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The Greatest Shot In Television

MoonEyes Plays · 22.5M views · 2018-06-06 · 1:12

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Overview

A one-minute clip from James Burke's 1978 BBC series Connections in which he walks past a Saturn V rocket and a timed take-off happens behind him in a single shot, with no green screen.

On Hacker News

Held up as an iconic, perfectly timed piece of television whenever Burke or Connections comes up.

Recommended by 2 HN people across 2 months · HN mentions 2020–2023

Topics

Documentaries & storytellingSpace exploration & spaceflightFilmmaking & video production
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james burkeconnectionssaturn vsingle takebbc

What people said

speedbird · 2022-08 · Strong recommendation

In a broader context of similar ideas, this is seminal: [LINK] , leading to the totally iconic piece of one shot perfectly timed tv: [VIDEO]

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abulman · 2023-08 · Recommendation

Ever see the video of a guy walking past a Saturn V (lying in it's side), doing a piece to camera and pointing to the rocket behind him? 'Connections' (1978). [VIDEO]

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merek · 2023-12 · Reference

I was watching James Burke's coverage of the Apollo missions from the 60s and 70s, and came across this very enjoyable clip of him in a reduced gravity aircraft. James Burke was a reporter for the BBC who also hosted a science history TV series called "Connections". His "Greatest Shot In Television" [1] clip was recently on the top page of HN, which rekindled my interest in his work. [1] [VIDEO]

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Sources

Video by MoonEyes Plays, played through YouTube.

Data and selection notes

HN summaries and labels may contain AI errors. HN dates refer to discussions, not video publication.

HN Library: HackerTube export (2026-10-31) and open-index/hacker-news. Upstream summaries and classifications may contain AI errors.

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