...why not join 'em? I'm thinking about producing a video documentary summarizing the HB arguments and showing just how wrong they are.

I've got training in radio and video production, and I know how to conduct an interview. Invoking fair use rules, I think I could use short segments from various HB videos in a review segment, then debunk them directly. I could also ask some of the more notorious HBs if they'd like to be interviewed to present their side, but I doubt they'll want to do it, especially if they ask to screen my questions beforehand!

Something like this could be sold on amazon.com and anywhere else HB materials are offered for sale, at a competitive price. I'd even offer it at half-price if the customer wants instant download, saves me from having to burn a DVD or record a VHS tape and mail them out. Heck, I'd give it away to schools to use as an exercise in critical thinking!

Anyone have any thoughts? BA, JayUtah, JimO, care to volunteer to be interviewed?

Many of the issues naturally lead themselves to a video format. I think it's a good plan. I have film and video production experience too. I've had a few producers approach me about a debunking video, but the hitch right now is budget. Everybody's excited about rolling film, but no one wants to do the funding legwork to make it happen. I have no talent there.

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"Facts are stubborn things." --John Adams
Clavius Moon Base

Well, I'm connected to the school where I got my radio/video training, which gives me acess to their production facility and a whole cadre of folks who can help me make this happen for relatively short money. I'm figuring probably $15,000 to $20,000 total, and most of that would be spent on travel - perhaps I'll be winging my way to Utah, Jay!

Has anybody ever approached FOX with a debunking show? Get James Randi to host it. :P

Drat, and there I was thinking.....


If you can't beat them....

Use a bigger club!

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Howling from the Shadows

It must be fun to lead a life completely unburdened by reality. --- JayUtah

You can't reason an irrational person out of an irrational belief. --- Noclevername

Apollo: The History and the Hoax
Enter the World of Athran

Better yet, how about a satirical sensationalist conspiracy special into was the Apollohoax faked to make money from gullible people.

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Freedom For Fission A breath of fresh Iodine-131

Great! I wonder if the text in the BABB is available (public domain) or is it copyright, Phil?

It would make a wonderful baseline for the script to such a special. All the themes and especially all the supporting data are already there!

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I can't think of any reason you'd need a soundtrack of original music, but if you do for some reason, I'd be happy to do my part. My e-mail is nealtodd@comcast.net.

Why not? BS gave us a nice music video at the beginning of his production.

Zeit, if you do decide to proceed with this idea, I'd be happy to play whatever small part I can to help. I probably don't have the expert crendentials you'd want to parade if front of an audience, but perhaps I could lend a hand with behind-the-scenes research.

If you have any need at all for a small-time science fiction writer with experience of proofreading (whether it's cover blurbs, subtitles, whatever), I'd be more than happy to contribute to this worthwhile project.

Ask Tom Hanks.

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Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.

The outpouring of support and interest is encouraging. Unfortunately there are still expenses that would have to be met. Donating studio facilities and equipment covers much, but you still have travel to locations and research for interviews. That usually is still far beyond most casual project budgets.

I have DV video equipment of my own, and digital editing tools and experience. I had hoped to create a series of short (i.e., 1-2 minute) downloadable films explaining various points that are best expressed through motion pictures, such as vanishing point analysis and theatrical lighting. I haven't really had the time; I maintain Clavius on a basis of a few spare minutes here and there.

If the possibility exists to make a larger, more coherent response, then we should pursue it. There may be advantages to a lengthier (i.e., 48-minute) format and a script to match it. I literally have enough material to fill perhaps two or three standard 48-minute formats, but that's with dream financing. There has been some interest generated at the highest levels of this type of broadcasting -- Discovery Networks, etc. But these outlets prefer to work with established production companies, and that means those companies have creative control.

I think one strategy to consider is producing a text treatment outlining three episodes, with the first episode covering as much breadth as possible and the other two delving perhaps into more depth. Then we option the scripts and let the network decide, after the first episode, whether to produce the other two.

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"Facts are stubborn things." --John Adams
Clavius Moon Base

I'm not sure if this is in jest or not, but it's really not a bad idea. If you could somehow contact him (start with his agent), it's quite possible that he'd be excited about something like this.

Or he may just think you're a nutter loon. One or the other.

To be honest, that's easier said than done. Whether you go through Mr. Hanks directly or through his agent, the proposal will probably be dismissed fairly quickly. I can't imagine that he, or any other big name actor, isn't deluged with proposals for him to star in pet projects such as this, including quite a few that aren't legit. I don't mean to sound harsh, and I think this is a good idea, but you should probably have a well-thought out, adequately funded proposal ready before you contact him.

I would contact Hanks as a producer, not as an actor. He has backed a number of Apollo-related projects and might be interested enough in something like this to grease appropriate wheels. Sometimes people with that kind of influence can make or break a project with a phone call. But typically, as you say, there are many layers of administrative insulation that separate these power brokers from the unwashed masses. My own Hollywood connections are far too insignificant to make inroads there.

I might have better luck with Penn and Teller, for their show Bull[exhaust] on cable. I don't think there's as much insulation there, and Teller might remember a conversation he and I had some time ago about optical effects and misdirection. (Yes, Teller can talk.)

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"Facts are stubborn things." --John Adams
Clavius Moon Base

Wow, thanks everyone for the great response and the ideas - I'm going to kick this around with my business partner and see where it leads.

As far as making a production slick enough for TV, I really hadn't planned on going that far. I watched Bart's nonsense movie the other day, and thought I could produce something with the same type of production values he used, or better, for a relatively low budget, and get it out there competing with him, and Aulis, and the rest of the HB crowd, by summertime. Basically, I wanted to directly debunk what they have to say, and interview Phil, Jay, JimO, and anyone else who's qualified and willing to be interviewed.

Anyhow, thanks for all the thoughts, I'll keep you informed!

I still say, just use a bigger club.

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Howling from the Shadows

It must be fun to lead a life completely unburdened by reality. --- JayUtah

You can't reason an irrational person out of an irrational belief. --- Noclevername

Apollo: The History and the Hoax
Enter the World of Athran

Who is your intended audience, Zeit? A video would be great (I'd buy one!), but I had a similar idea last year to make a debunking video because I got too distressed about the number of kids visiting the observatory where I work, who had heard rumours of a "Moon Hoax". I thought that a video might be useful in a classroom environment to discuss the arguments and, particularly, to demonstrate some simple experiments that the kids could do themselves to investigate the issues.

However, I was quickly disabused of that notion by a friend who is an expert in the mass communication of science. He pointed out that video was too linear a format for a topic is so large for my target audience. (This is not to say that video is unsuitable for other audiences!)

In the end, I created a CD-ROM, which permitted a much more modular structure, but still allowed for inclusion of mpegs, (tons of) jpegs, wavs, etc. This meant that the kids could pick & choose the parts that particularly interested them, or examine a section a week etc, without having to sit through the whole vid. Seemed to work pretty well and much easier to mass produce.

Just my 0.02.

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"I'd take the awe of understanding over the awe of ignorance any day." - Douglas Adams

I was also thinking that Ron Howard would be a good person to contact about this, along with Tom Hanks. Another idea that occurred to me; I've seen several people write that Ed Mitchell is pretty easy to contact. I'm sure that if Phil wrote him a polite letter and explained what's proposed, he would be glad to listen to a pitch from all of you. If you could convince him, I'll bet he could convince Tom Hanks to support the idea.

I've just started watching their show, that's one of the reasons I got Showtime after my free HBO deal ran out. I have to say I was somewhat disappointed with it; in the five or six episodes I've seen so far, there seems to be nearly as much emotion, name-calling, and hand-waving by P&T as solid, rational debunking. Still, I would like to see them do an episode on the moon hoax (or, failing that, CTs in general); in fact, I had been planning to ask if anyone knew how they could be contacted to suggest the moon hoax as an episode topic.

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--Doug

"When your statics problem becomes a dynamics problem, you're in trouble." --me

Moor's Law: "As you go from freshman engineering to Ph.D., the amount of work required per credit hour doubles approximately every 18 months." --me, inspired by Prof. Scott Moor