Plane Crazy (1997 TV Movie) User Reviews

Worth seeing

[snow385 · 8/10 · 14 July 2002]

I've never met anyone else who's actually seen (or even heard of) this. Robert Cringley, of PBS's 'Triumph of the Nerds' fame--and evidently airplane enthusiast--sets out to build an airplane in 30 days more or less by himself. Not near as epic or quick-moving as Cringley's 'Triumph of the Nerds', but interesting nonetheless. Cringley starts out enthusiastic, but his demeanor degrades quickly as the mishaps start piling up. Worth seeing because the story is unusual, and Cringley's narrative is well done. Amateur aviation enthusiasts will be particularly interested, most probably, but knowledge of this subject is not required. Perhaps a little long at three hours, and it moves a somewhat slow at times. Overall, an interesting documentary about Cringley's attempt to keep everything under control as he falls behind schedule and time is running out. If PBS ever replays this, it's worth tuning in.

Required viewing for any potential Cringely investors

[dlxmarks · 3/10 · 24 May 2018]

This series was brought back to mind after I read about Mark Stephens' ongoing Kickstarter fiasco to produce Minecraft servers. Mark Stephens, by the way, is his real name; Robert X. Cringely is a pseudonym created by 'Infoworld' magazine. Stephens wasn't the first Cringely or the last although he was the longest serving one. Nevertheless his insistence on continuing to use the name is like Roger Moore calling himself James Bond years after leaving the franchise. Anyone who invested in the Kickstarter campaign and is still waiting after nearly 3 years for delivery would have been well served to have watched this series beforehand. It's everything you need to know about the man: hubris, artificial drama (Why build a plane in 30 days? What's the point?), project mismanagement, and self-pitying emotional collapse. I think I watched the first and second episodes and gave up thinking "Why did PBS waste money on this ego trip?" It wasn't educational or even entertaining but it was a prescient view into this guy's character.