For All Mankind

[Blackstar]

Is anyone else disappointed that it seems like the show has given up any semblance of trying to present a probable alternate history?

I'm a bit wary of the divergence from technical realism. Some of the ships shown in the trailer are oddly-shaped, as if aerodynamics is no longer an issue in the future.

[Robotbeat]

Is anyone else disappointed that it seems like the show has given up any semblance of trying to present a probable alternate history?

Last season with the Space Shuttle and not already being on Mars when they had an operational Sea Dragon was bad enough. This season seems completely divorced from any kind reality; like NASA sitting on their hands not going to Mars for 10 years while having an operational NERVA engine, a private company that goes from start to launching a massive ship to Mars in 10 years, NASA sending a 62 years old Ed to Mars, etc.

I think 10 year time jump every season was a mistake, it should've been 5 years or even less. So season 2 it's the late 70s and we have all this base vs base stuff that had siphoned all the funds from NERVA and Mars but the new Detente frees its up, and season 3 it's the early 80s and now they have everything ready to go for Mars.

Right. There’s no historical precedent for NASA being bogged down in a permanent base in space for decades in spite of having access to rockets to go further. Never happened before.

[sanman]

Is anyone else disappointed that it seems like the show has given up any semblance of trying to present a probable alternate history?

I think series creator Ronald Moore had said he wanted to create an alternate history where mankind accomplishes much more in space than has actually happened in reality. So while the early parts of the series focused on past programs like Apollo and Shuttle, the series was always going to eventually surpass current day technological achievements and tackle frontiers that are as yet unexplored. That's where the upcoming season is headed into now.

[Ronpur50]

Is anyone else disappointed that it seems like the show has given up any semblance of trying to present a probable alternate history?

I think series creator Ronald Moore had said he wanted to create an alternate history where mankind accomplishes much more in space than has actually happened in reality. So while the early parts of the series focused on past programs like Apollo and Shuttle, the series was always going to eventually surpass current day technological achievements and tackle frontiers that are as yet unexplored. That's where the upcoming season is headed into now.

Absolutely correct. I heard
 an interview with him and he said the show would move more into the science fiction realm as it went into further seasons. In fact, he considers it to be a prequel of sorts to movies or shows like Star Trek or 2001.

[MATTBLAK]

Just so long as they don't discover an alien 'Stargate' or some such Maguffin somewhere in the solar system...

[Jer]

Is anyone else disappointed that it seems like the show has given up any semblance of trying to present a probable alternate history?

I think series creator Ronald Moore had said he wanted to create an alternate history where mankind accomplishes much more in space than has actually happened in reality. So while the early parts of the series focused on past programs like Apollo and Shuttle, the series was always going to eventually surpass current day technological achievements and tackle frontiers that are as yet unexplored. That's where the upcoming season is headed into now.

Absolutely correct. I heard
 an interview with him and he said the show would move more into the science fiction realm as it went into further seasons. In fact, he considers it to be a prequel of sorts to movies or shows like Star Trek or 2001.

That's sad to hear. You can have a full 5-7 season show just about an alternate history 70s and 80s space race. It shouldn't be a surprise though, Ron Moore shows always start strong and get more and more convoluted as they go along. BSG had a very simple premise which they build out to perfection, but when they started veering off into mystery Cylons and eventually God BS it went off the deep end. Even Outlander suffered the same fate despite it being an adaptation, Moore and the other writers started to change more and more stuff from the source material the further it went along and it almost always turned out badly.

[libra]

Just so long as they don't discover an alien 'Stargate' or some such Maguffin somewhere in the solar system...

They could found alien bugs at the deep bottom of a lunar cave - brought by an extrasolar comet having crashed on the Moon... and then, the alien bug DNA has a message hidden inside.

[ccdengr]

Sally Ride mentions the "control drum actuators"

This was an actual part of the design -- see "NERVA control drum actuator irradiation test program", https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19690022492

Definitely Pathfinder was more "rule of cool" than plausible but you have to give them points for some effort to make the dialog sound right.

[Lars-J]

Did anyone else catch the first episode of season 3? They’ve skipped for ward almost a decade(?).

But it was pretty darned good, I thought. Hijinks and accidents on an orbital space hotel.

[libra]

BEWARE, minor spoilers.

https://www.space.com/for-all-mankind-season-3-space-history

Actress Wrenn Schmidt, who plays Johnson Space Center director Margo Madison, told collectSPACE that she styled some of her performance after a real NASA leader. "We work with a couple of great technical consultants named Denise and Mike Okuda and they told me about a book called 'The Astronaut Maker.' It's about George Abbey, who, outside of NASA, is to most people pretty much unknown."

"He was kind of an interesting person to research because he was a very polarizing figure," said Schmidt. "Some people loved him, and some people hated him, and so I thought he was really interesting to read about when I was thinking about season three."

Ouch... that's an understatement ! one-third of the astronaut office feared or hated him; one-third was indifferent; one-third learned to use the man quirks to their advantage.

And yes, the space hotel sequence is jaw dropping, stunning visuals and an obvious hommage to 2001 a space odyssey.
But I won't say a single word about it beyond that, not to spoil anything.

[Oersted]

This season seems completely divorced from any kind reality; [...] a private company that goes from start to launching a massive ship to Mars in 10 years

...SpaceX is not too far removed from that reality!

[Dalhousie]

This season seems completely divorced from any kind reality; [...] a private company that goes from start to launching a massive ship to Mars in 10 years

...SpaceX is not too far removed from that reality!

Not remotely the case. 

[Lars-J]

This season seems completely divorced from any kind reality; [...] a private company that goes from start to launching a massive ship to Mars in 10 years

...SpaceX is not too far removed from that reality!

Not remotely the case.

Let’s NOT turn this into a “my opinion about SpaceX is more accurate than yours” kind of thread.

This is about “For All Mankind”.

[M.E.T.]

I didn’t enjoy it.

The launch sequence with the World Song background music back in Season 1 was one of the most emotive scenes I’ve seen on TV. I’ve probably rewatched it half a dozen times.

Season 1 as a whole was great. But it’s deteriorated from there in my view.

Also, I generally get attached to characters and find it difficult when shows obviously try to pass the baton on to a new generation, leaving your old favourites behind. Not unique to For All Mankind but it has certainly reached that stage now.

And I really can’t stand Danny after the “incident” in Season 2. I get major psycho vibes from the kid.

Edit

It’s also pretty obvious that the “incident” from Season 2 is going to be revealed at the worst possible moment at a critical juncture somewhere deep into the Mars mission, with the resultant interpersonal tension between a senior and a junior crew member 50 million km from home meant to produce major drama and conflict at a crisis point.

Kind of telegraphed to be the case. Wish they could just get the whole unsavoury and unnecessary bit over with and focus on the space stuff.

[neoforce]

Overall, I'm enjoying it.  Some stupidity, some cool stuff.  (loved when she threw her shoe and the bride and groom on the wedding cake)

But I do agree with M.E.T.  That Danny plot is cringey and will be used at the worst point for drama and doesn't add to the story.

[dglow]

Well how does everyone feel about the ticking bomb that is Margo’s correspondence with Sergei?

[tea monster]

That time bomb 'went off' pretty spectacularly. I'm surprised Margo didn't see through the setup though. Now we wait to how long she can keep this up before she's outed or she can't put up with it any more.

The whole Danny thing - ughhh. Extra drama now that his stalker-target is his boss. Still - ughhh!


The Helios ship is a bit of a shocker. The bridge is even laid out like a Starfleet ship! This looks like the most sci-fi thing in the series so far. Thing is, that there is nothing really out of the bounds of the possible with the ship. We just never had the desire to build something like that before.

On that note, I'm not a fan of the ship designs in this series. Both the NASA and Russian ships don't look like they are large enough to carry food and water for the crew for a trip to Mars, let alone the fuel for the transfer burn. I know the NASA mission is sending their supplies in another ship to meet up at Mars, but still.

It wouldn't take a lot of money to hire someone who could provide more accurate technical advice to the production.

[sanman]

So correct me if I'm wrong, but that Helios founder guy is like an Elon Musk -- but he's managed to develop nuclear fusion? (Hence the name 'Helios')

So does that mean fusion energy is now a thing in the For All Mankind story universe?

[old_geez]

So correct me if I'm wrong, but that Helios founder guy is like an Elon Musk -- but he's managed to develop nuclear fusion? (Hence the name 'Helios')

So does that mean fusion energy is now a thing in the For All Mankind story universe?

If you watch the “extras”, it gives a brief update on the 10 years passed.
Really helps with the story

[dglow]

Did anyone else chuckle when China announced their Mars sample return mission would best NASA/ESA's by two years?

Art imitating life imitating art.