Apollo Moon Landings - For All Mankind (Redux)

[Ambient Sheep]

Tonight at 11pm, BBC4 are showing the Oscar-nominated For All Mankind, a simply wonderful 1989 documentary film about the Apollo moon landings.  The result of sifting through six million feet of previously-unseen NASA film footage, it consists entirely of footage from the missions, some of it from fixed spacecraft cameras, some of it shot by the astronauts themselves with hand-held 16mm cameras done in a home-movie style.  There are no talking heads - the only voices you hear are those of the astronauts themselves, sometimes serious as they perform space manoeuvres, sometimes laughing and joking as they send messages back to their loved ones on earth, sometimes matter-of-fact as they reflect upon their experiences.

If that sounds boring, I can assure you it's anything but, and at under 80 minutes, it doesn't outstay its welcome.

The soundtrack is also superb.  Much of it was done by Brian Eno and ended up as his Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks album - this is the film that his classic "An Ending (Ascent)" was written for.  In turn, this film was sampled heavily by The Orb for their 1991 debut album "Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld".  As I wrote back in July 2009:

I first saw this film back in July 2009 during BBC4's excellent 40th-anniversary-of-Apollo season, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.  If you have even the slightest bit of interest in the moon landings - or ambient music, for that matter - it's an absolute must-watch.  Since it's not owned by the BBC, they don't show it very often, so it may be your last chance to catch it for a good long while.

The Beeb are also showing some other Apollo docs tonight, and indeed throughout the week, but sadly the wonderful Man On The Moon they showed in July 2009 isn't amongst them.  Channel 4 and ITV and Sky are doing things too.  Unfortunately one of the most interesting looking ones was shown on BBC2 last Wednesday and I missed it... hello iPlayer.

And if most of this post sounds familiar, it's because I stole it from the thread I made ten years ago.  Some good discussions on there.

While searching for that I've become aware that it was shown on (spam) not so long back.  It's a shame I missed that.  Anyway here it is again tonight.  See you in ten years.

[NoSleep]

A great peep for mankind.

[DrGreggles]

I don't believe this thread exists.

[Dex Sawash]

Thanks amby just streamed it from m4uhd; captivating.

Wonder who held the camera on all those tracking shots? 

[Ambient Sheep]

Gah, fucked up my OP by omitting the quote.  That's what happens after you start threads while being up all night.  Should have read:



...In turn, this film was sampled heavily by The Orb for their 1991 debut album "Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld".  As I wrote back in July 2009:

...all the hairs went up on the back of my neck as I rapidly realised it must have been the source for all of that album's space samples: "it feels good", "we got a beautiful view of the earth", "Transfer injection burn", "Are we ready to go ahead with the TV now?"... - they're all there and more.  It was utterly fascinating to hear/see them in their original context.

I first saw this film back in July during BBC4's excellent 40th-anniversary-of-Apollo season, and I cannot recommend it highly enough...



I'm glad you enjoyed it, Dex.  I'll have to wait until I see it again to see which tracking shots you mean.

[mothman]

I'm sure I watched this back in '89. Will watch (but asked my wife to tape it - I'm away). Also recorded 8 Days so looking forward to seeing that.

[Mr_Simnock]

  As I wrote back in July 2009:

[Ambient Sheep]

What's your problem?

[mothman]

Didn't realise there was footage from Apollo 13 of them building the jury-rigged CO2 filter. And they're all wearing their Snoopy helmets at that time - something they chose to omit in the movie version...

[Ambient Sheep]

Unfortunately one of the most interesting looking ones was shown on BBC2 last Wednesday and I missed it... hello iPlayer.

Also recorded 8 Days so looking forward to seeing that.

And for those like me that missed it, it's just appeared on the planners as coming round again in a fortnight: Sat 27th July at 01:05 (so very late on the Friday night).

[Dex Sawash]

I'm glad you enjoyed it, Dex.  I'll have to wait until I see it again to see which tracking shots you mean.

They'll probably edit those out now that I'm on to them.

They have pretty impressive fixed camera shots that show both guys on the move on moon. I assume there was some pan & scan to make them look tracked. (and tracking shot may be the wrong word)

[Ambient Sheep]

Some of the cameras were remote-controlled from Houston; that's how they got the tracking (tilting) shot of the lunar module taking off at the end.

There was some discussion of that on the old thread starting here with the full explanation given over the page here.

It could also be, as you say, panning and scanning within a larger frame but I don't actually know.

[Bazooka]

Just watched, very good, although bit dissapointed not to see any moon monsters.

[Replies From View]

Just watched, very good, although bit dissapointed not to see any moon monsters.

Doesn't mean they weren't there.

[biggytitbo]

Doesn't mean they weren't there.

Yes, man is the greatest monster of all.

[Gerald Fjord]

The first (and only) time I saw this movie was in Uni, coming down one Saturday morning off a proper lovely pill, splitting a twenty bag with my housemates with this projected onto a bedsheet in the front room. I wept, silent, sobless.

[gilbertharding]

I'm sure I watched this back in '89. Will watch (but asked my wife to tape it - I'm away). Also recorded 8 Days so looking forward to seeing that.

I had a VHS taped off the telly from when they showed it in '89. It is indeed a masterpiece - I hope it's on the iPlayer because I missed it last night.

My mum and dad were fond of saying, whenever the subject came up, that they stayed up to watch the moon landings, which were about three weeks before I was born.

[the]

I have yet to see For All Mankind, but has anyone else here seen Apollo 11? It's absolutely stunning if you get to see it on the big screen (lots of it is off large print format).

Does the right thing - no narration, just lets the radio chatter do the talking.

Edit: Making of featurette here.

[Ambient Sheep]

I had a VHS taped off the telly from when they showed it in '89. It is indeed a masterpiece - I hope it's on the iPlayer because I missed it last night.

I have yet to see For All Mankind...

It is indeed:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00lkvtr/for-all-mankind
With the standard 30 day limit too, rather than just seven as they used to have for some external films a while back.

...but has anyone else here seen Apollo 11? It's absolutely stunning if you get to see it on the big screen (lots of it is off large print format).

Does the right thing - no narration, just lets the radio chatter do the talking.

I haven't seen it yet, but from the sounds of your description it takes the same approach as For All Mankind.  Will check out the featurette later.

[the]

I haven't seen it yet, but from the sounds of your description it takes the same approach as For All Mankind.  Will check out the featurette later.

It's still screening if you want to catch it at t'picturehouse. The film's site has a screening-near-you locator.

[vanilla.coffee]

but has anyone else here seen Apollo 11? It's absolutely stunning if you get to see it on the big screen (lots of it is off large print format).

I'm going to see it tonight at my local cinema. They're only having one viewing of it which is tonight only.

Very much looking forward to it.

[mothman]

Wouldn't it be brilliant if they did Eight Days style recreations of all the next six Apollo missions and showed them as the anniversary of each passed? Then when people complain of getting bored of them being on, we can say "... and that's why they stopped going, and haven been back since!"

[gilbertharding]

It is indeed:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00lkvtr/for-all-mankind
With the standard 30 day limit too, rather than just seven as they used to have for some external films a while back.

Oh good - after all, it's not called For All Mankind Who Can Stay Up Past Midnight on a Sunday Night Because They Don't Have Work the Next Day, is it?

[Ambient Sheep]

Wouldn't it be brilliant if they did Eight Days style recreations of all the next six Apollo missions and showed them as the anniversary of each passed? Then when people complain of getting bored of them being on, we can say "... and that's why they stopped going, and haven been back since!"

Hah, yes!

Oh good - after all, it's not called For All Mankind Who Can Stay Up Past Midnight on a Sunday Night Because They Don't Have Work the Next Day, is it?

Yeah, I did think the scheduling was a bit shit.

[mothman]

Hah, yes!

I inadvertently first said "seven missions" before realising I'd got my maths wrong. Thought about leaving it, going for a conspiracy-theory "Apollo 18" thing, but changed it.

[Ambient Sheep]

You probably already know this, but they were originally going to go up to Apollo 20, so it stopped three earlier as it was.

[mothman]

Yeah. Also, have a gander at this - the crews and their backups. I reckon if Collins had chosen to fly again, he'd probably have gotten to command 17...

https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sat/backup.htm

[Uncle TechTip]

Oh good - after all, it's not called For All Mankind Who Can Stay Up Past Midnight on a Sunday Night Because They Don't Have Work the Next Day, is it?

Equally there's seemingly just two showings of the Apollo 11 film in IMAX in the entire North of England - midday on Wednesday and Thursday. Cheers.

[mothman]

I don't know if it's a repeat, but this Chasing The Moon (part 1 & 2 on tonight, nearly finished now but it'll be on iPlayer) on BBC4 is a good watch.

[weekender]

What continually amazes me with the Moon landings is just how far away they were from Earth compared to anything that had been done before.

Honestly, when Gagarin went into space it was a matter of miles - and minutes - of testing advanced flight programmes.

When these guys into space it was for two or three days before they even got to their destination.

I've also been continually fascinated about how they actually got back from the Moon.  Michael Collins's role is often downplayed for some reason, but he does - along with the whole team - play a vital role.

This is a nice visual:

https://visual.ly/community/infographic/science/one-small-step

'Apollo 11' is fucking amazing, and does a much better job of conveying what I'm trying to.