From the Earth to the Moon (1999, VHS)

When HBO first ran commercials and previews for From the Earth to the Moon in late 1997 (Christmas) I knew I would be watching that spring when it began. I must confess, I am a NASA junkie - I go to the website often and I love to read/see just about everything I can concerning NASA and space exploration. I already was a fan of other "space race" films Apollo 13 and The Right Stuff (a favorite from my childhood) and this miniseries would be as good things could get for me.

Episodes

From the Earth to the Moon was spread out in 12 separate Episodes covering the whole of the Apollo program which was the name given to the NASA program which would land men on the moon. I won't rehash the plot of each episode - but rather I will highlight the hi's and lo's of the series here.

Episode 1 - Can We Do This? This episode was excellent. It made me feel like I was part of this - and it was a nice intro into the whole program in just under one hour. It avoids too much detail into the Mercury and Gemini programs while also giving us a bit more about those than we got from the Right Stuff - skipping John Glenn altogether. Of particular interest to me was the presentation of the first American space walk done by Edward H. White III.

Episode 4 - 1968. This episode was pure emotion. It really sucked me in and really showed what was going on that year. I thought that the presentation was excellent given that it showed very well the turmoil and unrest present that election year.

Episode 5 - Spider. Being and engineer - anything that shows technical stuff is cool. This episode covered the development of the lunar lander. But - the most interesting thing to me was the presentation. They took what is defintely a dry topic to many people and turned it into something really cool and easily understandable. The process of developing a product (like say a car) mirrors what the engineers working on the lander went through and this episode managed to capture that and do it with a sense of humor.

Episode 6 - Mare Tranquilitatis. While I love this episode I also hated it. It did do a great job showing the pressure that the astronauts were under and the historical significance of the act of first setting foot on the moon. But - the ending - when Neil Armstrong actually takes that step - seemed anti-climactic to me. Perhaps it was the musical score during that moment which for me did not capture the grandure of the moment. I simply thought that the ending ruined the episode - but I am sure many people won't be bothered by it at all - it was just something I picked up on.

Episode 12 - A nice bookend to the whole series. It gave a nice summary - and also stopped and made me think. Like a few others who have reviewed this series here - I felt like we should be doing more in space today - and this episode definitely makes a great case for that.

DVD

The DVD presentation of this series is better than the original HBO broadcast. It should be - but it is worth noting. The Dolby Digital audio is right on all the time - I did not find a single instance of weak dialog or overbearing bass. Some DVD's mix the bass too loudly and the audio track gets distorted a lot (original Golden Eye DVD) - but this DVD didn't miss. It's even better too considering that the cable broadcast was not dolby digital at all so you get an extra perk there. The video quality is perfect. This set is among the best looking of my DVD's - and I own 127! I found the colors to be right on - and the digital transfer was flawless. Granted, the series was completed in the digital age so it should be good - but other films have been screwed up after being digitally restored and remastered (Highlander DVD) so it's important that it was done right here.

The extras on the 4th disc I found most interesting. Personally, I liked the interactive solar system the best. This information can all be had on the internet but the DVD presentation is beautiful and accurate. Some of the interviews are very nice as well - and the included full text of Kennedy's speech which started it all is a nice touch for the NASA/Apollo junkie.

The only problem I can find with this series is that you will have to buy the whole of it as a complete set. For me - that was not too much of a problem because I wanted it all anyway - but for some people - that could be an issue as the whole thing costs about $80 to $100. But - I would recommend buying this series only for true NASA/Space fans anyway - so this may be a minor con.