User Reviews

ASTRONAUTS GONE WILD plays not as sexy as its title might suggest. There is no baring of man boobs, and certainly no twerking to be seen, thank god. What we have, instead, is some raw footage of filmmaker Bart Sibrel approaching several (fully clothed) Apollo astronauts with some rather pointed questions that clearly strike a nerve.

Here is a video that allows us to see a whole other side of Edgar Mitchell and Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin, and it isn't pretty. We watch in shock as Mitchell boots poor Mr. Sibrel in the butt with his knee, the ex-astronaut curiously unable to respond to a few hard-hitting questions put to him in a mature and intelligent manner. We watch in absolute horror as Sibrel is punched in the face by a dissed Aldrin, yet another of the Apollo has-beens shown resorting to ungentlemanly behavior, in response to simply being questioned by an admirably gutsy investigator.

Fantastically, to this day there are still people (Americans, mostly) who believe that man walked on the Moon. I suspect the majority of these culturally conditioned dupes staunchly hold to this belief of theirs what with their having looked up to these American 'heroes' since day one and would not be able to psychologically process the idea that it was all a hoax without their possibly suffering a mental collapse. For such unquestioning believers, the truth would be too much for them to bear and so, understandably, they cling to this fairy tale as a child does a security blanket. No doubt were they to watch this they would side with Mitchell and Aldrin's contemptible use of force and say that Sibrel had it coming to him. These are folks who no doubt would be disappointed to learn the video is absent topless scenes; such is their passionate admiration for these former 'space explorers'.

We watch as Sibrel sits down to talk with Alan Bean, specifically about the Van Allen belts. The interview ends with Bean using the F-word and basically telling the filmmaker to get lost. Not the greatest display of the power of persuasion by any means.

One wonders, why in this video are all these former Apollo astronauts shown to be so defensive in the face of a few simple questions? Personally, I think this collective stonewalling of theirs to be quite telling. Their suspicious guardedness about says it all. These are not men who respond to Sibrel's inquiries with the confidence and conviction that you would otherwise expect of them had they actually went to the Moon. Rather, they fidget and seem flustered when asked about the veracity of the Apollo manned missions. Heck, one of the ex-astronauts is shown running away from Sibrel, in true unmanly fashion, proving himself to be a pathetic laughing-stock if nothing else.

In closing, although I side with Sibrel, being a moon landing skeptic myself, I must admit that at times I didn't particularly care for his Michael Moore-ish approach in confronting some of these potential whistleblowers; on one or two occasions in arguably semi-accosting fashion, like some ambushing buttonholer, but then it doesn't help that these retired astronauts immediately get their backs up and refuse to address the questions put to them, in a manner befitting dignified grown-ups who have nothing to hide and who you would think would be more than willing to respond to Sibrel's valid criticisms. It's as if as Sibrel is shown verbally backing these guys into a corner that this triggers in them a pre-programmed behavioral reaction. It's been said that many of the Apollo astronauts were Freemasons, so maybe there was a swearing of an oath involved, as well?