Overview: In an alternative version of 1969, the Soviet Union beats the United States to the Moon, and the space race continues on for decades with still grander challenges and goals.

Blu-ray Verdict: I think I’m solidly in the target demographic of this show: people who are old enough to remember the Moon landing and who were completely enthralled by it at the time.

A young person, or a person who was never into the space program might not enjoy it as much, or understand a lot of the references (Senator Kennedy has decided to cancel a planned vacation to Chappaquiddick).

Of course, everyone knows that the premise of the show is that the Soviets pulled a surprise landing on the Moon just before Apollo 11. That’s a somewhat plausible scenario in that the Soviets never announced launches until they were successful (and not at all if they weren’t).

Nevertheless, they play it up as a big reveal, and I was surprised how emotional it made me to go through the experience with the characters in the show, and consider the possibility that it might have happened.

I find one of the most interesting things about the show to be mix of historical and fictional characters, and it helps if you know something about the real people. For example, one of the main characters is Deke Slayton, who became head of astronaut training after he was cut from the Mercury 7 over a (possibly nonexistent) heart condition.

As such, it’s very believable that he would be sympathetic to someone like Jerie Cobb (called Molly Cobb in the show), who passed all the astronaut training in the Mercury 13 program only to have her dreams dashed when Congress just said nope to women in space.

Oh yeah, did I mention they put women into space in this alternate history? If you read some of the reviews, that really, REALLY upsets some people. I guess they want their alternate history to stay very close to the actual history - but what would be entertaining about that?

To my mind, it’s OK to use one alternate scenario to open the door to exploring other alternate scenarios. The storytelling is excellent and perfectly paced, as is to be expected by someone of Ronald Moore’s experience.

The cliffhangers are abundant and the sharp turns for the worse keep the tension high. This is no easy good vs evil parable either: actions have consequences, and individuals are sacrificed for what are perceived as higher goals. This is a TERRIFIC watch, from start to finish, trust me.