Mad Men on AMC • Fifth Season Thread

getting down to the important matters - had there been colour photos of earth from space in 1966?

A short history...

1946. The first photo (of any kind) is taken of earth from space.

In 1954, an Aerobee sounding rocket takes the first color pictures of Earth from space. Maddeningly, NASA publishes the mosaic as B/W so subsequent researchers just assumed that the rocket was loaded with b/w film. As far as I know, the color version didn't surface until 1999.

By 1966, American and Soviet astronauts had taken plenty of pictures from low earth orbit. Gemini 11 late in 1966 took pictures from 1300km up (the highest manned orbit ever excluding lunar flights), but they still wouldn't have been able to take a single-frame "earth in space" photo. Geosynchronous satellites were already orbiting and Lunar Orbiters were on their way, but there were no public plans plans to take a full-frame picture. Stewart Brand heard that there were rumors of photos, so he started running around selling buttons that said "Why haven't we seen a photograph of the whole Earth yet?" NASA finally decided that it would be a good p.r. move, so in August 1966 they instructed Lunar Orbiter 1 to take a single black and white picture of the Earth. Only that wasn't the first full-frame picture... the Soviets had already done so in May 1966 with Molniya I.

The first full-frame color picture did not come along until Sept. 1967 - taken by a defense department satellite called DODGE.

Apollo 8's famous "Earthrise" picture was taken in 1968 and the "Blue Marble" picture comes from 1972.

It's strange, because these pictures were such obvious p.r. moves that NASA continually bollixes up. Even now, picture taking is considered to be frivolous to some mission scientists. The recent Juno launch to Jupiter only had a camera added to it at the last minute to "facilitate education and public outreach. " As outrageous as it might seem, a camera was never in Juno's original design specs. Never forget that this is also the same organization that lost the original first generation Apollo 11 TV tapes.

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj242/donaldparsley/trekpizza.png

"I'm sorry, you can't smoke in here."

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The thing that threw me a bit in that episode was the shot of Don looking down the lift shaft, they really lingered on that and I found myself wondering where it was going.

it's totally a dumb childhood dream, she's trying to break into a career that at best will offer her, given her current age, maybe a decade's worth of work

so all female actors are murdered by the state at 35? even in the 60s this was hardly true.

Megan really likes Don for the moment but iirc the only ref to Dick Whitman in the series so far is when she said "Nobody loves Dick Whitman. I love you – that's why I threw you a party."

I thought she said "I love Dick Whitman", but I'd need to watch that again.

The thing that threw me a bit in that episode was the shot of Don looking down the lift shaft, they really lingered on that and I found myself wondering where it was going.

down

Thanks for that potted history, Elvis Telecom - fascinating.

so all female actors are murdered by the state at 35? even in the 60s this was hardly true.

even in the 60s, actresses past the age of 35 who got a lot of roles tended to have started much earlier than megan. she's starting late, in a career path that prizes youth and discards middle-aged women. I don't really see how this is arguable, particularly in film.

The point, as it relates to the show at least, is less that she wants to be an actress and more that she doesn't get a kick out of working in advertising, and that seemingly every character except Stan couldn't really relate to that.

no argument there

lots of people choose to do things they know they can omly do for 10 years or less: pro athletes, lingere models, united states president

get married

pro athletes, lingere models, united states president

in general these people are all worthy of derision imho

also, though it may not be tactful to say it, she's not necessarily thinking of acting as a career that must sustain her economically for the rest of her life

that's pretty obvious. enjoy your trophy wife Don!

enjoy your latest trophy wife Don!

I don't think I'm watching the same show as you people.

Next season, they get a divorce and we follow Meghan to Los Angeles for the rest of the series. She bunks up with another struggling starlet and they change the name of the show to "Mad About Men".

Then she gets all shrewish and marries Paul Reiser

The thing that threw me a bit in that episode was the shot of Don looking down the lift shaft, they really lingered on that and I found myself wondering where it was going.

Don hit the button but instead of an elevator they sent a metaphor

lol.

Megan really likes Don for the moment but iirc the only ref to Dick Whitman in the series so far is when she said "Nobody loves Dick Whitman. I love you – that's why I threw you a party."

There was a brief namecheck a couple episodes back during Pete and Trudy's dinner party when everyone is talking about the Univ. of Texas tower sniper. Someone gets Charles Whitman's name incorrect and Don jumps in with "it's Whitman" in a rather obvious way.

enjoy your trophy wife Don!

― Roger Barfing (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, May 10, 2012 12:24 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

why are you always so pissy about the characters on this show!

its not like he cheated on YOU shakey

lol he is especially pissy abt megan

Seriously, how is Megan a trophy wife.

enjoy your TROPHY wife don *storms out of thread in tears*

xp - she is charming, attractive, and significantly younger than he is. She is obviously viewed by many of Don's peers and colleagues as a trophy wife.

and yet she's bright and has interests and talents of her own... it's almost as if there's an interesting story about that

it's true!

jeez don't take it personally s1ocki

s1ocki is kinda the Megan of this thread

it's true I don't like Megan. otoh she is probably the only (?) character on the show to not have done something overtly shitty to any of the other characters. (was gonna add Peggy but I suspect I'm forgetting something...?)

This isn't really the show to dislike characters for doing shitty things. That's kind of its steez. Will say that Ken Cosgrove is probably the most well-adjusted, decent person around.

ya all im saying is its weird to act like the characters in this show are ppl u know in real life and scold them for their indiscretions, esp weird that you are a big sopranos stan like i am shakey!

don't feel like I'm scolding anyone and yes this show is full of characters doing shitty things (Ken rode a female employee like a horse iirc)

your tone is very scoldy!

and you once rode contenderizer like a horse iirc

he was asking for it

well it's true

and yet she's bright and has interests and talents of her own... it's almost as if there's an interesting story about that

― goole, Thursday, May 10, 2012 1:39 PM (35 minutes ago)

not sure how this and yets the idea that megan is a trophy wife for don. i assume that lots of young women married for their charm and looks by rich middle-aged men (i.e. "trophy wives") are bright and talented, with interests of their own. calling her that is a slam on don much more than it is on megan.

I guess there is a perverse side of me that finds flawless characters like Megan (ie "one of those girls who's just good at everything") unsympathetic. When characters on the Sopranos would do something stupid like try to manage a rock band or open a massage parlor I could acknowledge that their actions were stupid while still sort of pulling for them because their desires and goals were born of a palpable and very human desperation. When someone like Megan does something stupid like decide to try and "make it" as an actress at 25 I just roll my eyes - it is a childish thing for her to do, and she's only able to do it because she has Don as a sugar daddy. It's not really a decision I respect or empathize with.

xp

it does make for good drama tho, and resolves the elephant-in-the-room issue of how she was going to function in the workplace next to Don.

feel like these last few episodes (w/the fight at Howard Johnsons, the visit from her parents, her quitting) have really been about Don realizing that he married an actual person, not a trophy

it is a childish thing for her to do

Huh?

making a career choice based on a professed childhood dream ("ever since I was a little kid...")

xp

it's pretty clear she's less and less what he bargained for - he liked how she was good with kids, but she doesn't want any of her own. she won't tolerate being bossed around and dominated like Betty did. and she's not into working in advertising. this spells doom for their marriage imho.

making a career choice based on a professed childhood dream ("ever since I was a little kid...")

OK, I don't see how it's a stupid idea, though, esp. if she's still only in her mid-20s.