Wednesday, May 14, 2025

'Apollo 13: Survival' leads nominees for Outstanding Science and Technology Documentary at the News & Doc Emmy Awards for Wayback Wednesday


Happy Wayback Wednesday! As I wrote yesterday, "I have three days of entertainment-themed retrospectives planned this week as I begin my coverage of the News and Documentary Emmy Awards nominees." I begin with the nominees for Outstanding Science and Technology Documentary.

Apollo 13: Survival has the most nominations among the nominees in this category with four. As the preview image shows, they are Outstanding Editing – Documentary, Outstanding Sound – Documentary, and Scenic Design – Documentary in addition to Outstanding Science and Technology Documentary. Because of that, it's my pick to win. Then again, Good Night Oppy had six nominations and was my pick to win this category two years ago, but it lost to How to Survive a Pandemic while still winning Outstanding Sound and Outstanding Writing: Documentary. I hope that doesn't happen to Apollo 13: Survival, whose trailer I'm sharing.

Using original footage and interviews, this documentary tells the nail-biting story of Apollo 13 and the struggle to bring its astronauts safely home.
As I wrote in Apollo 14 50 years later for Moon Day 2021, "That's a gripping story, which is probably why [Apollo 13] was a more successful film than "First Man," both at the box office and at the Oscars."

The next most nominated documentary in this category is The Space Race from National Geographic, which earned two nominations, Outstanding Science and Technology Documentary and Outstanding Writing – Documentary. Based on that criterion, it's the main competition for Apollo 13: Survival. Here's its trailer.

"The Space Race" uncovers the little-known stories of the first Black pilots, engineers and scientists that became astronauts. "The Space Race" will debut on National Geographic on February 12 before streaming on Disney+ and Hulu the following day.
That's an important story to tell, and I'm glad it included the contributions of Nichelle Nichols to recruiting astronauts of color in general and African-Americans in particular. I'm not sure it will beat Apollo 13: Survival.

The remaining three nominees have only this nomination. The first in alphabetical order is the "Anand Varma: Hidden Wonders" episode of Photographer on National Geographic. I'm sharing the clip It Looks Like a Velociraptor Foot in lieu of a proper trailer.

Anand Varma captures the development and heartbeat of a chicken embryo within an unshelled yolk. The first trial failing, the photographer eventually succeeds to the stage of what to him looks like the foot of a dinosaur.

Check out the full episode of Photographer, Season 1 Episode 2, "Anand Varma: Hidden Wonders" on Disney+! Anand figures out how to photograph an egg developing into a baby chick.
I include embryology in my lectures about evolution, so I might show this to my students. National Geographic has another clip from the show about honeybees that I might use for World Bee Day or World Honey Bee Day.

Next is the "Hunt for the Oldest DNA" episode of NOVA on PBS, which I've watched in its entirety. I'm not embedding the full documentary, just Hunt for the Oldest DNA | PBS NOVA Trailer (2024).

Two decades ago, Eske Willerslev had a radical idea: Could DNA, the fragile chemical code of life, survive intact in frozen sediment for millennia? Fellow scientists called him crazy, but the Danish biologist set out to prove everybody wrong, and his perseverance paid off.
This is the only episode of NOVA nominated and I agree it's probably the best one of 2024. It's also the nominee with the most important science. That written, it's not likely to win the most votes, since most of the electorate will judge the nominees for their cinematic and journalistic merit, not their scientific value. As I reiterate nearly every time I write about awards shows, electorates matter.

I circle back to Netflix for the final nominee, What's Next? The Future with Bill Gates. Watch its trailer.

In What’s Next? The Future with Bill Gates, the tech visionary and global health and climate philanthropist invites viewers to join him on a learning journey to explore pressing issues facing our world today. Across five episodes, Gates delves into the promise and risks of artificial intelligence; the pervasive challenge of misinformation and the underlying complexity of defining truth in an era of social media; the scale of the climate crisis and the potential of cutting-edge technologies to solve it; the injustice of income inequality and the opportunities to tackle poverty; and how science and innovation is leading to cures for deadly diseases. Featuring insights and commentary from some of the world’s most renowned scientists, politicians, thinkers, journalists, medical professionals, artists and more, and executive produced by Oscar winner Morgan Neville (20 Feet From Stardom), What’s Next? offers a glimpse into a more promising and equitable future.
I have two reactions. First, Bill Gates is a Crazy Eddie. That's a compliment coming from me. Second, of all the nominees with just this one nomination, it's the one most likely to upset Apollo 13: Survival.

Follow over the jump for the rest of the nominations for Apollo 13: Survival and The Space Race along with the most viewed entries about awards shows posted between March 21, 2024 and March 20, 2025, the blogging year just ended.


Again, Apollo 13: Survival has the most nominations for Outstanding Editing – Documentary with four, followed by Death without Mercy, Blink, and We Will Dance Again, all with two, and Citizen Nation with just this one. It also has an editing nomination at the BAFTA Film Awards, so it definitely has a strong case to win. Besides, it's an archival documentary, so editing is going to be its strong suit.


Apollo 13: Survival is not the most nominated member of the field for Outstanding Sound – Documentary. That honor goes to Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story with six nominations. Mammals and Secret World of Sound with David Attenborough follow with three each, then Earthsounds with two. Apollo 13: Survival, Earthsounds, and Secret World of Sound with David Attenborough have faced off twice for sound awards at the BAFTAs and Association of Motion Picture Sound (AMPS) Awards and Secret World of Sound with David Attenborough won both times, so it's my pick to win this award.


Apollo 13: Survival is the most nominated entry in Outstanding Art Direction / Set Decoration / Scenic Design – Documentary, which has been separated from Outstanding Lighting Direction. It's followed by Hitler and the Nazis: Evil on Trial from Netflix, Separated from MSNBC, and You're Being Lied To About Voter Fraud. Here's the Truth from The New York Times Opinion, each with two nominations, and Glitter and Greed: The Lisa Frank Story from Prime Video and This Is What a Nuclear Strike Would Feel Like from The New York Times Opinion, both with this one nomination. I don't have an opinion on this, so I'm holding off on making a prediction.


 Like Outstanding Sound – Documentary, Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story is the most nominated member of the field for Outstanding Writing – Documentary with six nominations. King Coal follows with three. The Space Race is tied with Join or Die and The Night Won't End at two apiece. I'll have at least three more oppotunities to examine this field, but my preliminary pick is Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story.

Now for the top posts from the 2024-2025 blogging year about awards shows, beginning with Meyers, Lydic, and Kimmel take closer looks at meeting with Canadian Prime Minister on Throwback Thursday.

I shared Emmy-nominated 'Desi Lydic Foxsplains Accusations that Republicans are "Weird"' plus the short form Emmy nominees from August 3, 2024 at the Citizen Connect Facebook page, earning it 308 default and 344 raw page views to rank fifth during August 2024. It ended the 2024-2025 blogging year with 343 default and 410 raw page views to rank 19th by default page views, 34th by raw page views among entries posted during the blogging year and 38th overall. I plan on reusing this for an entry about Emmy nominees.
And I just did.


I shared Sandy Hook Promise's 'Just Joking' the sole PSA among Emmy nominees for Outstanding Commercial from July 21, 2024 at the Citizen Connect Facebook page during August 2024. That helped it earn 180 default and 226 raw page views, ranking it ninth for the month by the first measure and sixth by the second. Combined with the page views it garnered during July 2024 and those during succeeding months, it ended the blogging year with 383 raw page views, enough for it to rank 38th among entries posted between March 21, 2024 and March 20, 2025. and 43rd overall.


'Super/Man' wins 6 Critics Choice Documentary Awards, including Best Documentary earned 11 likes, most during November 2024 and second most for year, 3 reposts, tied for most during month and second for the blogging year, and 4 replies in 1 thread, tied for most replies during the month on Bluesky during November 2024.

That's a wrap for today's look back. Stay tuned for Throwback Thursday, when I plan on continuing my News & Doc Emmy Awards coverage along with another retrospective about entertainment. In the meantime, here is Wednesday Addams, the mascot for Wayback Wednesday.


Previous posts in this series Previous retrospectives about entertainment
Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

2 comments:

  1. AwarenessTrafficMay 22, 2025 at 5:33 AM

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pinku-SenseiMay 22, 2025 at 9:15 AM

      "Thank you for sharing valuable information." I wish I could say the same for you, spammer. Deleted.

      Delete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)