De la Terre à la Lune

I'll be brief because this series speaks well for itself--especially on DVD. To the jaded it may feel guilty of many things: romanticism, idealism, patriotism (or jingoism, if you insist), but even if that were true it presents a series of stories that have never been told before. Perhaps in a hundred years the quaintness and primitiveness of what had to be done to visit our nearest neighbor, the moon, might be seen as amusing instead of inspiring--but I don't think so. See if you don't walk away feeling a little better after watching an episode or two, or all twelve. I dare you.

And don't think if you've seen Apollo 13 that you've seen it all. This series even makes the stories of the guys who built the lunar lander, the geologists who studied the moon rocks, and the wives of the astronauts as appealing and fulfilling as the triumphs and tragedies that are better known.

The best thing about this series is the fact that it will either teach or remind a great many people about the accomplishments of the race to the moon. Sadly I feel that this is one of the most misunderstood and under appreciated events in human history, thought of by many today as some sort of great patriotic publicity stunt by an insecure America. I feel I can almost read Tom Hank's mind and feel his desire to make people understand the difficulty and significance of the achievement. The series does a wonderful job of placing the entire series of events in context with the political and social climate of the day.

We now live in a world where most of us simply take it for granted that we will probably someday travel to, explore and perhaps even colonize other worlds in our solar system and even beyond. This is the only true because hundreds of thousands of people contributed to proving beyond doubt that it can be done. The race to the moon changed us, even if we don't quite realize it, and this series is a reminder of that.

When taking in the whole of the series, after viewing, I cannot help but be overwhelmed by a sense of awe. Awe at what man has accomplished, awe at the ingeinuity and the diligence that it took for us to take the mighty and unbelievable step as the journey from the earth to the moon.

Tom Hanks' series can only be characterized as the definitive chronical of the space race. Given enough time to properly dissipate the stories, enough talent to portray, and enough insight and intrigue to be accurate, he has put together episode after episode of historically credible and entertaining accounting of this.

Part 1, entitled "Can We Do This?" captures the feeling of overwhelming that America experienced when faced with the daunting task of actually landing on the moon. This episode provides a fitting prologue to the remainder of the series. The second episode, "Apollo 1" is perhaps the first real disection and discussion of the fire that tragically took the lives of astronauts Gus Grissom, Roger Chaffee, and Ed White. (Look for an excellent recounting of the fire itself as told through the narration of Frank Borman...

Perhaps the most well produced episodes are some of the later episodes: Recounting of missions that are easily forgotten in the wake of their more powerful predeccessors. Overall, this series is one of the great treasures of the 1990's, and one of the crown jewels in Tom Hanks illustrious career.

From the Earth to the Moon is a stunning masterpiece that captures the triumph of a defining moment in the history of the world: Humankind's arrival to, short exploration of, and return from, it's planetary neighbor the Moon.

Tom Hanks brought together actors, writers, directors, producers, and composers of the highest caliber to deliver an accurate, outstanding, hard hitting film.

From the Earth to the Moon is a 12 hour movie spanning the United States involvement in the space race from the first man in space in 1961 to the last lunar landing in 1972. The movie teaches, gives insights, paints portraits of real people, and is simply fascinating.

The stories told in From the Earth to the Moon are inspiring, captivating, funny, thrilling, and heartbreaking. The true stories are absolutely unforgettable, stories of the men, women, and machines of the Apollo era.

All the stories presented in the film are special, and one that touched me was the story of Apollo 7. With the tragedy of Apollo 1, the movie reveals how Apollo 7 and its crew were America's last chance to make it happen. The movie beautifully presents the pressure Wally Shirra, his crew, and NASA were under before the lift-off of Apollo 7. Had Apollo 7 failed, the space program certainly would have stopped and the world would have never experienced Apollo 11's lunar landing.

The live footage shown from the Apollo 7 lift-off is awesome and spectacular. Generations from now will watch Apollo 7's lift-off to be amazed that humans could achieve such an engineering and technical marvel and scholars will debate in awe how the political, social, and economic environments of the time made such an event possible.

After viewing the entire movie, I was struck with sense of sadness. The Apollo program seemed to allow people's ideas to flourish and pull together around one common goal. That goal, of landing a man on the moon, was noble and exciting. It drew on man's positive strengths to explore, learn, move forward, and better the human condition. Someday, mankind must again reach for the stars.

From the Earth to the Moon will stay with you for a long, long time.

I have seen this many times now, but it never fails to move me to tears. The passion and love that was put into the making of this series is evident in every single scene. The story isn't simple told; each episode invites the viewer into the story, using black and white photography, news reports, hand-held camera, grainy 60s style film, voice-over, music, SFX .. it exploits every film innovation possible. But even without that, it would still work perfectly, because each story is framed as a personal journey and told through human eyes. It reminds me of a quote in the series, about the reasons for sending a human being to the moon: "Only a man is capable of comprehending the moon in terms understandable to other men." This principle is applied to the series itself, allowing us to comprehend the reality of the journey by showing it to us through the eyes of other human beings. There are many awe-inspiring moments, but my favourite would have to be the end of '1968', the sequence starting from the astronauts seeing the earth rise over the moon to "You saved 1968." The first moon landing and leaving the moon for the last time are also very moving. Overall, it's incredible, from start to finish.