Customer Reviews

Apollo 17 (Extended Collector's Edition)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

First of all... this set is all about loving the Apollo moon missions. If you do, then you have to have this set. If you don't, learn some background on Apollo and you'll appreciate it much better.

With 6 discs and hours and hours of footage (including all of the moonwalks from the mission) the set kept me busy for weeks. I watched this on TV when I was 12 and was fascinated... now I am even more astounded. Amazing how things look different, and how much more you notice as an adult.

Coolest things about the set: during launch you can select to listen to the astronauts talking to one another inside the capsule as they are launched. I've never heard that before and it is a hoot! Also, there are several angles of the launch to see, as well as a cool flyover of the landing site (which for this mission was very rugged).

One of the things I like best is that you can enjoy the footage without a filter... no one trying to "interpret" what is happening for you. (They annoyed me by stepping on the sound of the astronauts when I was 12, and I am sure they would annoy me now). I loved Cronkite and all, but would rather just hear what was happening!

There are other sets in this series that are also good... (Apollo 11, 15, 13 and others). I'm glad the stuff is finally available (and looks great on DVD) as I've been looking for it for years.

Highly recommended.

An incredible six DVD set encompassing the last manned flight to the moon in December, 1972. Mark Gray's Spacecraft Films has realized a dream for many Apollo Freaks that have wanted the best quality footage and video availiable of America's early space missions. Previously released bootleg videos of the Apollo moonwalks were copied from grainy film kinescopes, not the master videotapes. For this new set, Spacecraft Films made sure that nearly all of the lunar EVA video had been digitally enhanced and remastered from the master two-inch videotape reels that were stored at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. This results in that "live as it happened" look that only original master videotape can give you. Bravo, Spacecraft Films!

this spectaular set from spacecraft films continues the fine tradition set by pervious sets....

However due to the clunky amaray packaging 5 out of my 6 discs were bouncing around loose and scratched..(hopefully they will still play) be beware of this if you are purchasing

yes thats right , the nice outer and inner card slipcases that these sets used to have have been replaced by cheap and nasty plastic amarays. why? they look like asian bootlegs now

its now impossible to have a nice matching set on your shelves, its like having an enclopaedia with all the volumes differents sizes. lets hope spacecraft films see the error of their ways and produce packaging with some style and class again for those of us in for the full set

The complete footage of Apollo 17. Some 27 hours of raw material. Great for hardcore space buffs, space historians, Apollo freaks and the like, but likely very boring for the casually interested. No commentary, no music, no mounting... just the raw footage.

The packaging is ok, but as the reviewer before me already mentioned: there's a big chance that your dvds will arrive in a slightly damaged state (i.e. scratches) because they get loose during transport. My package was also broken and 4 dvds were damaged (but still playable, luckily). So, beware for this.

Anyhow, a big Compliment to Spacecraft Films for making this all happen!

Apollo 17, the last of the Apollo Missions, puts in the best performance
of all of Spacecraft Films Apollo DVDs. The closeups of Gene Cernan's
face when his Shield was up was so clear for footage taken 30 plus years
ago! Well worth the money!

It is full coverage of Apollo 17 mission. If you are used to watch NASA-tv then you probably know how it looks like. I was wondered that in these times they made so detailed documentary already.

This set contains a lot of TV footage, and not much 16mm film footage. Spacecraft Films says that TV footage provides a better picture quality, but I beg to differ.

Yes, the 16mm film footage converted to video is "choppy" because the framerates don't match, it's quality is excellent. The video is full 30 FPS, but it has "muddy" pictures.

The audio is sometimes incomprehensible. I had thought this was going to be a professionally digitized product, and I guess my expectations were too high. It could very well be that the source material prohibits any higher quality.

Let me just say I am glad I decided to buy only one of these, because I had thought of buying all of them.

This set does, however, contain a good historical coverage of the mission.

What we always wanted to see, but never got to see while it happen,
(because they always seemed to show this in the middle of the night
and we could look at some of it sometimes; the news was good, back then,
at showing something live for a long time.
but we had to go to school or work the next day and we had no recording devices.)
was all the details, like you are really there; science fiction come to life.
I don't think that could be boring for anybody who has any interest in this at all.
Man going to another world for the first time and you are really there.

I blame myself for not having this sooner because I didn't check back since
my first attempt in 2001 when I got a six VCR tape set, which was done like a public relations
docu-drama filled with speeches and cheering set to music, with only about 20% of it "on the moon" footage,
and that, highlights and the moon buggy.

This has been around since 2004, so I'm lucky I got this at all, because there is only
one vendor still offering this and I was wondering even about that when I got it late.
So, no one may even care about another review at all.

I haven't looked at all of this but some disappointments so far;
There is no commentary or audio that matches the video (mostly a noise),
for the onboard camera footage to the moon, what little there is, on disc one.
(Someone did see a flash on the moon!)
Just when they undock to decend to the moon, they put the camera to the window,
and we see the lunar landscape for a short while and than point the camera at a console
and we only hear them talk about...WHAT THEY ARE SEEING! (Were they afraid of what we might
see on live TV? Remember that flash!)
At least on disc two they do show, with matching audio, most of the final 10 miles of travel to landing.

*Also, for some reason, they can't show video while the buggy is moving. Now that is disappointing.
I could see that from a distance, at least, on the VCR tapes.
They have echo audio, but with some general mission stills.
Amazing how there is no frame of refrence there; what seems like a hill, is a mountain.

Just one little note about the mission...
When they first go out, EVA-1, it must be Schmitt because he talks to "Gene" (Cernan),
He never shuts up and has one problem or "mess up" after another.
I mean man, he was acting "Luney".
Seriously though, that was hard work.

Added Note: Yes, there is quite alot of them setting up and carrying out experiments
but I would want the video we do have uncut because that buggy camera is panning
and zooming quite often.
*(but 16mm film footage does exist from the buggy while it is moving; I have seen
examples of it on documentaries on TV; why couldn't that have been included?)

Apollo 17 was a great five star DVD by Spacecraft Films documenting the final Apollo mission to the moon from inception to splashdown. The features offered by this box set include: alternate views and perspectives of launch (i.e., view angles), excellent quality voice tapes and good quality 16 mm films from the interior of spacecraft and the surface of the moon, all recorded TV transmissions from the moon, etc.

The coverage provided by this DVD shows that we really had the business of flying to the moon perfected and then stopped going. You can witness TV of the astronauts literally falling over each other to get their busy work schedule completed. Their dedication and enthusiasm in completing their chores is unmistakable and an inspiration. It is also obvious from the TV coverage that an improved mobility spacesuit was sorely needed and probably still is.

I will make this short and sweet, if your a fan of the Apollo program or just the US Space program in general then this is a must buy. In fact, I highly recommend all of the documentaries from Spacecraft films. They are easily the best documentaries ever released on the US Space program. None of the other titles in existence even come close to matching what Spacecraft films gives you. These documentaries are extensive and usually contain most, if not all, of the video content known to exist for these missions. These guys try and find as much content as they can and ultimately this includes footage from NASA centers, the National Archives, Military archive repositories and even private collections. On top of that Spacecraft Films actually restores much of the footage so even if you have seen some of the footage before, you haven't seen it look this good.

This particular release is obviously focused on Apollo 17, the final Apollo Mission and believe me when I tell you its all here.

Disc 1 focuses on the mission training and the launch of Apollo 17. This title is extremely unique in regards to the launch as it was the only Saturn V launch to take place at night.

Disc 2 focuses on the landing and roughly the first half of EVA 1

Disc 3 focuses on the 2nd half of EVA 1 and the first half of EVA 2

Disc 4 focuses on the 2nd half of EVA 2 and the beginning of EVA 3

Disc 5 focuses on the rest of EVA 3 including the liftoff from the moon.

Disc 6 is basically the return home including the mission recovery footage.

Apollo 17 was not only the last Apollo mission, it was also the longest Apollo mission lasting a total of 13 days.

I will openly admit that these documentaries are not for everyone. Much of the footage is shown in its entirety and lets face it, people who are not hard core space enthusiasts will not find long periods of footage entertaining. For the MTV and special effects generation, a lot of this content will seem utterly boring. That's just the nature of the beast as a lot of what the astronauts had to go through will again seem boring to people with only a modest interest in the space program. They dont have orgies in the command module, this isn't Die Hard V in space, and it isn't a highly edited 30 minute NASA documentary on the Discovery channel. Some of these releases, like Apollo 17, have 6 DVD's in content. That is A LOT of content so to go in expecting that its all going to be exciting footage is just a huge mistake. With that being said, people who have a deep fascination with the space program and how it works will find these sets hugely educational and extremely entertaining. In other words if you dont consider yourself a hardcore space fanatic then your probably better off sticking with National Geographic, The Discovery Channel or BBC. These sets are designed for space enthusiasts who want to see everything or at least want the option to see everything.


The bottom line - If you consider yourself a huge fan of the space program then this purchase should be a no-brainer. This set does a remarkable job at detailing the entire Apollo 17 mission from start to finish. Spacecraft Films just gets better and better with each new release and this was imo one of their best sets yet. With that being said, if your expecting documentaries like you see on The Discovery Channel or National Geographic then you will probably find this set disappointing. Those documentaries take the most exciting footage and edit it into a 30-45 minute documentary and you will get none of that here. This is Apollo 17 in its entirety. Again definitely a set for the die hard space enthusiasts.

5 Stars and then some!!