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‘The Martian’ recruits physicist Neil deGrasse Tyson to narrate a brilliant guerrilla marketing video

Published Aug 27th, 2015 10:31AM EDT
The Martian Neil deGrasse Tyson Video
Image: Screenshot / YouTube

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The Martian

, a new science fiction movie starring Matt Damon and directed by Ridley Scott, is one of the most anticipated movies coming later this year. Whether or not the film is actually any good, there’s no doubt it’s already received a first-rate marketing effort and its latest guerrilla marketing video is by far its coolest yet.

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It seems the film has recruited famed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson to make a new video in which he describes the spaceship Hermes’ first trip to Mars approximately 15 years from now. The scientist’s hair in the video is noticeably grayer than it is today, a nod to the fact that he’s supposedly speaking to us from the future.

“The trip to Mars is as dangerous and challenging as anything we’ve ever tried,” Tyson says. “The average journey checks in at 140 million miles and throughout the trip, Hermes and his crew are bombarded by cosmic radiation that would irreversibly damage their DNA if not for the ships protection.”

It’s a good bet that Tyson is foreshadowing a key plot point here and that the crew will be subjected to such “cosmic radiation” due to some technical failure aboard the Hermes.

The entire video is extremely well done. Check it out for yourself below.

Brad Reed
Brad Reed Staff Writer

Brad Reed has written about technology for over eight years at BGR.com and Network World. Prior to that, he wrote freelance stories for political publications such as AlterNet and the American Prospect. He has a Master's Degree in Business and Economics Journalism from Boston University.