The Dream Is Alive

Released a year before the Challenger disaster changed NASA forever, The Dream is Alive tells the story about the space shuttle program, which started in 1981 with the launch of Columbia, and ends with the launch of Challenger. The cinematography and audio were ahead of its time.

To date, NASA has made five IMAX films that have been shot from the Space Shuttle or the Space Station. "The Dream is Alive" was the first, and is probably still the best. It must be seen on the IMAX screen to fully appreciate it, but still looks and sounds good on DVD if seen on a big television with a good sound system. The launch sequences would be excellent opportunities for audiophiles to display their subwoofers to admiring guests.

Considering that all of the film shot in space was shot by the shuttle crews rather than by professional cameramen, the results are outstanding. This is probably the closest you can get to the sensation of being in space, short of actually going there yourself. There are also excellent ground sequences of the shuttles being assembled, launched, and recovered, along with the training required for astronaut candidates – all well chosen to look dramatic in the IMAX format.

The three shuttle missions featured in this film all took place during 1984, and the film was released in the summer of 1985. At the time it was released, NASA was launching shuttle missions at a rate never seen before or since. The film displayed the optimism of the time, where the safety of the flights was not in question, and the goal of everyone flying in space someday seemed to be within reach. NASA had a teacher-in-space program and a journalist-in-space program (as well as an unofficial politician-in-space program, where a congressman and a senator conned their way into space flights), and an ambitious program of fifteen launches was scheduled for 1986. Everything looked rosy, and the film reflects this.

Then, on the first (and only) shuttle launch of 1986, Challenger exploded, killing the crew of seven (including two of this film's cast). The previous optimism vanished, never to fully return, in the light of revelations about unresolved safety issues, unrealistic expectations, etc. The film is thus an artifact of this vanished era, and it's rather sad to see this atmosphere of optimism in the light of what was to follow. Nonetheless, the sequences in the movie are still very effective, and the subsequent IMAX space films have only managed to equal (but not exceed) what is seen here. If you're a space enthusiast, you owe it to yourself to see this at least once in an IMAX theater.

I saw this when I was a kid when it was still a fairly new IMAX movie at the IMAX theater at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL. It's the best IMAX movie I've ever seen and I've been to a lot. I can still remember the first time I saw it, the scene where they use the emergency baskets made me and everyone else in the theater nearly jump out of our seats. It makes a great experience and a lot of the scenes gave me tingles (like the shuttle takeoff). I bought the DVD for my mom who is a science teacher. The DVD is a bit different experience probably because I'm no longer a kid and it's not in an IMAX theater. Despite this and the fact that it is a little dated now (but the ideas are not), it still makes for a great documentary.

I first saw THE DREAM IS ALIVE at the Imax at the Kennedy Space center, to say it is out of this world is an understatement. This film shows just what they all have to go thro to reach out to the stars. Our earth will one day not be big enough for mankind, we need to reach out to the stars, inspired by these brave astronauts, i'm sure that one day (not in my lifetime, sadly) the dream will be realized. If you can, go and see this truly awe inspiring movie.

This is a great film. Beautiful and informative, it takes you out to orbit the earth. Some of the info is pretty basic, however, the shots of the earth and of space is gorgeous and inspiring. There is a haunting twist to it though, some of the crew on this mission later died in the Challenger accident.