Asadullah Khan "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."This is a drama with documentary-ish elements mini-series of 12 episodes about the space race of the 1960's from USA's perspective, that gave us one of the biggest achievements in mankind's history, landing man on the moon. Being a huge fan of the subject matter and space in general, I was surprised that I didn't watch this series sooner. It is an HBO series, so you know it will be quality, and along with that, Tom Hanks is the producer, acts as the narrator at the start of each episode and acts in one of the episodes, and is an avid space fan to top it off. Just one more reason to love the guy.The series covers different aspects, different major events and different people involved in the whole ordeal, from Kennedy's wish and promise to land a man on the moon by the end of the decade, to the last apollo mission in the 70's. And it did all that masterfully. The attention to detail was outstanding. Tons of actual footage was used alongside very well acted dramatized scenes detailing important decisions and personalities. It looked really great with amazing huge detailed sets. The only thing that felt off was some of the rare CGI shots, which feels dated now but considering they are from 1998, and that too from a series, I'm not complaining much. It was great to see how many different things, how much effort, how much dedication it took to make this all happen. It was also great to see different side of it all, political, manufacturing, the astronauts themselves etc. "We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon, in this decade and do the other thing. Not because it is easy, but because it is hard." -John F. Kennedy.The series also had a great soundtrack, really uplifting the whole thing to that magical feeling of space exploration and the ability to do the impossible. Probably my favourite thing about the series, it just really gave me that feeling that I often look for in such series/movies. The only real gripe, or rather a nitpick, from my part for this series is that since each episode focused on a specific topic, the enjoyment factor varied quite a much sometimes for me. Some episodes were truly great, while others were pretty good. Even the least enjoyable episode was still good though.All in all, it was a great experience, something I wished I had watched long ago. Easily one of the best mini-series I have ever watched. You could just tell how much effort was put to make this series and tell the story in a faithful way, as well as in an enjoyable way and not make it a full on documentary. It is amazing to see what we are capable of when working towards a common goal and when we have proper driving force behind us. 9.5/10

Matthew Kresal Truth is stranger then fiction as the saying goes. If there ever was need to prove this one would need to look no further then HBO's 1998 miniseries From The Earth To The Moon. Acting a bit as television companion to Ron Howard's feature film Apollo 13, this miniseries covers the years between 1961 and 1972, this epic twelve hour miniseries covers the race to the Moon from the perspective of those in NASA who went on the missions, supported them from the ground and watched them take place.The epic cast of the miniseries is where much of its success lies. While it may be lacking any "named stars" in its cast it is a perfect place for numerous character actors to show their talents. The cast ranges from Nick Searcy as Deke Slayton, Lane Smith as the Walter Cronkite-like TV reporter Emmett Seaborn, David Andrews as Frank Borman, Stephen Root as Chris Kraft to Ted Levine as Alan Shepard, Rita Wilson as Susan Borman, Dave Foley as Al Bean and Mark Harmon as Wally Schirra amongst many, many others. Then there is of course executive producer Tom Hanks who acts, at the start of all but the last episode, as a sort of Chorus introducing the viewer to the story that is about to unfold.The series is also blessed with fantastic effects work. From The Earth To The Moon builds on the fantastic effects work done for the feature film Apollo 13 to accurately and dramatically recreate the flights of Mercury, Gemini and Apollo. Of special mention is the effects work done in the episodes "1968" and "Mare Tranquilitatis". The CGI and model work blends in near perfectly with the archival material used in places throughout the series. Yet perhaps the biggest special effects highlight of the production is the moon walk recreations. As other productions on the moon landings have shown, recreating these famous moon walks are not easy and yet by the time you have finished watching the twelve hours this miniseries covers you'll be amazed at just how convincing the moon walks are. While there are one or two questionable special effects (such as the LLRV crash in "Mare Tranquilitatis") the effects are fantastic pieces that help make the recreation of the missions all the more believable.Yet the heart of From The Earth To The Moon lies in the scripts of its twelve episodes. Perhaps better then a documentary could, the miniseries' writing brings to the light of day the ambitions, dreams, egos, emotions, politics and the people behind the scenes of the Apollo mission to the Moon. While the first episode "Can We Do This?" moves along far too quickly due to the fact it covers as much history in a hour as the rest of the miniseries covers in eleven, the other eleven hours make for fascinating viewing. The various episodes cover the political fights that came up after the Apollo 1 fire ("Apollo One") to the lead-up to the flight of the first manned Apollo flight ("We Have Cleared The Tower") to the building of the Lunar Module ("Spider") to the media coverage of the Apollo13 mission ("We Interrupt This Program") to the scientific flights of the later part of the program ("Galileo Was Right") to the effect of the mission on the astronauts wives ("The Original Wives Club") to the contrasts between the 1902 filming of the George Melies film Le voyage dans la lune and, seven decades later, the last of the Apollo mission done in a documentary format ("Le voyage dans la lune"). Each script tells the story not only of the missions but of the people there as well and never does it descend into the cliché one has come to expect from TV docudramas.The best episode of the miniseries, in my opinion anyway, would be its fourth episode entitled simply "1968". Better then any documentary on the Apollo 8 flight I have seen to date, the Al Reinert (the filmmaker of the wonderful Apollo documentary For All Mankind) scripted episode puts the Apollo 8 flight in the perspective of the other disastrous events of 1968. Even more intriguing, the episode is stylishly shown with all of the Earth-bound scenes in this episode are filmed in black and white, while the astronaut scenes are in color giving an amazing documentary like effect for most of the episode. Add on the aforementioned acting and special effects, especially in the earth rise sequence, and the result is an amazing fifty-four minutes of television.Across the twelve hours and twelve episodes it covers, From The Earth Of The Moon is an amazing piece of television. From its fine acting, incredibly done special effects and fantastic scripts cover the story of the voyages of Apollo. It tells not just the story of the technological achievement of the Apollo flights but of the human stories that lied behind them, mostly unseen. While it might not always be exactly true to life it may well be as close to an accurate recreation of those amazing missions as we are ever likely to get.

Bowerbirdz I have watched this 12 episode series countless times My husband sent away to the states to buy it for my birthday We had seen it on Discovery channel in 1999 Sorry but Susan Lovell was played by Elizabeth Perkins, not the lady that is listed in the credits on this page. Check it outI absolutely love everything about this series, being a big fan of Apollo 13 & Tom Hanks This is an excellent piece of work, it is entertaining, a must for anyone interested in the space race, a nostalgic step back in time for those of us who were around the day Neil Armstrong took that famous step. The characters are brought to life by wonderful actors, I enjoyed seeing the personal side to these amazing astronauts, their families and all those you made history what it is today.

chicagoastronomer This is one hell of a production! It starts out with the Mercury missions, but not just the glossy scenes we know and have seen already, it goes beyond the norm. This 12 part series explains the absolute minutia of the space effort and the lives of the people behind it. It progresses through the Gemini and finally the Apollo missions all the way to the last Apollo 17 lunar landing.I learned quite a few things about the space race that I never knew before, such as: The surly nature of Alan Shepard, the fate of the astronauts wives, the fun nature of the Apollo 12 crew and the internal politics within the ranks of the astronauts themselves. I was also surprised on how much a bastard that Walter Mondale was in his attempts on derailing the space program. (I'm glad his bid for the White House was a failed one... Ignorance favors all political parties.)A lot of familiar faces starred in this production, the one that knocked me for a loop was Malcolm in the Middle's father as Buzz Aldrin. The acting is great and shows the versatility of the actors in both comedic and serious roles. I knew that Pete Conrad was cocky, but it shows more of his personality here. Armstrong has been known to be rather sullen and quiet, and is clearly demonstrated here as well. To this day, he doesn't talk much about his adventure. The decision determining who will be the first man on the moon is blunt and anti-climatic, but it tells it as it is. It tells of the astronauts secret activities and agendas, as well as particular small moments that they experienced.In the Apollo 13 segment, the production did not go into the details of the incident like we all seen before, but rather focused on the reporters angle on the event. And I rather enjoyed the insight sweat details on the building of the L.E.M. I wish they did a segment on the rover. I thought that they labored too long over the Apollo 16 mission - training much...learning geology with a trained eye, but I appreciate the effort that they went through. The Apollo 1 tragedy was produced well, with the political aftermath fallout. I hope that all what was filmed is true, and I do understand creative license, but I would feel better if I knew they kept it faithful to actual events. I need to view this again to catch more, but I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the space program. JoeChicago Astronomer http://astronomer.proboards23.com