“˜The Dish’ uncovers forgotten story
By Daily Bruin Staff
April 8, 2001 9:00 p.m.
 Warner Bros. Pictures (Left to right) Tom
Long, Patrick Warburton, Sam
Neill and Kevin Harrington star in the
new movie "The Dish."
By Sandy Yang
Daily Bruin Contributor
“The Dish” follows the tradition of films that
glorify the human spirit and channel it through quirky, charming
small-town characters facing adversity.
The movie, however, differs from the underdog tales of
“The Full Monty” and “Billy Elliot” because
it is based on a true story.
“The Dish” revolves around the motley crew of
scientists who televised Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the
moon on July 20, 1969.
The historic moment couldn’t have been captured on film in
a less conspicuous locale on Earth ““ a giant satellite dish
in the midst of a sheep farm in the tiny Australian town of
Parkes.
If not for the cunning and courage of the crew, a power outage
and 60 mph winds could have easily robbed the world of the image of
Armstrong making his momentous footprint.
However, the story was practically forgotten “¦ until
now.
“When we found it, no one in Australia knew the story,
including me ““ it had the sound of an urban legend,”
said director Rob Sitch.
So Sitch and his team of writers went on a mission of their own
to uncover the circumstances surrounding the dish 30 years ago.
They found a book on radio astronomy, which mentioned Parkes’
role in the Apollo 11 mission; they rummaged through old
newspapers, old documentary footage, hundreds of photographs and
other materials courtesy of NASA. They talked to the original
scientists, and at one point, Sitch felt he knew more about this
piece of history than NASA.
However, there was one piece of information that Sitch
couldn’t uncover ““ the control panels inside the
dish.
“We had to remake the control panel “¦ because I
never found out what happened to it,” Sitch said.
“It’s such a historical piece of equipment; I thought
it might be in a museum somewhere. And two days before the filming,
one of the original (scientists) came back to verify some of the
lasers and writing, and I asked, “˜What happened to the
control panel?’ He said, “˜We chainsawed it up and threw
it out the door,’ “¦ so there was no sentimentality
attached to it.”
However, “The Dish” certainly captures some type of
sentimentality of the era, when this sleepy town was newly
invigorated with the lunar event while experiencing the rarity of
worldwide attention. While the film does stay true to the
little-known slice of history, Sitch and his team took liberties in
terms of creating the characters and comedic situations.
In the film, the scientists also encounter personal
tribulations. Glenn (Tom Long) is smitten by the lunchgirl;
Mitchell (Kevin Harrington) takes offense to American NASA rep
Al’s (Patrick Warburton) implications that the Australians
aren’t serious scientists; and leader Cliff Buxton (Sam
Neill) keeps reminding everyone that they’re about to make
history.
The town of Parkes also makes preparations of their own as the
mayor receives the American ambassador, that is, if he can fend his
revolutionary daughter from arguing against the politics of space
travel.
And kids work on school projects with makeshift rocket models
““ like Sitch did 30 years ago. He remembers watching the
lunar landing when he was a 7-year-old boy in Australia.
“In Australia, they passed a law that it was OK for all
schools to stop (instruction) and we were on moonwalk watch all
morning until about one in the afternoon,” Sitch recalled.
“At about 12:30, they were ready, they were about to go and
we watched it on the tele. Even as kids, we knew so much; there
were flight plans in the newspapers.
“There were truck drivers who knew the entire flight plan
of Apollo 11,” he continued. “When we look back,
it’s amazing how much copy there was ““ it consumed the
world.”
For Warburton, who grew up in Orange County, it wasn’t
just the newspapers creating the hoopla. As a 5-year-old, Warburton
remembers the commercial tie-ins to food products and toys that
made the coming lunar landing inescapable.
“That was big. I had the Pillsbury fruitsticks in a
lunchbox,” he said.
With all the celebrity the lunar landing drew, Sitch said that
to this day, the original scientists on the dish still don’t
quite believe that all eyes were looking at them for a brief moment
in time.
“They didn’t seem to know they were a part of
something that was much bigger than an individual,” Sitch
said. “You speak to the scientists now and they’re
still amused that anyone would want to make a film. They’ve
drifted right back into obscurity, and they didn’t even want
their 15 minutes.
“They didn’t want anything,” he continued.
“For example, I asked if they got any personal recognition,
and the guy said “¦ “˜I got one letter, and it was from
Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins.’ And he said
it so nonchalantly.”
FILM: “The Dish” is now playing in
theaters nationwide.
