From The Earth To The Moon

"Pat Flannery" wrote in message
...

In the show, the mission is covered up till the moment of launch...and
that's it. I was wondering what the story was in regards to not showing
Wally vs. mission control...did NASA tell Tom Hanks that it wouldn't look
kindly on showing the mutiny, or was that Hanks' decision? The whole thing
smells like the way that the Soviets used to remove the unpleasant aspects
of their space history.

it's just Hollywood: story arc over scrupulous detail.

First principles, remember the name of the series. They wanted to get *to
the moon* as soon as they could and still give enough context of how they
got there.

So: first episode covers the Sputnik/Gagarin hysteria and JFK's deadline,
introduces some of the Characters Who Will Appear Later, shows the "we'll
wing it" way everything was invented, breezes past Mercury and Gemini just
long enough to showcase Astronauts Who Will Appear Later, and sets us up for
the fire.

Second ep fleshes out Deke and Borman, uses Shea and Storms as archetypes of
all the finger-pointing and ass-covering and self-recrimination, gives us
all a chance to wish Mason Adams was our Grampa one more time, and covers
the tragedy from the strict standpoint of what it did to the lunar landing
effort.

Then we get to "We have cleared the tower", the episode about A7. Title says
it all. The entire story arc of this episode is getting back up in space and
getting over all the bad residue of the fire. None of the A7 astros ever
flew in space again, so the director/producer didn't have to spend a lot of
time developing their characters and setting them up for a later landing
episode. They already knew that the A10/A16 missions would only be
background for the story of the wives (probably to avoid the political hot
potato of getting full NASA cooperation while simultaneously featuring John
Young in something other than a "loyal sidekick" role), so they gave Young
some screen time here and used him as a summation of lots of
behind-the-scenes NASA types. And then had the wives bitch about how he
dumped his first wife for a golddigger. Selah.

That's a hell of a lot to cram into one episode, so anything other than a
very clear "how do we get back in space after the fire?" storyline would
have served no dramatic purpose and had to go. The tension we saw in
Schirra's bickering with the suits all had to happen *before* launch, just a
symbol of the drive to get it right this time. After that it had to be "Go
Fever" so the producers could show the Apollo program galloping along
purposely towards the moon again. They knew that they were gonna waste
virtually an entire episode with all the counterculture protest crap
("1968"), so there's your bickering quotient. And then show Apollo 8 as the
single redeeming moment of that year, dissing stuff like a pretty nice
little World Series, etc.

So yes, they ignored the inflight shenanigans on Apollo 7, but not for any
kind of whitewashing. It was just a subplot that did nothing to advance the
overall storyline and would have been confusing for the average viewer (what
does it mean that they're yelling at Mission Control, and what does that
have to do with the moon shot?).

Again, remember that even in a 12-part miniseries they have to condense
thousands of man-years of activity into less than an hour of footage, so
they have to trim ruthlessly and stick to the main storyline. Wally's little
rebellion had virtually no impact on the Big Picture, so it's one of the
things that had to be chopped from FTETTM.

--
Terrell Miller

"The military can't respond quickly to emergencies"

- Loren Thompson, a military analyst at the Lexington Institute in
Arlington, Va.

Kevin Willoughby wrote:


A simpler answer: Hanks wanted to tell the story of the Moon landings.
The first Apollo is part of that story, but the "Wally vs. Mission
Control" fight had nothing to do with lunar landings.


He devoted an entire episode to that flight...then didn't show the
flight itself! Watching it, one gets the feeling that the whole
reporters-at-the-cape was a last minute rewrite to fill in the time that
was originally going to be about the "mutiny in space".
Everything else that's been done on Apollo finds that to be a very
interesting story, so it's odd it isn't in this miniseries.

Pat

"Pat Flannery" wrote in message
...

w9gb wrote:

Wally (Walter M. Schirra, Jr.) retired ............
Donn F. Eisele and Walter Cunningham never flew in space after that
mission

In the show, the mission is covered up till the moment of launch...and
that's it. I was wondering what the story was in regards to not showing
Wally vs. mission control...did NASA tell Tom Hanks that it wouldn't look
kindly on showing the mutiny, or was that Hanks' decision? The whole thing
smells like the way that the Soviets used to remove the unpleasant aspects
of their space history.


If you notice their are various direcors and story writers for the 12
episodes, Tom Hanks appears to have had the most input on Episodes 1 and 12.

2.) Did Farouk El-Baz really have an office 1/10th as cool as it's shown
in that miniseries?

Good question, it is unique. How would like to be the FETM model maker --

The models and spacecraft mock-ups in that miniseries are truly fantastic.

BTW, I picked up the entire DVD set for less than $ 15 at Borders on a
close-out 3 years ago .. my Christmas purchase for 2001 (the bright spot in
a stressful year -- like the 1968 episode)

GB

Pat Flannery wrote:
In the show, the mission is covered up till the moment of launch...and
that's it. I was wondering what the story was in regards to not showing
Wally vs. mission control...did NASA tell Tom Hanks that it wouldn't
look kindly on showing the mutiny, or was that Hanks' decision? The
whole thing smells like the way that the Soviets used to remove the
unpleasant aspects of their space history.

On the other hand, the show did seem to target Donn Eisele's fooling around
with another woman while married. Same with John Young, who ditched his wife
before Apollo 16 and re-married.

-A.L.

Terrell Miller wrote:

Then we get to "We have cleared the tower", the episode about A7. Title says
it all. The entire story arc of this episode is getting back up in space and
getting over all the bad residue of the fire. None of the A7 astros ever
flew in space again, so the director/producer didn't have to spend a lot of
time developing their characters and setting them up for a later landing
episode.


The show all this building tension between Wally and NASA as they get
ready for the flight, and then it just ends. Anybody who didn't know
what happened on that flight would be left wondering "what the hell was
the point of all that?" after watching it.

They already knew that the A10/A16 missions would only be
background for the story of the wives (probably to avoid the political hot
potato of getting full NASA cooperation while simultaneously featuring John
Young in something other than a "loyal sidekick" role), so they gave Young
some screen time here and used him as a summation of lots of
behind-the-scenes NASA types. And then had the wives bitch about how he
dumped his first wife for a golddigger. Selah.

That's a hell of a lot to cram into one episode, so anything other than a
very clear "how do we get back in space after the fire?" storyline would
have served no dramatic purpose and had to go. The tension we saw in
Schirra's bickering with the suits all had to happen *before* launch, just a
symbol of the drive to get it right this time. After that it had to be "Go
Fever" so the producers could show the Apollo program galloping along
purposely towards the moon again. They knew that they were gonna waste
virtually an entire episode with all the counterculture protest crap
("1968"), so there's your bickering quotient. And then show Apollo 8 as the
single redeeming moment of that year, dissing stuff like a pretty nice
little World Series, etc.


As a piece of pro-NASA propaganda, the thing is great. NASA is always
right, and if it does make mistakes they weren't due to any fundamental
problems at NASA, no siree! It was those stinking reporters, and
meddling Congressmen that are to blame... Tom Hanks' movies tend to
resemble Frank Kapra's - nice, and sweet, and wholesome, and more than a
bit simplistic and saccharine, and sappy.



So yes, they ignored the inflight shenanigans on Apollo 7, but not for any
kind of whitewashing. It was just a subplot that did nothing to advance the
overall storyline and would have been confusing for the average viewer (what
does it mean that they're yelling at Mission Control, and what does that
have to do with the moon shot?).


It would have been fascinating to see how they would have portrayed that
incident...given the tone of the rest of the miniseries, I'll bet Wally
would be portrayed as a world-class asshole who should be on his knees
for the mere privilege of being allowed to touch Apollo 7- much less fly
in it.


Again, remember that even in a 12-part miniseries they have to condense
thousands of man-years of activity into less than an hour of footage, so
they have to trim ruthlessly and stick to the main storyline. Wally's little
rebellion had virtually no impact on the Big Picture, so it's one of the
things that had to be chopped from FTETTM.



But since you are going to devote an episode to the flight of Apollo
7...then you might as well show what happened on the Apollo 7 flight.
It's a great story, and I think the only people who wouldn't have
enjoyed seeing it are the guys from the NASA PAO. The Apollo 12 episode
was great, and about the only really exciting thing that happened on
that flight was burning out the TV camera.
I have a strong suspicion that what the Apollo 7 episode started out as
a very different sort of beast indeed than what finally appeared on-screen.

Pat

Pat Flannery wrote:

He devoted an entire episode to that flight...then didn't show the
flight itself!

IMHO, it was a great episode, but it wasn't really about Apollo 7. It
was about the post fire recovery told from the perspective of the pad
crew, blockhouse crew, and others who are usually in the background, not
at centre stage. Once Seven cleared the tower, the tension, self-doubt,
and apprehension that had dogged Apollo since the fire began to
dissipate. It was a good place at which to end the episode.

--
Dave Michelson

Wow, that was entertaining! Truly; I'm not being sarcastic at all. I
actually laughed out loud at your description. Nice writing!

"Pat Flannery" wrote in message
...


Greg D. Moore (Strider) wrote:

Wouldn't it be easier to buy the DVDs?

Easier, yes. Cheaper, no.

Bah, $60 used on Amazon. Well worth the better quality and the time you'll
save.




Heck, for the time spent, you could have worked at the local 7-11 at
minimum
wage and then bought the DVDs, a player and a huge Slush Puppie and come
out
ahead timewise. :-)


I hadn't seen around 1/3rd of the episodes, so I probably would have
watched the thing anyway.
I got everything except the one on the astronaut's wives.


Many don't like that one. I do. I think it gives a perspective not usually
seen.


Pat

Pat Flannery ) writes:
Greg D. Moore (Strider) wrote:

Wouldn't it be easier to buy the DVDs?

Easier, yes. Cheaper, no.

dvdpricesearch.com is your friend... g

Heck, for the time spent, you could have worked at the local 7-11 at minimum
wage and then bought the DVDs, a player and a huge Slush Puppie and come out
ahead timewise. :-)

I hadn't seen around 1/3rd of the episodes, so I probably would have
watched the thing anyway.
I got everything except the one on the astronaut's wives.

Having seen the series on both VHS and DVD ( Owning the latter ), I
would heartily recommend the DVD set.

Andre


--
" I'm a man... But, I can change... If I have to... I guess. "
The Man Prayer, Red Green.

"Pat Flannery" wrote in message
...

The show all this building tension between Wally and NASA as they get
ready for the flight, and then it just ends. Anybody who didn't know what
happened on that flight would be left wondering "what the hell was the
point of all that?" after watching it.

nah, they did a good job of linking the tension to the anxiety about fixing
all the pre-fire problems. It was clearly stated several times that Wally
had a lot of responsibility on his shoulders and was just trying to make
sure everybody got it right this time. I think most people who watch that
episode (especially if they already saw the Apollo 1 ep) would pick up on
that.

As a piece of pro-NASA propaganda, the thing is great. NASA is always
right, and if it does make mistakes they weren't due to any fundamental
problems at NASA, no siree! It was those stinking reporters, and meddling
Congressmen that are to blame... Tom Hanks' movies tend to resemble Frank
Kapra's - nice, and sweet, and wholesome, and more than a bit simplistic
and saccharine, and sappy.

erm...Philadelphia? Saving Private Ryan?

But since you are going to devote an episode to the flight of Apollo
7...then you might as well show what happened on the Apollo 7 flight.

well, ultimately what happened on A7 is they went round and round in circles
while bottled up in a tiny little spacecraft. Necessary for what came after,
hell yes. Dramatically interesting or relevant...nope.

Think about the casual viewer who doesn't know (or has forgotten) much about
the space program. It's easy to cover all the return-to-flight activities
and make them relevant from the post-fire standpoint, that tension is easy
to focus and highlight. But then if the show had to explain to the viewers
why they are watching three grouchy men running engineering tests on systems
that would really only be used for their intended purpose on later
missions...you lose a lot of your audience and might never get it back
again.

It's a great story, and I think the only people who wouldn't have enjoyed
seeing it are the guys from the NASA PAO.

I dunno, how compelling is witnessing PMS, or a constipated coworker, or a
boss who just got yelled at for something someone else did? That's really
what Wally's ****ing contest amounted to. More an embarrassment and an
annoyance than anything compelling or meaningful.

The Apollo 12 episode was great, and about the only really exciting thing
that happened on that flight was burning out the TV camera.

well, that and the lightning strike...

I have a strong suspicion that what the Apollo 7 episode started out as a
very different sort of beast indeed than what finally appeared on-screen.

that's pretty much a given for *any* TV show or movie, they all get
extensively rewritten and development-helled before they hit the screen. The
end results are often substantially different than the original script/story
idea.

One good example is Twister. You can find Crichton's original script at
Borders or Amazon. In the original, Jo's parents were still very much alive,
she was an amoral bitch, and Jonas Miller (it never occurred to me before
now that there were *two* Apollo alumni in that flick) was a pompous but
soft-hearted guy who *helped* Jo's crew. Quite a bit different than the
movie we all saw.

www.simplyscripts.com is a really good site that has downloadable scripts
from many films, plays, anime and TV shows. Some are final shooting scripts,
others are earlier versions.

--
Terrell Miller

"The military can't respond quickly to emergencies"

- Loren Thompson, a military analyst at the Lexington Institute in
Arlington, Va.