Movies - A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon

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A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon is a 2001 documentary written, produced, and directed by Nashville, Tennessee-based filmmaker and investigative journalist Bart Winfield Sibrel, a noted critic of the United States space program and proponent of the theory that the six Apollo lunar landing missions between 1969 and 1972 were hoaxes perpetrated by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA.)

Sibrel believes that there were numerous insurmountable scientific and technical problems involving landing men on the moon and returning them to Earth safely, and that certain anomalies and inconsistencies in NASA's records of the landings point to a hoax.

The 47-minute documentary primarily focuses on the Van Allen belts, areas of intense radiation circling the Earth, as a major reason why it was impossible for a manned spacecraft to land on the moon. Sibrel also presents footage of what he claims is official NASA footage that was not meant for release to the public showing the crew of Apollo 11 (Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin) staging a view of a false Earth from the command capsule

Sibrel postulates that the fraud was perpetrated because of the perception that if the United States could put a man on the moon before the Soviet Union did, it would be a major victory in the Cold War, since the Soviet government had been the first to achieve a successful space launch (Sputnik in 1957,) the first manned space flight, and the first spacewalk.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon also examines the famous moon photographs and points out such anomalies as non-parallel shadows to prove that multiple artificial lighting sources were used, and sped-up video footage of the astronauts walking on the lunar surface and lunar rovers driving on the surface are also used to advance the theory they were actually filmed on Earth and slowed down to simulate the moon's lower gravity.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon was narrated by a British stage actress named Anne Tonelson. Bart Sibrel himself makes no appearance in the film. Interestingly, however, he does appear prominently in the controversial Fox Television Network special, Conspiracy Theory: Did We Land on the Moon? The two documentaries share some footage.

Criticisms

"Bart (Sibrel) has misinterpreted things that are immediately obvious to anyone who has extensively read Apollo history and documentation or anyone who has ever been inside an Apollo command module or (an) accurate mockup," says Birmingham News columnist Jim McDade. He accuses the film of being "full of falsehoods, innuendo, strident accusations, half-truths, flawed logic and premature conclusions."

McDade accuses Sibrel of rehashing old theories; "the only thing new and weird" in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon is that the video views of Earth were actually filmed through a small hole to give the impression that Apollo 11 was not in low earth orbit.

Sibrel has also gained some national exposure as an alleged astronaut stalker. One famous incident with Buzz Aldrin led to an angry Aldrin punching Sibrel. It was shown on news and talk shows nationwide, and Sibrel later became the butt of many jokes.

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Movies - A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon

Criticisms

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