Director J.J. Abrams has long played in the outer space sandbox as a filmmaker. Last year's "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" revitalized interest in a galaxy far, far away and Abrams' rebooted "Star Trek" franchise boldly went where no man has gone before. Even 2011's "Super 8" and 2008's "Cloverfield" dealt with beings from another world. It's obvious that Abrams has a certain comfort level with this type of material.
But now, he'll be able to tackle space in a more realistic fashion as he has developed the real-life story behind Google's Lunar Xprize competition to land a robot on the moon. "Moon Shot," the Google-funded docu-series, is produced by Abrams' Bad Robot and Epic Digital and is executive produced by Abrams himself. Academy Award-nominated documentarian Orlando von Einsiedel (Netflix's "Virunga") directs. You can check out the full trailer for the series below.
Google Play will release the nine-episode series on March 15 for free and the Google Lunar Xprize YouTube channel will do the same on March 17. The episodes are roughly 7 minutes each and will become available all at once.
The Google Lunar Xprize is searching for entrepreneurs who can successfully land a spacecraft on the moon's surface and transmit at least 16 minutes of HD video back to Earth along with images. At this time, 16 privately funded teams from around the world are set to compete in the contest. The teams have until the end of 2016 to put together a legitimate launch contract in order to continue competing and they must complete their mission by the conclusion of 2017. Google is offer a $30 million pool in cash rewards to winners.
"Moon Shot" will focus on varying teams: Silicon Valley technology experts, German computer hackers, Indian IT specialists and a father and son duo working in a spare bedroom in Vancouver. The series will explore the lives of the contestants and their motivations for competing.
It may not quite be another galaxy, but Abrams is inching ever farther into outer space. Be sure to check "Moon Shot" out on Google Play on March 15.
