The Farthest

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.

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.

Informative, entertaining & breathtaking, The Farthest chronicles the history of the Voyager program & its dual space probes, a mission that was undertaken to study the outer planets of our solar system & the space beyond but has become an enduring legacy of mankind in the infinite realm of the universe that will live on as our remnant even after our species, our planet & our star is long gone.

Written & directed by Emer Reynolds, this documentary is narrated in a way that piques our curiosity & intrigues our ever-inquisitive mind, and covers the journey of Voyager 1 & 2 through the recollections from the crew responsible for making the mission an extraordinary success. Employing interviews, archive footage, CGI simulations & some of the breathtaking images these probes took, the film really acquaints the viewers with the wonders of space & importance of its exploration.

The documentary goes into detail with how this mission came to be, the golden record & its significance, the close-calls it survived and how the probes continue to defy expectations even today, becoming the first man-made objects to leave solar system & enter interstellar space. From Jupiter to Neptune, each planet & their moons are explored in fine detail. And the film not only looks at it from a scientific viewpoint but also offers a philosophical perspective. And it's accessible throughout.

Overall, The Farthest is amongst the most fascinating documentaries about space exploration and is one illuminating ride that aptly reflects the passion, intimacy & enthusiasm of the crew behind the Voyager program. Their testimonies lend solid weight & emotional depth to these scientific instruments, plus the fact that these space probes are most likely to outlive its inventors makes them a valid contender for humankind's greatest achievement. My only gripe is that it's only 2 hours long, for I didn't want this mesmerising journey to end. In short, a humbling experience.

I was privileged to see this amazing documentary as part of the New Zealand International Film Festival in Christchurch, NZ. If you are enraptured by astronomy, physics, drama, tragedy, philosophy of science, or just amazing stories, don't miss this documentary. And if you're not, still see it and be prepared to change your mind. The documentary traces the whole story of the two Voyager missions to the outer planets of the solar system (and now beyond), from its earliest planning stages through to lift off and then all the incredible and unexpected discoveries since. The audience clapped loudly at the end of the showing, and deservedly so. Three cheers for the romance of science!

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.