By Barry Garron
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - High definition is not
just a way of making video look crisp and bright. It also is a
reason for making programs -- maybe the reason -- as "When We
Left Earth" suggests.
One can say, as the Discovery Channel does in its press
materials, that this comprehensive and authoritative six-hour
miniseries running June 8, 15 and 22 was produced to mark the
50th anniversary of NASA and the U.S. exploration of space. In
reality, though there is abundant history on the space program,
there is scant information that hasn't already been seen, heard
or written somewhere else.
What makes this mini different from all those other
projects is that, for the first time, we get to see rare NASA
footage -- sort of like the space agency's home video -- which
was removed from cold storage and transferred to high
definition just for this project.
And what footage it is. Not merely breathtaking space and
launch photos but clips that reveal the risks, danger and
anxiety of NASA employees and astronaut wives at each new
venture.
It is so simple and certain in hindsight but the NASA films
show the palpable tension in Mission Control, such as just
before Apollo 8 emerged from the dark side of the moon and
broke out of lunar orbit. Other highlights include training for
the unexpected, fiery rockets and the cool blue of an Earth
rise seen from the moon.
In between clips of vintage NASA footage (more than 100
hours of old film was converted to high definition for this
project) are bits of recent interviews with astronauts and
flight directors, often recollecting events of decades past as
if they had just happened that morning.
Like the space capsules themselves, this mini speeds
through its mission. Each of the first three hours, for
example, are spent, respectively, on the Mercury, Gemini and
Apollo programs.
Tune in to learn about the strategy of each launch and for
those amazing vintage films. Keep in mind, though, that with
the focus so squarely on NASA, there is little reference to
other concurrent but related events, such as domestic politics
or the Cold War.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
