For All Mankind - Apple series

[Alberon]

Just about everything and everyone is setting up net TV services. Apple was a recent arrival to the ongoing bunfight between Netflix, Amazon, Disney, Hulu, CBS and many others. While most of them probably won't survive and Netflix's future is very uncertain IMHO[nb]Though that's probably a whole other thread.[nb]God, I love the fact notes are back![/nb][/nb] there is an upside for us.

What that means is that more TV shows are being thrown at us than ever before and a good few get lost in the mix. One I started just the other week is called For All Mankind and tells the story of NASA's Apollo programme. Well, the story in a parallel universe where the Soviet's N1 rocket worked and they beat America to the Moon.

I'm into the sixth of ten episodes at the moment and very little is actually set in space but I've actually found it to be very entertaining as we follow the lives of several characters (the main ones are all fictional). As the seventies progress the changes from our timeline starts to grow.

Spoilers for the series so far. Best not to read if you plan to watch.

Spoiler alert

The second Russian to land is a woman sparking Nixon into getting NASA to revive it's own female crew program. It's a farily little known fact that thirteen women started training for the Mercury program, but it was ultimately shelved. In this series two of them return to the Women's Apollo program.

Apollo 11 has a much rougher landing on the moon and the Apollo 13 disaster doesn't happen, but Apollo 21 (I think) explodes on the launch pad, killing Gene Kranz, but not the astronauts due to the emergency escape system.

By the sixth episode ice has been discvovered in Shackleton Crater near the moon's south pole and both NASA and the Soviets have set up small bases on the rim about eight miles apart.

[close]

The series is created and run by Ronald D. Moore, previously resposible for the rebooted Battlestar Galactica and also worked on Star Trek.

[Shit Good Nose]

I've seen the same-titled Al Reinart film about the moon landings, but haven't even heard of this until this thread, but just picking up on this...

Netflix's future is very uncertain IMHO

Without wishing to hijack or divert (I know you said it could be a whole other thread), but what makes you say that?

And that's a genuine and sincere question as well - although we have Netflix at home, I don't really follow the business news side of it, and haven't stepped a toe in any of the other streaming services so, Amazon Prime aside, I don't really know what the competition is like.

Just a very brief precis is fine, so the thread can get back to its intended subject.

[Alberon]

I don't think Netflix is in a good position financially. It needs to continually invest in new content to increase subscribers while debts continue to mount. It's now facing Amazon and Disney in the streaming TV arena along with a host of others. Debt is currently around $12.5b and market saturation plus increased competition is making growth hard. It's not impossible but I think a crunch point is coming for the company.

[Shit Good Nose]

Thanks.

Debt is currently around $12.5b

Ooff, that's a big number.

Any idea how Amazon is placed in comparison?

I know Disney and one of the other ones both predicted big losses in the early days (just down to set up costs and time effectively operating as a loss leader), but Netflix has been around (as a streaming service) for, what, a decade or more?  As you say, that debt has got to be raising some eyebrows.

Anyway, back to For All Mankind...

[Alberon]

A quick search on Amazon say it has $25.3b of debt, but that's down from $47.2b the year before AND it holds $43.4b in cash. And that's for the entire business. In short - it's fine.