Apollo 15 - Man Must Explore (Extended Collector's Edition)

Studio: 20th Century Fox
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
Mankind's greatest adventure is remembered for the digital age. The DVD format changed the way we look at movies and especially TV series, with massive complete-season sets. That concept is spectacularly taken one step further with Spacecraft Films' definitive collections of the Gemini and Apollo space missions, stuffing in nearly every scrap of TV transmissions and on-board footage. The three- to six-disc sets use the full functions of the DVD format; see a liftoff in six different angles (some remixed with 5.1 sound) or listen to a mixture of air-to-ground communications, official NASA narration, or post-flight debriefings, most often carefully synched to the exact moment of footage seen. Like any good research paper, every bit of footage may not be interesting, but taken as a chronicle of history, it's irreplaceable.

The fourth landing on the moon was a big step up for the Apollo missions--color TV cameras, more flexible suits, and a rover to take astronauts David Scott and Irwin several miles around the Hadley Rille hills--the most dramatic terrain of any of the moon shots. With all the new technology came a lot more film (21 hours), much of which is the very watchable, yet grainy feeds that were seen on millions of TVs in July 1971. You also get the audio-only portions when the rover moves between the station stops--long moments of static, thankfully accompanied by many of the still shots by the astronauts. The clarity of the 16mm segments is always a welcome sight, although surprisingly little was shot on the moon. Two split-scene sequences of the lunar module leaving the moon are excellent. Those who are moon-shot newbies may scream for an editor, or at least a short documentary (or Walter Cronkite) explaining the terms, mission goals, who's who, or what the "Genesis rock" is (it's an ancient moon rock, far different from the others). Except for a quick CGI segment of the landing site and a DVD booklet, there is no outside explanation. --Doug Thomas
Description
In July and early August of 1971, NASA embarked on an ambitious and challenging lunar mission - the journey of Apollo 15 to the Hadley-Apennine region. The first of the "J" lunar missions, Apollo 15 took the first Lunar Rover to the surface, allowing the crew to explore the beautiful region of Mt. Hadley and Hadley Rille over 3 days. New science was conducted in orbit as well, with the addition of an array of photographic and scientific instruments in the Apollo CSM. This 6-disc set tells the amazing story of Apollo 15 through compelling sounds and images of the film and television record of the mission. From training on the Lunar Rover to the first live liftoff from moon, you'll be there for each moment of the TV downlink and each foot of onboard motion picture film. Included are the raw television transmissions from the flight to the moon, all three moonwalks, plus the lunar liftoff, Trans-Earth EVA, in-flight press conference and more. This set also contains multi-angle views of liftoff and coverage of recovery through the statements of the crew on the carrier deck. You'll discover Hadley Rille as you've never seen it before.

Apollo 15: Man Must Explore
Average customer rating:

Apollo 15-A Complete Success!

Relive the great exploration of the Hadley Rille and Mountain

Apollo 15: Man Must Explore
Starring: Al Worden, Jim Irwin and the thousands who worked on Apollo. Dave Scott
Director: Mark Gray
Manufacturer: Spacecraft Films
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000HOJ3J8
Release Date: 2004-04-13

Product Description

In July and early August of 1971, NASA embarked on an ambitious and challenging lunar mission - the journey of Apollo 15 to the Hadley-Apennine region. The first of the "J" lunar missions, Apollo 15 took the first Lunar Rover to the surface, allowing the crew to explore the beautiful region of Mt. Hadley and Hadley Rille over 3 days. New science was conducted in orbit as well, with the addition of an array of photographic and scientific instruments in the Apollo CSM. This 6-disc set tells the amazing story of Apollo 15 through compelling sounds and images of the film and television record of the mission. From training on the Lunar Rover to the first live liftoff from moon, you'll be there for each moment of the TV downlink and each foot of onboard motion picture film. Included are the raw television transmissions from the flight to the moon, all three moonwalks, plus the lunar liftoff, Trans-Earth EVA, in-flight press conference and more. This set also contains multi-angle views of liftoff and coverage of recovery through the statements of the crew on the carrier deck. You'll discover Hadley Rille as you've never seen it before.

Customer Reviews:

Apollo 15-A Complete Success!.......2007-01-23

Apollo 15 was the first of the "J" Missions, and was the most successful
one of all. Apollo 15 was one of the greatest scientific missions in
history. Spacecraft Films Apollo 15 is the best of all the Spacecraft Films
Apollo missions. I enjoyed the tv footage of Dave Scott and Jim Irwin in
the LM on the way to the Moon, as well as Scott driving away the LRV for
the first time. And, the clarity of the film is great, especially when Jim
Irwin steps foot on the Moon, and his sun shield is up, revealing his face,
and you can see his lips move! I saw the 30 minute film on Apollo 15, and the
difference in film quality was startling. The views of the Moon, especially
the Lunar Eclipse, were breathtaking! 22 hours is a little rough to sit through, even after only a couple of hours a night. They could cut out the
audio only parts, especially the half hours when they go into the LM.
Also, there's no mention of when the 16mm DAC is to be shown (There's very
little due to the film mag jamming). And, the packaging, a cardboard outer
cover, as well as a cardboard inner sleeve, look a little beaten up,
although the plastic individual containers are fine. The best way to get
Spacecraft Films products is through Amazon.com. I tried to order through
Spacecraft Films directly, and it was a joke! They never return e-mails,
faxes or phone calls, they are impossible to get ahold of, and if you make
any requests, you're treated rudely by Mark Grey. I'm still waiting for
Apollo 17, which was supposed to come out a month ago, and won't come out
for another month.

Relive the great exploration of the Hadley Rille and Mountain.......2006-11-23

This six disc DVD set is really superb. The video has been taken from the master tapes but one still has to realize that these images where taken in 1971 and with regards to the TV images transmitted from the moon. The 16mm DAC recordings are of great quality. Although already enhanced, I personally add my own video touch with real-time noise filters and video equalizer settings to really enhance the experience. I recommend watching these discs while keeping the press release kit info at hand (see lunar surface journal online) for some summary info about the purpose of the scenes. Also includes a great landing site and traverse flyover animation to set the EVA context.

Again definitely great material for everyone with great interest for the Apollo missions.

Apollo 15: Man Must Explore (Extended Collector's Edition)

Average customer rating:

If the video is poor, it's because it was originally filmed that way.
From the Producer...
Visually and Acoustically Annoying
A desaster
For Apollo Freaks Only

Apollo 15: Man Must Explore (Extended Collector's Edition)

Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Documentary | Genres | DVD | Video

Space Exploration | Documentary | Genres | DVD | Video

( A ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Extended Editions | Fully Loaded DVDs | Features | DVD | Video

Documentary | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

Apollo 17 (Extended Collector's Edition)
Apollo 12: Ocean of Storms
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Apollo 13: The Real Story
Apollo 10: The Dress Rehearsal

ASIN: B0001NBM58
Release Date: 2004-04-13

Amazon.com

Mankind's greatest adventure is remembered for the digital age. The DVD format changed the way we look at movies and especially TV series, with massive complete-season sets. That concept is spectacularly taken one step further with Spacecraft Films' definitive collections of the Gemini and Apollo space missions, stuffing in nearly every scrap of TV transmissions and on-board footage. The three- to six-disc sets use the full functions of the DVD format; see a liftoff in six different angles (some remixed with 5.1 sound) or listen to a mixture of air-to-ground communications, official NASA narration, or post-flight debriefings, most often carefully synched to the exact moment of footage seen. Like any good research paper, every bit of footage may not be interesting, but taken as a chronicle of history, it's irreplaceable.

The fourth landing on the moon was a big step up for the Apollo missions--color TV cameras, more flexible suits, and a rover to take astronauts David Scott and Irwin several miles around the Hadley Rille hills--the most dramatic terrain of any of the moon shots. With all the new technology came a lot more film (21 hours), much of which is the very watchable, yet grainy feeds that were seen on millions of TVs in July 1971. You also get the audio-only portions when the rover moves between the station stops--long moments of static, thankfully accompanied by many of the still shots by the astronauts. The clarity of the 16mm segments is always a welcome sight, although surprisingly little was shot on the moon. Two split-scene sequences of the lunar module leaving the moon are excellent. Those who are moon-shot newbies may scream for an editor, or at least a short documentary (or Walter Cronkite) explaining the terms, mission goals, who's who, or what the "Genesis rock" is (it's an ancient moon rock, far different from the others). Except for a quick CGI segment of the landing site and a DVD booklet, there is no outside explanation. --Doug Thomas

Description

Customer Reviews:

If the video is poor, it's because it was originally filmed that way........2006-06-14

I have been an avid follower of the U.S. Space program since the mid 60's. I watched this particular flight in it's entirity on live TV as a kid. Spacecraft films has done a superb job with all of the Apollo flights. The DVDs of Apollo 15 are of a quality level that equals the original television broadcasts and excels above TV in many respects. I recorded the audio of many of the flights myself (recording to tape from TV) and the audio here is far superior to anything I had in my own collection. KUDO's to Mr. Gray and Spacecraft films for the fine job in bringing us this collection.

From the Producer..........2006-03-15

I've always said that there are people who get what we're doing, and people who don't. I'm writing this explanation for those who might misunderstand some of the reviews, most especially "data dump" below.

First of all, there is no video feed one can record "straight from" in 1971. The material on these sets is scattered among various centers in various conditions of preservation. The work that goes into bringing it all together, including new transfers of all of the film material (which you should compare to the previous grainy transfers of the filmed material), is expensive, time consuming and difficult. The 6 DVDs are packed with the video and audio material collected, including all of the TV and motion picture film from the mission, as well as all the stills from the surface, plus training, preparation, launch, recovery, a 3D representation of the landing site showing the traverses, and more.

Apollo 15 had a 16mm camera taken on the surface on the LRV. It jammed repeatedly. There is very little 16mm film footage from the surface on Apollo 15. (Nor is there 16mm footage of the trans-Earth EVA, it jammed too). ALL of the 16mm film shot on Apollo 15 is included on the set. Apollo 16 had a 16mm camera which took nearly all of the film you've seen from the LRV and it was the only time footage was taken of the LRV driving on the moon. Apollo 17 did not carry a 16mm camera out on the surface during their EVAs. If one is going to criticize, one should at least make half an effort at some research to back up their claims.

The only motion picture film from the CM in lunar orbit is included. (very little).

Our sets were designed to present this information without a filter, so that it can be used by serious researchers and those with a serious interest in the record of the U.S. space program. For this reason, on purpose, the material is left in the original form. We do perform noise reduction and color correction on the TV and make new digital transfers of the film. But the material on this mission is from 1971. This was a time when just to change a channel you would get up, clunk the thing over a few channels, adjust your rabbit ears and try and get the best possible picture. And the TV was from a quarter of a million miles away, analog, with low signal strength.

In actuality, how lucky we truly are to have any chronicle of these voyages of exploration. In contrast to the complaints about the picture quality of the time, I find the footage extraordinary.

Visually and Acoustically Annoying.......2006-01-29

I don't understand why this set is so expensive. It's basically a transfer of poor-quality audio combined with some poor-quality video of the feed in 1971. The colors are washed out and the images blurry. Shame on NASA for only bringing one video camera with them to the Moon. You'd think with 6 DVDs worth of information, there'd be an animation with timeline of every event that happened during Apollo 15. This would have put into context the bits and pieces of the mission seen. There are also no explanations of what's happening. I got more information about Apollo from an old edition of National Geographic (March 1964).

The rover had a high-quality 16mm color film camera on it. This footage is not included. Also, didn't the command module take still and motion film while orbiting overhead? Where was it during all of the activity below? Instead of showing a blank screen in the places where there is no video available, how about showing a diagram of where they are in the mission or explainations of the various experiments and their results? I still don't have a clear idea of where exactly on the face of the moon they landed and how far the astronauts ventured in their moon buggy.

Although this is visually and acoustically annoying, there is much information. It's unfortunately that this is the best document of this historic mission.

[DW]

A desaster.......2005-10-16

The set should contain six DVD. But should we ask if they are all different before to order it ? They put twice DVD number four, and no number tree.
The quality of the images is so poor, the comments so boring... I would say that this set is a real desaster.
If you are a fan of Apollo history, avoid this. You could just be upset after ordering this item.

For Apollo Freaks Only.......2005-10-07

An incredible six DVD set encompassing the first extended manned flight to the moon in July, 1971. Mark Gray's Spacecraft Films has realized a dream for many Apollo Freaks that have wanted the best quality footage and video availiable of America's early space missions. Previously released bootleg videos of the Apollo moonwalks were copied from grainy film kinescopes, not the master videotapes. For this new set, Spacecraft Films made sure that nearly all of the lunar EVA video had been digitally enhanced and remastered from the master two-inch videotape reels that were stored at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. This results in that "live as it happened" look that only original master videotape can give you. Bravo, Spacecraft Films!

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