Home Entertainment The space race is a marathon in Apple TV+’s alt-history drama For All Mankind

The space race is a marathon in Apple TV+’s alt-history drama For All Mankind

2 min read
16

Tech giant Apple’s streaming service, Apple TV+, will go live in a month, and one of the original series it’ll be coming with is the alt-history space race tale from Battlestar Galactica’s Ronald D. Moore and the Fargo duo of Matt Wolpert and Ben Nedivi.

For All Mankind is set in a world where the Soviet Union shocked the world by landing the first man on the moon, presumably because they nabbed the Nazi rocket scientists and put them to work before the US did (Yes, really – Operation Paperclip, look it up). It’s a world where the space race hasn’t ended, and the US is determined to keep on fighting.

It stars Joel Kinnaman, Sarah Jones, Shantel Van Santen, Wrenn Schmidt, Michael Dorman, and Jodi Balfour.

The show’s official plot synopsis is as follows:

Imagine a world where the global space race never ended. This “what if” take on history from Ronald D. Moore (Outlander, Battlestar Galactica) spotlights the lives of NASA astronauts – the heroes and rock stars of their time – and their families.

Let’s take a look:

Aerosmith, really? I wasn’t particularly impressed by the teaser trailer, mostly because the cheese factor was through the roof thanks to the old tired US jingoism on display and earnest people talking earnestly about never giving up and other inspirational guff. Nothing’s really changed on that front, but they’ve added a new dimension – empowerment.  

For me the space race was about demonstrating national and cultural superiority through technological achievement. So while I know this is a fictional alt-history tale, I have a hard time believing that the US’ answer to the Soviets putting the first man on the moon would be, “Oh yeah, Boris? Well not only are we going to build a better rocket, but let’s see you put the first woman on the moon, pal!”

I so much want to like this – I like the premise, the people behind it have superb résumés, the cast is good, and I want to see a world improved through constant scientific research looks like. But I just don’t. What do you think?

For All Mankind will premiere on Apple TV+ on 1 November, but you’ll need a device compatible with the Apple TV app to watch it.

Last Updated: September 30, 2019

16 Comments

  1. For All Mankind….only on Apple

    Reply

  2. HvR

    September 30, 2019 at 13:19

    Agree looks super lame.

    Seems the writers never opened a history book before writing an alt-history series.

    Soviets had an active woman cosmonaut group through the 60’s (because they erroneously believed that NASA was going to send Cobb up in the Mercury program) and already had fully trained woman cosmonauts in 62 and send the first woman to space in 63.

    So if the Americans declared “we are sending woman to the moon” they would just pull a KSP load Valentina in a rocket and pop her over to the moon. Hell they could send a full complement of 3 woman.

    Reply

  3. RinceThis

    September 30, 2019 at 13:27

    Oh deary me. This is going to be bad. Will it be as bad as Another Life? Probably not…

    Reply

    • HvR

      September 30, 2019 at 13:34

      I they try really hard they can be worse than Another Life.

      Reply

      • Alien Emperor Trevor

        September 30, 2019 at 13:34

        I don’t know, they already know there’s a moon orbiting the planet, so that makes it way better already.

        Reply

        • RinceThis

          September 30, 2019 at 13:34

          hahahaha

          Reply

        • HvR

          September 30, 2019 at 13:35

          Well they can still swop out the 60’s housewives with sex crazed mentally unstable millennials

          Reply

      • RinceThis

        September 30, 2019 at 13:34

        they would have to try all the hard to get ahead of another life!

        Reply

    • Alien Emperor Trevor

      September 30, 2019 at 13:34

      Can anything be as bad as Another Life? Wait… yes. The I-Land. 🙁

      Reply

      • Son of Banana Jim

        September 30, 2019 at 14:03

        The I-land is where thinking brains go to die in a sea of mediocre and bland sci fi writing, wooden acting and a premise that was stolen from the dirty journal of a 90s high school teen.

        Reply

  4. Son of Banana Jim

    September 30, 2019 at 13:54

    How have we come to this….? Alt-history meets excessive wokeness? What could have been something extremely interesting ends up mutated and disfigured by current year politics and lame virtue signalling.

    And as already pointed out by HvR – The Soviets had ACTUAL female cosmonauts….

    Reply

    • HvR

      September 30, 2019 at 16:18

      So I guess it means they wokeness has reached such a level that it flipped around into anti-woke by ignoring/dismissing achievements of real-world women….. much like Battlefield games actually.

      Reply

    • HvR

      September 30, 2019 at 16:18

      So I guess it means they wokeness has reached such a level that it flipped around into anti-woke by ignoring/dismissing achievements of real-world women….. much like Battlefield games actually.

      Reply

  5. Llama In The Rift

    September 30, 2019 at 15:20

    Just out of curiosity with no context added, wasn’t a lady astronaut in the crosshairs for the first “space crime” a month back or so for a allegedly cyber crime?

    Just asking cause don’t know if it was fake news or old matrial.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Check Also

“Let’s get it!” Hilarious new “early access” trailer for The Suicide Squads sneaks online

A brand new trailer for The Suicide Squad has taken a very unorthodox road online, but now…