I was just watching the movie, I Aim at the Stars, on TCM, about Werner von Braun, and remembered that , though they mentioned his name once or twice on the mini series,I dont think you ever see him. Kinda strange, isnt it, considering his contribution to the Apollo program....
shareVon Braun is portrayed in this series. In the episode 1968, he's at the meeting (the one where everyone's eating Chinese food) assuring people that the Saturn V is ready for a manned launch, and in Spider there's a scene with him standing at a chalkboard and explaining the direct ascent and orbital rendezvous methods of flying to the Moon. Norbert Weisser plays him.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120570/fullcredits#cast
__________________________
"I am a collage of unaccounted for brush strokes, and I am all random!"
yeah we all know he was portrayed in 2 TINY scenes but he did not get the emphasis he deserved. He was kept low-key. I guess his nazi background does not play well with the American hero story. Which I can totally understand. I am not cynical.
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I read the book and it indeed ignores Von Braun mostly as well. but the series heavily deviates from the Chaikin book. I say about 50% of the series based on the book. so the only explanation I think is the nazi background.
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I don't particularly know the answer, but some observations:
The various episodes focused on different aspects of the larger story, primarily emphasizing the experiences of the astronauts. For the one episode that was entirely focused on engineering, they chose to go with the development of the LEM, rather than the Saturn V. I can see why, I think:
- It made for a nice, fairly self-contained story, with a clear problem and denouement.
- It fit neatly into the larger flow of the series, tying very neatly to missions (9 and 10) in a way that created a little delay before the big landing in 11.
- It was perhaps a bit more new to the typical viewer, who understands the essential nature of a rocket, but probably never really thought about the somewhat bizarre engineering problems involved in the LEM.
Since the series was about Apollo, Von Braun's earlier rocket work was kind of outside the scope of the series. The Saturn V could've been a subject, but the mission it would link to (8) already has a better "theme" to it, and the LEM was kind of a more interesting and fresher story.
I dont see why the LEM is a "fresher" and more interesting story than the Saturn V.
If they could made room for the wives' stories (rightfully so) than they should have made much more time for Von Braun. There would be no moonlanding without him for USA for Christ's sake. What could be more important than him?
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As I noted in a different thread, I'm reading Deke Slayton's autobiography at the moment (it's excellent!) and he only touches on von Braun when talking in broad terms about the development of the Saturn series rockets. In the early Mercury days, Deke was tasked with working on the Redstone rockets, before they moved onto the Atlas series. Maybe the astronauts, whose stories were the lynch-pin of FTETTM, didn't have a lot of interaction with von Braun, so he was downplayed (or maybe it *was* his background).
Hanks intro, I forget which episode, *does* mention him specifically as one of the three men without whom the Moon missions would have been impossible. Maybe the producers thought that was enough to address von Braun's contribution.
Or maybe they figured the the audience would lose interest in a story about rockets and how they work. The Lunar Module is more "interesting" because it's unique to space program, and not everyone understands exactly how they work. People today have seen launch footage and know what a rocket does (makes lots of noise, shoots out fire and smoke, and goes up!). The idea of the Command Module and Lunar Module (both Descent Stage and Ascent Stage) would strike a great many people who aren't rocket scientists as way more fascinating.
The King Of Rhye
"My first thought was he lied in every word."
Well, compare to "The Right Stuff," in which a character clearly based on Von Braun is shown in numerous scenes, but is never referred to by name.
sharethat character was a joke. I like RS especially the scenes with Yeager, but that movie is more of a comedy than a real portayal of those times.
shareIf there had been an episode that focused on development of the Saturn booster (what Von Braun was involved with), then we would have seen him in the series. He had little or no involvement with the astronauts, mission planning, or mission operations so it was logical for him to be absent in the series.
shareEach episode had a separate and distinct focus and I'm not sure where a story of the Saturn V rocket development (the only way Von Braun could be worked into a story) could have fit in, without dumping the Spider story:
"Can We Do This?": Background of the space race and feasibility of the program
"Apollo 1": Launch pad fire and public reaction to danger of the program
"We Have Cleared the Tower": Preparation and training for the first launch
"1968": The state of America and societal struggles that were going on during the Apollo missions
"Spider": The engineering episode
"Mare Tranquilitatus": The first moon landing
"That's All There Is": A story focusing on the camaraderie of an Apollo crew
"We Interrupt This Program": The media angle of the Apollo 13 accident
"For Miles and Miles": The return of Alan Shepherd to the space program
"Galileo was Right": The scientific training of the astronauts
"Original Wives Club": The toll the space program took on the wives of the astronauts
"La Voyage de la Lune": The final launch to the moon. Granted the part about the making of the movie from the 1900's seemed like filler. But a story about the Saturn V boosters would have seemed totally out of place.
In short, sticking a story about Von Braun and NASA's development of the Saturn V booster would only have made sense in the first few episodes, and would either have interrupted the flow of the story, or would have been redundant to Spider, which is a much more interesting and less-known design story.
I could have done without "We Interrupt This Program" - there was alread a full movie dedicated to Apollo 13. Also "Original Wives Club" was a bit too soap opera for the tone of the rest of the series.
An episode titled either "Saturn V" or "Candle" between "Can We Do This?" and "Apollo 1" would have been very nice. Honestly I think they could even film it now as an addition to re-release the series, since so many folks have forgotten it, and it should never be forgotten.
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Philo's Law: To learn from your mistakes, you have to realize you're making mistakes.
Comedian Mort Sahl commented that von Braun's biography should have been titled:
"I Aim at the Stars,... but Sometimes I Hit London."
The welfare of all the people has always been the alibi of tyrants. Albert Camus
LOL That is too funny! Never heard that one before. The real von Braun also looked nothing like the actor in the miniseries. I've seen von Braun portrayed in several films and they don't even come close. There are some pictures of Werner von Braun in book I read about the Apollo missions (forget the title now). But, geez, was that guy handsome! I was flipping through the book and I thought |"What is Gregory Peck doing in the picture with JFK?" It was von Braun.
It doesn't fit the narrative of the American hero story that a German scientist was the brain behind it all.
shareIt doesn't fit the narrative of the American hero story that a German scientist was the brain behind it all.
One of the very best books written on the subject is Apollo: the race to the moon (Murray & Cox). It focuses closely on the engineering side of things. Except for a fascinating chapter on the F1 engine, most of the story of the Saturn development was, again, left on the cutting room floor. When the amazing machine was spoken of, it was simply in relation to a particular flight.
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How can it be a good book about the Apollo program's engineering side, if it leaves out the main part?Spoken like someone who hasn't read the book. And I would suggest it's subjective as to what is the 'main part'. A friend started reading the book a few years ago and gave up on it because there were no astronauts in it. His feeling was those pilots were the 'main part'. To each their own.
It doesn't fit the narrative of the American hero story that a German scientist was the brain behind it all.
Gather 'round while I sing you of Wernher von Braun,
A man whose allegiance
Is ruled by expedience.
Call him a Nazi, he won't even frown,
"Ha, Nazi, Schmazi," says Wernher von Braun.
Don't say that he's hypocritical,
Say rather that he's apolitical.
"Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down?
That's not my department," says Wernher von Braun.
Some have harsh words for this man of renown,
But some think our attitude
Should be one of gratitude,
Like the widows and cripples in old London town,
Who owe their large pensions to Wernher von Braun.
You too may be a big hero,
Once you've learned to count backwards to zero.
"In German oder English I know how to count down,
Und I'm learning Chinese!" says Wernher von Braun.