Spoilers "For All Mankind" Discussion Thread (May Contain Spoilers)

[nickdalzell1]

I wonder how they'll re-tell the Challenger incident? I always wondered what would have happened to it if they just kept Apollo going instead of the STS shuttles.

Wished they didn't skip Apollo 13 though. They pretty much went from 11 to 18 and so on.

 

[MarkAtl]

I wonder how they'll re-tell the Challenger incident? I always wondered what would have happened to it if they just kept Apollo going instead of the STS shuttles.

Wished they didn't skip Apollo 13 though. They pretty much went from 11 to 18 and so on.

Note that the crews were all different (except for 11). Who knows if the events that led to Apollo 13 would even have happened in this alternative timeline.

There was no mention of STS (at least so far) and given they were still focused on Apollo would the program have even started?

 

[nickdalzell1]

Note that the crews were all different (except for 11). Who knows if the events that led to Apollo 13 would even have happened in this alternative timeline.

There was no mention of STS (at least so far) and given they were still focused on Apollo would the program have even started?

Season 2 apparently starts at 1983 and whatever it was launching from the ocean we have no clue what comes after.

They barely referenced Apollo 13 subtly. While there was zero mention of it, if you look at the plaque of Gene Krantz after he died in that explosion, you see the phrase "Failure is not an option" written. That's one of his phrases during the Apollo 13 incident.

 

[MarkAtl]

Season 2 apparently starts at 1983 and whatever it was launching from the ocean we have no clue what comes after.

They barely referenced Apollo 13 subtly. While there was zero mention of it, if you look at the plaque of Gene Krantz after he died in that explosion, you see the phrase "Failure is not an option" written. That's one of his phrases during the Apollo 13 incident.

Hate to tell you this but Kranz (whom I am a HUGE fan of) never uttered those words during the time of Apollo 13. He chose those words for his autobiography because he liked how they sounded during the Apollo 13 movie.

As to that rocket, check out this link...

Sea Dragon (rocket) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

it would be interesting if both the Shuttle and Buran come in Season 2...

 

[gkarris]

Season 2 trailer released...

 

[iDron]

But no launch date yet...

 

[webbuzz]

But no launch date yet...

Most likely this fall. Unless COVID pushed things back a month or two.

 

[mnsportsgeek]

I’m totally on board with the direction this seems to be taking.

Hopefully SEE and TMS trailers aren’t far behind.

 

[DotCom2]

But no launch date yet...

That's because this was just an unauthorized leak. It was not an official trailer release. That will be soon I hope.

 

[Rigby]

That's because this was just an unauthorized leak. It was not an official trailer release. That will be soon I hope.

The teaser was officially released a few hours later during the Comic-Con @home panel. But no release date was announced. AFAIK they have only shot 8 out of 10 episodes so far, so it may well be delayed to the end of the year or 2021.

 

[nickdalzell1]

Or delayed indefinitely, like Firefly, Stargate Universe Season 3, and Season 3 of The Orville

 

[gkarris]

But no launch date yet...

probably a few weeks after most people's free year expires...

 

[nutmac]

The teaser was officially released a few hours later during the Comic-Con @home panel. But no release date was announced. AFAIK they have only shot 8 out of 10 episodes so far, so it may well be delayed to the end of the year or 2021.

Given Apple TV+'s limited selection of contents, perhaps For All Mankind should stream some of the season 2 episodes, followed by a mid-season break? For instance, season 1 has a time jump between episodes 5 and 6, when Apollo 15 secures the water source.

 

[nickdalzell1]

If they had traditional 21-episode seasons, there would be plenty of time for a mid-season break. Unfortunately, they follow the UK model where we wait more for a show that is over as fast as it arrives...

 

[Mercifull]

The "UK model" as you put it is great! It means that you don't have tons of pointless filler episodes or plot device episodes where practically nothing of any purpose happens until the last 5 minutes. They are also more manageable to watch when you have children haha.

So far I've been impressed with everything on AppleTV+, it definitely has the feel of "quality over quantity". That said, however, due to COVID-19, the number of different shows and movies etc has not materialised over my years trial and I'm not sure if I will renew in January. I'm more than likely to wait a few months for new series of things like FAMK, See & Trying and then binge over a short period before cancelling again.

As for For All Mankind specifically I enjoyed it very much. I sort of wish they stayed in the 70s a bit longer but I understand the need for the time jump. Otherwise, we'd be in danger of the "filler episode" scenario I began this post with a boring lengthy season of just landing an additional module or crew to Moonlab etc each time until the season was up.

I am excited for the new season, the trailer looked good. I just hope the "war" stays cold, so to speak, and it doesn't become a futuristic 'shoot the baddies in space' sort of thing. Often the biggest dramas were around what was happening on Earth and I hope they don't forget that.

 

[iDron]

As for For All Mankind specifically I enjoyed it very much. I sort of wish they stayed in the 70s a bit longer but I understand the need for the time jump. Otherwise, we'd be in danger of the "filler episode" scenario I began this post with a boring lengthy season of just landing an additional module or crew to Moonlab etc each time until the season was up.

This just displays the actual space program's development. After the end of the Apollo program there was a 8 year break till the beginning of the Space Shuttle missions.

Of course, one can wonder if the writers of For All Mankind could have some more creativity and make up some fictitious space program in the 1970s. On the other hand, the first season was full of historical figures, which they would have to skip for that then.

 

[nickdalzell1]

The UK model leaves you waiting a year plus for the next season.

You can't flesh out a story as well with shorter seasons either. I bet Star Trek DS9 would have been half the great show it was had it stuck to that formula of 9-10 episodes per season.

Also would love to just have more show rather than feel like I'm watching a mini-series with no potential future after 1 or two seasons, much like those Netflix 'originals' lately.

 

[MarkAtl]

This just displays the actual space program's development. After the end of the Apollo program there was a 8 year break till the beginning of the Space Shuttle missions.

Of course, one can wonder if the writers of For All Mankind could have some more creativity and make up some fictitious space program in the 1970s. On the other hand, the first season was full of historical figures, which they would have to skip for that then.

Just for the record - just under 6 years. 1975's Apollo-Soyuz in mid-1975 until STS-1 in April 1981.

And Columbia was originally supposed to launch in early 1979, with the hope that an early Shuttle mission could boost Skylab to a higher orbit.

 

[Mercifull]

The UK model leaves you waiting a year plus for the next season.

You can't flesh out a story as well with shorter seasons either. I bet Star Trek DS9 would have been half the great show it was had it stuck to that formula of 9-10 episodes per season.

Im afraid I’ll have to disagree there. Look back to some classic British sci-fi like Blake’s 7 (13 episodes/season) or early Red Dwarf (6 episode/season) nicely produced without extended fluff. Then newer stuff like Fortitude which is fully fleshed out and told inside 12 episodes. Beyond Britain, even Netflix has experimented with shorter series like Stranger Things (8 episode/season) to huge acclaim.

Its not a problem to have to wait a year for a new season provided there’s plenty of other stuff to watch in the meantime... and that’s the downfall of AppleTV+. Some blame can of course be laid at the coronavirus crisis but there just isn’t the quantity of content to keep me subscribed at the moment. I’m not sure how much it would eat into Apples profit but they should extend the freebie period for anyone with a newly purchased product for at least another 6 months to a year in order to build the content and loyal subscriber base.

 

[nickdalzell1]

I guess we will have to disagree indeed on the quantity of seasons...I mean, I can't imagine Farscape nor Babylon 5 being nearly as interesting without 21 episode seasons to flesh out the story, much less imagine how short Firefly would have been for its fans given it only lasted a season.

I also hate waiting. I expect VoD services to offer 'binge-watching' content. When I only get a day's worth and have to wait a year or more, it's not fun. Still impatient for season 3 of The Orville along with Season 2 of Another life (Netflix) as well as Season 3 of Lost In Space (Netflix reboot)

 

[MarkAtl]

I guess we will have to disagree indeed on the quantity of seasons...I mean, I can't imagine Farscape nor Babylon 5 being nearly as interesting without 21 episode seasons to flesh out the story, much less imagine how short Firefly would have been for its fans given it only lasted a season.

I also hate waiting. I expect VoD services to offer 'binge-watching' content. When I only get a day's worth and have to wait a year or more, it's not fun. Still impatient for season 3 of The Orville along with Season 2 of Another life (Netflix) as well as Season 3 of Lost In Space (Netflix reboot)

Both of the shows you mention came out in the 90’s when there were no streaming networks.

That’d be like saying Farscape is slipping because I Love Lucy had 30+ episode seasons in the 50’s back when there were only 3 channels on TV.

I get what you’re saying...and you’ve said it multiple times...but with such a fragmented audience today plus a change from “content to fill a set schedule so we can run ads” to “content to attract subscribers” you will see more of this.

 

[nickdalzell1]

How did it work in the UK then? I'm assuming they weren't that ahead of us in the 1990s as well, yet they've had the 9 episode season format for decades.

It's just confusing...the streaming networks go on and on about shows being 'binge-worthy' which to me is saying 'we WANT you to watch seasons after seasons non-stop!' yet the shows they come up with only have enough episodes for a few hours and then nothing. Doesn't compute. Perhaps they should have had a few seasons set up before launch to fill the gaps?

the 9 episode season format has to curtail a lot of story fleshing out. It's no different than 'editing for time' an episode. Having bought the DVDs of shows such as Andromeda I've really found a lot of content was deleted for time to make room for ads. Similar gaps seem to happen with shorter seasons. Even this show had to skip a ton of time. They skipped Apollo 13 even. It was referenced a tiny bit but that's it. I'd have loved to see their own retelling of that, perhaps tying into the rescues.

 

[Mercifull]

How did it work in the UK then? I'm assuming they weren't that ahead of us in the 1990s as well, yet they've had the 9 episode season format for decades.

It's just confusing...the streaming networks go on and on about shows being 'binge-worthy' which to me is saying 'we WANT you to watch seasons after seasons non-stop!' yet the shows they come up with only have enough episodes for a few hours and then nothing. Doesn't compute. Perhaps they should have had a few seasons set up before launch to fill the gaps?

the 9 episode season format has to curtail a lot of story fleshing out. It's no different than 'editing for time' an episode. Having bought the DVDs of shows such as Andromeda I've really found a lot of content was deleted for time to make room for ads. Similar gaps seem to happen with shorter seasons. Even this show had to skip a ton of time. They skipped Apollo 13 even. It was referenced a tiny bit but that's it. I'd have loved to see their own retelling of that, perhaps tying into the rescues.

With regards to Apollo 13 with such a drastic change in the timeline that it’s not surprising that in For All Mankind the mission simply went off without a hitch. It’s deviated far from the first moon landing now we see it’s own unique failures and foibles rather than just reimaginings of real events.

 

[nickdalzell1]

They still referenced the movie's fictional line 'failure is not an option' though when they put up the memorial picture of Gene. Which leads me to assume they still had some issue re: Apollo 13.

Worried they will skip Challenger as well once they get to the 80s.

Also a ton of skipping happening during the last few episodes. Whatever happened to the injured kid? did she finally pull the plug? again, edited 'for time'

 

[sevoneone]

Worried they will skip Challenger as well once they get to the 80s.

The trailer shows Shuttle Columbia flying back from what looks like beyond Earth orbit, likely back from the Moon. I'm guessing the shuttle program in the show is going to be very different than reality. Our shuttles never made it out of low Earth orbit...

Also a ton of skipping happening during the last few episodes. Whatever happened to the injured kid? did she finally pull the plug? again, edited 'for time'

I think you missed an episode. The fallout from that leads to a lot of the story in the last two episodes.