De la Terre à la Lune

The best thing about this series is the fact that it will either teach or remind a great many people about the accomplishments of the race to the moon. Sadly I feel that this is one of the most misunderstood and under appreciated events in human history, thought of by many today as some sort of great patriotic publicity stunt by an insecure America. I feel I can almost read Tom Hank's mind and feel his desire to make people understand the difficulty and significance of the achievement. The series does a wonderful job of placing the entire series of events in context with the political and social climate of the day.

We now live in a world where most of us simply take it for granted that we will probably someday travel to, explore and perhaps even colonize other worlds in our solar system and even beyond. This is the only true because hundreds of thousands of people contributed to proving beyond doubt that it can be done. The race to the moon changed us, even if we don't quite realize it, and this series is a reminder of that.

I'll be brief because this series speaks well for itself--especially on DVD. To the jaded it may feel guilty of many things: romanticism, idealism, patriotism (or jingoism, if you insist), but even if that were true it presents a series of stories that have never been told before. Perhaps in a hundred years the quaintness and primitiveness of what had to be done to visit our nearest neighbor, the moon, might be seen as amusing instead of inspiring--but I don't think so. See if you don't walk away feeling a little better after watching an episode or two, or all twelve. I dare you.

And don't think if you've seen Apollo 13 that you've seen it all. This series even makes the stories of the guys who built the lunar lander, the geologists who studied the moon rocks, and the wives of the astronauts as appealing and fulfilling as the triumphs and tragedies that are better known.

This is one hell of a production!

It starts out with the Mercury missions, but not just the glossy scenes we know and have seen already, it goes beyond the norm. This 12 part series explains the absolute minutia of the space effort and the lives of the people behind it. It progresses through the Gemini and finally the Apollo missions all the way to the last Apollo 17 lunar landing.

I learned quite a few things about the space race that I never knew before, such as: The surly nature of Alan Shepard, the fate of the astronauts wives, the fun nature of the Apollo 12 crew and the internal politics within the ranks of the astronauts themselves. I was also surprised on how much a bastard that Walter Mondale was in his attempts on derailing the space program. (I'm glad his bid for the White House was a failed one... Ignorance favors all political parties.)

A lot of familiar faces starred in this production, the one that knocked me for a loop was Malcolm in the Middle's father as Buzz Aldrin. The acting is great and shows the versatility of the actors in both comedic and serious roles. I knew that Pete Conrad was cocky, but it shows more of his personality here. Armstrong has been known to be rather sullen and quiet, and is clearly demonstrated here as well. To this day, he doesn't talk much about his adventure. The decision determining who will be the first man on the moon is blunt and anti-climatic, but it tells it as it is. It tells of the astronauts secret activities and agendas, as well as particular small moments that they experienced.

In the Apollo 13 segment, the production did not go into the details of the incident like we all seen before, but rather focused on the reporters angle on the event. And I rather enjoyed the insight sweat details on the building of the L.E.M. I wish they did a segment on the rover. I thought that they labored too long over the Apollo 16 mission - training much...learning geology with a trained eye, but I appreciate the effort that they went through. The Apollo 1 tragedy was produced well, with the political aftermath fallout.

I hope that all what was filmed is true, and I do understand creative license, but I would feel better if I knew they kept it faithful to actual events. I need to view this again to catch more, but I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the space program.

Joe

Chicago Astronomer

http://astronomer.proboards23.com

I have seen this many times now, but it never fails to move me to tears. The passion and love that was put into the making of this series is evident in every single scene. The story isn't simple told; each episode invites the viewer into the story, using black and white photography, news reports, hand-held camera, grainy 60s style film, voice-over, music, SFX .. it exploits every film innovation possible. But even without that, it would still work perfectly, because each story is framed as a personal journey and told through human eyes. It reminds me of a quote in the series, about the reasons for sending a human being to the moon: "Only a man is capable of comprehending the moon in terms understandable to other men." This principle is applied to the series itself, allowing us to comprehend the reality of the journey by showing it to us through the eyes of other human beings. There are many awe-inspiring moments, but my favourite would have to be the end of '1968', the sequence starting from the astronauts seeing the earth rise over the moon to "You saved 1968." The first moon landing and leaving the moon for the last time are also very moving. Overall, it's incredible, from start to finish.

When taking in the whole of the series, after viewing, I cannot help but be overwhelmed by a sense of awe. Awe at what man has accomplished, awe at the ingeinuity and the diligence that it took for us to take the mighty and unbelievable step as the journey from the earth to the moon.

Tom Hanks' series can only be characterized as the definitive chronical of the space race. Given enough time to properly dissipate the stories, enough talent to portray, and enough insight and intrigue to be accurate, he has put together episode after episode of historically credible and entertaining accounting of this.

Part 1, entitled "Can We Do This?" captures the feeling of overwhelming that America experienced when faced with the daunting task of actually landing on the moon. This episode provides a fitting prologue to the remainder of the series. The second episode, "Apollo 1" is perhaps the first real disection and discussion of the fire that tragically took the lives of astronauts Gus Grissom, Roger Chaffee, and Ed White. (Look for an excellent recounting of the fire itself as told through the narration of Frank Borman...

Perhaps the most well produced episodes are some of the later episodes: Recounting of missions that are easily forgotten in the wake of their more powerful predeccessors. Overall, this series is one of the great treasures of the 1990's, and one of the crown jewels in Tom Hanks illustrious career.