A Pleasant Surprise (three and a half stars)
My first thought on initial viewing was:"What a rip-off, I've been mislead and want my money back!" I decided to cool down and just watch the entire thing and THEN decide. Firstly, the whole thing is done on the cheap, so no new interviews and recently stated proclamations by Armstrong, Collins or Aldrin, which was really what I came for. I can live with that,though. The voice-over is colorless and uninspired, it sounds like something on a one-reeler the A/V boys wheeled into science class a minute ago and the narrator even calls it a "Saturn Vee", not once but TWICE! The soundtrack was a solo acoustic guitar strumming melodiously but really, what more do you need? They were capable and it was pleasant to listen to. The "extras" were old NASA public relations films concerning Apollo 11 (in a general sense) which was narrated by Burgess Meredith, Apollo 12 & 13 (as post-mission reports) Apollo 17 ( no matter how they tried to 'spin' it, I'm STILL mad congress cut NASA's funding for...
good addition to your space collection.
A good companion to "In the Shadow of the Moon".
I would buy both. This DVD reminds me of "For All Mankind" because it is made from the classic 16mm film footage. The soundtrack is also very nice.
A Real Disappointment
Words cannot convey my disappointment with this DVD, which touts itself as a commemorative documentary about one of mankind's greatest achievements, yet is full of errors and omissions. It was slapped together from stock footage and canned interviews from other sources. It purports to give a history of the steps to the moon, yet ignores Project Gemini, which proved the feasibility of working in space with the first American space walk and the rendezvous & docking maneuvers which made the Apollo moon missions possible. There is no excuse for the voice-over announcer to refer to the mighty Apollo booster as the Saturn Vee! It is hard to believe that any adult in the year MMIX couldn't recognize a Roman numeral. I expected to relive a cherished memory of my childhood, but instead worried about how little research and effort was put into a chronicling such a momentous event. Some better choices would be the excellent TBS documentary "MOONSHOT", "Walter Cronkite Remembers"(CBS), or...
Click to Editorial Reviews
No comments:
Post a Comment