# Apollo 18? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 28, 2011, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apollo-18/594369 "2011-08-28T11:59:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2011, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apollo-18/594369/1 "2011-08-28T11:59:27Z")
So, I just became aware of this film (opening next week) last night. Have any fellow Dopers heard anything about it? I am slightly intrigued (being a child of the Space Age I watched all the Apollo missions). Is there any hope it will interest a fifty-year-old, or just be another typical juvenial frightfest? ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2011, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apollo-18/594369/2 "2011-08-28T12:08:29Z")
I’m still waiting for an explanation of how they got off an entire Saturn V without anyone noticing. ---
**Author:** ![Anonymous\_Coward](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/94ad74/32.png) [@Anonymous\_Coward](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anonymous_Coward)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2011, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apollo-18/594369/3 "2011-08-28T13:30:43Z")
From the trailers it looks like The Blair Witch in Space. ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2011, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apollo-18/594369/4 "2011-08-28T13:52:51Z")
I take it Apollo 14, 15, 16 and 17 went straight to DVD then? ---
**Author:** ![markdash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@markdash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markdash)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2011, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apollo-18/594369/5 "2011-08-28T14:03:50Z")
> [@Alka\_Seltzer](#): > > I take it Apollo 14, 15, 16 and 17 went straight to DVD then? No, they just went to the moon without any serious problems. BO-RING. ---
**Author:** ![user\_hostile](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/user_hostile/32/474_2.png) [@user\_hostile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_hostile)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2011, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apollo-18/594369/6 "2011-08-28T18:37:34Z")
I saw a trailer of it a few months ago. I thought it was a parody at first ala Onion; until the screen flashed “Not yet rated”. IIRC, three Apollo missions were scheduled after 17 (before cancellation) so potentially we have a horror trilogy in the making. Perhaps even a Broadway musical? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2011, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apollo-18/594369/7 "2011-08-28T19:36:14Z")
And here I thought it was a They Might be Giants album. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2011, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apollo-18/594369/8 "2011-08-28T20:55:23Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > I’m still waiting for an explanation of how they got off an entire Saturn V without anyone noticing. They didn’t have to, since they were simply investigating what happened on the soundstage where they had faked the other moon landings. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2011, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apollo-18/594369/9 "2011-08-28T21:50:35Z")
> [@Anonymous\_Coward](#): > > From the trailers it looks like The Blair Witch in Space. Or Transformers 3 minus the Transformers. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2011, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apollo-18/594369/10 "2011-08-28T23:29:19Z")
> [@Anonymous\_Coward](#): > > From the trailers it looks like The Blair Witch in Space. Yeah, I’m going to great lengths to skip this one. This forum requires that you wait 60 seconds between posts. Please try again in 7 seconds. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apollo-18/594369/11 "2011-08-29T00:43:36Z")
I find the lack of “buzz” disturbing. (Oh hell. I didn’t find the time to see any of the films I was actually looking forward to this summer - no Captain America, no Green Lantern, no Cowboys and Aliens. There is no way on Earth I will make the time to see this .) ---
**Author:** ![Jormungandr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@Jormungandr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jormungandr)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apollo-18/594369/12 "2011-08-29T01:39:07Z")
I’m not liking what I see from the trailer. Why does it have to a horror film? Why not every that could go wrong did and made Apollo 13’s problems seem like a loose gas cap engine check light? ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apollo-18/594369/13 "2011-08-29T03:38:39Z")
I’ll be curious to see how “good” the special effects are. And, maybe not so much good as as realistic. Does the surface of the moon look right? The sky? The space suits? The spacecraft and equipment? I’m willing to give em a free pass on lunar gravity and zero gravity because thats just a pain in the ass. I’m also willing to give a free pass on the fact Apollo 18 never happened or was somehow snuck in while no one was looking. I’ll just go with alternate world history/timeline there. If they can make it more like “The Thing” in space where its mostly mystery and suspense it might not be so bad a movie. Then again, this certainly has the potential to be one hell of a dog of a movie. And I do wanna see what the Soviet craft looks like. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apollo-18/594369/14 "2011-08-29T03:56:42Z")
I guess I’m alone in that the trailer intrigued me. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apollo-18/594369/15 "2011-08-29T04:28:19Z")
I’m eagerly wanting to see it! It was first scheduled to be released back in March I think. And with little to no traditional advertising, very viral instead. I don’t know whether to be happy or worried that the studio has since gotten behind it with this huge ad campaign. The commercials have not only been running constantly but they even hired non-fiction voice-over king Will Lyman to emphasize the ‘found footage’ idea. I’m a huge fan of both the space race and Blair Witch so I thought it was a fantastic idea. I can’t think of a more creepy, claustrophobic, and scary setting for a Blair Witch-type film than the tiny LM on the surface of the Moon. Hard to get more _‘alone’_ than that. I’m really hoping that they stuck to the ‘less-is-more’ concept: [ul] [li]DoD found out the Russkies landed and something “happened”[/li][li]They make the next Apollo mission military & classified[/li][li]They don’t tell the crew the real reason[/li][li]Turns out some kind of alien parasites live in the lunar soil[/li][li]Like Blair Witch things slowly go from confusing to bad to scary to worse to hopeless[/li][/ul] Given the utter ridiculousness of films these days (giant Michael Bay kung-fu-fighting robots?!? Part Three?!?!?) nothing in the above list even comes close to stretching credulity for me. Hell, barely even bends it! The whole promoting it like its real found footage doesn’t bother me either. I don’t understand why it seems to bother so many people. I mean, come on, its obviously a movie. You’d have to be pretty dumb to think otherwise! And yeah, you couldn’t exactly ‘hide’ a Saturn V launch but still, I think in '73 or so it wouldn’t be difficult to hide a mission like this. No internet, and people were already sick & tired and totally uninterested in Moon landings anyway (morons). All the shots I’ve seen so far in the trailers look very believable to me. Considering so many (again, morons) think the **real** Apollo footage is fake I think they look awesome! > [@billfish678](#): > > And I do wanna see what the Soviet craft looks like Do mean just effects-wise, or in general? [Because it’s based on a real thing…](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LK_Lander) ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apollo-18/594369/16 "2011-08-29T04:46:16Z")
Interesting that the release date got pushed back so far; at the end of the trailer it says 4/22/11. Just a marketing ploy, or a bad sign? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apollo-18/594369/17 "2011-08-29T16:09:38Z")
> [@](#): > > I’m willing to give em a free pass on lunar gravity and zero gravity because thats just a pain in the ass. Lunar gravity is actually pretty easy-- Just show it in slow-mo for any full-body shots (of course, you still use normal speed for face close-ups). Yeah, in principle the astronauts could jump higher in the low gravity, but they were also carrying a bunch of extra weight of equipment, and wearing suits that don’t allow for much mobility, so it evens out. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apollo-18/594369/18 "2011-08-29T16:31:09Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > I find the lack of “buzz” disturbing. I saw what you did there. (And any further makers of bad puns will be required to kneel in penitence.) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apollo-18/594369/19 "2011-08-29T16:37:12Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > (And any further makers of bad puns will be required to kneel in penitence.) On an architect’s scale. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apollo-18/594369/20 "2011-08-29T16:51:30Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > I saw what you did there. > > (And any further makers of bad puns will be required to kneel in penitence.) Yeah, like _you_ can strong-arm me into a kneeling stance! 😛 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apollo-18/594369.md?page=2)