Space Odyssey: Voyage To The Planets. On BBC

[iGav]

Just found out that this is due to be broadcast next Tuesday on BBC 1. :)

Its from the makers of 'Walking With Dinosaurs', so it should be visually stunning. Like the film 'Apollo 13' they've used parabolic flights to achieve weightlessness juxtaposed with digital effects by Framestore CFC.

Looks sooooooooooo good! :)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2004/10_october/13/space.shtml

Thoughts?

[Mr. Anderson]

Very cool - hopefully it will make its way to the Discovery or Learning channels here in the US. Let us know what you think :D

D

[MacDawg]

Sounds interesting... hope all of the special effects are top notch!

Kinda like an outer space reality TV show :)

Seen through the eyes of five astronauts on a six-year mission to the new frontiers that make up our solar system, it reveals the spectacle - and the dangers - they face when landing on and exploring the exotic worlds of our neighbouring planets.

Using the latest scientific findings and feature film digital effects, Space Odyssey: Voyage To The Planets is the ultimate grand tour, brought to life in a beautiful and moving journey packed with peril and excitement.

Along the way, it uncovers the immense physical and emotional challenges that would affect those taking such a trip.

[wdlove]

It sounds as though it will be an awesomely educational film. Hopefully it will makes its way to PBS. I don't get Discovery or the Learning Channel.

[edesignuk]

It'll be good, it's a BBC documentary, can't wait!

[iGav]

Let us know what you think :D

Was sooooooooooo good... ;) I think you'd like it Mr D. :)

It's actually surprisingly authentic, and at the beginning you really do believe it's a real documentary, of course to a degree it is, the actors are playing roles, but the documentary follows their training for the show, but you'd swear it was real, that good. ;)

The narration is spot on (by David Suchet), and provides factual and actual scientific information juxtaposed with information regarding the fictitious mission throughout the program, and the score is so reminiscent of 2001: A Space Odyssey that the comparison is unavoidable, but it fits the atmosphere of the shots perfectly.

What further increases its authenticity is that the technology is believable, no Star Trek type stuff here, the interior of the space ships look exactly how you'd imagine a contemporary space craft to look.

The lander missions, in particular the interior shots of the landers on their missions you'd swear were from proper space missions, they've used similar cameras to achieve that lo-ish quality, saturated look (think of the interior shots of the Shuttle on takeoff) with added atmospheric interference to the sound and picture.

But nothing compares to the EVA footage of the spacecraft orbiting the planets it's visiting, I'd soooooooooo love to see this in HD, because it's visually stunning, they've captured the scale ratio of orbiter/planet better than anything else I've seen, just looks real... no other way of putting it, really incredible cgi going down.

If I have a criticism, it is that in away there's almost too much information to present in two 1 hour episodes and as such the duration on each planet is a little short, and feels forced and rushed. They maybe would have been better considering either making the episodes longer and more of them, or focus on half the planets and double the exposure time to them. But it's a minor criticism, and certainly doesn't ruin the epic proportions of this production.

I also watched an actual documentary about the series afterwards on BBC Four that explained about the previous real planetary missions ('60's-'00's), and how the science of the show relates to existing scientific knowledge and technology, very interesting and elaborated on key area's of the show.

All in all... one of the better things I've watched on the telly for awhile, can't wait for the 2nd episode next week. :)

[neilrobinson]

great! it will be on ABC in australia in a few years... behind as always. we are only still on the first season of little Britain... :(

but we are going to catch up on days of our lives ect in 1x 1 hour episode! 3 years or so in 1 episode... not bad going! :p

[Chappers]

I don't like this type of thing cus you know it's not true. I prefer a real documentary.
The special effects are good but sometimes a bit c**p - eg when they took off from Mars - looked very fake.

Good for the kids - its time they stopped liking dinosaurs.

[takao]

hey i just saw ads on one german channel, for the next weekends for the same show ...on the ads the effects look already spectacular

i'm defiantly gonna watch it... looks very interesting

but now i have to close MR because i have to head towards university for my weekly voluntary astronomy lecture ;) (this weeks 2 hours are about our sun)

[stevehaslip]

yeah it was pretty cool and theres another whole hour of it next week!:D:D

[HydroMan]

Hmmph come on it's Horizon with drama I'd rather watch a programme that is 50 minutes long, gives you all the facts and figures, lots of visual effects, but please forget the drama, this is just a rehash of old Horizon series but with wooden acting and definately belongs on BBC2, I mean the moment the little dust devil egulfed the arsetronought and then the bit when the even bigger dust ?storm nearly engulfed a buggy full of ....Oooh and what about the solar flare God that was exciting :rolleyes: who cares what happens to the cast I mean crew, I'd just like to know what the real possibilities are at present and told in factual manner, I hate drama :mad: (ok rant over)

Oh yeah can't wait till next week :D

[kiwi_the_iwik]

If I had one criticism of the show, it would be that there was too much annoying incidental music - which usually culminated with an orchestral swell at the climax of an important scene.

Think Apollo 13 during the "Touchdown" phase, where everyone gets up to give each other High-5's and resounding "Good Jobs!"...

...ONCE would have been enough, but EVERY TIME something happened? It became a little corny.

Otherwise, very well done!

[Chappers]

Its getting to be like having your teeth pulled without the benefit of novacaine.

[iGav]

Its getting to be like having your teeth pulled without the benefit of novacaine.

Wasn't as good as the first episode, seemed more like a drama this time, as opposed to a docu-drama.

The orbit effects were still blinding though... :)

[kiwi_the_iwik]

Would've been better had more of them died...


:rolleyes:


The more I watched it, the more wooden the acting. Mission Control was unbelievably painful, as were the grabs with the "crew".


Arrrggghhh!