Wonder Of It All, The

The Wonder Of It All is a celebration of Man's First Step on the Moon, presented as a historical significant documentary. This in-depth, personal look at Real American Heroes—the Moonwalkers—features Astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Alan Bean, Eugene Cernan, Walter Cunningham, Charlie Duke, Edgar Mitchell, Harrison Schmitt, and John Young. The documentary takes us on a path of discovery and exploration that captures the best of mankind's spirit. This path to the Moon began in 1961 when President John F. Kennedy started the United States' space program. The personal stories of the featured Astronauts are presented through reflections on their lives, with rarely seen private family photos and NASA footage, including their childhood, their training, the tragedies, the camaraderie, and the extraordinary accomplishment of setting foot on another world. (Gary Reber)

Special features include commentaries with John Young, Charlie Duke and Jeffrey Roth, Edgar Mitchell and Paul Basta, and Jeffrey Roth and Paul Basta; Buzz Aldin's interview with CNN's Miles O'Brien (SD 08:10); John Young's presentation given at the world premier of the film (SD 49:10); a Kennedy Space Center behind-the-scenes tour (SD 22:07); a President George H.W. Bush Library Screening (SD 08:41); an interview with Martha Chaffee (SD 14:53); an outtake reel (SD 07:30); an interview featurette (SD 43:55); and trailers.

The 1.78:1 1080i MPEG-2 picture is delivered at an average bit rate of 16 megabits per second-not anywhere near the A title film presentations on Blu-ray Disc™. Thus, the picture is limited in resolution and production values. Largely consisting of archival footage interspersed with present-day interviews featuring eight astronauts, the film projects a documentary feel. As such, the picture quality appears to lack resolution and the interlace format degrades segments with significant movement. Even the modern interview segments lack detail in facial features and object textures seen in the background. Color variations are prevalent throughout as well. But then this is a documentary and a significantly historic one at that. While the picture quality is limited by the source elements, this is a remarkable telling of America's Apollo program by the men that shape it. (Gary Reber)

Presented in either Dolby® Digital 5.1- or 2.0-channel formats, there are no profound differences. Both phantom-image the dialogue in the center between left and right loudspeakers, with the 5.1 version adding a discrete center channel of the same dialogue signal. The interview segments with the various astronauts are the majority of the content, supported by a background musical score that provides subtle surround envelopment. The sound is always intelligible, and the music is nicely recorded, but not prominent. As a documentary, the sound support is acceptable and communicates the astronauts' personalized stories. (Gary Reber)