• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

For All Mankind Trailer - Apple TV- SPOILER

If, like me, you noticed Tracy's headstone noting she'd received the "Medal of Honor" and thought that was odd since she wasn't in the military, I just learned that was just because of the framing of the shot, and she likely actually received the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, which is awarded to any astronaut, military or civilian, who performs an extraordinary feat on a NASA mission.

Thanks for the clarification, I thought it strange she had the MOH, but no rank on her tombstone.
 
If, like me, you noticed Tracy's headstone noting she'd received the "Medal of Honor" and thought that was odd since she wasn't in the military, I just learned that was just because of the framing of the shot, and she likely actually received the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, which is awarded to any astronaut, military or civilian, who performs an extraordinary feat on a NASA mission.
I noticed that as well but figured that was probably the case.
 
Predictions for the finale:
1. The goodwill that Danielle and Margo have built up with their Soviet counterparts will save the day.
2. The Marine that fired first will commit suicide, or otherwise sacrifice herself in defending the base.
3. We will lose one main character.

1. Correct
2. Wrong
3. Partially correct, I should have said “at least one..”

Awesome moment, hearing Nirvana’s “Come As You Are” and zooming from Arlington, past the moon and off to 1995 and Mars. (Plot twist: the Chinese got there first ?) I grew up in the early 80s, but the 90’s were my favorite decade.

Great ending to a great season, so looking forward to the next one.
 
Last edited:
From a Joel Kinneman interview:

"I’m actually done with Episode 1, in the middle of shooting Episode 2 of the third season right now. It’s a bit of a bitch with the makeup and it’s a little earlier mornings, with wearing prosthetics and all that stuff. But I have to say that when the age becomes more and more a factor, it becomes a more and more intriguing aspect of playing the character. To me, it’s one of those kind of, like, acting things about playing age that it starts to become really interesting. So don’t be surprised if I hang around for a bit…"
 
That was an awesome couple of last episodes for season 2. It will be too long of a wait for season 3. Love the Ron Moore interview and the Trek info. So I suppose the Phase II ship existed. One change for TWoK could have been it was the NCC-1701-A, but I guess we just figure there was another refit in there.

I was so sorry to see Gordo and Tracy not make it. I didn't think they even would make it inside, but when they did I wasn't expecting the next shot. So sad... I think the comparison to Spock's death is fitting.

It will be interesting to see if Dani's disobeying orders is swept under the rug or if there will be consequences.

I will have to check since I'm not sure if there's a thread on this but has anyone seen the Netflix show 'Away'? It's an astronaut show about reaching Mars. It's pretty good in it's own way.
 
If this does get the full 7 year plan then 3rd season (2022) the 90s, 4th season(2023) the 2000s, 5th season(2024) the 2010s, 6th season(2025), the 2020's, and 7th season(2026) the 2030s. Altho in that interview Ron Moore said 70 years so I would assume we get to 2039(or beyond) since the show started with the Russians landing on the Moon first in 1969.

Anyway about the episode itself. Wow. This show really has me not knowing what is going to happen. When you started to see the Soyuz/Apollo handshake on TV's in the empty bar then their empty house I really thought a nuke was gonna go off.

I expected Gordo to die as soon as he brought up the idea, but I didn't expect Tracy to die as well. I actually thought they were going to get close to the airlock and he'd have pushed her thru with his last strength or something and she barely survive. Still it was a really powerful and sad thing to do. If Ed hadn't have pushed Gordo there wouldn't have been anyone there with the knowledge of the old transmitter and everyone in the base would have died and who knows if that would have escalated into even more.

I'm not sure I really like them using a real person like Sally Ride to pull a gun like that though. It would have been better to use a fictional person created just for the show IMO. Also Ed risked the whole thing failing by not explaining what he was doing just for the sake of dramatic effect(for the show).

The season transition from 1 to 2 was great and they came back with another great series of images to finally Mars.


Now what I'm going to say please don't turn this into a political discussion of what this person can or can not do or their abilities. This is just from an interesting alternate history flip and use of technology from source material.

It would be really cool if they spun things around and instead of President Bill Clinton we got President Hillary Clinton. There is so much footage of her with Bill Clinton meeting world leaders, clips of her speaking then as First Lady or through campaigns for President to use. Instead of Bill getting into politics it would have been her getting into politics. With women basically running NASA we see a slightly more pushed forward evolution of women in the workforce/leadership. Having her run and win Arkansas Attorney General in 1976 instead of Bill to start off the political career. Hell they could have even flipped it and had HER be the one to get law professor teaching offer and then have her be like Attorney General of Pennsylvania to Governor.
 
Last edited:
I think they're setting up Ellen Wilson (née Waverly) to be the first US woman president and she's the one who has pushed for manned US Mars missions. In our timeline, there was an expectation that manned missions could take place in the mid 80s using NERVA but, of course, there wasn't the money or political will for that. I don't know if Ellen's sexual orientation will be made public after she is in the White House. I think it's very unlikely that she could have become a presidential candidate, never mind be elected, back in the 90s if she had come out.
 
I'm not sure I really like them using a real person like Sally Ride to pull a gun like that though. It would have been better to use a fictional person created just for the show IMO. Also Ed risked the whole thing failing by not explaining what he was doing just for the sake of dramatic effect(for the show).

Well this is the same show that killed off Gene Kranz, Deke Slayton and Thomas Paine, and Kranz is still alive today.
 
I'm not sure I really like them using a real person like Sally Ride to pull a gun like that though. It would have been better to use a fictional person created just for the show IMO
As alternate history, rather than a straight up historical drama, I think they can have a pass here. Though the changes are not drastic, the wiggle room for deviations from reality is there. Moreover, while the fictional Ride did pull a weapon, it was ultimately to try to prevent a military action (consistent with her character in the show) and clearly she was, in the end, not fully prepared to use it. Moreover, the situation was one of extreme duress, and such times often inspire behaviour that goes outside one’s norms. Lastly, of the two subordinates on Pathfinder, Ride was far more likely to “buck the chain of command” on principle and while I know very little about the real life Sally Ride, what little I recall suggests she was the type to stand her ground on principle (unlikely she would have advanced to her position if lacking such fortitude).

I can understand the objection, but I think the alternate history angle makes this work. YMMV
 
I think they're setting up Ellen Wilson (née Waverly) to be the first US woman president and she's the one who has pushed for manned US Mars missions. In our timeline, there was an expectation that manned missions could take place in the mid 80s using NERVA but, of course, there wasn't the money or political will for that. I don't know if Ellen's sexual orientation will be made public after she is in the White House. I think it's very unlikely that she could have become a presidential candidate, never mind be elected, back in the 90s if she had come out.

That would certainly offer a more malleable Presidential character since they could film things specifically with an actor rather than rely on manipulating existing stock footage. Reagan likely perceives Ellen as having helped prevent WW3 so the push from him will likely be even bigger. I know they showed Lee Atwater talking about Congress, but I wonder if we could see the next President (or even Reagan before he left office) create a Secretary of Space Affairs in the Presidential Cabinet.

That would certainly seem like a logical thing to do given the increased importance of space, permanent bases, etc...

Also wonder if the US would get a US "Space Force" type specific division since in this universe there obviously is much more military involvement in space.

The one thing about making an existing character President is that actor would likely be in a much more reduced role for the season unless they turn into a mini-West Wing. It may be a way to allow an Actor to not commit to as large a filming schedule and also be less of a hassle for 'aging makeup' since they wouldn't be as on screen.

Also would be really cool if we a Space Elevator at some point.
 
Last edited:
How did Ed get off the hook for destroying the Sea Dragon cargo? For a loss of that significance, I would have thought he'd end up in front of another congressional committee, at the least. Two missiles were fired and the computer records would have recorded his deliberate targeting choice. But instead apparently there was a malfunction. War was averted so perhaps the US government thought best to hush it up. However, that wouldn't have kept the Soviets quiet. "Look we threatened the Americans and they were so frightened, they blew up their military nuclear cargo themselves." I would imagine they would have their own records and video to use in propaganda. If it were Gorbachev at the top, I might believe he'd cooperate in hushing things up but not the paranoid Andropov.

ETA: When our timeframe rolls around on the show, I think we'll see a space elevator and at least one space habitat such as an O'Neill cylinder or similar. Maybe we'll also see the deployment of solar power satellites and a solar shade to counteract global warming. The final season will perhaps show the first steps to probe the nearby stars for suitable planets for colonisation.
 
Last edited:
How did Ed get off the hook for destroying the Sea Dragon cargo? For a loss of that significance, I would have thought he'd end up in front of another congressional committee, at the least. Two missiles were fired and the computer records would have recorded his deliberate targeting choice. But instead apparently there was a malfunction. War was averted so perhaps the US government thought best to hush it up. However, that wouldn't have kept the Soviets quiet. "Look we threatened the Americans and they were so frightened, they blew up their military nuclear cargo themselves." I would imagine they would have their own records and video to use in propaganda. If it were Gorbachev at the top, I might believe he'd cooperate in hushing things up but not the paranoid Andropov.

ETA: When our timeframe rolls around on the show, I think we'll see a space elevator and at least one space habitat such as an O'Neill cylinder or similar. Maybe we'll also see the deployment of solar power satellites and a solar shade to counteract global warming. The final season will perhaps show the first steps to probe the nearby stars for suitable planets for colonisation.

I think malfunction is probably more the "public cover story" for Sea Dragon. Any kind of serious punishment might make the US government worried about one of the crew going public with the details and how if Ed had followed his final orders he would have been shooting down the Russians and might have kickstarted WW3.

Would be really cool if the final scene of the series is a human setting foot on a planet in another solar system (obviously would be far into the future beyond 2030s)
 
Also would be really cool if we a Space Elevator at some point.

A space elevator requires such a vast knowledge of structural engineering on top of materials that haven't even been invented yet ( or only under lab conditions and in miniscule amounts). At best, if ever, this would be something for the final season given how much faster technology development works in the show.

How did Ed get off the hook for destroying the Sea Dragon cargo? For a loss of that significance, I would have thought he'd end up in front of another congressional committee, at the least. Two missiles were fired and the computer records would have recorded his deliberate targeting choice. But instead apparently there was a malfunction. War was averted so perhaps the US government thought best to hush it up. However, that wouldn't have kept the Soviets quiet. "Look we threatened the Americans and they were so frightened, they blew up their military nuclear cargo themselves." I would imagine they would have their own records and video to use in propaganda. If it were Gorbachev at the top, I might believe he'd cooperate in hushing things up but not the paranoid Andropov.

ETA: When our timeframe rolls around on the show, I think we'll see a space elevator and at least one space habitat such as an O'Neill cylinder or similar. Maybe we'll also see the deployment of solar power satellites and a solar shade to counteract global warming. The final season will perhaps show the first steps to probe the nearby stars for suitable planets for colonisation.

It must have been one of the agreements between Reagan and Andropov to keep the details from the public in order to reach an agreement, much like the resolution of the Cuba crisis, when the US agreed to remove their own missiles out of Turkey ( which they intended to do all along since they were becoming obsolete) but it was a nice public gesture so the Soviets could declare a win too - diplomacy at its finest.

O'Neill cylinders - i don't know. They must be so expensive that even the US couldn't finance it but who knows how future seasons will develop, i.e. we might see the rise of international cooperation that led to the ISS in our reality, so why not this? Though i still would not expect this to be fully functional, but maybe in the construction stage when the show concluces as well as the start of intergalactic probes with powerful sublight engines that could make the trip there and back in one human lifespan.
 
I would love to see both a space elevator and O'Neill cylinder at some point but I agree both of them would take massive amounts of material to produce. Maybe that'll be something we'll see in the final season depending on how much technology advances, but I don't think it could happen as quickly as the 2030s.

But I would love to be wrong!
 
The Russians in our timeline have sensibly never used them for manned missions.

I'm wondering when Andropov kicks the bucket in the FAM timeline and if the show goes straight to his reformist protege Gorbachev, skipping over Chernenko.
Able Archer 83 was as close a call as Cuban missile--none of those missiles were operational save the Luna and Kometa tacticnukes--and torps...

Russians didn't just have a space cannon
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zo...ver-look-at-a-top-secret-soviet-space-missile
http://www.russianspaceweb.com/almaz-shield2.html

Space was a religion
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210420-cosmism-russias-religion-for-the-rocket-age


Some eye candy--PATHFINDER
https://forums.scifi-meshes.com/uploads/editor/6y/z9l6gw0qvfpb.jpeg
https://for-all-mankind.fandom.com/wiki/Space_Shuttle
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4161/1

From NSF
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=48269.500

Something just popped into my mind...while my head canon tells me there were TSTOs in the history of Star Trek the original series—Ron Moore’s pre-Trek history here fits perfectly either STIV—The Voyage Home, does it not?
 
Last edited:
Maybe we'll eventually see a craft like the one proposed under Project Orion, it could theoretically get up 1/4th the speed of light.
I said the same thing after the season 1 finale aired (and mostly got shouted down for it), but fingers still crossed for season 3! ;)
 
If they move past present day, then the story telling tone of the show will change. Part of the appeal is the alt-history aspect. By it's very nature, a show that takes place in our future is not or no longer alt-history. No more using historical or archival footage in the story telling.
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top