Kubrick’s Odyssey: Secrets Hidden in the Films of Stanley Kubrick; Part One: Kubrick and Apollo (2011 Video)

Directed by Jay Weidner

Written by Jay Weidner

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

The date: July 20th, 1969. Neil Armstrong steps onto the lunar surface and announces to the world watching on live broadcast television, “That’s one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind.” It is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, achievements in all of human history. But what if it didn’t happen that way? What if NASA, knowing they couldn’t achieve what Kennedy set in motion just seven years earlier, decided to fake the footage so as not to lose the space race to the enemy: the Soviet Union? What if what the world was seeing was actually shot on a sound stage by one of the most creative and innovative filmmakers of the 20th century, Stanley Kubrick?

Wait… what?

Check out the trailer:

In Kubrick’s Odyssey, Part I, Kubrick and Apollo, author and filmmaker, Jay Weidner presents compelling evidence of how Stanley Kubrick directed the Apollo moon landings. He reveals that the film 2001: A Space Odyssey was not only a retelling of Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick’s novel, but also a research and development project that assisted Kubrick in the creation of the Apollo moon footage. In light of this revelation, Weidner also explores Kubrick’s film, The Shining and shows that this film is, in actuality, the story of Kubrick’s personal travails as he secretly worked on the Apollo footage for NASA

Yes, that’s the premise behind Jay Weidner’s documentary, Kubrick’s Odyssey Part I, wherein he outlines his theory that not only did Kubrick direct the Apollo moon landing footage, but that he secretly and masterfully told the world about it through his film The Shining. By turns chronicling Kubrick’s career from 2001: A Space Odyssey onward, and dissecting the imagery and occult symbols used in his movies, Weidner weaves a tale of mystery and intrigue surrounding the master filmmaker, who’s apparent Faustian bargain with the power elite haunted him, and could only be exorcised by revealing those dark secrets through his work.

Interesting, but is any of it true? Or is it just an intriguing interpretation from the fertile imagination of Mr. Weidner? Regardless of whether or not you believe we went to the moon, Weidner’s theories are thought-provoking and sincere. As he states in the film, he believes we went to the moon, just not in the way we’ve been told.

Join us as we probe the outer reaches of the magical mystery zone to discuss these theories and find out what, if any of this, might be true.

WHAT DID WE THINK?

There are a lot of theories about whether or not we went to the moon and, though we focus on Jay Weidner’s film, this is not a new idea. The notion that we faked the moon landings goes back to at least the early ’70s with self-published author Bill Kaysing’s We Never Went to the Moon: America’s Thirty Billion Dollar Swindle. Since then, there have been numerous so-called researchers and conspiracy theorists who’ve made similar claims, some more convincing than others.

Look, we love a great conspiracy just as much anyone else. And if any of this were true, it’d be the mother of all conspiracies. The bottom line is that we went to the fucking moon! Okay? And yes, we did so seven times, well… we landed six times, but who’s counting? And we did so by launching crude chemical rockets into an extremely inhospitable environment that, upon reflection, probably should have killed all of the astronauts. That’s what makes it so incredible and unbelievable at the same time.

We’ve looked into this quite extensively on both sides of the issue and, though we both think that there are some questions that still need to be answered (such as: how the hell did NASA lose all of the original Apollo 11 footage?!), the evidence is overwhelming that we did land astronauts on the moon. Mercury. Gemini. Apollo. The space program in the ’60s was such an extraordinary feat of engineering, tenacity, and just plain old American chutzpah, it deserves our respect, not our rejection.

So, sorry moon hoaxers, but this is one conspiracy that doesn’t hold up under careful scrutiny.

That said, we do understand why some could think Kubrick was trying to tell us something. He is. But it’s not that he faked the moon landings. Kubrick’s films, like any great work of art, act as Rorschach tests for the viewer. They’re so densely packed and impenetrable on so many levels that they’re open to different interpretations (see Room 237). In other words, people see what they want to see. This says more about the interpreter than anything Kubrick may have been trying to say. In short, Kubrick was a master at using the art of film to provoke the viewer’s subconscious.

However, if you’re still stubbornly holding on to the notion that we never went to the moon and you want to explore your delusions further, we recommend checking out Dave McGowan’s work called, Wagging the Moondoggie. We gotta’ admit he puts a lot of work into proving we didn’t go, and he does bring up some interesting points and evidence. But be warned, it’s heavy reading and will require a bit of your time, so conspiracy dabblers need not apply. True believers: enter the rabbit hole at your own risk.

Finally, it’s great to have an open mind, but don’t let your brain fall out, as they say. BTW, if you have a satirical bent, there’s a sneaky mockumentary on all of this called, Operation Lune, re-titled Dark Side of the Moon for American audiences, that proves it’s all true. Should have been re-titled “Operation Loon” instead.