From the Earth to the Moon

[Smellincoffee]

A couple of days ago I spotted a $13 DVD set called "From the Earth to the Moon", featuring Tom Hanks, Sally Field, and Cary Ewles. It seemed promising, so I purchased it a couple of days later, and popped in the first disc tonight. I'm blown away. It's a mix of historical footage and dramatization, rife with actors I recognize from other places ("Hey, it's Kevin's dad in The Wonder Years as the head of NASA!"). There are eleven or twelve episodes in all, and if they're all like the first...wow. Best impulse buy ever.

 

[sojourner]

Produced by HBO. One of the greatest fictionalized accounts of the space program ever filmed.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

There are eleven or twelve episodes in all, and if they're all like the first...

Trust me. They are.
You will never make as awesome a purchase, ever again, as you have just done.

Unless you buy Vaughn Armstrong Reads Faran Tahir's Biography, but that's just nitpicking.

wow. Best impulse buy ever.

You got that right!

 

[Biffette]

Seconded. From the Earth to the Moon is an amazing miniseries. In my opinion the quality does vary from episode to episode, but only when compared to each other. The worst episode of that show is waaayyy better than the best of other productions.


ETA: Thirded, since I was slow to post.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

My favorite episodes:


Spider (about the design and construction of the Lunar Module)

Mare Tranquilitatis (Apollo 11)

Apollo One

 

[gturner]

I'm pretty sure it has to be a remake of a 1958 show called "From the Earth to the Moon."

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ Uh...no. Not even close.

 

[Snaploud]

I love this miniseries. You won't be disappointed.

 

[gturner]

Sure sounds about the same.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_the_Earth_to_the_Moon_(film)

Short summary. Two guys land on the moon.

They changed Morris Ankrum's role from Ulysses S. Grant to Kennedy or Johnson, and they dropped the plotline about the stowaway girl. The HBO version did make up a bunch of new characters like Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin who weren't in the original, so maybe it's more of a reboot than a remake. And of course HBO milked it by having more moon landings than Jules Verne's tale.

 

[Biffette]

My favorite episodes:


Spider (about the design and construction of the Lunar Module)

Mare Tranquilitatis (Apollo 11)

Apollo One

Replace Mare Tranquilitatis with Galileo Was Right and you've got my top 3.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The heck with Breaking Bad. Bryan Cranston will always be Buzz Aldrin to me!

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1ssw5aJyrk[/yt]

Sadly, Lane Smith (who played Emmett Seaborn, one of the few fictional characters in this series) died of ALS - Lou Gehrig's Disease - a few years ago.

 

[Smellincoffee]

There are eleven or twelve episodes in all, and if they're all like the first...

Trust me. They are.
You will never make as awesome a purchase, ever again, as you have just done.

Unless you buy Vaughn Armstrong Reads Faran Tahir's Biography, but that's just nitpicking.

wow. Best impulse buy ever.

You got that right!

I'm three episodes in. As an NCIS fan, I'm amused entirely to have seen Fornell, the Secretary of the Navy, AND Gibbs so far.

I just ordered the special anniversary edition of Apollo 13. Getting in a mood here...