From the Earth to the Moon is a 1998 American twelve-part television miniseries co-produced by Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, Tom Hanks and Michael Bostick. The series aired on HBO from April 5 to May 10, 1998. In docudrama format, it tells the story of the Apollo program during the 1960s and early 1970s. Largely based on Andrew Chaikin's 1994 book, A Man on the Moon, the series is known for its accurate telling of the story of Apollo and the special effects under visual director Ernest D. Farino. The series takes its title from, but is not based upon, Jules Verne's 1865 science fiction novel From the Earth to the Moon.
Hanks appears in every episode, introducing each of the first eleven. The twelfth and final episode, represented in pseudo-documentary format, is narrated by Blythe Danner, interspersed with a reenactment of the production of Georges Méliès' 1902 film Le Voyage dans la Lune, also in part inspired by Verne's novel. Hanks narrates and appears in these scenes as Méliès' assistant, with Tchéky Karyo as Méliès.
Cast
The miniseries has a fairly large cast. It portrays 30 of the 32 astronauts who flew, or were preparing to fly, the 12 missions of the Apollo program. (The only two Apollo astronauts not portrayed by credited actors are Apollo 13 Command Module pilot Jack Swigert, who is heard but not seen in Episode 8, and Apollo 17 Command Module pilot Ronald Evans, who has a brief appearance in the liftoff scene of Apollo 17 in the final episode.) Members of many of the astronauts' families, and other NASA and non-NASA personnel, are also portrayed.
Several fictional (or fictionalized) characters are also included, notably television newscaster Emmett Seaborn (Lane Smith) who appears in nine of the 12 episodes.
Astronaut David Scott, from Apollo 15, was the chief technological consultant.
Episodes
The 12 episodes, each directed by a different person, use a variety of viewpoints and themes, while sequentially covering the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs. Lane Smith portrays Emmett Seaborn, a seasoned reporter for a fictional television network who covers the U.S. space program from its earliest days, providing continuity for most of the episodes.