James May on The Moon (2009)

BBC

ABC DVD/Roadshow

R4 DVD

Reviewer: Bob Estreich

Forty years ago James May sat in front of his parents’ television watching the first moon landing. It has continued to fascinate him all these years so in this documentary he takes a personal look at the landings and their technology.

The history of the landings is well known so he covers this lightly before talking to three of the surviving men who have set foot on the moon – three of only ten in all. These men tell their story far better than any history and you get the impression of highly trained men just doing a job. This, however hides the fact that every man was touched in some way by what he had done. The fame and the publicity saw to that and even now their lives are still affected by that one magic moment.

James goes through some of the training that the astronauts had to endure, including the zero-gravity simulator aircraft nicknamed the “Vomit Comet”. It is exhausting and stressful even though it is just a taste of a full training session, and at any point an accident could mean death.

The extra on the DVD is “James May At The Edge Of Space”. Quite a bit of the early space technology was drawn from the spy flight missions of the then super-secret U2 high altitude reconnaissance aircraft. This aircraft operated on the fringes of space and the pilots had to be equipped with space suits and training far beyond what “normal” aviation required. At 70,000 feet above the Earth you can see the curvature of the horizon and the blackness of space above you.

James undergoes the basic training needed to be a passenger in a U2. It is, frankly, scary, as is the U2 itself. Finally the flight takes him far above the world of commercial aircraft and the effect on him is impressive. This extra is as important as the feature documentary itself.

The film is less than a documentary but more than just a personal impression. James’ presentation and understated British humour is just the right combination to deliver a good piece of educational entertainment. If only we could persuade him to lose that hideous purple-and-pink striped shirt.

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This review will appear in Volume 3 No.2 of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.

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