alien from a remote planet Grace names Erid, Rocky has a pentagon-shaped body with five identical limbs, one protruding from each of the five sides of the pentagon. About the size of a medium dog, he sits squat to the ground, and has a dark stone-like carapace exterior.
Unfortunately, the LEGO version doesn't quite capture the alien's feel, in my opinion. His body is circular, and the only rock-like texture comes from printing on the dish that caps his torso. Three of the five limbs are used to give him stability, while the other two end in clips in order for him to be able to hold things.
Both Grace and Rocky are provided with a small pedestal, which later can form part of the main display stand, or a separate mini diaorama. Grace is also equipped with a helmet, a backpack with a clip for a wrench, a lamp, and perhaps my favourite piece in the set—a clear 1x1 tile printed with a tape measure! This plays an important part in the book in establishing the relationship between Grace and Rocky, so I am pleased to see it included and presume this means it also made it into the film.
Both pedestals are almost identical, with the only difference being the attachment point on top for the two characters. Rocky's accessories include an unidentified tool in one claw, and another 1x1 clear tile printed with a device the alien invents that allows him to read computer screens—Rocky relies on echolocation, not sight, a fact that is pointed out in the instructions as you build.
It's a small thing, but I found the build of these pedestals to be very satisfying! They're formed of a series of round 1x2 bricks with central bars around a 3x3 core, and black road sign pieces clipped to the exterior to create a smooth square shape with rounded corners. It's not a technique I've personally come across before.
As mentioned, the two pedestals can either connect to the base of the display or form their own small diorama. To do the latter, a small central build joins them, with a transparent irregular hexagonal-shaped panel atop it. Printed with a variety of shapes, this represents a key part of the story—the moment where Grace and Rocky meet for the first time.
Either side of the thick glass-like barrier Rocky constructs of a material called Xenonite (that humans have yet to discover how to create) in a tunnel between their two ships, the characters come face to face, to the shock of both of them. This moment is an excellent choice for the small build, and I love how it's represented here.
The Hail Mary
Grace has travelled the stars in a ship called Hail Mary, which is the primary focus of the set. For reference, I've included below an image of the concept art of the ship from the film creators, as it is the best image available to show the design they landed on and appears to be accurate to the final thing as far as I can make out in the trailers.
In the instructions, the display stand is built first, but because of the complex mechanism it contains, I will focus on the ship initially and come to what the stand provides later. The Hail Mary comprises two main sections—the crew quarters, from which Grace lives, works, and pilots the ship, and the engines and fuel tank assembly.
The crewed section of the ship is the long thin line of modules connected together along the central axis of the ship. Built first, this is made from a variety of irregular pieces in white and grey with gold accents. The largest module, in the centre, is printed with an airlock and other detailing. The "video camera" piece, here in grey, is called out in the instructions as having been used in LEGO spaceships going all the way back to 1985.
The largest part of the ship—the fuel tanks, engines, and radiators, is built separately. Three large fuel tanks that store "astrophage" (the microorganism that is used as fuel) are arranged around a central axis, and made up from multiple round barrel-like parts, some of which are printed with tiny detailing showing panels or access hatches on the ship. A single larger engine sits central at the rear, with a trans-orange disc to show the glow of the propulsion emitted by the astrophage.
Two large radiator arrays protrude from either side of the engine bays. I like the effect created by the use of the silver sloped grills in an alternating pattern, and looks like a good approximation of the source material.
A printed 2x2 round tile with a hole on the opposite end of the engine module provides additional detail of where the crew module "connects" to this section of the shop, although the printing was slightly worn on the tile I received!
The geometry of the ship presents an interesting challenge in LEGO form, and seeing how the designers solved it was very satisfying. An axle runs through the central core, with a pair of "3 branch crosshole w. hole" providing axle connectors spaced equally at 120º from each other. The fuel tanks connect to these, and any gaps left are filled by small assemblies connected in between.
The two halves of the ship don't connect directly together, and as such can only be photographed as a whole once attached to the stand. I'll take a look at how these are combined in a moment; you can see the ship as a whole below, with the long crew compartment nestled in the centre, flanked by the three large fuel tanks.
One of the key features of the Hail Mary is how it generates artificial gravity in the crew compartment by the use of centrifugal force—as the ship spins, astronauts within the ship feel a force pulling them away from the centre of rotation. The further you are from the centre, the stronger the force. In order to generate this force, the Hail Mary splits in two, with the two halves joined by long cables to put distance between them with the fuel tanks acting as a counterbalance to the crew capsule, and spins. LEGO have recreated this via the use of a clever mechanism built into the stand. The cables are not included, but it would have been very difficult to build something suitable at this scale.
Display Stand
There are three main components to the ship's stand: the base, the rotating section where the Hail Mary attaches, and the stand that connects the two.
The base is built first, constructed primarily of a Technic frame hidden entirely by System parts. I particularly liked the satisfying geometry of the angled wings at the front. A large hole is left in the middle of the base for the stand's upright portion to be connected, as well as a pair of pins at the back to secure it.
At the front of the stand is a printed tile with details of the Hail Mary's destination (the star Tau Ceti, 11.9 light years from Earth), along with its mission patch.
The rest of the stand is made up of a pair of Technic "arms" attached at via a rotating ring. The arm on the left, with the red pins, is the vertical stand, and the arm on the right is the one on which the Hail Mary is attached.
The axle at the bottom of the stand connects to a crank on the base, and the rotation of that axle is fed up the rear of the stand and converted into rotation around the axle running through the centre of the circular connector.
The stand is fully assembled by slotting into the hole in the base, propped up at an angle by a pair of Technic beams, and connecting the rotating mechanism's angle to the hand crank at the front.
Finally, Grace and Rocky's pedestals can be clipped to the front of the base, and the display stand is complete…
… ready for the Hail Mary to be attached to the top arm—the crew compartment via a single red axle connector, and the fuel tanks by a pin and axle.
Mechanism and Movement
Now for the centrifuge! In order to provide a gravitational force, the film's version of the ship is designed so that the crew compartment can separate from the engine bay, move out from between the fuel tanks, and rotate to sit perpendicular to the rest of the ship, as shown below. The entire vehicle then spins around its new centre of mass. The mechanism built into the stand cleverly allows this to entire process to happen by simply turning the crank at the base.
The image below shows the arm to which the ship is connected. A toothed beam is interlocked with the central gear that is turned by the crank—as this gear turns, the beam slides along the arm, moving with it the axle and four-knob gear to which the crew compartment is attached.
As this moves, that gear is turned 90 degrees by the Technic bushes it slides past, neatly turning the Hail Mary crew quarters as it does so. The image below shows the gear/beam part way through one such rotation.
The end result is that the crew quarters slide outwards from their parallel position, starting to turn part way through the slide…
… until they end up in their final, perpendicular position. At this point, the toothed beam can't slide any further, and so the larger gear is engaged and the entire contraption starts to rotate instead.
It really is a clever mechanism powered by continuously turning a single axle! Rotating the axle the opposite direction reverses the process—the whole ship stops spinning, and the crew compartment turns 90 degrees and slides up into the fuel bays until it comes to rest against the engine modules. Amaze!
A short video below shows the mechanism in action—thanks to my wife for filming it for me! As you can see, two hands are unfortunately required to spin the ship—one for the crank and one to hold the base down, as it tends to lift slightly and move around as the main gear engages.
Verdict
The Hail Mary design is an excellent LEGO rendition of the vehicle featured in the film, and I enjoyed the build a lot. There's no denying that the movement mechanism is very clever, and it is satisfying to watch the spaceship separate, the crew compartment rotate, and the entire craft start to spin, all by simply turning one crank handle.
However, the stand that holds it up is significantly chunkier than I would like, and both the green wheel and black arm that attaches to the ship detract quite significantly from the elegance of the Hail Mary itself. I appreciate that the mechanism's function demanded it, but if the ship were slightly larger it could perhaps conceal more of the stand than it does. It's also a shame that it cannot be operated one-handed.
The minifigure of Grace is excellent, and although Rocky's design is not quite there, I love the included diorama and that you can choose how the figures are displayed.
I'm now eagerly awaiting the film to see how the ship pans out on the big screen! It is great to see LEGO are still able to surprise us with unexpected licencing deals such as this one.
11389 Project Hail Mary is available from LEGO.com for £99.99 / $99.99 / €109.99.
100 likes
42 comments on this article
This is a fine review of a good, though overpriced, set that represents the spaceship in the movie very well. The only problem is that the spaceship design in the movie is completely different than the spaceship design in the book and it makes no sense, unlike the spaceship design in the book. It's a shame that they redesigned the ship for the movie, because the one in the book is perfectly suited for a playscale Lego set about the size of an 8w City passenger jet.
...why post it now when the movie isn't even out yet? I understand it normally but if you place a spoiler warning first it only leaves people who either happened to read the book or who aren't interested in the first place in the subject matter?
This is probably a stupid question but it just bugs me
SPOILER ALERT!!! I know this wasn't Lego's fault but there's no reason for the ship to have solar panels. IYKYK
Cool looking set and I love how the mechanism works, but one thing the review from RacingBrick (https://www.youtube.com/shorts/AnXYc48o_Vo) pointed out is that rotating it only 90 degrees wouldn't work. And how the one in the book made the crew compartment rotate 180 degrees instead, which indeed seems to make more sense. So......is Balazs (and the book) wrong, or did the movie adaptation (and Lego) screw this up?
EDIT: apparently in the movie version during centrifugal mode one of the walls becomes the floor, so life inside also rotates 90 degrees to get to that 180 degrees. Which makes you wonder why they went for this complicated solutiion to begin with.
@Binnekamp said:
"...why post it now when the movie isn't even out yet? I understand it normally but if you place a spoiler warning first it only leaves people who either happened to read the book or who aren't interested in the first place in the subject matter?
This is probably a stupid question but it just bugs me"
I don’t think this review spoils anything you haven’t seen in the trailer. And if you haven’t watched the trailer, then there’s a warning at the start of the review not to proceed unless you’ve read the book.
For the record, I haven’t read the book but I don’t think reading this review of a set that releases tomorrow will dull my enjoyment of the film.
Onto the set itself, I think Rocky is the best they could’ve done without new moulds. Love the little tape measure tile, and the mechanism for the ships rotation is fantastic! It seems to be the year for spacecraft combined with interesting technic functions.
@Darth_Dee said:
"SPOILER ALERT!!! I know this wasn't Lego's fault but there's no reason for the ship to have solar panels. IYKYK"
https://youtu.be/E1fzJ_AYajA?si=rPMhqqPz5uAQM4nA
He's just Ken...
https://brickset.com/minifigs/tlm134/
@Darth_Dee said:
"SPOILER ALERT!!! I know this wasn't Lego's fault but there's no reason for the ship to have solar panels. IYKYK"
That’s why they’re radiators, not solar panels—at least, that’s my understanding!
Fine. If we're going to post spoilers: Count Rugen has six fingers.
An utterly fantastic set for a generational sci-fi movie that I will try to find at a 40% discount.
Side note, I really miss the random one-off sets LEGO would do that had fantastic ppp (76989, 10497, 21319 come to mind)
Here's hoping the torso and legs end up on PAB.
@Crux said:
"Fine. If we're going to post spoilers: Count Rugen has six fingers."
Guess I'd better join in! ;) SPOILER: Darth Vader is Luke's father!!!
The marketing has already ruined some of the amazing twists in the book so it’s not a surprise that they would double down with the merchandizing spoilers.
That being said, I want to trust Lord/Miller and am hopeful. I’ll scrutinize the set after I see the film.
The function is innovative but the set is very unattractive, good review though!
@Beren_Luthien said:
" @Crux said:
"Fine. If we're going to post spoilers: Count Rugen has six fingers."
Guess I'd better join in! ;) SPOILER: Darth Vader is Luke's father!!!"
Clark Kent is Superman.
I don't normally like Lego Technic, but I'm a huge fan of "Project Hail Mary." I built an MOC of the ship from the book back in 2023, so I might buy this version to keep it company.
https://brickset.com/minifigs/cty1446 from 60354 also makes a nice stand-in for a minifigure of Dr. Ryland Grace.
I agree that Rocky is not great in this set. However, a pentagonally symmetrical creature the size of a dog does not translate well into Lego, and I wouldn't want the set to be more expensive for a custom mold.
@gunther_schnitzel said:
" @Beren_Luthien said:
" @Crux said:
"Fine. If we're going to post spoilers: Count Rugen has six fingers."
Guess I'd better join in! ;) SPOILER: Darth Vader is Luke's father!!!"
Clark Kent is Superman."
Titanic sinks.
(and so does Titanic II)
@WizardOfOss said:
" @gunther_schnitzel said:
" @Beren_Luthien said:
" @Crux said:
"Fine. If we're going to post spoilers: Count Rugen has six fingers."
Guess I'd better join in! ;) SPOILER: Darth Vader is Luke's father!!!"
Clark Kent is Superman."
Titanic sinks.
(and so does Titanic II)"
Batman is Bruce Wayne.
@Murdoch17 said:
" @WizardOfOss said:
" @gunther_schnitzel said:
" @Beren_Luthien said:
" @Crux said:
"Fine. If we're going to post spoilers: Count Rugen has six fingers."
Guess I'd better join in! ;) SPOILER: Darth Vader is Luke's father!!!"
Clark Kent is Superman."
Titanic sinks.
(and so does Titanic II)"
Batman is Bruce Wayne."
Lego smart play will flop harder than beast games
@Good_Username said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
" @WizardOfOss said:
" @gunther_schnitzel said:
" @Beren_Luthien said:
" @Crux said:
"Fine. If we're going to post spoilers: Count Rugen has six fingers."
Guess I'd better join in! ;) SPOILER: Darth Vader is Luke's father!!!"
Clark Kent is Superman."
Titanic sinks.
(and so does Titanic II)"
Batman is Bruce Wayne."
Lego smart play will flop harder than beast games"
They save Private Ryan.
@gunther_schnitzel said:
" @Good_Username said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
" @WizardOfOss said:
" @gunther_schnitzel said:
" @Beren_Luthien said:
" @Crux said:
"Fine. If we're going to post spoilers: Count Rugen has six fingers."
Guess I'd better join in! ;) SPOILER: Darth Vader is Luke's father!!!"
Clark Kent is Superman."
Titanic sinks.
(and so does Titanic II)"
Batman is Bruce Wayne."
Lego smart play will flop harder than beast games"
They save Private Ryan."
Though if they shave Ryan's privates, you got the wrong movie!
@gunther_schnitzel said:
" @Good_Username said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
" @WizardOfOss said:
" @gunther_schnitzel said:
" @Beren_Luthien said:
" @Crux said:
"Fine. If we're going to post spoilers: Count Rugen has six fingers."
Guess I'd better join in! ;) SPOILER: Darth Vader is Luke's father!!!"
Clark Kent is Superman."
Titanic sinks.
(and so does Titanic II)"
Batman is Bruce Wayne."
Lego smart play will flop harder than beast games"
They save Private Ryan."
The dinosaurs break loose from the control of the Jurassic Park staff. (life found a way)
@Murdoch17 said:
" @gunther_schnitzel said:
" @Good_Username said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
" @WizardOfOss said:
" @gunther_schnitzel said:
" @Beren_Luthien said:
" @Crux said:
"Fine. If we're going to post spoilers: Count Rugen has six fingers."
Guess I'd better join in! ;) SPOILER: Darth Vader is Luke's father!!!"
Clark Kent is Superman."
Titanic sinks.
(and so does Titanic II)"
Batman is Bruce Wayne."
Lego smart play will flop harder than beast games"
They save Private Ryan."
The dinosaurs break loose from the control of the Jurassic Park staff. (life found a way)"
The kid sees dead people.
Ok I was already pretty excited but I had no idea that it had that whole mechanism in it, and now I want it even more. That's amazing!
Here's the diagram of the ship given in the book, by the way: https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/project-hail-mary-andy-weir/images/5/56/Hail_Mary_art._gravity.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20230825144446
It looks like the biggest functional change for the film version is that the crew compartment is oriented like a corridor rather than a tower when in centrifuge configuration, which will probably be easier to make sense of on screen (in addition to being more vomit-comet-friendly for filming, if they did that).
I have zero knowledge about the film or book so I can only really add that I love that tape measure tile and hope it can sneak its way into City sets
@Crux said:
"Fine. If we're going to post spoilers: Count Rugen has six fingers."
Inconceivable!
@gunther_schnitzel said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
" @gunther_schnitzel said:
" @Good_Username said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
" @WizardOfOss said:
" @gunther_schnitzel said:
" @Beren_Luthien said:
" @Crux said:
"Fine. If we're going to post spoilers: Count Rugen has six fingers."
Guess I'd better join in! ;) SPOILER: Darth Vader is Luke's father!!!"
Clark Kent is Superman."
Titanic sinks.
(and so does Titanic II)"
Batman is Bruce Wayne."
Lego smart play will flop harder than beast games"
They save Private Ryan."
The dinosaurs break loose from the control of the Jurassic Park staff. (life found a way)"
The kid sees dead people."
The Martians lose the War.
@gunther_schnitzel said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
" @gunther_schnitzel said:
" @Good_Username said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
" @WizardOfOss said:
" @gunther_schnitzel said:
" @Beren_Luthien said:
" @Crux said:
"Fine. If we're going to post spoilers: Count Rugen has six fingers."
Guess I'd better join in! ;) SPOILER: Darth Vader is Luke's father!!!"
Clark Kent is Superman."
Titanic sinks.
(and so does Titanic II)"
Batman is Bruce Wayne."
Lego smart play will flop harder than beast games"
They save Private Ryan."
The dinosaurs break loose from the control of the Jurassic Park staff. (life found a way)"
The kid sees dead people."
That's not the spoiler, the spoiler is one particular dead person. Also, Rosebud was his sled, and https://thefump.com/music/song/spoiler-alert
Having not read the book, I just realized that the Hail Mary is full of Grace. (Screams)
@Murdoch17 said:
" @gunther_schnitzel said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
" @gunther_schnitzel said:
" @Good_Username said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
" @WizardOfOss said:
" @gunther_schnitzel said:
" @Beren_Luthien said:
" @Crux said:
"Fine. If we're going to post spoilers: Count Rugen has six fingers."
Guess I'd better join in! ;) SPOILER: Darth Vader is Luke's father!!!"
Clark Kent is Superman."
Titanic sinks.
(and so does Titanic II)"
Batman is Bruce Wayne."
Lego smart play will flop harder than beast games"
They save Private Ryan."
The dinosaurs break loose from the control of the Jurassic Park staff. (life found a way)"
The kid sees dead people."
The Martians lose the War."
Unicron can turn into a robot.
@Andrusi said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
" @gunther_schnitzel said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
" @gunther_schnitzel said:
" @Good_Username said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
" @WizardOfOss said:
" @gunther_schnitzel said:
" @Beren_Luthien said:
" @Crux said:
"Fine. If we're going to post spoilers: Count Rugen has six fingers."
Guess I'd better join in! ;) SPOILER: Darth Vader is Luke's father!!!"
Clark Kent is Superman."
Titanic sinks.
(and so does Titanic II)"
Batman is Bruce Wayne."
Lego smart play will flop harder than beast games"
They save Private Ryan."
The dinosaurs break loose from the control of the Jurassic Park staff. (life found a way)"
The kid sees dead people."
The Martians lose the War."
Unicron can turn into a robot."
Kevin Spacey and/or Jay-Z is/are Keyser Söze.
@Crux said:
" @Andrusi said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
" @gunther_schnitzel said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
" @gunther_schnitzel said:
" @Good_Username said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
" @WizardOfOss said:
" @gunther_schnitzel said:
" @Beren_Luthien said:
" @Crux said:
"Fine. If we're going to post spoilers: Count Rugen has six fingers."
Guess I'd better join in! ;) SPOILER: Darth Vader is Luke's father!!!"
Clark Kent is Superman."
Titanic sinks.
(and so does Titanic II)"
Batman is Bruce Wayne."
Lego smart play will flop harder than beast games"
They save Private Ryan."
The dinosaurs break loose from the control of the Jurassic Park staff. (life found a way)"
The kid sees dead people."
The Martians lose the War."
Unicron can turn into a robot."
Kevin Spacey and/or Jay-Z is/are Keyser Söze."
Kylo Ren kills Han Solo and Snape kills Dumbledore. 6828 and https://brickset.com/parts/design-98834. Are we done now?
@TheOtherMike said:
" @Crux said:
" @Andrusi said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
" @gunther_schnitzel said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
" @gunther_schnitzel said:
" @Good_Username said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
" @WizardOfOss said:
" @gunther_schnitzel said:
" @Beren_Luthien said:
" @Crux said:
"Fine. If we're going to post spoilers: Count Rugen has six fingers."
Guess I'd better join in! ;) SPOILER: Darth Vader is Luke's father!!!"
Clark Kent is Superman."
Titanic sinks.
(and so does Titanic II)"
Batman is Bruce Wayne."
Lego smart play will flop harder than beast games"
They save Private Ryan."
The dinosaurs break loose from the control of the Jurassic Park staff. (life found a way)"
The kid sees dead people."
The Martians lose the War."
Unicron can turn into a robot."
Kevin Spacey and/or Jay-Z is/are Keyser Söze."
Kylo Ren kills Han Solo and Snape kills Dumbledore. 6828 and https://brickset.com/parts/design-98834. Are we done now?"
Like Kevin Spacey's career.
I LIKLEY will plan to order more parts to mod both the fuel/rocket/radiators to be bigger... and likely also tweak the base to be more substantial to make this more accurate (screen moreso than the book.) The book I read had a sad diagram of the ship - and I am soo happy that the film version is more exciting than this: https://www.shelfreflection.com/blog/project-hail-mary
@PapaRich said:
"I LIKLEY will plan to order more parts to mod both the fuel/rocket/radiators to be bigger... and likely also tweak the base to be more substantial to make this more accurate (screen moreso than the book.) The book I read had a sad diagram of the ship - and I am soo happy that the film version is more exciting than this: https://www.shelfreflection.com/blog/project-hail-mary "
That version looks like the idea is to treat the ship kinda like the Rocinante from The Expanse (TV series, never read the books), where gravity is oriented with the cockpit at the top of the ship, and the engines at the bottom. Except of course this one spins around with the engines oriented “above” the crew section. I’m assuming the idea is the compact form is using thrust to simulate gravity, and the tethered orientation is only used when coasting under inertia.
The movie version looks like the idea is to give the crew (all one of him) a lateral floor plan, rather than a skinny tower.
@TheOtherMike said:
" @Crux said:
" @Andrusi said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
" @gunther_schnitzel said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
" @gunther_schnitzel said:
" @Good_Username said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
" @WizardOfOss said:
" @gunther_schnitzel said:
" @Beren_Luthien said:
" @Crux said:
"Fine. If we're going to post spoilers: Count Rugen has six fingers."
Guess I'd better join in! ;) SPOILER: Darth Vader is Luke's father!!!"
Clark Kent is Superman."
Titanic sinks.
(and so does Titanic II)"
Batman is Bruce Wayne."
Lego smart play will flop harder than beast games"
They save Private Ryan."
The dinosaurs break loose from the control of the Jurassic Park staff. (life found a way)"
The kid sees dead people."
The Martians lose the War."
Unicron can turn into a robot."
Kevin Spacey and/or Jay-Z is/are Keyser Söze."
Kylo Ren kills Han Solo and Snape kills Dumbledore. 6828 and https://brickset.com/parts/design-98834. Are we done now?"
James Bond dies even though the movie's title says there was no time for him to do so.
;-)
@AustinPowers said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
" @Crux said:
" @Andrusi said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
" @gunther_schnitzel said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
" @gunther_schnitzel said:
" @Good_Username said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
" @WizardOfOss said:
" @gunther_schnitzel said:
" @Beren_Luthien said:
" @Crux said:
"Fine. If we're going to post spoilers: Count Rugen has six fingers."
Guess I'd better join in! ;) SPOILER: Darth Vader is Luke's father!!!"
Clark Kent is Superman."
Titanic sinks.
(and so does Titanic II)"
Batman is Bruce Wayne."
Lego smart play will flop harder than beast games"
They save Private Ryan."
The dinosaurs break loose from the control of the Jurassic Park staff. (life found a way)"
The kid sees dead people."
The Martians lose the War."
Unicron can turn into a robot."
Kevin Spacey and/or Jay-Z is/are Keyser Söze."
Kylo Ren kills Han Solo and Snape kills Dumbledore. 6828 and https://brickset.com/parts/design-98834. Are we done now?"
James Bond dies even though the movie's title says there was no time for him to do so.
;-) "
James Bond is actually a codename given to multiple different agents... oh, that's right, we're doing spoilers, not fanon.
@TheOtherMike said:
" @AustinPowers said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
" @Crux said:
" @Andrusi said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
" @gunther_schnitzel said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
" @gunther_schnitzel said:
" @Good_Username said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
" @WizardOfOss said:
" @gunther_schnitzel said:
" @Beren_Luthien said:
" @Crux said:
"Fine. If we're going to post spoilers: Count Rugen has six fingers."
Guess I'd better join in! ;) SPOILER: Darth Vader is Luke's father!!!"
Clark Kent is Superman."
Titanic sinks.
(and so does Titanic II)"
Batman is Bruce Wayne."
Lego smart play will flop harder than beast games"
They save Private Ryan."
The dinosaurs break loose from the control of the Jurassic Park staff. (life found a way)"
The kid sees dead people."
The Martians lose the War."
Unicron can turn into a robot."
Kevin Spacey and/or Jay-Z is/are Keyser Söze."
Kylo Ren kills Han Solo and Snape kills Dumbledore. 6828 and https://brickset.com/parts/design-98834 . Are we done now?"
James Bond dies even though the movie's title says there was no time for him to do so.
;-) "
James Bond is actually a codename given to multiple different agents... oh, that's right, we're doing spoilers, not fanon."
Surely you can't be serious.
Oh wait, we're doing spoilers, not quotes.
Dr. Evil is my brother.
@TheOtherMike said:
"James Bond is actually a codename given to multiple different agents... oh, that's right, we're doing spoilers, not fanon."
That wasn’t fanon. That was just a really bad movie.
@PurpleDave said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
"James Bond is actually a codename given to multiple different agents... oh, that's right, we're doing spoilers, not fanon."
That wasn’t fanon. That was just a really bad movie."
Oh, was that actually in one of the movies? I've only seen Dr. No, From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, and the Daniel Craig Casino Royale.
@TheOtherMike said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
"James Bond is actually a codename given to multiple different agents... oh, that's right, we're doing spoilers, not fanon."
That wasn’t fanon. That was just a really bad movie."
Oh, was that actually in one of the movies? I've only seen Dr. No, From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, and the Daniel Craig Casino Royale."
Only in the second, and worst, adaptation of Casino Royale (there was also a standalone episode of an anthology detective TV series). The rights to Casino Royale got more complicated than the rights to Thunderball, and Woody Allen got involved.
Thanks for the review. Ordered it on the first with a backorder of March 19th. Hopefully it will come sooner rather than later...