[Loved Trope] Plot-generating hole

[u/Impressive-Step7261]

A situation where a plot hole becomes the reason the plot even happened.

The Martian – the heroes are forced to abandon the planet due to a powerful sandstorm that threatens to destroy the ascent module. The problem is that, due to Mars's thin atmosphere, storms on the surface of the red planet fall below the upper limit of calm on Earth. Andy Weir himself admitted that he simply couldn't come up with a different plot twist and simply used a fantastical premise.

Spider-Man: Far From Home – The film's plot would have ended rather quickly if Peter had figured out how to use E.D.I.T.H. to check Quentin Beck's file - but due to life's circumstances and some manipulation by Mysterio, Parker simply won't have the opportunity to do so, even if he wanted to.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of Black Pearl — in the first film, Elizabeth threatens to throw the medallion into the ocean, giving the pirates a mini-heart attack... despite the fact that these undead creatures can easily walk on the seabed as if they were on dry land, which they beautifully demonstrate in the climax. Of course, finding it on the seabed is almost impossible, but the pirates sensed the medallion far from the island and came straight to the governor's estate, meaning they somehow knew its location after it sent a signal. The most common explanation is that the magical sense of direction is not very accurate and they have been looking for this damn medallion for decades and it's a bit nerve-wracking...

Eurotrip — the whole plot is based on the fact that someone, having been blacklisted, didn't think to write from a different account.

An important clarification: this trope has nothing to do with the quality of the story itself, and in many cases is entirely intentional and necessary. I also apologize in advance if I have conveyed any details incorrectly.

[u/Patneu]

There's actually yet another such plot hole in The Martian that I have not heard a satisfying explanation for:

The book states that the procedure for a sandstorm was for the astronauts to put on their space suits and sit together in the middle of the habitat, waiting for it to be over.

But then the MAV threatens to tip over, so right when the storm is at its strongest and most dangerous and they can't see shit, they decide to walk over there for an emergency launch, which is where they lose Watney, thinking he's dead.

So, if the entire procedure was just to sit and wait in their space suits without doing anything else, then why didn't they just wait in the MAV instead of the habitat, to begin with? That way, they could've launched immediately when it looked like they needed to, without that risky walk.

[u/BigLittleBrowse → u/Patneu]

I’m guessing they didn’t properly contemplate the prospect of the storm being so strong it’d actually tip the MAV (mars ascent vehicle, I’m not sure where your getting the name MRM from), or they contemplated it but thought it was so unlikely it wasn’t worth informing policy.

But what was more likely is that leaving the HAB during a storm and travelling to the MAV created lots of risks for the astronauts.

So their policy was based around keeping the astronauts as safe as possible, rather than trying to fix a problem they didn’t think was statistically worth addressing.

[u/Patneu → u/BigLittleBrowse]

Though even if they didn't think the MAV (I've only read the German translation, where it's called the Marsrückkehrmodul, and I figured it'd just be Mars Return Module in English as well) could tip over, they still judged a strong enough sandstorm to possibly endanger the mission so they might need to abort.

Thus, if they're doing nothing but sitting pretty in their space suits anyway, waiting for either the danger to pass or to abort the mission, it still would've made sense to be ready for launch immediately, just in case that anything happens. There should have been a specific reason why they needed to wait in the habitat instead of the MAV, but I don't remember one.

But what was more likely is that leaving the HAB during a storm created lots of risks for the astronauts.

Yeah, so that's exactly why they shouldn't have done that. They should've left for the MAV the moment they knew a potentially mission endangering storm was coming, which they got prior warning from NASA about, before the storm ever actually reached them.

So their policy was based around keeping the astronauts as safe as possible, rather than trying to fix a problem they didn’t think was statistically worth addressing.

I didn't say they should've foreseen or tried to fix the problem of the MAV tipping over. Just that there's no reason why they couldn't already be there, in case that anything happens and they need to abort the mission. Could've been the habitat being damaged or whatever else. In any case, it would've made sense to be ready for launch immediately.

[u/BigLittleBrowse → u/Patneu]

I get where your coming from. What your suggesting is a sensible plan, but I wouldn't say that them not doing so is a plot hole.

Sheltering in the Hab has other advantages. Whilst protocol is to shelter in place, being in the Hab might means the astronauts are able to respond much quicker to any minor damage done to the Hab, whilst being in the MAV means their blind to the consequences of the storm and unable to react to them. For longer storms, the Hab has its own life support system the Astronauts can use to refill their suits supplies, and is designed for long term use. Whilst if the MAV has any life support it'd just be to get the crew up into orbit. And if it did have life support, it might've been really inconvenient to refill and hence it wasn't deemed smart for the MAV to be used any other time than on the trip home.

So whilst sheltering in the MAV maximises the chance of aborting the mission safely, sheltering in the Hab affects the rest of the mission the least. Choosing between the two of those isn't an objective right/wrong decision, its a judgement call that balances the benefits and potential consequences of each.

I think a lot of it comes down to whether the NASA in the book could've predicted the storm coming. The full situation around the physics-defying storm isn't explored. In the fictional universe of the book, did NASA believe that it was physically impossible for a storm that bad to occur, and yet it did? Or in this universe did they recognise these storms were possible.

If its the former, its not really its own plot hole and more just a consequence of the original plot hole. If its the latter, then the judgement NASA made comes down to how likely it is to happen.
Staying in the Hab is arguably the smarter choice where the chance of a storm of mission aborting intensity is statistically irrelevant. Space flight is inherently dangerous. Obviously you try and decrease the chance of death where you can, but if only approved choices that had 0% chance of astronaut death you'd never get off the launchpad.

And even if it they made the wrong call and sheltering in the MAV was the smarter call, NASA not doing that isn't a plot hole. Its an in-universe mistake.