Worst Episode? - From the Earth to the Moon (1998) Discussion

[–] arrowdynamixx 20 years ago

Definately Part 8: We Interrupt This Broadcast (Apollo 13).

Almost all of the mini-series is very true to the facts and tell real stories. I could see the need for the Lane Smith character, to fill in the details for the audience, but Part 8 was entirely a work of fiction, with no place in the series.

cheers

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[–] super_dude-geo 20 years ago

I really didn't like the last two. The wives club was kind of confusing as it jumped around alot, and the last episode was like 2 bad documentaries.

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[–] LadyDivia 20 years ago

I didn't care for the Apollo 7 episode or the Apollo 11 episode much, myself. I really liked "Spider" and "That's All There Is".

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[–] JoanHolloway1979 20 years ago

Absoloutley hated the Apollo 13 episode.

I have never wanted to reach into my tv and slap a character so much as that young journalist!

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[–] mibpatel2 20 years ago

I hated the Apollo 13 episode, "We Interrupt the Program." I expected to see a very interesting take on the Apollo 13 incident and instead I was treated to the backstory of a character who never existed in the first place. It hurts the series that they skirted over the incident in this manner.

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[–] brkennedy1 20 years ago

Actually I thought the Apollo 13 episode was quite an interesting way to present the story. We all know the story of what goes on in the ship and in NASA while the guys are stuck up there fighting for their lives, we've all seen that numerous times. But at the time, back on Earth, there were no photos only voices coming in from space. So being someone who had the misfortune of being born after the completion of Apollo progam, I thought it was very interesting to see Apollo 13 protrayed as it was seen by people back on Earth. It would have been easy to pretty much do what the movie did, and create a compelling story, but the writers and directors decided to try a more creative, more daring option and never actually show the crew. And I think they deserve some credit for trying something different.

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[–] debitts 20 years ago

I might correct just one statement you make. Part 8 was in no way "entirely a work of fiction,". The point to Part 8, per Mr. Hanks, was to show how the world reacted to the Apollo 13 mission. Initially, we were already so accustomed to space travel, that the television networks carried virtually nothing about the mission anytime during prime-time....until, of course, there was news that the astronauts might be endangered.

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[–] tiepilot-geo 20 years ago

Am I the only one who LIKED "We Have Cleared the Tower"? The filmmaker characters were a tad annoying, but nowhere near as annoying as the reporters in the tediously predictable Apollo 13 episode. I realize they couldn't redo "Apollo 13" but SOMETHING had to be better than what we got.

I didn't like "We Interrupt This Broadcast," I was not THRILLED with but have learned to tolerate "The Original Wives Club", got sick of Susan Borman having nervous breakdowns and the nauseating emphasis on Vietnam and assassinations in "1968" but the ending makes up for it (sorry, I am a post-boom baby raised by pre-boom parents and as such the whole culture of the '60s-'70s just makes me roll my eyes and wish they'd go away). "Eh" on "Mare Tranquilitatis" and "For Miles and Miles".

I *love* "Can We Do This?", "Apollo One" (cry every time), "We Have Cleared the Tower", "Spider", "That's All There Is", and "La Voyage Dans La Lune", and I absolutely ADORE "Galileo Was Right". Of course Jack Schmitt is the one astronaut I'd completely geek out over meeting, but I always did better in geology than physics. I got the DVDs for Christmas last year because I was wearing that tape out from the VHS box set.

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[–] JoanHolloway1979 20 years ago

I must admit, at the beginning of watching the series "We have cleared the tower" was not one of my favourites. Since getting the series on DVD and able to watch it more, its become one of my favourite episodes, and one that I quite frequently watch more than others. As annoying as the documentary people were, I thought it was a great episode and beautifully done (Love Max Wright as Gunter Wendt! ) as obviously these astronauts still had Apollo 1 in the back of their mind.

I hated "We Interrupt this Program", though I understand the point behind it, although I dont really like the last episode "La Voyage Dans La Lune"
I thought the Original Wives Club was a good one though, kind of let you in behind the scenes to see the impact of such a program on the immediate family of the astronauts.

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[–] Haohmaru 19 years ago

Part 8: We Interrupt This Broadcast, no doubt about it.
The best one IMO is part 5: Spider

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[–] kevinsmithf1master02 19 years ago

The Wives club.

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[–] CharlesP2001 19 years ago

Least favorite: The Original Wives Club
Second least favorite: We Interrupt This Program

The reason I didn't like "The Original Wives Club" was because of the constant breakdowns of the wives and the jumping around. "We Interrupt This Program" was boring and I didn't care to follow the news broadcasters around. I personally believe they chose a different focus for it because Apollo 13 had come out just 3 years earlier and everyone was familiar with the story.

My favorites: "Spider" & the story of Apollo 12 (That's All There Is?)

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[–] ccguy 19 years ago

I loved "We Interrupt This Program." I work in public relations and have a journalism background. The conflict between respectable fact-based reporting and emotional sensationalism was beautifully done. The "chess match" Emmett Seaborn played -- betting that NASA would cold-shoulder Brett Hutchins for his ambush tactics and gotcha reporting style -- was a great demonstration of an old pro trying to teach a valuable lesson while skillfully biding his time knowing that holding the high road would pay off. But he didn't count on NASA realizing they now had a huge public relations problem and wouldn't dare antagonize any reporter. That final twist, that slap in his face by the agency whose water he carried because he believed their mission ennobled mankind and that his profession could also be noble when glorified them, was a heartbreaking thing to see unfold.

This episode really imparted the feel of being outside NASA looking in as the events unfolded. The visitors gallery full of reporters silently watching Mission Control through the windows as they engage in cryptic communications with Apollo 13 -- how many dramatic events in history are actually made up of hours of mundane activities that aren't the least bit compelling to watch in real-time? Go watch any big-time murder trial and it's the same thing -- great headlines, but boring minutiae. For a show that had zero action in space, this was a superb space drama. As long as you're in the right frame of mind to appreciate it.

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[–] deSitter 19 years ago

No doubt - the one on the landing itself. Buzz Aldrin may have been intense but this program made him look neurotic. Neil Armstrong may have been aloof but he wasn't an automaton. They managed to suck out all the magic of the first landing. I remember vividly the atmosphere and the events themselves (I was 10), and it was all missing. This is one where they could have worked in some elements from the biographies of the three men themselves - how a kid from a small Ohio town ends up on the Moon, etc. Clearly also, this part of the story needs at least two episodes. There still is no definitive dramatization of the first trip off the Earth. Perhaps the event itself is too dramatic to be dramatized.

Having said that, to be positive - the real gem of this series is the "Original Wives' Club", wonderfully acted and very moving. Jo Anderson is sensational as a woman whose worst fears are realized, as are Rita Wilson and Elizabeth Perkins, as they try to cope with the fear and pressure of being an astronaut's wife. The entire episode gave me a bittersweet feeling for a disappearing generation of magnificent women. Ties with "Spider" as the best of the lot - if the former is a "chick flick", then this episode is the "guy movie".

All in all a very superior production, even in its dull parts.

-drl

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[–] JoanHolloway1979 19 years ago

I think i have to agree about the landing episode. After reading this, i realise its not up with the ones I regularly watch.

I definately agree with the First Wives comment. I dont believe noone ever thought of the women. So im glad they did something with it. Another one i watch often is the Apollo 15 episode and the Apollo 12 one. I think after the tension of the Apollo 11 one, the Apollo 12 is lighthearted and fun.

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[–] sojiroseta52 19 years ago

As a whole,I didn't like Ep. 2,"Apollo I".It had some touching moments,but dragged on too long.

"The Absolute Destiny:Apocalypse"
-Shoujo Kakumei Utena-

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[–] JoanHolloway1979 19 years ago

I actually liked the Apollo 1 Ep. I thought it was a touching tribute to Grissom, White and Chaffey.

Though, I do have to be in the right mood to watch it.

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[–] wosley 19 years ago

Buzz Aldrin was neurotic. read Michael Collins book'CArrying the fire" Walt Cunningham's book "the All American Boys" and Gene Cernan's "Last MAn on the Moon." They were all int he same astro group as Buzz. Also, each author is very different in character (at least from how their books read) but all have similiar descriptions of Buzz.

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[–] jonheilman 19 years ago

The Apollo 13 episode is my least favorite for many of the reasons listed above. Having said that, the worst of this series is still far superior to most TV/movie fare these days.

I really liked the First Wives Club simply because it was a story mostly ignored. The women did a superb job - particularly Jo Anderson as Pat White and Elizabeth Perkins as Marilyn Lovell. With Pat White you could just see something chaotic about the woman in every scene. Like she's just barely keeping a grip. Unfortunately, she lost it. I've never been too impressed with Mrs. Hanks/Rita Wilson, but she did a very good job IMHO.

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[–] dalbrech 17 years ago

"We Interrupt This Program" was the weakest.It was not bad,but compared to the others episodes it was fairly weak.Granted,the problem the producers had was that "Apollo 13" had just came out and they could not just retell the basic story,and the idea of doing it through the eyes of the journalists was a valid way of getting a new slant on it,but it was not well executed. The focus on Fictional characters was out of kilter with the rest of the series. But the producers and writers were faced with a real problem to do Apollo 13 and not just do a rehash of the film.
"The First Wives Club" was even more of a valid idea that has imperfect reputation. An episode focusing on the wives was a excellent idea, but the writing was often melodramatic and some of the actresses chewed the scenary a little.

I'll Teach You To Laugh At Something's That's Funny
Homer Simpson

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[–] ginahoy 18 years ago

I just finished Part 8, "We Interrupt This Broadcast", as I watch the mini-series for the first time. It seems this episode was more of a commentary on the times than even "1968", which was more like wallpaper. At issue is the beginning of the rather dramatic devolution of broadcast journalism from serious news reporting to ratings-obsessed entertainment. Not an unimportant story. But it felt out of place as a vehicle for telling the dramatic story of Apollo 13, especially given that it was completely fictional. I agree with others who feel this episode was largely unnecessary, given the highly successful movie, and should have made way for more in-depth coverage of other less well-known missions.

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[–] jgroub 18 years ago

Yeah, I agree with your assessment of this ep. They could have done a gloss over of Apollo 13, sort of like how they did with Apollo 10 at the end of the Spider. Speaking of which, I wish they could have expanded on the Apollo 10 mission a bit more, even if it were just a little bit. The question that always rang in my mind was whether there was a temptation for the Apollo 10 guys to land anyway. They could have covered this in 5 or 10 minutes.

They could have used the extra ep to do something in a completely different direction. How about an episode about the Russian moon missions/space program? Or world reaction to the Apollo 11 landing, making that one a two-parter, in essence. How about the Ranger and Surveyor robot missions, proving that they could land on the moon in the first place, and not sink into 20 feet of dust? It's fun to speculate, but it doesn't get us out of the box. I think I'll start another thread on that topic.

By the way, ginahoy, get the DVDs from your library or buy 'em or something - the broadcast versions are edited ever so slightly for time. You're not missing much, but you are missing some. And anyway, the series is pretty darn great, and the DVD is really good.

I asked the doctor to take your picture so I can look at you from inside as well.

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[–] ginahoy 18 years ago

Actually, I own the DVD's. I don't subscribe to HBO. Not sure why you thought otherwise.

Regarding Apollo 10, seems like there was a comment either in the movie or the book about this... something to the effect that management had anticipated this possibility and solved it by not including enough fuel. It was supposed to be a joke. But Chaikin's book described the actual reasons why an Apollo 10 landing would not have been possible. The LEM at that point in the program was simply too heavy to land. The one used on Apollo 11 was a new, lighter version. If I recall correctly, this was covered in the movie was well.

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[–] jgroub 18 years ago

Ah! The reason I thought you didn't own 'em is because the History Channel (or the Science Channel, one of the two - I forgot, but my DVR knows) is rebroadcasting the series each week right now, so I thought you had just seen it on good old fashioned cable like I just did.

And you're right, I recall their saying something like that about the LEM. I must be getting old.

I asked the doctor to take your picture so I can look at you from inside as well.

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[–] agent_tau 18 years ago

The Apollo 16 one (with the wives), I didn't enjoy much. I thought that the Apollo 13 episode was an interesting idea, seeing as the movie Apollo 13 was fairly recent - and to do an episode featuring the incident would just be a re-hash of the movie, IMO.

If Plan A doesn't work, you should have a Plan B, not Plan A recycled

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[–] wosley 17 years ago

The Apollo 13 episode was plain dumb. An episode about two fictitional broad casters? Showing the difference between the old school of news journalism and the new brash, respect nothing type? What does that have to do with Apollo 13 or the Apollo program? This episode should have focused on the crew selection process. The crew selection process for Apollo 13 is one of the best untold stories. Of course it makes Shepard and Slayton look terrible, but it would have been much more true to the Apollo story than some made up bit about ficticious Emmit Seaborn getting hosed by a fictional network becuase they like Jay Mohr better.

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[–] t_smitts 17 years ago

They dealt with the Apollo 13 and 14 crew switch in the following episode: "For Miles and Miles".

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[–] lseybold-2 17 years ago

Yes, and Alan Shepard says they're just being cautious by not letting him command Apollo 13. "How would it look if they gave it to me and something went wrong?" Good line!

"I am a collage of unaccounted for brush strokes, and I am all random!"

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[–] Marie-Chanteuse 17 years ago

My least favorite is "We Interrupt This Program" for all the reasons already mentioned. "For Miles and Miles" and "La Voyage dans la Lune" are kind of eh.

My favorites are "Apollo 1" (although I have to be in the right mood to watch it, as it's a very emotional episode), "Spider," and "That's All There Is." "Can We Do This?" and "Galileo Was Right" get honorable mentions.

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[–] NineEighteen 17 years ago

My favourite is the Apollo 15 episode "Galileo Was Right" and my least favourite is "We Interrupt This Program"...I think they could have made a really great episode of this one if they'd focused on some of the people behind the scenes at Nasa who were working to get the Astronauts home. It could have been a great snapshot of the time and really got across the point that these people sacrificed a huge chunk of their lives for the Apollo program.

A recurring theme when reading biography's from the period is that Nasa was pretty much closed off from the world for 10 to 15 years...it would have been nice to see the sense of community that must have existed in JSC and KSC etc...

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[–] johngineer 16 years ago

"Can We Do This", "Apollo I", "That's All There Is" and "Galileo was Right" are my favorite episodes, because they were simply damn good TV. Here's what I thought about the rest.

"We Have Cleared the Tower": I thought Wally Schirra (as he was portrayed in this episode) was a crybaby of the worse kind: a "tough-guy" crybaby. I got tired of him pretty quickly. Mark Harmon is a good actor, but he was wrong for this part.

"1968" was interesting because it made a valid point about the nature of human history. There are good years, bad years, and VERY bad years, but even in the darkest periods there is some light.

"Spider" was interesting from a technical perspective. It gave a window into the design process of the time, and illustrated just how many people labored to make the Apollo program work.

"Mare Tranquilitatis" illustrates what I've known all along: Buzz Aldrin should have been the first man to walk on the moon.

"We Interrupt This Program" has Jay Mohr playing the only character Jay Mohr knows how to play: a cocky, sleazy young turk. If you didn't like him in "Jerry Maguire" you'll like him just as much in this episode.

"For Miles and Miles" was meh. Alan Shepherd was a great and talented pilot, but a raging egoist too. It shows, and it gets old.

"The Original Wives Club" holds the distinction of being the only show produced for Lifetime that ended up being shown on HBO instead.

"Le Voyage Dans La Lune" is good. I personally liked it because I think Georges Melies was the first true cinema auteur in history, and I think his unique genius deserves to be recognized and seen by a wider audience.

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[–] soue37-1 16 years ago

This is the first time I've seen the series since I caught a few episodes when I was a kid. I really enjoyed the series. My least favourite episodes would have to be about Apollo 13 and The Original Wives Club. One seemed irrelevant while the wives episode lacked any real focus. That said this series was still great. I enjoyed Spider as well as Voyage Dans La Lune, but I found the episode about Apollo 11 slightly underwhelming considering the historic importance of the mission. I just wished that they had given us something better.

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[–] rp69 16 years ago

>>>>>>>>>I found the episode about Apollo 11 slightly underwhelming considering the historic importance of the mission.<<<<<<<<<<<<

Funny you should say that. I never really realized how underwhelming the Apollo 11 episode was until I saw the Hisory Channel's "Moonshot" telemovie last week. While the acting on FTETTM version was first rate and hisorically correct, it lacked the emotional punch and huge awesomeness that the "Moonshot" movie had. I definitely liked the HBO cast better though.

With "Wives Club" the producers wanted to cover all aspects of the Apollo Story.

As far as Apollo 13, they needed it to fill out the history of the program. Even though it was just covered a year before with a major motion picture. So they came up with the fictional Emmet Seaborn fighting for survival with the younger reporter with Apollo 13 in the backdrop. It made great drama with great acting, but had no business in the middle of a historic docudrama. They missed an opportunity to profile one of the greatest proponents of the moon era, Real-life newscaster Walter Cronkite. I'm sure they could have figured a way of writing him into the apollo 13 story, instead of pure fiction. Just a dumb wasted opportunity.

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[–] ae36 15 years ago

I have to agree with the many posters who say episode 8 "WITP" is the worst.

The producers of the mini must have had a tough call to make-- the Apollo 13 story is too good and too well known to leave out but by now (and because of the movie) almost everyone knows the story.

So how to tell it?

The method they come up with was a little lacking, IMHO.

I think the idea was to show how the decline of journalistic ethics began-- that the attitude of "anything for a story" has led the profession to the sewer it is today yadda yadda yadda etc. and so on.

The characters of Seaborn and Hutchison, the old and new are supposed to represent both ends of a spectrum.

Journalists always did take themselves way to seriously.

Anyway, I think a more gutsy call by the producers of the mini might have been to gloss over the Apollo 13 story and instead tell the story of Apollo 10.

My favorite episode hands down was "GWR".

AE36

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[–] Shaggy99 12 years ago

Yeah that's what I was thinking about the Mare Tranquilitatis episode. Very underwhelming and when it was over I was sitting there feeling very "meh"

I think what killed it was the end when the LEM was descending to the lunar surface and all that drama of things going wrong like the master alarm light going off and on. They dragged that scene on for too long and I kept thinking "C'mon we know they're gonna land on the moon lets just see it already." Then as soon as they hit the lunar surface it's over.

Yes you are reading my signature.

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[–] 12 years ago

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