Apollo - Special Edition

These are just the "Special Edition" of the originals prepared by Lucas Films with additional footage and CGI-enhanced imagery.

Can't these people just leave these things alone?

-dZ.

more repeats

The sure sign that an entertainment outlet is in trouble (which is, let's face it, most of them) is when they start rehashing old stuff into new formats: whether that's "in color[sic]" "in HD [very sick]" or just bare-faced reruns of the "another chance to see ..." "catchup weekend ..." or <channel> + 1 variety. Although in this case it is +40 years.

When all is said and done, this was NASAs biggest moment. Their finest hour. They've done nothing that comes close ever since. While it's definitely true that they have helped with some major discoveries and published some very pretty pictures, what "the people" want is bread and circuses. And without the support of the people and the tax money they bring, NASA has nothing. All this anniversary does is highlight the question that a lot of people are asking: "So what else have you done?"

Cleaned up?

So these will be the cleaned-up tapes with all of the mistakes that reveal it was filmed in a studio carefully removed?

</tinfoil hat>

@What else have NASA done

I suggest that Voyager/Voyager 2 might possibly be worthy of note, amongst many others.. Being able to land probes on various worlds is pretty high up the list, too.

It's a shame in a way.

The blurred images we're familiar with are part of history. They're what we saw live 40 years ago, so they are real in a sense that the recordings on these tapes will never be.

I'm still looking forward to seeing them, though

NASAs biggest moment ?

Not Apollo 13 then ?

the usual comment

They could have took one of these of course and a couple of cartridges. But I suppose the whole mission was done on a shoestring budget.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_8_mm_film

@Pete 2

"When all is said and done, this was NASAs biggest moment. Their finest hour"

I'd challenge that. Everything since the words "Houston, we've had a problem" were spoken by Lovell until splashdown were NASA's finest hours.

Is it out on BlueRay?

And does it have the bloopers reel?

@@What else have NASA done

Yeah, you're right. But in my defence, I was thinking in terms of "great leaps forward" rather than drama.

It would#ve been nice to look back over the past 40 years, with a sense of progress - rather than one-off spectaculars. Something like this for a timeline:

1969 1st moon landing

1975 *permanent* orbiting space station

1980 lunar base established

1985 mining operation on the moon started

1990 commercial water / He3 extraction

1992 More orbital facilities: factories, space-dock, hotels

1995 Moons surface covered by giant advertising slogan (ref. Heinlen)

2000 Lunar advertising pays for Mars expedition

2005 Martians kick us off their planet

2010 Life discovered on Europa - oh, hang on ...

2005

@Pete 2

Don't, you'll make me cry. I think it was a Heinlein character who was always just a little too old for space travel, every time they raised the age of eligibility (safer travel etc). "The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress"?

re The Dish

It shocked me to learn (from the DVD extras for this film) how little of the TV coverage of this UNIQUE event was kept.

waiting for the right format

I know it looked a bit fuzzy on tv in 1969 but now its 2009 , we have blu-ray and HDTV .

Prepare to be wowed by the full 1080p images.....not

May not be the real tapes

NASA saya they will release the "best available broadcast-format copies." The lost tapes were not broadcast-format, they were a custom slow-scan format. I expect what we see on Thursday will be restored footage from the slow-scan to broadcast conversion.

Moon Landing: Special Edition

Is this like the Monkey Island: Special Edition where they'll be re-recording it all with updated visuals? The special effects were pretty weak back when the moon landing was first filmed.

These remakes

I always think they are never as good as the original. There again after forty years and massive new technology it should only be a hop skip and a jump to re-filming it in full colour.

Oh Great - now the Conspiracy Theorists will have a new field day...

Hey... Why is the 'new' footage so good? Why, it's because it was done in/on the Universal Studioes soundstage - that's why!

Lame idiots whose only exercise is jumping to idiotic conclusions will bump-up the 'noise' component on the UseNet NewsGroups - instead of just appreciating clearer footage of such an important historic event. I'm looking forward to being able to view it at home in HighDef - I'll order that puppy immediately!

I don't believe it

Whilst we're at it, I don't believe that man has reached the top of Mount Everest either. I've personally never seen it, and those mountains seen in the clearly fake pictures could be from anywhere - in fact I think I recognise Snowdonia in the winter - or is it a TV studio ? After all, clearly no one could survive the climb due to the cold,. lack of oxygen and yetis. And what happened to the original footage of Hilary and Tensing reaching the summit ? This is clearly a conspiracy.

Nasa's most important moment

Hiring those nazi rocket scientists instead of locking them up was a wizard wheeze.