A word about myself: I am a huge fan of the Apollo program, have studied it a lot, and believe it ranks as one of the truly great achievements of mankind. This documentary, though, could (and should) have been done better.
First, the good: A number of the surviving moon-traveling astronauts are interviewed. They are great on camera, adding information, humor and insight to what it was like to do what they did. Mike Collins in particular has an incredible sense of underplayed humor, in a very "who, me?" fashion... while at the same time being classy and informative. All the astronaut interviews were interesting and enjoyable to listen to.
While there wasn't a lot of mission footage, what there was of it was nice (would have preferred more).
Now, the bad: I didn't buy this to get the usual "social lecture" about Vietnam War and Woodstock, etc... The director felt compelled to spend time on that, perhaps some people want or thrive on juxtaposing pictures of social unrest with the Apollo missions, but I'm not one of them. Way too many scenes of firebombing Vietnam. If I want a Vietnam War documentary, I'll buy one, thank you.
The interviews with the astronauts were completely jumbled together, mixed with mission footage. This left me constantly trying to figure out what footage was I seeing. Seems like the only thing driving the order was "artistic license".
One goof: the film states after Apollo 13 there were 5 successful landings. Let's see, 14, 15, 16, 17. Any way I count it, that comes up as four.
One quibble: The director chose to zoom in very tight on the astronauts' faces for the interviews. On a big-screen TV set, you can count their skin pores. I don't personally like this "up close and personal" videography style, back off a little, at least where I can see the whole face at one time.
And, a truly poor finish... having the different astronauts comment on "moon landing hoax" theories. I know there's still some ignorant people that choose to believe that, but why include such nonsense in this video? Even in a "refuting" way, it's not worthy of being addressed. Perhaps we should have had them share their views on astrology or whether the earth is flat as well.
First, the good: A number of the surviving moon-traveling astronauts are interviewed. They are great on camera, adding information, humor and insight to what it was like to do what they did. Mike Collins in particular has an incredible sense of underplayed humor, in a very "who, me?" fashion... while at the same time being classy and informative. All the astronaut interviews were interesting and enjoyable to listen to.
While there wasn't a lot of mission footage, what there was of it was nice (would have preferred more).
Now, the bad: I didn't buy this to get the usual "social lecture" about Vietnam War and Woodstock, etc... The director felt compelled to spend time on that, perhaps some people want or thrive on juxtaposing pictures of social unrest with the Apollo missions, but I'm not one of them. Way too many scenes of firebombing Vietnam. If I want a Vietnam War documentary, I'll buy one, thank you.
The interviews with the astronauts were completely jumbled together, mixed with mission footage. This left me constantly trying to figure out what footage was I seeing. Seems like the only thing driving the order was "artistic license".
One goof: the film states after Apollo 13 there were 5 successful landings. Let's see, 14, 15, 16, 17. Any way I count it, that comes up as four.
One quibble: The director chose to zoom in very tight on the astronauts' faces for the interviews. On a big-screen TV set, you can count their skin pores. I don't personally like this "up close and personal" videography style, back off a little, at least where I can see the whole face at one time.
And, a truly poor finish... having the different astronauts comment on "moon landing hoax" theories. I know there's still some ignorant people that choose to believe that, but why include such nonsense in this video? Even in a "refuting" way, it's not worthy of being addressed. Perhaps we should have had them share their views on astrology or whether the earth is flat as well.