David Meadows
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Registered: 09-2003
Posts: 400
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Being Neil Armstrong
This was a documentary on the BBC last weekend. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but it was very good.
The presenter (Andrew Smith, I think) has written a book about Apollo astronauts and interviewed every surviving astronaut except Neil Armstrong. (For those that don't know, Armstrong has become a recluse and shunned all publicity for 15 years or more).
The documentary is essentially about Smith trying to learn what made Armstrong so reculsive, and trying to arange an interview with Armstrong. To this end, he interviews childhood friends, air force friends, fellow astronatus, and so on. He traces Armstrong's love of flying and learns what others think of the man... and as the prrogramme goes on and we learn more about Armstrong's life, he (the presenter) admits that he's not sure if he ought to pester Armstrong for the interview, or if he ought to leave the man in peace.
I'll be honest, I watched the programme mainly because I thought it would include an interview with Neil Armstrong. But it was more about the presenter's "journey of discovery" (will I/won't I interview him?) than about the subject. This irritated me at first, but after a while I began to understand what he was doing, showing how Armstrong's legend had such a huge impact that this professional writer and interviewer didn't even know how to approach him. It makes you really consider what it might be like to be... Neil Armstrong.
And after a while, I began sincerely hoping he would not interview Neil Armstrong.
And in the end.......... well, I won't reveal whether he got the interview or not, you'll have to watch it for yourself. I will just say that the ending was quite satisfying and a bit emotionally affecting.
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"You see things; and you say 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say 'Why not?'"
-- George Bernard Shaw.
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7/8/2009, 2:30 pm
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Reythia
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Registered: 11-2005
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Re: Being Neil Armstrong
Huh. That sounds kind of interesting. *sigh* Of course, I don't have BBC, so I'll have to trust your judgment -- always a scary thing! But at least it must have been different.
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7/8/2009, 3:53 pm
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dragonlady
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Registered: 04-2003
Location: England
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Re: Being Neil Armstrong
Sounds a bit like the Steve Ditko documentary that Jonathan Ross, accompanied by Neil Gaiman, did a few years ago. Although obviously with a much more important person at the centre.
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"Why sometimes I've believed as many as 6 impossible things before breakfast" -- Red Queen, Lewis Carrol
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7/8/2009, 5:17 pm
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