“Challenger: The Final Flight” Netflix Docu-Series Review by Brooke Daugherty
September 20, 2020 3:08 pm |
January 28, 1986, I was three and a half. It was a Tuesday, so my paternal grandmother was on babysitting duty. My mother showed up several hours early to pick me up, her office had closed because everyone was too devastated from the news about Challenger to work. I will never forget my mom’s face when she picked me up, even though I didn’t see the footage for many years later. Anyone old enough to remember will likely never forget it. This four episode Netflix docuseries not only tells the story of that flight and the crew, but also the shuttle program years before and the aftermath.
All four episodes list both Steven Leckart and Daniel Junge as directors. Leckart also wrote and developed the series with Glen Zipper and is produced by Bad Robot and Zipper Bros. Films. As expected, interviews and archival footage is interspersed with some actors in vignettes to set the scenes described by interviewees. That is standard documentary procedure edited well.
What is so interesting about this documentary is the part of the story told through crew interviews. As each one spoke of their excitement, I got chills knowing they never came back from their trip. The first episode begins this way, reeling me in, hook, line, and sinker. No matter how many times I see the disaster footage, it is still devastating. Those interviewed include NASA personnel, astronauts, family of the crew and even some of Christa McAuliffe’s students. It has been 35 years since the event and loved ones interviewed still get very emotional speaking about the incident, putting a lump in my own throat.
Whether or not you remember Challenger, this docu-series is interesting, informative, entertaining and emotional. I learned some things I didn’t know, even though I had my sights on becoming an astronaut as a child. I had no idea Peter Billingsley of A Christmas Story fame was the face of the young astronaut program and he made an appearance in the series. Why watch an inaccurate drama like Away when you can watch a true life drama with real science and actually learn something?
PCL Rating: Tupperware
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: FRESH 🍅
Categorised in: Television Reviews
This post was written by Leftover Brian
Comments are closed here.