The Sword and Laser discussion

I know this has been out for a while. It was in some theaters this spring, and CNN aired it a few weeks ago. But I just this evening took the time to watch it as a VOD. I have to say, wow this is a wonderful piece of film making and story telling in general. With the exception of a few simple graphics and fonts, all of the visuals are archival footage. And I believe all audio not part of the score is also archival. There is no over narration, and no modern interviews. This makes for a very unique way of telling a story, and yet it completely works. I give full props to those who produced it. The editing, directing, and sound mixing are just done so well in the service of telling this story. It makes it so compelling, even if you know exactly what is going to happen.

IIrc, this is the exact opposite of Apollo 13 where they used no archival footage in creating any of the launch or other visuals for that film. I think the fact that both of these films do such a good job and seem so internally consistent is a credit to both sets of filmmakers, and was a hell of an accomplishment for both.

I'd recommend anyone who has even a passing interest in space, or even film/ story telling watch this, I don't think they will be disappointed.

Also if you're not listening to Thirteen Minutes to the Moon, you're really missing out.

And if you're in the DC-ish area, probably worth checking out the Saturn V projected onto the Washington Monument. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/...

terpkristin wrote: "Also if you're not listening to Thirteen Minutes to the Moon, you're really missing out."

Thanks Kristin, just downloaded the whole series to my phone.

I made it a point to see it on the big screen to really appreciate the original large format the newly found footage was filmed on. 💯

terpkristin wrote: "Also if you're not listening to Thirteen Minutes to the Moon, you're really missing out."
Agree wholeheartedly!

I went looking to see if we had a thread dedicated to "Thirteen Minutes to the Moon", but couldn't find it, so I assume it was just mentioned here and maybe a few other places.

Anyway the reason for the post, is I just got a promo in my podcast feed about this coming back soon, and they are doing Apollo 13. Sounds like something I'm very much looking forward to.

terpkristin wrote: "Also if you're not listening to Thirteen Minutes to the Moon, you're really missing out."

Wow!! Thanks for the heads up! I had no idea of this series; seems perfectly fascinating.

Also:
John (Nevets) wrote: "...With the exception of a few simple graphics and fonts, all of the visuals are archival footage...."

I'm bummed to have missed the movie in theaters, and am yet to see it, but love this observation :)

Yeah I’m very excited for their follow-on

The podcast is pretty great, even for folks already steeped in this stuff.

I have Apollo 11 in my library queue, so I’ll likely watch that next week when I get home.

+1 for the podcast recommendation. I was listening along as season 1 was released, and it was my favorite of several episodic audio projects centered around the 50th anniversary of the Apollo XI landing.

I am also looking forward to their second season focused on Apollo XIII.

It doesn't hurt that they have an awesome theme composed by Hans Zimmer.

Just in case anyone missed it. Today is the 50th anniversary of the call from space that made history.

"Houston, we've had a problem"

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/50-years...
https://www.space.com/apollo-13-50th-...

The podcast mentioned earlier in this thread by terpkristin, "13 minutes to the Moon" has been doing a Second season podcast of the Apollo 13 mission.

It was due to finish up this week to align with the 50th anniversay, but Kevin Fong is a British doctor and is, unsurprisingly, busy with the coronavirus pandemic in Britain.