Yes, an actual rocket that would take a Saturn V up to outer space, and then let it launch from there! It's an insane idea, but it was a real proposal. I was very surprised about the drama surrounding Dr. Werner Von Braun, but I'm glad at least the issues with the man were covered in the show.
Depending on who you ask Werner Von Braun was a hero or a villain. Some of my British friends think he's a villain.
Yes, the show went into this. "Operation Paperclip" took 1600 Nazi scientists and technicians and basically offered them clemency in return for going to work for the U.S. government, and I think Von Braun was one of them. They definitely did terrible things during WWII. The quote attributed to Von Braun was basically, "hey, I just designed the rockets -- it's not my fault they aimed them at London." But he certainly was aware of what was going on and couldn't fight it. Operation Paperclip - Wikipedia
It's a worthwhile moral debate. Does what he did in later life - getting man to the Moon - outweigh what he did earlier - raining terror on London and employing slave labor?
In my opinion it doesn't. Life is KING and its preservation is on top of everything else, even if that means taking the first men to the Moon.
So the USA should have thrown him in jail? The Soviets had no such moral compunctions with their captured German scientists.
Don't ask me,the US may have asked the families whose relatives died on the Nazi's Great Britain bombing.
Britain supported the U.S. in the space race, and as far as I know never registered any objection to employment of the captured scientists. One of my favorite characters from World War II, Juan Pujol, a Spanish double agent working for the British and pretending to be working for the Nazis, was awarded the Iron Cross by Hitler for his "bravery" for being in London while the bombs were falling. He was actually in a completely different city, and all of his "targeting correction" reports back to the Germans were specifically designed so subsequent bombs would fall harmlessly into the countryside. And for that he was awarded an MBE by King George. What's the point of this story? That things are often a lot more complex than black and white.
Or that British POLITICIANS supported the US (and Spain too,one of the receiving stations was in Arganda Del Rey,near Madrid), some British citizens may think diferently because Von Braun's involvement. You said it, more complex than black and white, and all the shades of grey may be in between.
Four episodes in. Is it getting better? I think it's to sloppy. It started out fine but once the russians put a woman on the moon, the writers made everything that is NASA seem so easy, like anyone could do it, and fast.
I don’t think that’s really accurate. They had one woman die on the lunar landing module simulator, for goodness sakes. They show women getting weeded out in the survival drill and other tests. They address the issue that the male astronaut’s wife is only in the program because she’s hot. While there is some suspension of disbelief required, this is a fictional TV show, after all, I don’t think they portray the astronaut training as easy or a breeze. On the flip side of that, there’s no reason to think that there weren’t smart and qualified women in the real world 60s and 70s who could have been astronauts if given the chance, but of course they were not given the chance.
I'm still recovering from my experience with iTunes on my Windows machine, and have sworn never to use any Apple software on anything not actually built by Apple.
As I said earlier in the thread, I enjoyed the first season. However, I have a problem with stories like this (and to a much greater extent The Man in the High Tower) that start with the premise of a different history. I prefer shows like Chernobyl that are somewhat fictionalized and dramatized but at least present information that some sources support, and make an effort to recreate what really happened. Or Mad Men, that was a fictional drama but gave constant reference to real events in recent history, e.g., Cuban missile crisis, JFK assassination, etc., and how they effected the fictional characters. Real events are hard enough to understand, so it makes little sense to me when we get these shows built on untrue events.
The only thing the Apple app doesn't allow you to do is view iTunes Extras. If I care that much about extras though, I buy the disc. As for iTunes on Windows, it serves as nothing more than a storefront for me. I had a good experience using Apple's computers but they're pretty ridiculously overpriced. You can get a more capable feature set building your own PC and running Windows on it.
Episode five. Some of the dialog and writing is a real drag. I want to feel inspired and in awe, but I am mostly annoyed and bored. Since I've already paid for a month I'm going to see this through I guess. But I think I'll need a mid season break, and watch The Right Stuff and Apollo 13 before I continue with this endeavor
I find it difficult to be too patriotic simply by accident of birth, yet as an American I see one irrefutable technological leap that gives the USA justifiable bragging rights as a nation: landing men on the moon. This show took that away and it felt incredibly uncomfortable. Even more uncomfortable than watching that Human Centipede flick or Serbian Film. I guess it's my nature as a space nut and the long engrained flag-waving that let me watch only the first 20 minutes before turning it off. I had no such visceral reaction from watching The Man in the High Castle. But this? It seemed well-made enough to keep me glued to the chair, but starting off with JFK's promise - which we know was fulfilled - but then telling us that it didn't happen, honestly, I felt agitated inside. I even sat there thinking, "Don't be a wimp; you like the feeling in your gut of discomfort from fiction - it's doing its job; you like controversy; just go with it." Yet I felt so bad for poor Jack. He never saw his vision fulfilled, and while I'm aware that there were political motivations during the original space race, there was also a legitimate "fairness" in the race, that it wasn't rigged. That means something, when often greased palms get things done in the USA, and our dealings with foreign nations. That wasn't the case with sending man to the moon. George Carlin said that "Pride should be reserved for something you've accomplished yourself..." and I believe that. Sending man to the moon was as close to a national accomplishment as you can get. But more than that, it was an accomplishment that had a positive impact on the rest of the world, without the USA meddling where we don't belong. As a collective of citizens, we proved that we belonged, and to take that away was a punch to the gut. I still find it strange that I felt that way while watching. I was looking forward to it, but it ended up harsher than had Germany and Japan won WWII. The Axis powers winning the war was too far fetched to take completely serious, because in-depth research reveals that the Soviet Union's involvement would never have allowed it to actually happen, but I found it easy to go along with the premise, as The Man in the High Castle showed an alternate reality inside of an alternate reality. This show was just too much to bear, and not because of the USSR's geo-political influence, nor the semi-mythical threat of communism reaching American soil, but because of the reasons mentioned above. Our landing on the moon was, and always will be, America's greatest won fight.
I know that every quote on the internet that isn't attributed to George Carlin is generally attributed to either Mark Twain, Dorothy Parker or Confucius. Do you recall Carlin saying this himself? By the way, I think you should give the show another chance.
