2024 Re-watch Review: we watched Apollo 13 with the kids because our TV suggested it for a patriotic Independence Day choice - I didn't realize that I had originally seen it this same week 29 years ago (July 2nd and 14th, 1995).
This time watching it, it's still great, and an amazing story - Jim Lovell's book Lost Moon is excellent. But what stood out for me this time was how Ron Howard was very concerned that audiences would have trouble following all the technical details of the mission. Every time someone on the ground or in the spaceship said or did something technical and important and using appropriate jargon, that all the other professionals around them understood, someone else would chime in with a few words explaining it. Sometimes this explanation was said by an offscreen character. I suspect some of these were added in post-production. Howard was probably right to do it, but I found it a little silly because I know what's going on so well. I would love a "Fan Cut" or "Space Geek Cut" of the movie where all those little explanations were omitted.