It makes no sense. Word is the Earth is going to be gone soon. So 99% of the settlers leave and return to Earth.
If this is to see their family before the war, why on Mars did they leave their family in the first place just to have to return to them once War is about to happen.
If I recall the novel correctly, the colonists felt a sense of duty to return to aid friends and family members who may still have been alive in bunkers. Also, I think the novel indicated that the earth wasn't destroyed all at once, and that they were going back to aid in the war effort.
shareDuring the Cold War, the government used to tell people that a nuclear war was both winnable and survivable.
All you had to do was mosey on over to your backyard fallout shelter when you heard the siren
and just hunker down and eat your cans of baked beans.
After 2 weeks or so, the fallout would go down to a safe level and you could come out in time for
Fourth of July festivities.
All true but since they left earth to find a new life on Mars it still seems unlikely they would return at a time when nuclear war was imminent. And why would they all go. Watching it last night they seem to say they are ordered back to earth? Reasonable to assume more than a handful would stay no matter what. Very odd indeed.
shareIn a book featuring telepathic Martians and a Mars with breathable air, I found this the most problematic- the idea that everybody who had settled on Mars would leave to go back home as soon as nukes started flying on Earth. It's not logical. If you're an immigrant, do you automatically return to your homeland as soon as a war breaks out there? I could see a few people going back, but not this mass exodus that's presented in the story. "Hey, we're safe here on Mars, but let's all pack up the kids and go back to Earth to get killed by bombs or the fallout." I'm glad I'm not the only person who was bothered by this.
shareI felt the same confusion as well. If I were a colonist and knew that nuclear war on Earth was imminent, I'd take my chances and remain on Mars. I mean, that's the very reason I emigrated to Mars in the first place, to start a new life.
Everyone should have remained on Mars. They could have survived and even flourished. There was enough time to settle completely on Mars before the war.
The US government closed the colony in the movie. It's possible that the food for the colonists was flown in from earth and there didn't appear to be any crops growing anywhere or livestock. Most would have starved. Wilder and his family likely planted crops at some point
share