Spider

Everyone says this is the best episode of this series but I'd rate it about 5/10.

This is another episode of this show without a true conclusion. Basically we have a problem statement, bunch of meetings between engineers and scientists to offer possible solution ideas, none of the original ideas seem to work so they realize that they will have to think outside of the box to fix this problem.

The issue is WE NEVER SEE THE SOLUTION. We just see a montage clip of engineers and scientists work hard at fixing the issue with dramatic music in the background and their celebrations at the end. We have as much idea about how the issue was solved at the end of the episode as we did in the beginning of the episode, so what was even the point of this episode other than having dramatic effect?

This is the biggest problem with this show actually, not just this episode. They spent 12-hours going through motions, showing engineers and scientists "solving" problems to make moon journey a reality without actually explaining any of the solutions. At the end of the day, 99.999% of viewers will have ZERO clue how those issues were solved other than being shown montage clips in each episode with dramatic music and just have faith that things got somehow solved since our scientists are celebrating in the background.

How did they solve these problems you ask? Well you'll have to watch an actual documentary or read a book for that instead of wasting your time with this poorly made soap opera that pretends to be docu-series.

"Spider" is the one (and only) episode in the mini-series that got the gist of the story correct. Yes, it was simplified and compressed, and the story "Hollywooded" a little bit, but what needed to be there was. As a lifelong follower of the early (Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo) space program, I found this story refreshing and enjoyable. It gives an (albeit simplified) indication of the problems that had to be overcome and the new materials and processes to be invented for the successful outcome of this outlandish vehicle. I've read Tom Kelly's book on the subject and this episode does a good job of telling the story in less than an hour.

Interestingstuff is flat-out wrong about this episode. The CONCLUSION is that after all the obstacles of designing, building, and testing the LM, IT WORKED! And did so every time. What more do you want?? Geeeesh.....