4/5 Very well done documentary
  by C. S. Huntley
Being thirty years old and not having lived through the "Space Race", i have been amazed by what this documentary brings to light. It is well narrated with great interviews and wonderful original footage that really brings you into what transpired. My wife and i have thoroughly enjoyed viewing this program.

There are some issues with it, which is why i only gave it four stars. First of all, with the information, it sometimes seems like they go too quickly through certain events without explaining everything - of course this is understandable given the scope of what they are covering and putting it in eight episodes. But sometimes i wish there would be a little more information provided about some things.

Also, i did notice the dirt speck that has been discussed. But i also wonder if these individuals actually watched the whole program or only the first 10 minutes of the first disc and gave up on it. After the first 10 minutes of the first disc, i did not notice the spot there anymore through the rest of the program (and i was looking). It certainly was a little annoying while it was on the screen - but i think that's because i read about it here and was looking for it, and when i found it i couldn't keep my eyes off of it. Would i have noticed if i had not been tipped off about it? I'm not sure. It really isn't all that large. And i didn't tell my wife about it and she never complained about it, so i don't think she noticed it. So perhaps unless you're just REALLY obsessive about every inch of the screen every second, perhaps it can be overlooked at just problematic original film (which has been pointed out it is not, but if the mind can explain it away like that, then it becomes a non-issue). And like i said, after the first 10 minutes or so, you don't need to worry about it anyway. I just feel sorry for the people who quit watching it after eight minutes assuming it was going to be there the whole way and missed out on the rest of what was offered.

My final problem is that it is only provided in 1080i and the audio is not HD audio. I understand this was filmed for television to run on Discovery and that HD television broadcasts in 1080i, but they really could have done this 1080p for the blu-ray.

Other than those cons, which really aren't all that bad at all, i really enjoyed this production and think that you will too!

5/5 Great
  by Scott Seeger (IRAQ)
The only drawback of When We Left Earth is that after watching it for hours you still want more.

5/5 SOME MORE RECOMMENDATIONS...
  by Peter Wolf (Region 2)
This interesting and informative series from Discovery comes highly recommended. The documentaries chronologically cover the history of NASA from the early Mercury missions, through to Gemini, Apollo, the shuttle launches and beyond, featuring new interviews with most of the key personnel (including a rare appearance from Neil Armstrong).

Although nearly all of the archive footage is grainy and cropped to fit 16:9 widescreen format, the benefit in quality of being transferred to HD is evident and many original films have been included as extras in their original aspect ratio.

The discs are all REGION FREE and can therefore be played anywhere. The only annoying thing is the Discovery Channel commercial which appears every time a disc is loaded, as the song gets on your nerves after a while: "Boom-de-ah-da, Boom-de-ah-da, Boom-de-ah-da, Boom-de-ah-da!" AHHHHHHHH!!!!!

If, like me, you're a fan of documentaries and films about space exploration I would also make these recommendations:

- For All Mankind (Forthcoming blu-ray release of an older documentary film about the Apollo missions with all the classic footage not featured in the others)

- The Planets (BBC documentary series about our solar system and the exploration that has helped our understanding of it)

- Apollo 13 (Ron Howard & Tom Hanks' biopic about the unlucky mission)

- From The Earth The The Moon (Tom Hanks' spin-off docu-dramas about the Apollo Moon-landings)

- In The Shadow Of The Moon (Ron Howard-produced documentary film about the Apollo missions, with entertaining comments from Mike Collins who is sadly absent from
the When We Left Earth series)

- The Right Stuff (Classic, if slightly over-long, 1983 film based on Tom Wolfe's bestseller that charts events from breaking the sound barrier to the end of the Mercury program.)


5/5 It blew me away
  by John Lewis (Cary, NC USA)
A truly inspiring and wonderful series. Being born in 1984 I missed all the years of the gemini and apollo missions. What an increadible time in our Country's history. Watching this series I repeatedly had chills and it even brought me to tears a few times. I never cease to be amazed by what accomplished during those first 10 years. Going from man having never been in space, to landing on the moon (multiple times!). Buy it - you will not regret it.

5/5 Very gripping
  by Jamshed Sadat (Toronto Ontario, Canada)
Out of the four discs, i found that disc number 2 and 3 to be the best ones. It was very gripping and aww inspiring to see what the human race has done. the footages of the moon and some space shots were spectacular. a must buy for any space and flight fan!