Space Station 3D (2002)

Director:

Toni Myers

Writer:

Toni Myers (written by)

Release Date:

27 April 2002 (UK)

Genre:

Documentary

Tagline:

A Select Few Have Been Aboard... Now It's Your Turn!

Plot Keywords:

Joint Mission | Cosmonaut | Educational | NASA | Science

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

  (Credited cast)

Tom Cruise	...	Narrator (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
James Arnold	...	Himself
Michael J. Bloomfield	...	Himself (Pilot, STS-97)
Robert D. Cabana	...	Himself (Commander, STS-88)
Leroy Chiao	...	Himself
Kenneth D. Cockrell	...	Himself
Robert L. Curbeam Jr.	...	Himself
Brian Duffy	...	Himself (Commander, STS-92)
Marc Garneau	...	Himself (Mission Specialist, STS-97)
Michael L. Gernhardt	...	Himself (Mission Specialist, STS-104)
Yuri Pavlovich Gidzenko	...	Himself (Soyuz Commander, Expedition One)
Umberto Guidoni	...	Himself
Chris A. Hadifield	...	Himself
Susan Helms	...	Herself (Expedition Two Flight Engineer)
Susan J. Helms	...	Herself
Charles Owen Hobaugh	...	Himself (Pilot, STS-104)
Marsha Ivins	...	Herself (Mission Specialist, STS-98)
Brent W. Jett Jr.	...	Himself (Commander, STS-97)
Thomas D. Jones	...	Himself (Mission Specialist, STS-98)
Janet Lynn Kavandi	...	Herself (Mission Specialist, STS-104)
James M. Kelly	...	Himself (Pilot, STS-102)
Sergei Krikalev	...	Himself (Flight Engineer, Expedition One)
Steven W. Lindsey	...	Himself (Commander, STS-104)
Yuri Valentinovich Lonchakov	...	Himself (Mission Specialist, STS-100)
Michael E. López-Alegría	...	Himself
William Surles McArthur Jr.	...	Himself
Pamela Ann Melroy	...	Herself (Pilot, STS-92)
James H. Newman	...	Himself (Mission Specialist, STS-88)
Scott E. Parazynski	...	Himself
John L. Phillips	...	Himself (Mission Specialist, STS-100)
Mark L. Polnaksy	...	Himself
James F. Reilly II	...	Himself
Paul William Richards	...	Himself
Kent V. Rominger	...	Himself (Commander, STS-100)
Jerry L. Ross	...	Himself (Mission Specialist, STS-88)
William M. Shepherd	...	Himself (Commander, Expedition One)
Joseph R. Tanner	...	Himself (Mission Specialist, STS-97)
Andrew S.W. Thomas	...	Himself
Yury Usachev	...	Himself (Expedition Two Commander)
James S. Voss	...	Himself (Flight Engineer, Expedition Two)
Koichi Wakata	...	Himself (Mission Specialist, STS-92)
James D. Wetherbee	...	Himself (Commander, STS-102)
Peter J.K. Wisoff

Also Known As:

Estação Espacial 3D (Brazil) [pt]
Estación espacial 3D (Spain) [es]
IMAX Space Station (Denmark) (DVD box title) [da]
Space Station 3D (Denmark) [da]
Station spatiale (France) [fr]

Runtime:

47 min

Country:

Canada | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.44 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS

Certification:

Germany:o.Al. | UK:U | Singapore:PG | Australia:G

Filming Locations:

Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan

Company:

IMAX Space Ltd.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Troldspejlet: (#36.10)" (2006)

Wow!

I'm sort of a fan of wide-screen processes and visual spectacle. And, lately, I've been disappointed. Up until "Space Station 3D," the two most spectacular visual experiences I've had in my life were "This Is Cinerama" (in the early fifties) and "2001: A Space Odyssey" (on its first run, in New York.)

I've seen "2001" several times since, hoping to capture the same thrill I did on its first run, but the visual spectacle was just not there in 35mm prints. Last year I saw a 70mm print of it at the Coolidge in Boston, and was very disappointed--I don't know what was wrong, but the focus was not good, and the deep, pitch-black, back-velvet sky I remembered in the original was washed out.

I've seen many IMAX films, many of them quite good--"Everest" being one of the best--but there is usually too much material in it that is just blown-up 35mm.

Oh, and I saw "Kiss Me, Kate" and "Miss Sadie Thompson" in lovingly restored 3D at a revival in Palo Alto, and while it was a blast, basically the 3D felt just as gimmicky as you'd expect.

OK. Space Station 3D is sharp, clear, all IMAX. The three-dimensional effect is totally convincing and natural. Like "2001," you can look AROUND at the things YOU are interested in instead of what the camera happens to be pointed at. I've never before had such a compelling sensation of "actually being there." Oddly enough, some of the most intense moments for me was not the scenes in space, but the scenes where astronauts and cosmonauts are simply walking around the Baikonur complex.

This film recaptured for me the sense of "being in space" that I had the first time I saw "2001."

This is just one sensational film and is well worth going out of your way to see. It delivers fully on the IMAX promise in every way.

(And I suggest that everyone make a point of seeing real IMAX while we can, as I have an uncomfortable feeling that IMAX is in the process of sinking into the mire of enhanced 35mm blowups).

I saw Cinerama in the early fifties, "2001" in the late sixties... I've had to wait over three decades to see something as spectacular. Go see it while you can. If 35 mm blowups and video "cinema" take over, it may be another three decades before we get anything like this again.