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Just finished Season 1, so I am posting without reading the thread. drat, this a good show. Yes, the personal lives of the astronaut families are melodramatic, but the cast is so good it never becomes hammy. The plot really does give the audience a sense of wonder when it comes to space exploration while staying grounded with human stories. Also, I just binged The Expanse and now all my sci-fi must be hard sci-fi. If you have Amazon Prime, check out Patriot for more Michael Dorman (Gordon). He plays a very depressed CIA assassin who copes by playing folk guitar.
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Feb 24, 2021 19:03
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| # ? May 7, 2024 09:49 |
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Chairman Capone posted:On the other hand, this is also a setting where some of the major tensions of the later Cold War aren't present, like Vietnam ending early and the Soviets not being in Afghanistan (and maybe a few others I missed from the opening montage) Right, that's pretty much what I meant. It wasn't emphasized that much in season 1 (that I recall), but basically kidnapping that cosmonaut could have really spiraled out of control. And in the new episode the scene that I mentioned pretty explicitly stated that the paranoia of MAD is very much in operation in this time-line too, and until told otherwise I am going to assume that the Soviet side thinks in a similar fashion as they did in our time-line, too. There's less terrestrial tension, but as human (and robot) presence in space around Earth, and presumably at some point Mars, increases, those will be the potential 'flash spots' that could spark a global thermo-nuclear war, instead of the Third World in our reality. Maybe this is an overly negative read now that I wrote this out, the show has placed a lot of emphasis on the changes in US culture rather than geo-politics, but I'm a massive Cold War nerd which informs my viewing experience.
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Feb 24, 2021 22:19
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Chairman Capone posted:Just finished the new episode. I think my favorite thing was, however briefly, seeing a fully-operational Skylab with a shuttle docked to it. I think that hit me more than stuff like the Jamestown base, because a Skylab/shuttle overlap is one of those things that actually almost did happen, and as a kid I have vivid memories of seeing the NASA art from the late 70s of a shuttle docking with Skylab, so seeing that really was like seeing something come to life that I felt like I was promised but never got. I enjoyed this episode as well, I like seeing the ripple effect of more advanced technology pioneered by NASA trickling down to every day life. To echo Baxter's Titan, I remember reading that in college and being angered over his portrayal of an authoritarian, theocratic anti-science President who would only fund space programs that were militarized. Oh, how unrealistic that would be, the future is going to be so bright I'll need mirrorshades.
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Feb 24, 2021 23:25
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Ninurta posted:To echo Baxter's Titan, I remember reading that in college and being angered over his portrayal of an authoritarian, theocratic anti-science President who would only fund space programs that were militarized. Oh, how unrealistic that would be, the future is going to be so bright I'll need mirrorshades. It even begins with the shuttle Columbia disintegrating on re-entry at the start of the 2000s.
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Feb 25, 2021 05:41
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In a way I feel so weirded out that they're emphasizing the shuttle so much , given that its final design was a vessel of immense compromise to DoD demands which were never actually utilized with a weakened NASA of the 70s, and feels very out of place in this timeline with constant moon resupply missions but on the other hand , I don't think they'd be allowed to do an 80s without a million space shuttles in the backdrop
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Feb 25, 2021 07:13
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WilWheaton posted:In a way I feel so weirded out that they're emphasizing the shuttle so much , given that its final design was a vessel of immense compromise to DoD demands which were never actually utilized with a weakened NASA of the 70s, and feels very out of place in this timeline with constant moon resupply missions I am also disappointed by the space shuttle being in the show. It was a giant compromise because NASA was being diminished and they were teaming up with the air force in order to get a vehicle made to keep going into space. In this universe, NASA is stronger than ever, so there was no need to make a space shuttle, they should have kept iterating on the apollo style stuff. Dig into the Apollo Applications Program and bring those ideas into fruition and expand on them. If they were able to get the Sea Dragon going at the end of season 1, there isn't much need for a space shuttle at all. I guess the only other capability they'd need is the ability to capture a satellite and bring it back to Earth, but I'm sure they could come up with something.
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Feb 25, 2021 07:43
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It's a fictional shuttle capable of traveling to the Moon and back so presumably it's got beefier specs than the real orbiters
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Feb 25, 2021 07:45
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What time on Friday does Apple drop new episodes? Also, why does the new episode alert get sent at some random time?
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Feb 25, 2021 13:52
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Interesting, I guess the answer is midnight GMT, so about 7 PM ET on Thursdays.
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Feb 26, 2021 03:18
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smackfu posted:Interesting, I guess the answer is midnight GMT, so about 7 PM ET on Thursdays. Yup, just finished it. Real good episode.
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Feb 26, 2021 04:57
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Rappaport posted:Another, very minor alt-history thing I wondered about The ESA tag had (I'm fairly sure) a Finnish flag, and in the real world Finland (sitting right next to Russia) only joined the ESA fully in 1995. I'm mildly curious if this was a production goof, or an actual bit of alt-history, because it'd mean Europe's situation looks pretty different in the show universe. Norway only joined in 1986, so that flag shouldn't be on there either I think. What is the country in between Belgium and Denmark? EDIT: Apparently Canada is a cooperating state of the ESA
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Feb 26, 2021 09:38
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Man, I really do not give a poo poo about Gordo. Easily the least interesting character on the show.
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Feb 26, 2021 10:13
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mr. unhsib posted:Man, I really do not give a poo poo about Gordo. Easily the least interesting character on the show. I dunno, based on this episode, if they do fly him up there, there's a good chance he'll go all Shining on us  More Cold War  Man, the US just can't help but try and mess around Latin America no matter the time line! But to the earlier conversation, it does seem like there are some tensions / proxy battles still fought on Earth, too. And the "stupid PR stunt" hand-shake Reagan wants to propose happened in our time-line in 1975, so on the face of it the show's time-line has more Cold War tension? Also, in our time-line Andropov died fairly soon after becoming the head of the USSR, but his career before that was a KGB hard-liner, so if he sticks around longer here...
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Feb 26, 2021 14:19
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I love Gordo, but I am a Michael Dorman fan. I’m afraid he’s going to be type cast as the go-to actor for characters who are having emotional breakdowns.
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Feb 26, 2021 14:42
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We just need scenes of gordo in night clubs singing about going nuts on the moon.
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Feb 26, 2021 17:03
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I forget, what year exactly is it supposed to be? 1983, going by the end credits bit from season 1, right? I did notice one little historical oopsy in the most recent episode speaking of Cold War stuff, them referring to the Soviet legislature as the Duma. I'm also curious about how exactly the space shuttle is able to reach the moon in this setting, especially since when they had the glimpse of it leaving, it didn't seem to have any extra tanks attached. (Mentioning Stephen Baxter's Titan above, a big chunk of the novel is them trying to figure out how to retrofit a shuttle orbiter to make it to Titan and be able to operate in deep space.) Also a little personal irritant to me, showing the orbiter in space with the payload bay doors closed. As someone who went to Space Camp as a kid, I also really can't wait to see the Pathfinder finally. The "real" Pathfinder is a life-sized test vehicle NASA made that is now on display at Space Camp (though I think it was just taken down for refurbishment) so the idea that it became some super-shuttle here is kind of funny. Also saw on Ed's board that the Kon-Tiki is Orbiter OV-107, would be interesting to see a full orbiter list from the show.
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Feb 27, 2021 18:08
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The shuttle depiction is 100% artistic license. There's no way a reusable craft designed to go to the moon would look anything like the shuttle we got. Just imagine the main engines were designed with enough power to push to the moon, with invisible fuel tanks, and you'll be fine.
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Feb 27, 2021 18:20
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Tater Love 
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I think the one son just finished his first year at the naval academy, and his name tag says 86 on it, so I guess it would be the summer of 83. Also, the commander of that shuttle was a real astronaut, I'll try to find the tweet. He said they knew about the payload bay doors and he figured they wanted the sleeker look of them closed and nasa must have figured out how to put heat exchangers on the outside.
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Feb 27, 2021 19:07
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I’m a bit surprised a premium show like this is just using stock vintage space shuttle footage for stuff like the landing. I guess it saves a little money but still.
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Feb 27, 2021 19:55
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Did anyone else notice there was a real astronaut in the last episode :3
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Feb 27, 2021 20:11
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I found the tweet. https://twitter.com/astro_g_dogg/status/1365370186996412416 And this one is about the payload doors. https://twitter.com/astro_g_dogg/status/1365464821391482883 Cojawfee fucked around with this message at 20:40 on Feb 27, 2021 |
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Feb 27, 2021 20:38
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smackfu posted:I’m a bit surprised a premium show like this is just using stock vintage space shuttle footage for stuff like the landing. I guess it saves a little money but still. I love all the stock footage  I think in the first episode of this season they may have messed up a little bit, in one of the Soviet ones it looked like Gorbatsov was the most prominent Party leader already, but it whizzed by pretty fast so I'm not 100% sure. But either way, for me it helps to immerse myself in the alt-history by grounding this to what actually happened.
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Feb 28, 2021 00:24
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smackfu posted:I’m a bit surprised a premium show like this is just using stock vintage space shuttle footage for stuff like the landing. I guess it saves a little money but still. I suspect it's not a question of budget, but out of a love for the original films.
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Feb 28, 2021 04:03
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I'm fine with the archive footage. I think the deepfake technology or whatever they're using for changing the historical figures' mouths while talking is pretty good, too. Though the Lennon voice stand-in was a bit cartoonish. Speaking of the historical figures, lol if this show has Gary Hart become president. Tighclops posted:Did anyone else notice there was a real astronaut in the last episode :3 I think there was at least one real astronaut in BSG, too. And TNG also. I'd imagine Moore makes for an easy draw.
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Feb 28, 2021 04:52
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Chairman Capone posted:Speaking of the historical figures, lol if this show has Gary Hart become president. If Gary Hart gets a term and Jimmy Carter still gets none... 
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Feb 28, 2021 05:00
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Just watched the first episode, the character who had the accident with the rover was called Wubbo. Wubbo Ockels was the first person from the Netherlands in space, making his flight with the space shuttle in 1985. The actors accent didn't sound dutch at all to me, more scandinavian. Wubbo Ockels died of cancer a few years ago, and I guess the episode was a slight reference to that.
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Feb 28, 2021 22:48
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There were actually studies that looked at sending shuttle to the moon, and it was possible if the external tank would be completely refueled in orbit. There wasn’t enough room in the payload bay to carry enough propellent to get to the moon. Anyway, I had a laugh at the asteroids game with high scores of over 2 million since Asteroids code only displays 5 digits and clocks back to zero at 100k. But to get a score of 2 million would probably take 2-3 hours of lurking and just harvesting UFO’s
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Feb 28, 2021 23:16
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ROCKET SCIENCE
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The ramped up space race made it possible to count to higher numbers.
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Feb 28, 2021 23:19
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illectro posted:There were actually studies that looked at sending shuttle to the moon, and it was possible if the external tank would be completely refueled in orbit. There wasn’t enough room in the payload bay to carry enough propellent to get to the moon. Homer Hickam, the guy who wrote Rocket Boys/October Sky, wrote a novel about this, Back to the Moon. It's nowhere near great but if you're looking for a serviceable airport technothriller, it's fine enough. Though in retrospect it's also kind of prescient in that its villains are fossil fuel lobbyists who co-opt environmentalist language to oppose clean energy technology.
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Feb 28, 2021 23:55
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Rappaport posted:I dunno, based on this episode, if they do fly him up there, there's a good chance he'll go all Shining on us I'm sure, but we basically saw this plotline last season.
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Mar 1, 2021 04:16
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Chairman Capone posted:Homer Hickam, the guy who wrote Rocket Boys/October Sky, wrote a novel about this, Back to the Moon. It's nowhere near great but if you're looking for a serviceable airport technothriller, it's fine enough. Though in retrospect it's also kind of prescient in that its villains are fossil fuel lobbyists who co-opt environmentalist language to oppose clean energy technology. I was going to post about this book, glad I’m not the only person on the planet who read it. I haven’t read it since it was new, though this show is making me want to re-read it.
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Mar 1, 2021 05:11
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Xenomrph posted:I was going to post about this book, glad I’m not the only person on the planet who read it.  I remember pre-ordering the book through the mail, it coming on a Friday, and me spending all Friday night reading it like it was the new Harry Potter or whatever. I'm sure it wouldn't have the same grip on me now as it did back in 1999 but I definitely enjoyed it at the time.
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Mar 1, 2021 05:32
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I really wish they'd done more exploration of the USSR side of things in S1. I'd be interested in seeing the writers explaination for how the soviets achieved so much success, perhaps Sergei Korolev never died?
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Mar 1, 2021 18:27
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Bedshaped posted:I really wish they'd done more exploration of the USSR side of things in S1. I'd be interested in seeing the writers explaination for how the soviets achieved so much success, perhaps Sergei Korolev never died? I think that's the canon explanation, yes.
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Mar 1, 2021 18:39
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Everything I've seen has been that he never died, so he was able to guide the soviet program to success.
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Mar 1, 2021 18:44
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Bedshaped posted:I really wish they'd done more exploration of the USSR side of things in S1. I'd be interested in seeing the writers explaination for how the soviets achieved so much success, perhaps Sergei Korolev never died? I would love to see a lot more from the Soviet perspective. Like have actual developed, main characters on the Russian moonbase. I wonder who will take over if Gorbachev is too soft for them in this timeline? I can't think of another major player in the era, and Putin is just a KGB mook right now. Also can anyone with a little more 80s knowledge clue me in as to is currently running Panama if it's not Noriega in this timeline? That name they dropped didn't ring a bell.
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Mar 2, 2021 01:41
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Astroman posted:I would love to see a lot more from the Soviet perspective. Like have actual developed, main characters on the Russian moonbase. I would have to rewatch the opening scene but I believe it was Omar Torrijos, the Maximum Leader of the Panamanian Revolution who ruled Panama from 1968 until his death in 1981. I'm curious if his surviving longer has an affect on domestic politics in Panama as he was enacting a series of reforms prior to his death and one of his accomplishments was negotiating the turnover of the Panama Canal to Panama in 1977 with Carter. With Reagan elected earlier I expect his negotiations met with a hardpass from the US.
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Mar 2, 2021 04:19
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Also nice to know that Roman Polanski got his rear end thrown into jail in this reality.
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Mar 2, 2021 04:28
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If this show was some kind of Game of Thrones-level colossal success it would be cool if they made a spin off series telling the entire story from the Soviet view. Pretty unlikely to happen though!
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Mar 2, 2021 11:44
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Episode 3: * Gordo getting assigned to STS-83R seems to have lit the fires, though I assume he'll end up falling back down as he gets closer to launch. * Tracy's new hubby has "a bit of a temper." Really hoping the show doesn't go down the domestic violence route. * Tracy also shows a bit of her true colors that she doesn't give a poo poo about anyone but herself, with her reaction to Gordo's announcement. * I'm sure I am reading too much into this, but I swear I see a little bit of sparks between Danielle and Gordo. If I'm honest though, it's just camaraderie from having been in the trenches together for years. * The scene with the Baldwins was so goddamn intense. * I like how the show muffled over the tech explanation for how the orbiters can make it to the moon in the classroom scene. Even they can't handwave it away. * Confirmation that "Ivan" really did bust back into Jamestown, though I am kind of surprised the bug wasn't found for 9 years. Could this mean that the Soviets have also managed to place a sleeper spy inside NASA or even the astronaut cadre? * Really wish there was more of an attempt to negotiate their way out of the lithium mine situation, but this is Reagan politics we're talking about sooo... SPACE MARINES.
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Mar 5, 2021 22:49
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