I will say upfront that I fly large amateur rockets as a hobby and obviously know something about the subject matter. Actually the stuff I fly is quite a bit bigger than what the "Rocketman" is trying to create.
Rocketman works best when focused on one man's obsession to build his rocket to launch his late wife's ashes into space. I especially enjoy the interaction with his fellow rocket builders as I have seen much of the same myself. None of these things (rockets)ever work the way they're supposed to and I have experienced some of the situations depicted in the program. What's especially effective, is how his coworkers make fun of him and hearing the wives and girlfriend's of everyone proclaim, "all you care about is that damn rocket!" Spoiler Ahead....
The second episode hit a little too close to home for me (at least according to my wife), with the rocket's restraints being weakened by the dog and the bloody thing taking off and creating a huge fireball. I can't say that this has actually happened to me, but his metal test stand with the rocket strapped to the top, dog barking, all the neighbors gawking, seemed so oddly familiar to me; mostly because I think I'm known as the "mad scientist" in the neighborhood with the kids enjoying seeing the high-speed contraptions I'm always building.
As said above, the appearance of the rocket and related stuff is just not realistic at all, but everything else about the writing is good fun.
C. Newport
Rocketman works best when focused on one man's obsession to build his rocket to launch his late wife's ashes into space. I especially enjoy the interaction with his fellow rocket builders as I have seen much of the same myself. None of these things (rockets)ever work the way they're supposed to and I have experienced some of the situations depicted in the program. What's especially effective, is how his coworkers make fun of him and hearing the wives and girlfriend's of everyone proclaim, "all you care about is that damn rocket!" Spoiler Ahead....
The second episode hit a little too close to home for me (at least according to my wife), with the rocket's restraints being weakened by the dog and the bloody thing taking off and creating a huge fireball. I can't say that this has actually happened to me, but his metal test stand with the rocket strapped to the top, dog barking, all the neighbors gawking, seemed so oddly familiar to me; mostly because I think I'm known as the "mad scientist" in the neighborhood with the kids enjoying seeing the high-speed contraptions I'm always building.
As said above, the appearance of the rocket and related stuff is just not realistic at all, but everything else about the writing is good fun.
C. Newport