The Dish

The Dish
by Rob Sitch

Our Price: $60.00
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $7.59 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD details

DVD details

DVD Reviews of The Dish

DVD Review: One small step for man, one giant leap for Parkes, Australia
Summary: 5 Stars

Films such as "Apollo 13" (1995) and "The Right Stuff" (1983), as well as the TV mini-series "From the Earth to the Moon" (1998), all focused primarily upon the exploits of the astronauts during the early years of NASA, whose primary mission was, as spoken by President John F. Kennedy on May 25, 1961, "before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth." Of course, the astronauts were not the only people responsible for the achievements of the Apollo program; there were engineers, technicians and many other people, including a handful of people working at the radio-telescope station located in a sheep paddock in the small farming community of Parkes, New South Wales, Australia.

Many people are unaware that Australia played a pivotal role with the Apollo 11 moon landing back in July, 1969; but in 2000, director Rob Stitch created a wonderful and entertaining film called "The Dish" capturing the critical contribution that Australia made with its radio-telescope in Parkes. Revisiting the Parkes radio-telescope decades after the historic moon landing is the retired Cliff Buxton (Sam Neill). He thinks back to those critical days in July, 1969 when he managed the radio-telescope and was assisted by technicians Ross 'Mitch' Mitchell (Kevin Harrington), who was responsible for maneuvering the large dish antenna, and the shy Glenn Lathom (Tom Lang), who worked the receiving equipment. NASA also sent a representative, Al Bartnett (Patrick Warburton), to both coordinate the radio-telescope with NASA personnel and supervise the station during the Apollo 11 mission. At NASA's request, a local man is hired to be a security guard, Rudi (Tayler Kane), to protect the station during the mission.

Prior to the Apollo 11 mission, activities at the Parkes radio-telescope are very relaxed. Cliff often climbs onto the dish to relax and smoke his favorite pipe, while Mitch and Glenn practice playing cricket on the dish. In one humorous scene during the Apollo mission, when the U.S. Ambassador (John McMartin) is leaving the station after a visit and the dish antenna is being lowered to point towards the horizon, a cricket ball rolls off the dish antenna in front of Cliff Buxton. Other fun aspects of the film involve the townspeople of Parkes, its mayor & his wife, the U.S. Ambassador and the Australian Prime Minister.

Things heat up considerably at the radio-telescope one night while they are tracking and receiving signals from the Apollo 11 spacecraft en route to the moon: a power outage across the Parkes area causes all of the equipment within at the radio-telescope to shut down because a backup generator fails to come on. After power is restored, all of the eqipment comes back on, but the settings and computer program being used to determine the location of the Apollo 11 spacecraft are lost. Frantic, Glenn and Cliff try for hours to recalculate where the Apollo 11 should be so that they will know where to point the antenna when Parkes has clear line of sight again. Unable to perform their calculations fast enough using slide rules, Al looks out a window and tells them to simply try pointing the dish at the moon, which they can see with their eyes. With no other options, Mitch points the huge antenna towards the moon, then slowly moves the antenna around until they reacquire the signal from Apollo 11.

Things heat up again the next day, July 20, just prior to Parkes again coming into view of the moon in time to receive the all-important moonwalk TV signals. Can the crew of the Parkes radio-telescope keep things together to receive the most important transmission of all? Watch this fun and exciting Australian film and find out!

I highly recommend "The Dish" to anyone that loves the history NASA, astronomy and the Apollo moon landings, but I'm sure that most people will enjoy this film regardless. Many thanks go to the director, producer, actors and crew that brought this film to life showing the often overlooked and less glamorous people involved with the manned exploration of space.

Description of The Dish

Numerous other supporting characters add color to the proceedings, and crises arise (albeit briefly) when power outage, signal loss, and windstorms threaten to spoil Parkes's proudest hour. It all rates a bit high on the cuteness meter, but The Dish is so smoothly amusing that you won't object to its eagerness to please. By focusing on the Aussie locals, the film reminds us that the moon landing was an occasion of global unity, and pride in all humanity is reflected in the wondrous smiles of Cliff, his crew, and the citizens of Parkes. That they played such a small but pivotal role in this historical milestone is just one of many joys to be discovered in this delightful little movie. --Jeff Shannon