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For All Mankind (Apple Series)

Usili 2.0

Usili 2.0

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So, I'm sort of surprised that this hasn't been posted yet in here, but I'll go and post about it. For All Mankind is an alternate history series, supposing where the Soviets beat the US to the moon and going from there. It was rolled out with Apple's new streaming platform from the start, and so if you want to want to watch it, you basically have to watch it via their streaming platform.



So, I've been watching it and I have to say it's really fantastic. It's up to Episode 5: Into the Abyss, and it's just a really good show. It doesn't necessarily feel like an alternate history series perse, but more-so as a science-fiction series with the sort of alternate history setting up the premise and building upon it. It was created in part by Ronald D. Moore, and it does show from how it's gone so far.

The cast of characters are rather interesting with the kind of personalities and figures involved, along with sort of the interpersonal drama among them. There's some really good bits involving the characters which are just top-notch in the kind of developments and presentation of the figures. Of a sort of general review on it so far, the first episode does sort of work to set up everything with the second sort of following a bit along, but after that, it really gets rolling.
 
Honestly, it's a really kick-ass show to watch and it's absolutely beautiful.
It's also implausible as hell and getting ridiculous what with the money constantly being there for increasingly expensive projects, but it's a fun and well written drama.

Now if we just got Apollo Applications Program goodness. That said with Apollo-era tech Manned Venus Flyby or any of the TMK missions would be a death sentence so focusing on the Moon is probably better.
 
2 episodes in and this isn't the mess I thought it would be, really liking it so far
 
So, I didn't comment for Episode 6, but both Episode 6 and Episode 7 were quite good, hitting some prominent areas and just being really good. I'd really recommend for people to check it out considering how good it is.

While I really enjoyed Episode 6 with some of the major areas like the Saturn V blowing up on the pad and forcing an investigation (which also killed Gene Kranz) and opened up the FBI investigation into Ellen and Larry's fake relationship (so they can cover for each other) plus everything with Margo and von Braun, I think Episode 7 was the stronger of the two in thinking about it? Like you had the FBI probing Ellen and Larry's fake relationship with each other forcing them to marry (which in turn forced Ellen's girlfriend to call it quits (I somehow missed her name which really frustrates me >.>), how Danielle deliberately broke her arm so Gordo wouldn't be drummed out of his pilot career in the Navy and NASA (because of basically starting to suffer a break from just being stuck there because of the continued delays), and then what happened at the end with Shane and leaving it as such a cliffhanger.

The naming of the moon base as Jamestown... it really works on sort of the multiple levels with just being entirely alone out there, Gordo and Danielle heading back as Ed just stays there on the surface without a lifeboat waiting for Apollo 24 to show up.

There's also the bits with the butterflies like President Kennedy's affair with Mary Jo Kopechne, who was the staffer that he killed in Chappaquiddick (which never happened here).
 
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Yeah, Gordo's descent into madness and cabin fever is something and it's uncomfortably intense.
But yeah, I don't think I've seen this show really whiff anything yet.
 
Oh boy, episodes 8 and 9 were just absolutely top-notch. It's just absolutely amazing and I'd really recommend if you haven't watched it to start watching it.

Oh boy, where to begin with Rupture (Episode 8). Just everything about Karen, Ed, and Shane. Karen just trying to hold it together with the news about Shane and the news of him being braindead from the doctor and then going to the NASA neurologist for the second opinion who confirms it. And when Karen tells them not to tell Ed, as he's still all alone and growing more... worried and frenzied about the Soviets... only for the Soviets to send him a teletype about it, which makes him panic and confused. Then the news hits Ed when Karen tells him and he just collapses with it and it ends with that, while Karen is just stuck trying to not think about it in prepping for Shane's funeral.

Sort of going similar to Rupture is the 'B-plot' I'd argue of Alieda and how Margo has been tutoring her, and sort of caught into that is her having a boyfriend and sort of the issues that cause. Especially when Margo sort of tells her about if she wants to be an engineer, especially after she receives the letter of invitation to the Kennedy School (which I imagine is some kind of all fifty state type school sort of that's emerged with the continuing space race for STEM based stuff?). Because I can sort of also understand the kind of retinence that she has as well there, especially when she goes to hide the invitation. There's also the bit with the surprise by Tracy, Gordo's wife, that he's actually going to a psychiatrist rather than basically cheating on her when she accuses him of why he left JSC early and thinking it was that.

And then onto Bent Bird (Episode 9). This one just seems so very much like a classic RDM episode. Like, it opens up with Apollo 24 about to perform the TLI and it just doesn't work and NASA's struggling to figure it out, and it's revealed that there's an issue with the Saturn IU. And so there's a solution! The next mission, Apollo 25, is set to go and perform a rendezvous with an observatory to replace parts, but they get a new mission. They are going to be fixing the IU on Apollo 24 so they can go to the moon and get Ed. But it just all goes to shit. The repairs to the IU go ahead... but somehow the program wasn't 'offloaded'... and the S-IVB ignites while Apollo 25 is still attached via the tether to Apollo 24. Harry (one of the astronauts on Apollo 24) who is also tethered basically winds up thrown off and essentially incinerated by the J-2, and the Apollo 25 CSM is being held on by the tether which Molly Cobb releases, followed by her releasing it. The kind of rescue of Molly, especially with the interaction between Gordo and Tracy, is just a hopeful bit for the episode. Apollo 24 however, there is just no contact and they are entirely off-course from the moon.

Meanwhile back on the moon with Ed, he's just tired and exhausted entirely, refusing any kind of contact with NASA. He erects a grave to Shane, and then sees the winch coming up with the Soviet having extracted ice. There's a sort of initial contact between Ed and the Soviet cosmonaut, with the cosmonaut holding ice in hand. There's then the Soviet cosmonaut knocking on the door of Jamestown, asking for O2. Ed lets him in, and then after the cosmonaut is fully suit off... Ed depressurizes the airlock killing the cosmonaut. It's just, Ed's just basically losing it and I'd imagine blaming himself for staying on the moon and killing his son (by not wanting to leave and give up the base to the Soviets) and also just blaming the Soviets for keeping him on the moon and in turn for telling him about the news of his son's death via the teletype.

Honestly, I just really feel for Karen in all this, and just the kind of absolute grief that she has. Trying to struggle in dealing with all of it with her son dead because of her own hand, Ed just still stuck on the moon and just it all happening. And then what Danny says, with him having come up with the ideas and not Shane and it just... it breaks Karen. Because it was being said that Shane was constantly doing it and she just blamed him for it. There's something I do really like how you have the sort of friendship between her and Wayne appearing again, which does I think work well for this episode considering everything else that has gone down.
 
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Usili 2.0 said:
Oh boy, episodes 8 and 9 were just absolutely top-notch. It's just absolutely amazing and I'd really recommend if you haven't watched it to start watching it.

Oh boy, where to begin with Rupture (Episode 8). Just everything about Karen, Ed, and Shane. Karen just trying to hold it together with the news about Shane and the news of him being braindead from the doctor and then going to the NASA neurologist for the second opinion who confirms it. And when Karen tells them not to tell Ed, as he's still all alone and growing more... worried and frenzied about the Soviets... only for the Soviets to send him a teletype about it, which makes him panic and confused. Then the news hits Ed when Karen tells him and he just collapses with it and it ends with that, while Karen is just stuck trying to not think about it in prepping for Shane's funeral.

Sort of going similar to Rupture is the 'B-plot' I'd argue of Alietta and how Margo has been tutoring her, and sort of caught into that is her having a boyfriend and sort of the issues that cause. Especially when Margo sort of tells her about if she wants to be an engineer, especially after she receives the letter of invitation to the Kennedy School (which I imagine is some kind of all fifty state type school sort of that's emerged with the continuing space race for STEM based stuff?). Because I can sort of also understand the kind of retinence that she has as well there, especially when she goes to hide the invitation. There's also the bit with the surprise by Tracy, Gordo's wife, that he's actually going to a psychiatrist rather than basically cheating on her when she accuses him of why he left JSC early and thinking it was that.

And then onto Bent Bird (Episode 9). This one just seems so very much like a classic RDM episode. Like, it opens up with Apollo 24 about to perform the TLI and it just doesn't work and NASA's struggling to figure it out, and it's revealed that there's an issue with the Saturn IU. And so there's a solution! The next mission, Apollo 25, is set to go and perform a rendezvous with an observatory to replace parts, but they get a new mission. They are going to be fixing the IU on Apollo 24 so they can go to the moon and get Ed. But it just all goes to shit. The repairs to the IU go ahead... but somehow the program wasn't 'offloaded'... and the S-IVB ignites while Apollo 25 is still attached via the tether to Apollo 24. Harry (one of the astronauts on Apollo 24) who is also tethered basically winds up thrown off and essentially incinerated by the J-2, and the Apollo 25 CSM is being held on by the tether which Molly Cobb releases, followed by her releasing it. The kind of rescue of Molly, especially with the interaction between Gordo and Tracy, is just a hopeful bit for the episode. Apollo 24 however, there is just no contact and they are entirely off-course from the moon.

Meanwhile back on the moon with Ed, he's just tired and exhausted entirely, refusing any kind of contact with NASA. He erects a grave to Shane, and then sees the winch coming up with the Soviet having extracted ice. There's a sort of initial contact between Ed and the Soviet cosmonaut, with the cosmonaut holding ice in hand. There's then the Soviet cosmonaut knocking on the door of Jamestown, asking for O2. Ed lets him in, and then after the cosmonaut is fully suit off... Ed depressurizes the airlock killing the cosmonaut. It's just, Ed's just basically losing it and I'd imagine blaming himself for staying on the moon and killing his son (by not wanting to leave and give up the base to the Soviets) and also just blaming the Soviets for keeping him on the moon and in turn for telling him about the news of his son's death via the teletype.

Honestly, I just really feel for Karen in all this, and just the kind of absolute grief that she has. Trying to struggle in dealing with all of it with her son dead because of her own hand, Ed just still stuck on the moon and just it all happening. And then what Danny says, with him having come up with the ideas and not Shane and it just... it breaks Karen. Because it was being said that Shane was constantly doing it and she just blamed him for it. There's something I do really like how you have the sort of friendship between her and Wayne appearing again, which does I think work well for this episode considering everything else that has gone down.
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Apologies for the double post, but I just realized a bit I forgot when typing this up last night on Episode 9:

Just everything about Alieda and Octavio (Alieda's father). How Octavio kept asking her why she hid the acceptance letter and then everything that kind of spiraled from there in the conversation. And then Octavio basically getting accused and then arrested of being a Soviet spy by the FBI agent as he's basically refusing to admit that he was giving the photos he was taking from the garbage to his daughter to avoid her joining him in getting deported back to Mexico.
 
So sorry for necroing but this really didn't need a new thread when we have one here.

So I gust recently got a chans to watch this show and man is it good.
The sea dragon at the end there really has me excited for season 2.
 
That was i really good trailer, makes me excited for this next season. Let's hope it dosnt disapoint.
 
Has anyone kept up with this show? Just watched the season finale yesterday and there's so much to unpack. I was a little cool on Season 1, but Season 2 really impressed me, the show hit its stride in a big way.
 
I've watched it. It's neat, though personnally I'd have preferred 10% more documentary added to the mix, and 10% less character.

Not much, just a slight balance difference.

Because occassionally the show says something stupid and I know why they say the stupid thing because I know what role it fits in the story, but they could have done it with slightly different techno-mumbo jumbo and it wouldn't have niggled me.
 
Arthur Frayn said:
Has anyone kept up with this show? Just watched the season finale yesterday and there's so much to unpack. I was a little cool on Season 1, but Season 2 really impressed me, the show hit its stride in a big way.
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Iv been waiting untill the show was all out until I watch it, less anoing for me.
 
So I just finished the show. I've been meaning to for a while, but while watching Prehistoric Planet I saw a trailer for season 3 and realized they were going to Mars and it was starting soon. So I decided to finally sit down and watch it.

And wow, it was good. I had my problems with it (especially the lack of any lag between Earth and the Moon, which they really could have used for comedic/dramatic moments), but it was cool to see all that space stuff (mostly based on real ideas and plans) and just how different that world got over the years (even if I cringed every time they mentioned d-mail). And now I look forward to seeing the race to Mars.

Other than the lack of lag, there was one thing that bothered me that I wanted to discuss:

The fact none of the moon astronauts seem to know any Russian. In that kind of environment, it seems like a pretty good idea to have at least some people who can actually understand what their not-so-friendly neighbors are saying, especially once they brought guns to the moon. Everything that went down in those last few episodes could have been avoided if even one of those marines knew even basic Russian. Was that supposed to be a commentary on how the American military sucks when it comes to foreign languages, or was it just a plot hole they created to make those last few episodes happen?
 
So I just learned that there's going to be a total of seven seasons. Jesus we are going to be transitioning to the backstory of the Expanse at this rate.
 
Terran Allias said:
I'm just shocked more than anything. At some point they're definitely need to make stuff up because of the butterfly effect. I think the Warsaw pact is still a thing.
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Honestly, I'm ok with them making stuff up as the show goes on as long as it makes sense and is internally consistent.
 
Rhaegar I said:
Honestly, I'm ok with them making stuff up as the show goes on as long as it makes sense and is internally consistent.
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How do you think they're going to cover the ATL version of say the Artemis program since it's kinda redundant here. Only thing I can see sticking around is an upscaled version of the Lunar Gateway station. Cause it's going to be competing with Peru
 
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Rhaegar I said:
So I just finished the show. I've been meaning to for a while, but while watching Prehistoric Planet I saw a trailer for season 3 and realized they were going to Mars and it was starting soon. So I decided to finally sit down and watch it.

And wow, it was good. I had my problems with it (especially the lack of any lag between Earth and the Moon, which they really could have used for comedic/dramatic moments), but it was cool to see all that space stuff (mostly based on real ideas and plans) and just how different that world got over the years (even if I cringed every time they mentioned d-mail). And now I look forward to seeing the race to Mars.

Other than the lack of lag, there was one thing that bothered me that I wanted to discuss:

The fact none of the moon astronauts seem to know any Russian. In that kind of environment, it seems like a pretty good idea to have at least some people who can actually understand what their not-so-friendly neighbors are saying, especially once they brought guns to the moon. Everything that went down in those last few episodes could have been avoided if even one of those marines knew even basic Russian. Was that supposed to be a commentary on how the American military sucks when it comes to foreign languages, or was it just a plot hole they created to make those last few episodes happen?
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I think the show was pretty clear on the marines being a hastily put-together military solution, so it's kind of justifiable that they didn't know Russian.

Similarly, the Soviets didn't know english because their leadership appears to be more paranoid about inter-agency communication than it was in the past.

Now, either of these explanations can be seen as unrealistic, but unrealistic =/= plothole.

Terran Allias said:
I'm just shocked more than anything. At some point they're definitely need to make stuff up because of the butterfly effect. I think the Warsaw pact is still a thing.
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They seem to be setting up for the introduction of private space exploration, which will allow them to collapse the Soviet Union while continuing the space race.
 
10ebbor10 said:
I think the show was pretty clear on the marines being a hastily put-together military solution, so it's kind of justifiable that they didn't know Russian.

Similarly, the Soviets didn't know english because their leadership appears to be more paranoid about inter-agency communication than it was in the past.

Now, either of these explanations can be seen as unrealistic, but unrealistic =/= plothole.


They seem to be setting up for the introduction of private space exploration, which will allow them to collapse the Soviet Union while continuing the space race.
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I think the race for Mars is a three way split between the US, the Soviets (still alive and kicking in the 90's), and a private space company run by a 90's Elon Musk-type.
 
Arthur Frayn said:
I think the race for Mars is a three way split between the US, the Soviets (still alive and kicking in the 90's), and a private space company run by a 90's Elon Musk-type.
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It is, they say as such in the trailer. Based off the trailer the USSR is still around in 1994 and are one third of the race to be the first on Mars. In fact, the second season specifies that the USSR never invaded Afghanistan and as a result is in a much better position. I would not be surprised if the USSR never falls in the show.
 
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