For All Mankind
Created by Ronald D. Moore, Matt Wolpert, Ben Nedivi
Starring (season one)
Joel Kinnaman as Edward Baldwin
Michael Dorman as Gordo Stevens
Sarah Jones as Tracy Stevens
Shantel VanSanten as Karen Baldwin
Jodi Balfour as Ellen Wilson (née Waverly)
Wrenn Schmidt as Margo Madison
Sonya Walger as Molly Cobb
Krys Marshall as Danielle Poole
Cynthy Wu as Kelly Baldwin
Casey W. Johnson as Danny Stevens
Mason Thames as young Danny Stevens
Coral Peña as Aleida Rosales
Olivia Trujillo as teen Aleida Rosales
Chris Bauer as Deke Slayton
Colm Feore as Wernher von Braun
Eric Ladin as Gene Kranz (
Michael Harney as Jack Broadstreet a TV news anchorman.
Writers: (Season One only) Eps 1,2, 7, & 10: Ronald D. Moore & Matt Wolpert & Ben Nedivi
Eps 3 & 8 Nichole Beattie
Eps 4 Naren Shankar
Eps 5 & 9 : David Weddle and Bradley Thompson
Eps 6 Stephanie Shannon
Composer Jeff Russo
Country of origin United States
Original language English
No. of seasons 2
No. of episodes 20 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers Ronald D. Moore, Matt Wolpert, Ben Nedivi, Maril Davis, Seth Gordon, Naren Shankar
Production locations Los Angeles, California
Running time 48–76 minutes
Production companies Tall Ship Productions, Sony Pictures Television
Distributor Sony Pictures Television Distribution, Apple Inc.
Back a week ago, I described For All Mankind to an online acquaintance as “a solid alternate reality TV show”. I had seen the first six episodes at that point and had seen enough to know I was going to review the series. I like SF shows where the science is meticulous, the characters real and three dimensional, and the plot both coherent and compelling. In the first six episodes the show had already accomplished all those things.
Then episode seven came up. The title seemed innocent enough. “Hi, Bob.”
Have you seen episodes of series that were so powerful, so brilliant, that just one line brings it all rushing back, decades later? ST:TNG “There are FOUR lights.” M*A*S*H: “Henry’s plane went down…” Even as more comedic notes: WKRP: “As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.”
Add “Hi, Bob” to that list. It manages the incredible feat of being both hilarious and emotionally wrenching, involving nothing more mundane than the cast watching videotapes of The Bob Newhart Show.
For All Mankind then shifted, in my estimation, from “solid” to “sublime.”
The final three episodes of the first season were every bit as powerful. The direction, writing, and performances are nothing short of amazing.
I looked around to see what critics were saying. Almost unanimously, they said season one was good, and season two is absolutely brilliant. I plan to start watching season two today. I can’t wait.
The basic conceit is that in mid June, 1969, the Soviet Union lands the first men on the Moon. The deflated Americans land a few weeks later, and the landing ends up very nearly the way it could have in real life, with the LEM sitting at an angle thirty degrees off vertical. Armstrong (third man on the Moon, who dat in this series) and Aldrin (um Buzz something—the fourth guy) manage to take off and barely return to the Lunar Orbiter. One of the many nice touches is that the “We come in peace for all mankind” plaque that sits in the Sea of Tranquility for the next several billion years in this show is tacked to the wall of one of the children of the other astronauts—having lost the race to the Moon, NASA didn’t bother sending it up on Apollo 11.
Instead of abandoning the space race, the US is galvanized, especially since water ice is discovered in a deep crater at the Moon’s south pole (which in fact it was).
By the end of season one, it’s about 1975, we’re up to Apollo 25, and both the US and the Soviets have small three man bases at the crater. Only, inspired by Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova and passage of the ERA amendment, about a third of the US astronauts are women. However, the cold war has found its place in the lunar desolation.
Pet peeves of mine include spaceships that bank to turn and go whoosh when they fly by. And Hollywood simply refuses to believe that sound doesn’t travel in a vacuum. For All Mankind avoids all that petty and stupid BS, and doesn’t insult the intelligence of the viewer. They even demonstrate the very real mathematical and logical difficulties involved in changing orbit to establish a rendezvous. This is an astonishing thing for a TV show—any TV show. Make the viewer think, and learn. Without being pedantic or boring, or taking away from the suspense and excitement. Indeed, it acts to accentuate it.
Many, many years ago (OK, 1965) I read a book called “Marooned” by Martin Caidin. It explained in a way a tweener could understand how an astronaut could be stranded in orbit just one hundred miles from the ground. It’s common knowledge now, but for me, almost 60 years ago, it brought to reality the novelty, the dangers, and the unknowns of space flight in a way Star Trek or Lost in Space never could.
Space is still unique, and utterly alien to everything we know. It has challenges and dangers most people don’t even consider, or even know about. People actually think of flight to the Moon as something of a milk run, and want us to get on with it and fly to Sirius, or Andromeda, or wherever the Vulcans hang out.
For All Mankind shows the courage of the astronauts, and the dangers they faced. Both in space and in the politics of the program, it does so like the walks on the Moon, in alien brilliance.
Now on Apple TV+