From the Earth to the Moon (DVD, 2005, 5-Disc Set)

The writers of From the Earth to the Moon did an excellent job of distilling compelling stories from the Apollo moon missions. Most of the episodes are both entertaining and educational. Therein lies the problem with creating stories form real world events, people already know most of the story. The Apollo 11 episode was probably the weakest of the series, as the program basically focuses on explaining the technical achievement of reaching the moon. I found the stronger episodes concerned the Apollo missions no one would know anything about. One of my favorites was about the development and test flying of the Lunar Lander, which I knew little about.

Honestly, if your significant other is not interested in the space program you will probably end up watching these programs solo. Production value and acting are outstanding. I wish I had purchased this a long time ago.

Special note for educators: If you are looking for something to run in your classroom here are a couple of suggestions. Most episodes have some mild use of profanity.
History: the 1968 episode did a good job of illustrating the events and moods of that very historic year. Ends with the first mission to leave Earth’s orbit (Apollo 8).
Science: Part 10 Galileo Was Right. This episode focuses on getting the astronauts interested in geology and explaining why collecting the right moon rocks was crucial to explaining the origin of the moon.

From the Earth to the Moon is a documentary that Tom Hanks was the executive producer for. HBO put out the series a few years ago, but they are so well done, they are timeless. This documentary gives us the space race from 1961 with Kennedy's speech, to the last of the Apollo missions in the mid 1970's. Each documentary shows a little different piece of the picture. Some show one of the Apollo missions, but others show what it was like to be the wife of an astronaut, what it was like to be a news reporter, the new guy in space, one shows major events in 1968 and the effect on a family, why astronauts need to be geologists, and the making of the Lunar Module.

It is so well done that I actually feel like I have been to the moon and back. I feel like I understand the space race as if I had been alive at the time. Like a good book, I couldn't put it down. I watched one right after another. I haven't seen the special features yet, but they appear promising. This documentary is worth the money if you have any interest in astronomy or the 1960's. Tom Hanks really did his homework and produced an excellent feature.

This is a five(5) DVD box set with four(4) DVD's for the series "From Here to the Moon"(HBO)and one(1) for bonus features.

The series is about the journey to the moon from the end of Gemini through Apollo 17 by way of the people who had to make the decisions needed to get there. It is a vicarious experience with many various twists and turns as the actors portray the lives of those closely involved the director/managers, engineers, mineralogist/geologists, astronauts & wives of the astronauts.

The bonus features are never enough for me and this is no exception even though they're on a separate disk. One bonus feature shows that this is as close to the real thing as you are likely to get. Is it live or is it Memorex.

If the moon landings where faked watch the bonus features to find out how they did it. If it wasn't faked watch the series and see how they did it in a generalized overview outsider sorta way.

I rarely watch anything twice this is an exception. If you are a total space geek then you may be disappointed because of details you think are left out but it is a vicarious experience containing tiny snipets of the lives of the people involved along with some historical commentary over a period of about a decade compressed into the few hours of the series.

This is one of the finest pieces of movie making that I've ever seen. It chronicles the US Space program from the early days of the first manned expeditions to the walk on the moon. The acting and direction is suberb. The music is also incredible, it fills you with emotion which helps bring you into the movie. You will laugh and you will cry watching this movie, it brings out so many emotions. There are 12 parts in this movie each directed by a different director, like Tom Hanks, Sally Field, Frank Marshall, and more. I personally have seen this movie 6 times and could sit and watch it another 6 times. It originally was broadcast on HBO as a mini-series and won the Golden Globe for Best Mini Series and an Emmy for Outstanding Mini Series. This is a MUST SEE movie for anyone who is interested in space exploration and superb movie making. After renting this movie 5 times to watch it, I finally broke down and bought a copy of it.

Being a great fan of "Apollo 13" with Tom Hanks, Gary Sinise, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton and or course Ed Harris, I always wondered why another movies on the Apollo missions hadn't been made, especially Apollo 11. In France, where I live, the "From the Earth to the Moon" series have received very little publicity and I believe they were never broadcast except, maybe on some far-fetched satellite channel.
It's when I bought "Band of Brothers" on Amazon.com that I learned about the "From the Earth to the Moon" series and, after watching some sequences on Youtube, I decided to buy them.
I haven't seen them all yet, but I couldn't help from watching directly "Mare Tranquilitas" and I was thrilled. The landing sequence is breath taking and is a great tribute to the men that worked for this great achievement.
Then I watched "That's all there is" about Apollo 12. Frankly, I thought it would be hard to make a good episode about Apollo 12 after the one about Apollo 11. There is nothing really sensational about Apollo 12 but the episode is, so far, my favorite! It's just hilarious, which brings really a new insight about the Apollo missions.

I'm definitely a french and great fan of "From the Earth to the Moon" and of HBO for their other great historical series like "Band of Brothers" and "John Adams" and I'm impatiently waiting for the next one!