The Space Movie

This is the ultimate documentary on space flight. The views are stunning- they perfectly match the narrative, the sounds, and above all- the music. It is both memorable and timeless. The music was written by Mike Oldfield, and no other space documentary is quite the same without his style..

Could any distributor *please* release this on VHS or DVD- I must own a copy!

One of the most annoying aspects of this poorly produced "documentary" is its abysmal editing. Aside from the utter lack of chronological presentation (showing a shuttle orbiter test flight before the Apollo 11 splashdown is more than a bit confusing), there seems to be a lack of knowledge that the Apollo and Gemini programs were not the same, and that maybe they shouldn't intercut video of the slender black Gemini capsule with that of the much larger Apollo command module. The near total absence of narration does not help this problem in the least. Also, who decided that the only footage of astronauts to be shown would be people just dicking around on the surface of the moon, or playing catch and spinning around inside Skylab? What about science? The narrator mentions that we spent two billion dollars on the Skylab project, apparently because it was a neat idea. There is never any mention of the purpose of these various NASA programs, and never a mention of Gemini, despite the program's capsules appearing as stand-ins for the Apollo CM from time to time.

As pointed out earlier they do mention the shuttle. However, they also include this line during it's brief segment. "While testing, it was launched from the back of a 747 to service Skylab and return safely to the earth." There are two major issues with that statement. Let's begin with the "launched from the back of a 747" part. While technically a launch, the orbiter pictured in the video is the 'Enterprise' "Approach and landing Test" vehicle. (i.e. it was never intended, or structurally capable of enduring the forces present in either a real launch or re-entry). That, and the orbiter cannot be launched into space from a 747, especially when it lacks the necessary rocket engines. The bit about servicing Skylab was apparently an idea at NASA, but due to Skylab's reentry and destruction in the upper atmosphere in July, 1979, this would be impossible. Considering this films release date, you would think they should have known this.

The entire movie is just one huge example of how little the producers actually knew about NASA. It's as if they took a bunch of NASA stock footage, set it to an intrusively loud, overbearing, inappropriate soundtrack, added some inane comments about what food the Apollo-Soyuz astronauts/cosmonauts ate during their mission and released it to frolic with all the factually incorrect school textbooks floating around the country. There are really too many errors and omissions in the seemingly random mix of footage to note here, or probably for me to notice. But I assure you, if I did not know better I would be dumber for having seen this pathetic presentation about my country's space program.

Compiled mostly of NASA film footage of the Apollo missions, 'The Space Movie' is actually much more than that. It is both uplifting and inspiring in documenting the achievement of the US aerospace industry when given a seemingly impossible goal.

The NASA footage combines not just the Apollo 11 flight, but other Apollo missions, Gemini missions, Mercury capsule testing, Skylab and the Apollo-Soyuz mission as well. It's frustrating that so much footage, although visually stunning, is disjointed, from different missions, and at one point even run backwards to follow the plot of the first moon landing. That being said, the launch sequence alone is incredible, both in the majesty of the Saturn V slowly leaving the pad to the many connectors, swing arms, latches and ice shards seemingly interconnected in a technological slow-motion dance. Just incredible.

Accompanying the visuals is an stunning soundtrack by Mike Oldfield. Although never released as a stand-alone CD, some of the tracks are well known. The choice by Tony Palmer, the director, to use Mr. Oldfield's works is a masterstroke, and perfectly fits the action.

Somewhat surprisingly, this film does suffer from some obviously cheesy special effects. Why the director ever felt the need to produce crude backdrops for still photos, with so much beautiful film footage available, is puzzling.

This film could have been astronomically (pun intended) better, because all the elements were there. A great story, fantastic photography and inspired soundtrack. It just doesn't fully take advantage of what it had to offer.

I agree with the others who rave about this - it is one of my treasured old videocassettes.

Another equally great documentary is not listed here on IMDb. Here is a library entry for it I found on-line:

Format videocassette.

Title The Greatest adventure the story of man's voyage to the moon

Pub.info. Stamford, CT : Vestron Video, c1983.

Phys.desc. 1 videocassette (54 min.) : sd., col. ; 1/2 in.

Credits Photography, NASA ; editors, Steve Sabol, Phil Tuckett, Bob Angelo ;

narrator, Orson Welles ; music, Sam Spence.

Summary: Surveys the United States space program milestones which led to voyages to the moon. Includes NASA film footage and interviews with astronauts and technicians. Subject: Space flight to the moon.

Moon -- Exploration. Alt.author Welles, Orson, 1915-

Sabol, Steve.

Tuckett, Phil.

Angelo, Bob.

Alt.title The Greatest adventure, the story of man's voyage to the moon.

The Story of man's voyage to the moon. Standard# VA 2005

---------------- How can we get IMDb to add an obscure old documentary it has never heard of?

Doug

This movie was really nicely done. It uses NASA footage in such a way, that has never been done again. Along with the soundtrack and brief audio bytes, it lets you travel all the way from the sewing of the space suites to the moon and back... WOW! The sequence with the crawler was fantastic! If you can get a hold of this one, WATCH IT!!! I am fortunate to have a third (maybe) fourth generation copy of it in my VHS library. It's time for a Re-Release!!!