Re: [AFMUG] OT Movie Review

Sat, 13 Oct 2018 13:44:07 -0700

If you see the portrayal of the NASA operation as depicted in the movie Hidden Figures, you get the impression that the initial effort and operation was very chaotic and disorganized. I thought this was an excellent film about the (pre-Mercury) period just before Gemini and Apollo. It also paints a very unflattering picture of race relations in that time (but that was the point).


bp
<part15sbs{at}gmail{dot}com>
On 10/13/2018 1:07 PM, [email protected] wrote:
I guess if you are a very intelligent engineer that does not like publicity and avoids saying too much to the press you are a poor specimen?  He was reserved, reticent, humble.  In real life and in the movie. 
 
The fact was that Russia was kicking our ass in the race to space.  We came from behind and won through sheer grit, same way we won WW2?  Pretty exceptional if you ask me. 
 
If anything I think Russia was more exceptional in the technical abilities and engineering in the beginning. 
 
From: Ken Hohhof
Sent: Saturday, October 13, 2018 1:42 PM
Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT Movie Review
 

I just read an online review of the movie saying it debunked the myth of American exceptionalism and showed we put a man on the moon because we were stubborn, not exceptional.  Well, duh!  Maybe we can agree that America is exceptionally stubborn?

 

That review also says that the movie portrays Neil Armstrong somewhat negatively, but not to worry, Buzz Aldrin comes off much worse.  Not sure what that means.  But Buzz Aldrin will always be my hero for punching this asshole:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUE4VGWAap4

 

 

From: AF <[email protected]> On Behalf Of [email protected]
Sent: Saturday, October 13, 2018 10:11 AM
To: AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT Movie Review

 

</lent>

 

I did enjoy the soundtrack.  But it was not as remarkable as many movies. 

 

They showed the first footprint, a couple of shots of them hopping around on the moon. 

 

It showed Neil throwing a bracelet that had belonged to his daughter into a deep crater.  I have never heard of that happening.  I think they may have invented that scene.  That was really the focus of the EVA activity on the lunar surface.

 

Nice shot of the LM with the flag.

And when they left there is a shot of the LM and the retroreflector. 

 

But it was brief.  No shots of them lugging stuff around, taking samples ( one I guess) or assembling and installing the flag. 

 

This whole anti patriotic thing is some cooked up fake controversy.  Plenty of US flag waving by citizens of other countries when they were watching it on TV.  Flags on uniforms, USA on the side of the Saturn V etc etc. 

 

Of course the right loves to pick on the left at every opportunity (and vice versa) and Hollywood is probably 80% left. 

So someone strained at gnats to find something to become apoplectic over and it went viral. 

 

<lent>

 

From: Ken Hohhof

Sent: Saturday, October 13, 2018 8:23 AM

To: 'AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group'

Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT Movie Review

 

What about the soundtrack?

 

Ron Howard took some liberties with Apollo 13 but still everyone should watch it once a year.  If you don’t find it inspirational check to make sure you have a pulse.  Oh, and great soundtrack.

 

Another docudrama that is not 100% historically accurate but everyone should watch is Thirteen Days.

 

I would say anyone who thinks the Cold War was the best of times must not have lived through it, but how to explain Vladimir Putin?

 

 

From: AF <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Chuck McCown
Sent: Friday, October 12, 2018 8:36 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [AFMUG] OT Movie Review

 

First Man.

 

Some spoilers here but I think everyone probably knows how the story ends. 

 

First impression was I did not like the style of photography.  Too many shaky closeups. 

 

One sure fire way to make me choke up, my nose burn and cause my eyes to leak is to expose me to formaldehyde.  For some reason and am super super duper hyper sensitive.  Other wise I am pretty stoic.

 

The other sure fire way to cause this reaction is if I am exposed to material covering Apollo 1, Challenger or Columbia.  Odd emotional reaction every time.  I guess because I was so into all of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions when they were happening.  I built models.  Listened to the moon landing on the radio.  Totally geeked out to all of this stuff back in the day. 

 

They did not do a very good job in communicating the horrible end to the lives of the Apollo 1 astronauts.  Perhaps they did not want to traumatize the audience, but they made it seem like – boom – its all over.  The reality was much much more gruesome.

 

They overdramatized the uncommanded roll spin up of Gemini 8.  It was a big time emergency but the graphics had it spinning like a dryer on spin cycle.  I think max RPM was about 1 rev per second before Neil Armstrong finally isolated it to a reaction control rocket firing continually.  He killed the circuit breakers and was able to manually halt the roll.   I have spun airplanes at this rate.  It is not going to cause you to pass out.  If he was not able to stop the increase in roll rate it would have done so, but they guy knew the spacecraft and he knew there were only so many things that could cause this.  He did some basic troubleshooting and saved the day.

 

But the biggest thing that I disliked was them showing the inside of the space craft.  Panels, annunciators and switches that were dirty, worn and smudged.  Like some old bulldozer at a gravel pit instrument panel.  Almost as if they built the props from stuff they got out of an aircraft bone yard.  In reality, those things were brand spanking new and sparkling clean.  The photos exist...   Not sure why they chose the grunge. 

 

Even the headliner of the spacecraft and their ear muff thingies looked grungy and used. 

They also showed a Chicago connector on one of the hoses connected to the capsule.  Pretty sure a generic jackhammer air connector was not used. 

 

They glossed over the 1202 alarm a bit too much. (The book Digital Apollo is a great read about this).  They were more concerned about that than the movie lets on.  They showed a scene where Neil flew over a super deep crater while running out of fuel.  That never happened, he was just picking out a spot between the boulders. 

 

So, if you care about fine detail accuracy, you may not enjoy this too much. 

It is not nearly as good as a PBS special by any stretch of the imagination. 

 

 

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