Parenthood is a light drama that runs Tuesday nights. In last week's episode, one of the fathers on the show regrets not having a hobby to talk about in front of his kid's class.

His father in law (Craig T. Nelson) tries to sell him on model rocketry! It was apparently something he did with his kids when they were young. He drags an dusty box of rockets off of a shelf and says something like "We'll need new igniters, but these engines look fine."

There's a really strangely painted Big Daddy, which calls a Big Daddy, says it has a two-parachute recovery module and mentions that it will fly to (altitude) on a E9-4.

The box also has what might be a Big Bertha.

At the end of the episode, Nelson's character launches it with an impressive home-brew launch panel at the end of a reel of cable . . . at night, in the back yard! In the last shot it descends under two CGI parachutes toward a van where two characters are necking.

I give them an A-. Most times model rockets appear on TV some kid ends up unconscious or blind. In this episode it is something that dads do with their kids.

Here's the link to the episode online:

http://www.nbc.com/parenthood/video/date-night/1252924/

I saw that too. Very cool. The homemade launch controller made me laugh.

__________________
"AND I hope they are from the planet of the "Chunk spunky Mary-Lou Retton clones". - Ironnerd

"Those who trade liberty for security have neither" - Benjamin Franklin

"Semroc is almost always the answer" - Stefanj

www.paulsavia.com

www.soundclick.com/paulsavia

My wife watches the show and when the scene in question came up she called me in to watch.

It was interesting to see something like that on TV especially when it portrayed model rocketry as a Good Thing [tm].

The President is on board. Hollywood likes us. Now if we can only get the California Office of the State Fire Marshall to buy into model rocketry.

__________________
Kit (aka Cranky Kong)

I'm just a roadie for the banned...

Maybe a letter of commendation from the NAR to the show's production company is in order? It might be helpful to praise them for depicting the hobby correctly (as regards its safety), even if the launch console was a bit "over-fancy" for a typical model rocketeer (although it sounds like Solomoriah's sophisticated home-made one).

__________________
Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR

"Sophisticated." Wow, thanks for the kind words. Now I'll have to go watch the episode...

__________________
NAR # 115523
Once upon a better day... SAM #0076
My site: http://rocketry.gonnerman.org

It's possible that someone in the show staff -- a producer or writer or technical person -- flies rockets, and supplied the rocket and launch gear. The latter was certainly not off-the-shelf.

Forgot to mention: At one point they actually mention "Estes!"

There is a comment section on the page I posted the link to. I didn't want to sign up for yet another account.

BBT mentioned building Model Rockets in last week's episode.

__________________
-Fred Shecter NAR 20117 (L2)
Southern California Rocket Association, NAR Section 430

How far into the show are the rocket references? I'm not into tv drama shows and I don't want to suffer through the whole thing to see 3 minutes of rockets.

__________________
I love sanding.

A little bit of the way into Chapter 4 (around 22 mins in) is the first spot

Then, right at the end, a few minutes before the end

__________________
"AND I hope they are from the planet of the "Chunk spunky Mary-Lou Retton clones". - Ironnerd

"Those who trade liberty for security have neither" - Benjamin Franklin

"Semroc is almost always the answer" - Stefanj

www.paulsavia.com

www.soundclick.com/paulsavia

No, we don't need the CSFM to buy INTO rocketry, they need to butt their stinkin' snoots OUT of rocketry TOTALLY, just like all the OTHER states.
Leave it to COMMIEfornia to lead the union in useless OVER regulation of rocketry just like everything else in that left-wing pit of nonsense.

__________________
When in doubt, WHACK the GAS and DITCH the brake !!!

Yes, there is such a thing as NORMAL, if you have to ask what is "NORMAL" , you probably aren't !
Failure may not be an OPTION, but it is ALWAYS a POSSIBILITY.
ALL systems are GO for MAYHEM, CHAOS, and HAVOC !