120: The Moon Landing: Stanley Kubrick's Greatest Film | How NASA and Hollywood Fooled the World

The Why Files: Operation Podcast

Science, Life Sciences, Fiction, Society & Culture, Documentary, Science Fiction

4.8 • 5.9K Ratings

🗓️ 21 July 2023

⏱️ 47 minutes

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Summary

Stanley Kubrick is considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. Of his 13 movies a few are considered classics in their respective genres. Including the black comedy Dr. Strangelove, the highly-quotable anti-war commentary of Full Metal Jacket, and one of the most disturbing and enduring horror films of all time, The Shinning.

But in 1968, Kubrick released "2001 – A Space Odyssey". This is more than a classic. It's a masterpiece. And widely regarded as one of the best science-fiction films of all time, and probably the most influential.

This collaboration with science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke tells the story of an alien intelligence that visited Earth in the distant past, and left behind artifacts in the solar system.

The movie features groundbreaking special effects, which still hold up today.

In fact, the effects looked so good, that the movie gave the American government an idea.

Billions of tax dollars were invested in the space program but the Soviets were still years ahead of the United States.

NASA desperately needed to get to the moon before Russia, but they knew it was impossible. So they turned to one of the world's best filmmakers for help. Because when it came to the moon: if they couldn't make it, they'd fake it.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Stanley Kubrick is considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. Of his 13 movies,
0:06.7	a few are considered classics. But in 1968, Kubrick released 2001 a space odyssey. And this is more
0:13.5	than a classic, it's a masterpiece. And widely regarded as one of the best science fiction films
0:18.9	of all time. And probably the most influential. This collaboration with science fiction author Arthur
0:24.6	C. Clarke tells the story of an alien intelligence that visited Earth in the distant past,
0:29.9	and left behind artifacts in the solar system. The movie features groundbreaking special effects
0:34.7	which still hold up today. In fact, the effects looked so good that the movie gave the American
0:40.0	government an idea. Billions of tax dollars were invested in the space program, but the Soviets
0:45.6	were still years ahead of the United States. NASA desperately needed to get to the moon before
0:50.9	Russia, but they knew it was impossible. So they turned to one of the world's best filmmakers for
0:56.0	help. Because when it came to the moon, if they couldn't make it, they'd fake it.
1:06.1	From the moment that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the moon on July 20th, 1969,
1:11.9	rumors were circulating that the whole thing was faked. That's because it was faked. Yeah, I know
1:16.8	you believe that. I believe it because it's true. Well, we're going to explore the theory, but
1:20.6	it's not a theory. The moon landing was fake. Yeah, but can you be quiet for one minute while I
1:25.3	set this up, please? Fine, fine. Go ahead. Set up your theory. Thank you. It was fake.
1:33.5	Science journalist Richard C. Hogland wrote in his 2007 book, Dark Mission, that he saw NASA press
1:39.6	officers helping distribute flyers to the press, saying the landing was faked. Even though the
1:44.7	astronauts brought back hundreds of moon rocks and took thousands of photographs of the moon,
1:49.5	some people simply didn't believe it. Considering the technology of the time,
1:53.7	going to the moon and back sounded like science fiction. At one point, almost 30 percent of the
1:59.3	American public believed the moon landings had been faked, and this started to show up in pop
	...

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