Nukes in Space: The Rainbow Bombs (1999)
Film:
DVD:

Written by Val Keller
Directed by Peter Kuran
Narrated by William Shatner

Features:

• Footage of Failed Nuclear Launches
  
• John F. Kennedy Speeches and Press Conferences
  
• Cuban Missle Crisis Slide Show and Chronology
  
• Nuclear Space Race Slide Show and Images from Failed Launches
  
• Atomic Trailers
  
• Running commentary with writer Keller, editor Jeff Roe, and director/producer Kuran
  

Picking up where Trinity and Beyond left off, this documentary covers the twenty little known high altitude atmospheric nuclear tests performed by the United States. These tests uncovered one of the most important nuclear weapons of the Cold War: the EMP or Electromagnetic Pulse, which renders almost every electrical device useless over a very large area. It also tells the story of the ICBM and how we came to be able to rain multiple warheads down on one another with just one rocket. It begins with the Germans' use of the V-2 rocket to bombard London in 1944 and takes us all the way through the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The piece of information that most stuck with me from this film was the impact of the high-altitude atmospheric tests. This left high levels of radiation in our atmosphere, creating the beauty of manmade auroras that were generated. Shatner serves as the perfect narrator for this story, and I can say without much doubt that most of the footage shown is definitely unlike any you've ever seen. The soundtrack, performed by the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, has the feel of the soundtrack from JFK at times, but I guess that's somewhat fitting (Or is it? Hmmmm).

The extra features include a full-length commentary track with writer Keller, editor Jeff Roe, and director/producer Peter Kuran is chocked full of information about the recently declassified footage being presented. It also presents some information not presented in the narration, which I found interesting. Because the link for the commentary track is under the Audio Setup section of the Main Menu, it's easy to forget it's there--since you really wouldn't know it existed by reading the back of the DVD case. It's not listed on there.

Under the Special Features Menu, you can choose to watch historical audio and audio/visual footage of the Cuban Missle Crisis, the Space Race, and speeches made by John F. Kennedy. The information on the Cuban Missile Crisis is fairly impressive. There is a slide show of still photos, the most exciting of which are the satellite photos of the areas in question complete with the markings by NSA officials. The collection of newsreels takes you all the way through the crisis and how our nation came to the brink of nuclear war. You also get to watch Kennedy's speech to the nation about the crisis in Cuba. The last part of this section, a collection of audio recordings of Kennedy's meetings with the National Security Agency, is useless in that it is impossible to hear what is going on. The section dealing with the Space Race has three short video segments of our rocket failures, a speech by President Eisenhower about our fledgling space program and a slide show of the V-2 rocket attack on London in 1944. The section called "J. F. Kennedy" is filled with speeches and press conferences by Kennedy. I think it is absolutely fantastic that these speeches and video clips are preserved on DVD for prosperity.

To sum up, I think that the information presented in this film is worth seeing, but unless you're a history or Cold War buff, not a sure-fire addition to your collection. Pick it up as a rental sometime.