History Recap / FromTheEarthToTheMoonE7

* TapOnTheHead: Early in the episode, it depicts splashdown, where the command module's TV camera is dislodged from stowage and hits Alan Bean square in the forehead. It's depicted pretty accurately in medical terms; it's obvious he's concussed, as he blacks out and freezes up for 5 to 10 seconds, then goes about what he was doing. He needed a few stitches once the crew was in quarantine.

* BreatherEpisode: Besides the lightning strike early on, there's little in the way of drama in this episode. This served its original broadcast well, as it was aired immediately before the premiere of the episode on Apollo 13.

* ToAbsentFriends: Bean notes the the members of Group 3 who met untimely deaths: Theodore Freeman,[[note]]A jet he was flying in 1964 suffered a bird strike, and he crashed.[[/note]] Charles Bassett,[[note]]Killed along with New Nine astronaut Elliot See in a jet crash at the [=McDonnell=] plant in St. Louis in 1966, while training for Gemini 9.[[/note]] Roger Chaffee,[[note]] See: "[[Recap/FromTheEarthToTheMoonE2 Apollo One]]".[[/note]] and especially C.C. Williams, whose death led to his own selection for Apollo 12.[[note]]C.C.'s death was also a jet crash, as his controls jammed over the Florida panhandle in 1967. Unmentioned is that he was flying home to Mobile, Alabama, to see his father, who was dying of cancer. [[OutlivingOnesOffspring His father would outlive him by six months]].[[/note]] Toward the end of the episode, Bean leaves C.C.'s pilot wings on the lunar surface, and notes that he's the reason there are ''four'' stars on the mission's patch.

Alan Bean (Creator/DaveFoley) was selected to NASA as part of Astronaut Group 3 in 1963. Originally relegated to the Apollo Applications Program, with little hope of a lunar assignment, a twist of fate would see him elevated to becoming the fourth man to walk on the Moon with Apollo 12 as its LMP.

* ToAbsentFriends: Bean notes the the members of Group 3 who met untimely deaths: Theodore Freeman, Charles Bassett, Roger Chaffee, and especially C.C. Williams, whose death led to his own selection for Apollo 12. Toward the end of the episode, Bean leaves C.C.'s pilot wings on the lunar surface, and notes that he's the reason there are ''four'' stars on the mission's patch.

* ShockAndAwe: The lightning strike, as Apollo 12 was struck by lightning twice in the first minute of flight, knocking out its telemetry. EECOM officer John Aaron suggests "SCE to Aux".[[note]]SCE = Signal Conditioning Equipment. The (ultimately correct) assumption was that the lightning strike caused an undervolt which knocked the SCE haywire, scrambling the telemetry readings. [[CaptainObvious Naturally, "aux" means auxillary]].[[/note]] Alan Bean was the only one on-board who remembered which switch that was from training, and flicked it. The readings returned to normal, and the rest cleared up after first stage separation.

* TheWorldIsJustAwesome: Actually {{downplayed}} a bit. Bean has most of the moments, being the rookie on the flight, but Conrad and Gordon had both flown into space before. This doesn't even get into the fact that the real mission suffered from their windows getting stained due to the rainstorm they launched through, marring much of ''Yankee Clipper'''s sightseeing.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Bean accidentally breaking the LM's color TV camera by inadvertently pointing it at the Sun, limiting live color television footage from the lunar surface.

* TheWorldIsJustAwesome: Actually {{downplayed}} a bit. Bean has most of the moments, being the rookie on the flight, but Conrad and Gordon had both flown into space before. This doesn't even get into the fact that the real mission suffered from their windows getting stained due to the rainstorm they launched through, marring much of the CM's sightseeing.

* DramaticIrony: Bean mentioned that Dick Gordon wasn't too upset being left to orbit the Moon in CM ''Yankee Clipper'' while Conrad and Bean walked on the moon, expecting to command Apollo 18...a mission that would never happen.

* TheWorldIsJustAwesome: Actually {{downplayed}} a bit. Bean has most of the moments, but Conrad and Gordon had both flown before. This doesn't even get into the fact that the real mission suffered from their windows getting stained due to the rainstorm they launched through, marring much of the CM's sightseeing.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: {{Invoked}}, in this case, in regards to the Hasselblad camera timer. They had smuggled it on-board in hopes of getting potentially the only photos of ''both'' astronauts on the lunar surface, and with Surveyor 3 on top of that. But Bean couldn't find it. Conrad finds it at the end of the second EVA, and Bean just tosses it in frustration.

* ClusterFBomb: One scene shows a tour group passing through while the Apollo 12 crew is in a training meeting, and Pete starts spouting a bunch of profanities, including multple uses of "cocksucker".

** The ''Magazine/{{Playboy}}'' inserts in the wrist pamphlets were black-and-white xerographs, not full color.

* ShockAndAwe: The lightning strike, as Apollo 12 was struck by lightning twice in the first minute of flight, knocking out its telemetry. EECOM officer John Aaron suggests "SCE to Aux",[[note]]SCE = Signal Conditioning Equipment. The (ultimately correct) assumption was that the lightning strike caused an undervolt which knocked the SCE haywire, scrambling the telemetry readings. [[CaptainObvious Naturally, "aux" means auxillary]].[[/note]] Alan Bean was the only one on-board who remembered which switch that was from training, and flicked it. The readings returned to normal, and the rest cleared up after first stage separation.

* TitleDrop: Pete Conrad says this to Alan Bean at the end of the episode, when they leave quarantine and drive off in their Corvettes.

Alan Bean (Dave Foley) was selected to NASA as part of Astronaut Group 3 in 1963. Originally relegated to the Apollo Applications Program, with little hope of a lunar assignment, a twist of fate would see him elevated to becoming the fourth man to walk on the Moon with Apollo 12 as its LMP.

He, Commander Pete Conrad (Paul [=McCrane=], and CMP Dick Gordon (Tom Verica), knew they would never measure up to the gravitas of Apollo 11. So they didn't try. They went to the Ocean of Storms as just three Navy compatriots having the time of their lives.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Bean accidentally breaking the LM's color TV camera, limiting live television footage from the lunar surface.

* ShockAndAwe: The lightning strike, as Apollo 12 was struck by lightning twice in the first minute of flight, knocking out its telemetry. EECOM officer John Aaron suggests "SCE to Aux",[[note]]SCE = Signal Conditioning Equipment. The (ultimately correct) assumption was that the lightning strike caused an undervolt which knocked the SCE haywire, scrambling the telemetry readings.[[/note]] Alan Bean was the only one on-board who remembered which switch that was from training, and flicked it. The readings returned to normal, and the rest cleared up after first stage separation.

* ShownTheirWork: As with the rest of the series, very true with the history. Right down to the matching Chevrolet Corvettes the crew had. Two aversions, though: