Home :: DVD :: Television :: PBS  

A&E Home Video
BBC
Classic TV
Discovery Channel
Fox TV
General
HBO
History Channel
Miniseries
MTV
National Geographic
Nickelodeon
PBS

Star Trek
TV Series
WGBH Boston
Nova - To the Moon

Nova - To the Moon

List Price: $19.95
Your Price: $17.96
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 2 3 >>

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Even works in Europe
Review: This disc is excellent, tells the whole story with lots of film, interviews and animated graphics. However, just a quick note here to say that it also works across the pond in the UK. I don't believe it has a Region Code at all - just plays on my (unmodified) Playstation 2. It is NTSC, not PAL, but that hasn't been a problem to my Sony TV....and it's the first time I've seen any film of the Soviet moon programme; there's not much but it's very interesting.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Adequate
Review: This DVD is mostly useful to support the more documentary aspects of 'For All Mankind' and dramatic aspects of 'From the Earth to the Moon.'

The narration is only adequate, the music awful, but it is still intersting to the buff. Watch both of the above first.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: To the moon and beyond
Review: This DVD is simply excellent. Even though it is obviously a TV show, and still feels a bit like a TV show, with all the gaps and moments full of suspense right before the (non existent) commercials. It does a bit more than document the struggle to get to the moon, (from a very subjectively American perspective.) What this DVD mainly carries as a message is the struggle that goes into any project. Be it the first Moon landing, be it just a small improvement, like additional handles on a space capsule. The show keeps the story on a very realistic, very personal level. Interviews with astronauts and experts turn the great leap for mankind back into small steps, which make a story a great story. You should watch this DVD if you are working on a complex project and would like to get creative inspiration. You should probably watch this DVD with your team and discuss how you would have solved many of the problems. You will probably miss extensive footage of the first lunar landing. There is hardly any of it on this DVD. There is also no mention of the Russian Lunohod project. But again, this documentary describes something more universal than the race to the moon. It describes the possibility of success in seemingly hopeless situations. It describes the real possibility of success through the synergy of a team even under the most impossible deadlines. It explains that what sometimes looks like a failure, can still be a step toward a much greater achievement. This documentary is very, very inspiring.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Adequate - but not inspired.
Review: This is a decent telling as a documentary with substandard music and production values but great research. It is telling that almost no special interviews for this DVD are provided by the Apollo 11 astronauts...the feuds rage on. Most of the other missions have interviews with the participants.

From the Earth to the Moon and For All Mankind are far, far superior. This DVD confirms the accuracy of the research for From the Earth to the Moon, one the the most brilliant examples of television.

The DVD also has no booklet or extras. The chapter list has no numbers, is on the disc (no printed list), and therefore worthless.

This could have been great...and is mediocre.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A lot of unique technical and historical detail
Review: This is a wonderful documentary that fills in a lot of holes left by other "Moon Shot" videos. I loved the detail regarding Lunar Orbit Rendevous. They do a great piece on the Marshall Space Center where the space capsules for Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo were designed. I really enjoyed the detail surrounding the work on the Saturn V, and the "All Up Test" that was needed to get the rocket program back on track. It was thrilling to relive the Apollo 11 landing from the eyes of the men in the control room, and their comments about the "Tranqulity Base" transmission. They did a very nice job on the Apollo 15/Dave Scott discovery of the Genesis Rock, and the story of Jack Schmitt, the only geologist astronaut in the program on Apollo 17. This was the perfect video to add to my space program collection.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A lot of unique technical and historical detail
Review: This is a wonderful documentary that fills in a lot of holes left by other "Moon Shot" videos. I loved the detail regarding Lunar Orbit Rendevous. They do a great piece on the Marshall Space Center where the space capsules for Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo were designed. I really enjoyed the detail surrounding the work on the Saturn V, and the "All Up Test" that was needed to get the rocket program back on track. It was thrilling to relive the Apollo 11 landing from the eyes of the men in the control room, and their comments about the "Tranqulity Base" transmission. They did a very nice job on the Apollo 15/Dave Scott discovery of the Genesis Rock, and the story of Jack Schmitt, the only geologist astronaut in the program on Apollo 17. This was the perfect video to add to my space program collection.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Late Nights
Review: This is the kind of DVD that just might keep you up at night. I know that it most certainly kept me entertained.

It includes all the relevant history behind the greatest single adventure of our time...reaching for the Moon. You'll want to watch it again and again--because you'll learn about things you have never learned about the space program; and hear from the actual participants themselves.

Bravo NOVA! You kept me glued to my seat at about 5G's!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Late Nights
Review: This is the kind of DVD that just might keep you up at night. I know that it most certainly kept me entertained.

It includes all the relevant history behind the greatest single adventure of our time...reaching for the Moon. You'll want to watch it again and again--because you'll learn about things you have never learned about the space program; and hear from the actual participants themselves.

Bravo NOVA! You kept me glued to my seat at about 5G's!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Comprehensive and unique
Review: This NOVA documentary, originally aired in July 1999, features two hours of the American efforts to reach the moon at its finest. The footage of the famous Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo flights is very riveting, featuring interviews from astronauts such as Jim Lovell, Tom Stafford, Eugene Cernan, Buzz Aldrin, David Scott, and Wally Schirra, as well as with Robert Seamans, Christopher Kraft, and Gene Kranz. It is hard to accurately portray through a video the details of the American space program, but this video comprehensively contains all the candor and excitement of the American manned moon program. John Houboult's Lunar Orbit Rendezvous scheme is detailed, with his efforts to sell the idea to top NASA management. Then, it moves on to the Gemini flights, emphasizing the first rendezvous of manned spacecraft on Gemini 6/7 in 1965, Gene Cernan's EVA troubles that plagued Gemini 9, and Gemini 12. Finally, it details the Apollo program that placed man's footprints on the moon, focusing on the engineering flights of Apollo 8 and 11, and then the scientific and geologic flights of the lunar landing missions that followed, ending with Apollo 17. All this was very fascinating, and thrilling to watch.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A great place to start
Review: This video is excellent. That is really all that needs to be said. However... I will say more. 2 hours of beautiful footage and stories of man's endeavors to get to the moon. I caution all those who watch this video, it's just the beginning...
After seeing this video I have since purchased other videos and books on the most incredible subject of man's greatest endeavor of recorded history.


<< 1 2 3 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates