Product Details

• Actors: Spacecraft Films
• Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 3
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• DVD Release Date: August 19, 2003
• Run Time: 360 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00009Y3VM
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #118,360 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Own a piece of history! This 3-disc set - over 6 hours in all - chronicles America's new breed of launch vehicles with comprehensive footage from the film and videotape records of the Saturn program. Features exceptional, never-before-seen footage of the development, preparation and launch of the first Saturn rockets. Includes a 43-minute original program featuring exclusive interviews with key figures in the development of the Saturn rocket program.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comments from the producer, February 15, 2004

By	Mark Gray "mgray194" (Charlotte, NC) - See all my reviews

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.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A definite "must have" for NASA-philes, August 22, 2003

By	Karen (Merrillville, Ind.) - See all my reviews

If you have a NASA addict in your family, this (and the other three titles in the series) are a "must have". I enjoyed the documentary (approx. 40 min.) but the other 5+ hours is just NASA footage, without narration, from various observation cameras. Boring, you say? Yes, I do, too. But I bought them for my husband, and it's probably the best gift I've given him in the past 20 years. If you put any rocket on the screen he's hooked, but with these DVDs he enjoys the multi-angle aspect, and will watch the same blast off from all possible angles. This is not everyone's cup of tea, obviously, but if you have to get a gift for someone who is fixated on the American space program, you can't get much better than this. I expect to find the Apollo sets more interesting, but he started watching the Gemini and Saturn sets first.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Documentary + NASA Archival Footage, June 23, 2004

By	David Carlin (Philadelphia, PA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This set is quite good. Very good transfers of original NASA films of Launches from the earliest Saturn Rocket to the 1B. Note this set does not include the Saturn V launches and is contained on a different DVD Set.

The Series starts off with an excellent documentary on the Saturn Rockets. NASA hoped to use existing rockets as clusters to create the 1B rocket. It was hugely successful and was later re-used for later Soyuz docking flight.
The archival launch films highlight just about every angle, from the lauch pad, from below the rocket, above the rocket, etc and it was great to see this. It is nice to see that the film transfers look as well as they do. I've seen older NASA film transfers that basically look like they were filmed off a projection screen. These appear to be digitally scanned per frame. I recommend this highly.