The Farthest

Have a lot of high appreciation for documentaries, on a diverse range of subjects. The story behind the two voyager space-crafts was a remarkable achievement at the time and still holds much fascination now, even for someone who isn't an expert and has admittedly never considered science a famous subject of theirs.

'The Farthest' does its subject justice and as every bit a remarkable achievement. It is for me a highlight of 2017, and is accessible to anybody. One does not have to have deep knowledge of the story of the two voyagers to be completely fascinated by 'The Farthest'. It will illuminate those who do, nobody should be frustrated at not learning anything new, but has enough that will attract a wider audience who may have heard of it but not in great detail or have no knowledge and want to know more.

Visually, 'The Farthest' is stunning, beautifully photographed and those images of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are enough to take the breath away. Loved the wide variety of music choices and felt they added a lot.

Emer Reynolds' direction impresses hugely, she does play it safe with combining the NASA interviews with simulations of CGI, poetic shots of Earth and archive footage. Yet it doesn't feel too safe at all, with enough ambition that never comes over as over-ambitious.

Loved the way 'The Farthest' was written and assembled. The scientific elements are hugely intriguing and illuminating to anybody watching regardless of how expertly or limited their knowledge. Then there are some philosophical elements that are thought-provoking and even touching, without being self-indulgent.

Where 'The Farthest' particularly excels are how the enthusiasm (perceptive and honest and never glorifying) of the crew (namely the scientists and engineers) is conveyed, adding even further to how inspirational this mission and story are, and how ingeniously imaginative the technology (the technology itself and behind the scenes of how it came to be) is in making the mission possible. These are presented in a very humble manner.

In summation, remarkable. 10/10 Bethany Cox

In 1977, NASA launched Voyager1 and Voyager2. They traveled to the lesser-known outer planets and some of the moons orbiting them. The planets' rare alignment made it an opportune time. Carl Sagan is the driving force behind the golden record of earthly sounds which became the media focus.

This is slightly better than most PBS hour long specials. It's actually 96 minutes and packs an emotional punch. The wide-eyed poetry of exploration is well presented. This is a lot things. It's an underdog story. It's a scientific documentary. It's an exploration thriller. It brings back all the great discoveries. This could be great for inspiring a high school science class.

Mankind left its fingerprint in the outer space wit Voyager 1 & 2. This is, by far, the most remarkable thing human beings ever accomplished. And I could never be more proud and honored. Thinking that a man-made object will last billions of years, longer than we'll ever be able to exist, probably, it just blows my mind. At least this would be a signal for aliens to know that, far away, on a pale blue dot, a species of creatures called humans reached their goal of sending the message that we were here and we would never be forgotten. Documentaries like these prove that the sky is not the limit and that men are capable of doing things that are far beyond their potential. What we have done is more than history, it is a story worth sharing with... aliens.

This is an excellent documentary showing the achievement of a team and a piece of technology that launched from our planet in 1977. Imagine if our public money internationally was all so well invested and intrusted to such competent people. Great Irish film making also.

I'm a scientist and used to love astronomy. After watching this film it made me feel that the whole human race owes a debt of gratitude to the architects of Voyager 1 & 2, surely the most important space missions to date. It was pitched at a perfect level, being understandable, thoroughly informative and gripping. Documentaries can be dull at times, but this had me listening to every single word and feeling a rush of almost spiritual elation at what we achieved as a human race. My thanks go to the film makers for such a wonderous and inspiring film, depicting how humans can reach beyond our small world both metaphorically and literally.