posted June 23, 2008 10:40 PM               

Each producer/director had their own approach to the subject and how to present it, making each effort unique and entertaining. Rather than dwell on the oversights, I find it absolutely amazing that the likes of Dave Scott, John Young, and Neil Armstrong were at long last amenable to sitting down in front of a camera and, particularly in Neil's case, quite eloquently discuss the events of their missions.

I find it interesting that while some of the astronauts have polished their "space talk" into a well-rehearsed, yet compelling yarn, others like Charlie Duke never seem to stop finding new ways to explain things.

These three films together will probably stand as the greatest collection of recorded interview material from these astronauts and controllers. Taken in context with the compelling memoirs that have been marketed in recent years, a clearer picture of the program emerges for enthusiasts like us and serves as inspiration for future explorers-to-be.

And yet, there is more to come. No one ever thought we would see an Armstrong authorized bio, and now it is to be followed by a memoir by John Young. The "Outward Odyssey" series continues in production with some of the most exciting material yet offered. "Dangerous Films" has two big programs coming next year, and we continue to await a possible Armstrong movie. Mark Gray works tirelessly to provide us with the raw material we all crave, while virtually making history himself.

posted June 24, 2008 07:09 AM               

Listening to people like Armstrong, Young, Crippen and I believe McCandles is what made it interesting for me. The enthusiasm shown by people like Duke, etc., was well worth viewing.

The video, it looked great, but other than the DoD snippet of Challenger, I would be surprised if more than 2 or 3 minutes was anything new.

posted June 24, 2008 08:29 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Dwight:
Does anyone know if the Blu-rays are Region free (ie regions A, B and C?)

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Further, there seems to be conflicting information regarding availability of the DVD and Blu-Ray sets. While Amazon lists the DVDs in stock, Discovery's own store says the DVD won't ship until July 10, with Blu-Ray following two weeks later.

posted June 26, 2008 11:36 AM               

I haven't gotten too far in watching these yet, I've only seen the first 2 episodes up to Gemini.

I'm just confused about the episodes though. Are they mostly combined into a few 2 hour episodes? I never found the one called "Shuttle" but found the shuttle episodes in "Home in Space". Just wondering since I've been recording them on my MythTV machine and finding all the episodes has been a little confusing.

posted July 21, 2008 03:46 PM               

There are some other bonus clips, featuring short interviews...but the remainder of the "new material" generally consists of only a minute or two here and there.

posted August 03, 2008 10:36 AM            

I couldn't believe it when I read that Neil Armstrong was going to particpate. As David Sington, producer of In the Shadow of the Moon, said about NA's absence from his movie - because he's not seen by the general public very often, he remains (in a way) always young. For me, that was true. In any case, it was great to hear from him and he looks terrific. I find Gemini 8 a fascinating story and was glad that they spent time on that. Also, it was great to hear from Neil about Apollo 11, though I found it interesting (and not surprising) that his comments ended when they landed.

posted August 03, 2008 06:11 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by CPCM:
Did anyone notice that Neil Armstrong looks like he is reading his lines from a teleprompter or cue cards?

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According to someone close to Armstrong, Dangerous Films approached him three times for an interview and each time he declined. Armstrong explained he was not a fan of documentaries produced from file footage and contemporary 'talking head' interviews, but offered to entertain other ideas.

Ultimately, they agreed upon monologues, which he would write based on their suggested topics. Unbeknown to Armstrong however, his prepared speeches were re-cut as to imply they were part of an interview. He now feels the producers deceived not only him, but the audience as well by editing the monologues in the way that they did.

posted August 03, 2008 08:05 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Robert Pearlman:
Unbeknown to Armstrong however, his prepared speeches were re-cut as to imply they were part of an interview.

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I've seen Neil do some documentary work in the past and I've also seen him get involved with other projects where he provides some nice additions (such as the Wright Brothers documentary that he and John Glenn did where they were the voices of Orville and Wilbur Wright). If he's behind a project, he gives it his all. But you don't want to cross him.

posted August 03, 2008 11:19 PM            

I like to hear from Neil, but 3 times is a lot. I don't think he should be hounded to do something he's not inclined to do and I don't like the fact that he was deceived. It's lousy and seriously unethical, but I guess the philosphy is "anything to get Neil Armstrong". Ugh. I don't think I will be watching those segments again (Gemini 8 and Apollo 11) and they were my favorites. I just don't feel comfortable doing so knowing the circumstances.

posted August 05, 2008 03:39 PM               

NASA to Broadcast Historical Highlights in High Definition

NASA Television will broadcast a special high definition (HDTV) feed of two hours of highlights from America's human spaceflight history as the agency celebrates its 50th anniversary.

The NASA HD highlights will be broadcast on Friday, Aug. 8, Monday, Aug. 11, and Tuesday, Aug. 12, from 9 to 11 a.m. EDT on a special feed from NASA TV. The highlights also will be broadcast on standard definition on NASA TV's media channel.

The broadcast will include material drawn from more than 150 hours of historical film footage that was converted to HDTV under collaboration between The Discovery Channel and NASA. Much of the converted footage was used in production of The Discovery Channel's acclaimed series, "When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions."

posted August 05, 2008 05:12 PM               

Given the way Dangerous Films obtained Armstrong's "interview" I guess they'll have no qualms in understanding that despite my promise to buy the blu-ray, I decided to download the HD torrent. I mean who cares about how difficult I make it for people to obtain legal i-Tunes versions and the like as long as I get what I want, right?

posted September 08, 2008 12:20 PM               

The 6 part NASA anniversary series will begin airing in Holland on September 18. Don't know if that means that it will be seen in all of Europe at the same time?