Customer Reviews

Apollo 11: Men on the Moon

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I have been wanting someone to do this for years. The first memory that I can recall is at age four watching the telecast of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walking on the moon, and I have been hooked ever since. There have been many excellent Apollo documentaries over the years since, but this is a totally different concept.

Instead of taking the strict documentary approach and editing the raw materiel until only the subjective 'best' materiel is left, the producers show basically all the uncut, raw materiel, frequently from different perspectives or with different options. Examples here are watching the Lunar Landing film taken from the LMP window synched with numerous different soundtrack options such as the Flight Director Loop, the TELCOMM (later TELMU) loop (which is of particular interest during the 1202 and 1201 Program Alarms), the PAO loop, or the onboard recorder from Eagle. Similarly, you can select up to six different angles to watch the launch from.

This set is simply amazing to watch. It includes all the TV transmissions and onboard 16 mm film. If you are interested in Apollo or space exploration, you absolutely must have this DVD set. You will love it.

My ninth birthday was July 20, 1969, some guys walked on the moon. Yawn.

My Dad kept nudging me to stay awake and to make me remember this historical moment in time... I tried, but I was sleepy. The picture was fuzzy on our 9 inch tv screen. He told me by the time I was a grown up people would be taking their vacations on the moon! (he was a little off on that predicton!)

The 3 dvd set "Apollo 11, Men on the Moon" gives you everything you could possibly want in recapturing that impressive moment so many years ago. The film, the tv, the audio of the astronauts and mission control doing an incredible feat with grace, skill and yes, heroism. If it had a commentary track with the astronauts I would probably never leave my house, so that is the only thing that could make it better, as it is, it comes as close to perfection as humanly possible.

When there is no video of a certain point in the EVA, the producers give you the pictures the astronauts took from the surface of the moon along with the real-time audio of the events taking place.

NASA has put out some terrible looking videos over the years, with some horrific sound tracks, this IS THE REAL DEAL, exactly what I have been looking for and I am so glad I found it!

The critical moment when the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) was about to land on the moon, there were a few error messages called out from Mission Control, an alarm on the computer was going off, the guys on the ground analyzed it and said they were go for landing on the moon, and then during landing, Armstrong came to within 30 seconds of running out of fuel.... it really is amazing that these folks did this in 1969.

The producers of this dvd give you the chance to just listen to the astronauts, or just to mission control, or to hear a 5.1 surround mix, and listening to Gene Kranz do the poll for landing, Go, NO GO, was a huge thrill to me. I got chills. I got chills just thinking about it just now!

Separating the audio tracks, and giving the viewer the use of the "angle" button to choose what video to watch is a great bonus and shows the extent to which the producers of these dvds know how to pack in the quality, for example on Disc 2 for the EVA, on angle 3 you can watch the 16mm film from the LMP window on the LEM, the TV downlink, the Hasselblad still images and an EVA training film ....wow! That sure beats that scratchy NASA video with the wonky music on the sound track!!!

Kudos to this team of media giants at Spacecraft Films, they made this dvd series a wonderful experience and I am looking forward to more of their offerings!

I am a huge Nasa Fan and am really sick of the lame DVD sets that have been released in the past!!! I have really wondered why Nasa never released comprehensive footage of not only the missions in space but also what goes on behind the scenes to make these voyages possible. Well my prayers have been awnsered. This 3 DVD set shows everything from assembling the actual rockets to the training that the astronauts undergo to take such a trip.

Almost everyone in the world has seen armstrong set foot on the moon and have heard the infamous statment "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind". Thats it though, we have never been alowed to see much of anything else. Well this DVD set makes up for all of the waiting. Not only does it give complete footage of the entire moonwalk, but also complete footage of the film made of the moon itself from Apollo while buzz and armstrong were on the moon. One of the best parts of this DVD is the actual takeoff from the launchpad which can be viewed from, If I remember correctly, 7 different views which can be swiched at a moments notice with the angle button on your DVD remote.

Other great footage includes all the broadcasts which were made for the television viewing audience. There is really too much on these DVD's to go into detail about. If you are a fan, such as I am, of the space program then buy these without a question. I have just read that the additional DVD's that are coming out will be 6 DVD's, not 3. I cant imagine how good these are going to be. Anyways to sum it up these are amazing, facinating and quite simply the best footage ever relaesed to the public for the amazing voyages. My only complaint is that it took this long to release these. Enjoy, I know I have!!!

When we set out to create this series of DVDs, we wanted to achieve something that all of the previous accounts of a documentary nature had not - to present this material without a filter, in a way to allow the viewer to see the maximum amount of material - both video and audio - in the best quality possible. In short, as lifelong students of the U.S. space program, we wanted to put together a collection the way we wished to see it - the way it happened.

Most importantly, we set out to present the complete television transmissions and onboard motion picture film for individual missions - material that just hasn't been available before. This material is purposely left in its original form, albiet with new digital transfers, color correction where necessary and possible, and digital noise reduction.

To do this we realized we would have to use certain unconventional methods. For example, we wished to present multiple angles of footage from rollout, suitup, etc. To do this required us to use different angles out of context, so that from time to time certain events were shown a couple of times so that the varied angles could be presented. Unless one realizes this was done to present multiple angles one might mistake it for material out of order.

Nearly all of the 16mm film from EVA training, suitup, astronauts visiting the launch pad (all of which was re-transferred from the original using modern, digital telecines) was shot silent, and since we also wished to present as much audio as possible from mission events such as countdowns, we have married this audio to that footage. The result is the maximum amount of primary source material available on the subject and results in important audio from other events used on previously silent film.

Lastly, especially for launch vehicles, we wanted to present the material we had only previously seen in short clips on documentaries, such as pad cameras, in its entirety. For those interested in the creation and flight of these vehicles, this material is fascinating, and filled with insightful information.

Much of the material on these sets is presented, purposefully, the way it was shot. Some of the Hollywood storytelling created on this subject is wonderful, we love that, too, but as a chronicle of the greatest explorations of mankind the material deserved to be presented without such a filter. This is the way it happened, and it is amazing.

Very soon in 2004, a six-disc chronicle of Apollo 15 and a three-disc edition on the Saturn V will be released.

When I was 7 or 8 years old, my uncle showed me couple of photos of man walking on the Moon, which he recived from NASA (in the 80's NASA was occasionally sending free photo sets to people in Poland). The pictures where great, I watch them over and over. I regreded that first manned landing on the Moon took place ten years before I was born. I regreded that I hadn't chance to to see it live. Since the time I saw those pictures I was constantly searching for any kind of materials concerning Apollo missions (and of course any of early manned spacecraft missions). But specially I was dreaming of seeing Apollo 11 mission as other people where able to see it in 1969.

This DVD set is as my dreams came true. And ever more. It contains so much materials that I didn't ever expect to see.
Most of the people on Earth saw at least the small piece of lunar EVA, with "one small step for man" but here you will see complete EVA (two and a half hour long, three angles - TV camera, 16mm camera and composite of both + still photographs, all with air to ground audio transmission and post-flight debrief commentary). And there is more. You can re-live exciting waiting during launch countdown, you can relive perfect splashdown. You can see preparations of Saturn, Columbia and Eagle, preparation and training of crew. You can see live aboard Columbia, great pictures of lunar surface during lunar orbit flight as well as during lunar landing and ascent. You can re-live one of the greatest advetures of mankind. Every second of materials on those DVD is great. Just GREAT!!

If you have any interest in space exploration you simply must have this DVD set (and most of other sets in Spacecraft Films collection). It is worth it's price (and even extra import tax price, like in my case ;-) ).

Wow! This is awesome. My favorite movies ever are of course From the Earth to the Moon and Apollo 13. I have also seen many, many lame "space" videos. This one does not disappoint!

From the footage to the music, packaging, menus, etc., the whole thing is very professional. At times you get to see as many as 5-way picture-in-picture (launch) and up to 5 or 6 audio channel choices (During the landing). It obviously took a ton of work to get this together, and they included every bit of footage that was usable.

As someone who was too young to view the Apollo missions, what struck me is that watching this makes it feel like you're watching it live! You can sit there and watch the Saturn 5 vent off Oxygen for the last 20 minutes of the countdown, if you want to! It also struck me that the launch video (number of cameras and angles, if not quality) is probably as good or better than what they have now for Shuttle launches.

I'm drooling in anticipation of the 6-DVD Apollo 17 mission to be released (should be available by now).

In short... I've been hoping to have this material for 30 years. Having seen glimpses of footage in documentaries over the years, this set finally provides all the material in one place - with excellent quality. Seeing the launch from multiple angles and hearing Armstrong describe the final approach as the film from the LM window goes by is about as close as you can get. Included is footage of training, rollout, launch, all the TV transmissions, film, EVA, and recovery. I'm hopeful more missions are to come! Highly recommended.

This is not a polished, "sit back and eat popcorn" documentary ala National Geographic or Nova. It is a collection of raw NASA video and audio feeds. Where there is commentary, the commentator's delivery while rather bland is filled with facts and figures (as in the section on the Saturn V in the Vehicle Assembly Building).

That being said, it is an AWESOME collection of video and audio, things you didn't see in the network news coverages. There's even audio of Armstrong and Aldrin during a post-mission technical debrief on the lunar approach under video of the approach with graphics describing the technical terms used in the discussion. In many cases multiple audio tracks are available. In the lunar approach you can listen to the Flight Directors loop, full LEM on-board voice recorder, air-to-ground, etc. I only wish they would have included more, particularly of the initial earth orbit and preparation for the trans-lunar injection burn.

Excellent! A definite must-have for any serious space junkie.

This is not the only DVD set that I would get on Apollo 11, but I believe it is an important one to have. I'm only 27 years old and I feel that I was greatly brought up to speed on what happened with the Apollo 11 mission during the summer of 1969.

The raw, continous footage shown that was accompanied by the actual air and ground communications was surprisingly satisfying. Surprising, because I wasn't entertained at first. No, instead, this DVD set, without hardly any narration, gave me a greater appreciation for what was experienced and accomplished during Apollo 11's flight. Man, I love it.

I've been waiting for this for a long time. This is like owning a piece of history. If there were VCR's at the time, this is what you would have wanted to capture. But now you can own it in all of its DVD splendor. Excellent narration when needed, you'll learn stuff you probably never knew. A must-have, I would view this as more historical record than documentary, which is exactly what I have been waiting for.