For All Mankind

When you start watching a series from a choice of 2-3 ones, not being sure which one is the one to swallow and 5 episodes in you totally forget about the other "candidates", that speaks lengths in favor of 'For All Mankind'.

Started with the first season and was already fully immersed into the drama, the superb sci-fi achievements and ground-breaking spatial plots.

I was never a special fan of space sci-fi from 'Star Trek' main and spinoffs to 'The Mandalorian', but in 'For All Mankind' I found a whole new interest in scientific science-fiction, Moon and Mars colonization deepened with believable drama around the ones involved in the show, some may call it soapish, but for me it complemented the space and scientific features of the series oh so well, passing important messages in-between.

Just finished the fourth season and while my eyes are wet with tiny tears droplets, I just wish that I already had the fifth season's episodes in my fist.

Again, a stellar show by Apple Original and a red gem that is not hidden anymore. Ultra highly recommended. It's the space sci-fi version of 'The Killing' and 'The Americans' combined.

• Screenplay/storyline/plots: 8
• Production value/impact: 9
• Development: 9.5
• Realism: 8.5
• Entertainment: 9
• Acting: 9
• Filming/photography/cinematography: 8.5
• VFX: 9
• Music/score/sound: 7.5
• Depth: 8.5
• Logic: 6.5
• Flow: 8.5
• Sci-fi/drama: 8
• Ending: 7.5.

So far, I am enjoying it. Most of us who are space program enthusiasts know about Werner Von Braun's history with the Nazis. That he was brought to the US with his colleagues to work on ballistic missiles (initially with the US Army Ballistic Missile Agency) but during his confrontation with the Congressional Panel, this was not brought up. The US knew about his background, but did not disclose this initially.

Also, there's a woman character - Margo Madison - who at one point says, "I know the code!" This has made me wonder if her character is a shout out to Margaret Hamilton, the woman engineer who led the Apollo guidance computer software development team at the MIT Instrumentation Lab (now the Draper Lab). You can find photos online of her standing next the pile of computer printout of the Apollo computer code.

(At the time I'm writing this, three seasons have aired and a fourth one is confirmed.) As an enthusiast for space flight, For All Mankind is an obvious fit for me. The first season with its far-extended Space Race, with Wernher von Braun, the Saturn V, and the Apollo program, was very special to see. Admittedly, it took the series a few episodes to properly take off, but when it finally did, it delivered fantastic characters, an interestig plot, a furious finale, and -- most of all -- perfectly legitimate and realistic depictions of space flight.

The second season continued in a similar vein. Character plot lines continued, the space race continued, the politics continued. The space flight kept its level of realism, though it progressed far beyond what was actually possible with our circumstances.

The third season I felt devolved into too much soap opera. Character-driven plot lines have always been a firm and important part of For All Mankind, but in the third season they began to eclipse the space stuff. There is one episode in particular which could and should have been about strange new worlds but instead spent three quarters of the time on a character being gay and the last quarter on astronauts being absolutely unprofessional. (Both themes actually occur frequently throughout the entire series, but they're typically only part of the narrative, not its entire focus to the detriment of the space stuff.) Nevertheless, the third season delivered a nice finale as well, and I'm eager to see what is going to happen in season four (and hopefully in future seasons as well).

Apart from the soap opera extending its reach, I also have to criticise a certain naiveté. The universe of For All Mankind in many ways feels much more favourable than our reality, and while at many times that feels perfectly reasonable, at others it is a bit overdone.

What impressed me quite a lot, however, is how well the series manages to span the many decades. Starting in '69, the third season is set in the nineties, with the final scene announcing the fourth season to be in 2003. We see the characters age (and, in quite many cases, die), see their children grow up, and that actually works incredibly well.

And, of course, the realistic and genuinely reasonable space stuff is just fantastic!

For All Mankind is one of my favorite sci-fi shows that I've ever seen and that's not hyperbole. I really can't get over how much I loved this show. It's a sci-fi show where Russia beat us to the moon and the great space races never ended. It may start off a little slow for some but after a few episodes you'll be hooked. It gets more exciting the further into the show you get. It's a character driven show that takes you into the lives of NASA astronauts and their families. The visuals in this are amazing and how they take real footage and real life videos and intertwine them with fiction into the show is awesome. This is an intense sci-fi series that must be watched by any true sci-fi fan. I hope they continue to more seasons.

This series shows an alternate history where the soviet space program is more aggressive and wins the race to the moon. The space race continues. As the creators said it does change almost everything about the world as we know it.

I really enjoyed the first season of this show, but at the time I didn't realise how detailed and well-written the show was. Seasons 2 and 3 were the peak for me - they had great production values, a great plot with many callbacks and fun characters. Season 4 felt like an unwanted DLC that is good but could heave been skipped.

At first, I didn't know what to expect from this show. But this series shows that the characters are complex and almost everybody has done good and bad things.

Overall the main series characters are Margo and Ed Bldwin who both get much screentime and great character development throughout. Ed Baldwin lost so much while being away from earth that he feel at home in space. It is very poethic and unique. Margo has many callback to his mentor and has a simmelar fate to him.

The first season is said to be very historically accurate and well-written, but the pilot didn't convince me what does this series want to be. After the first 4 episodes I realised that the show manages to capture the feeling of doing things for the greater good and being a part of something bigger. This season had the most drama and the least action compared to the other seasons.

Season 2 had some beautiful cinematography and had a lot more action and tension than the first season. It has a great soundtrack- with a reference to Apocalypse now. I think there was only one annoying plotline, but it didn't bother me that much. Gordo and Tracy were standouts this season. They get a lot of screentime and are a lot more likeable than in the first season.

Some people say season 3 wasn't so good but in my opinion it started off great and ended great. Maybe 7, 8 episodes were not so good but there was quite a bit of tension. The soundtrack is killer and for me the race to another planet is the peak of this series. Karen is the standout this season. And the finale has some major twists that I didn't expect. Be aware of the years in this season.

Season 4 is a great continuation of the series. The first episode and the finale live up to everything that came before. The Russian and earth plotline is great, but the plot on Mars is lame. Standout this season is Aleida who has the most charter development since season 2. It has a lot of set-up and interesting ideas that I wouldn't even think of, but shows no interest in developing them. The season has the least tension compared to the other seasons.

I really enjoyed how they handled the Soviets/Russians in this series. They aren't mindless killing machines but smart people who want peace.

I don't know what the future seasons will bring. I hope season 5 can bring back the great writing of the earlier seasons and I am really excited for the Star City spin-off .