For fans of all things Lord of the Rings, movies, and more: Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan (Pippin and Merry) have a new podcast and YouTube channel called The Friendship Onion where they talk about anything and everything under the sun and within the universe. On their ninth episode titled Who's Buzz Lightyear, the dynamic duo interviewed special guest Michael-Lopez Alegria—better known as NASA's record holder for most Extravehicular Activities (EVA) or “spacewalks.” And although astronaut Michael has never heard of Toy Story's Buzz Lightyear (to Billy and Dom's astonishment), he does have two favorite space films. One of those films is a fictional retelling of a real-life lunar mission with actors, and the other is a documentary. Billy Boyd also chimes in with his own new favorite space film.
Astronaut Michael's favorite space movie is Apollo 13 starring Tom Hanks and Bill Paxton. Unlike James Cameron's Titanic—which is more of a fictional story based on real events—Apollo 13 is a docudrama film, which means it is a dramatization of a real event. There's not much of a difference on paper, but on screen this means that Apollo 13 more closely follows real life without adding too many fictional or "movie" elements to it. Michael says this is his favorite space film because of how accurate it is to the real event.
The film came out in 1995 (based on a 1994 novel that was co-written by astronaut and captain of the Apollo 13 mission, Jim Lovell), and director Ron Howard (father of Bryce Dallas Howard of Jurassic World) apparently wanted to make the film as close to real life as possible. Apollo 13 is based on the seventh mission in the Apollo space program—called Apollo 13—that had crew aboard the spacecraft. There were other unmanned crafts to land on the Moon during these trials, but this was supposed to be the third craft to land on the Moon with astronauts aboard. The mission had to be aborted due to a problem.
This is where Tom Hanks' famous "Uh, Houston, we've had a problem here" line comes from. An oxygen tank had a malfunction just two days into the mission, and so the lunar landing mission had to be terminated. The spacecraft launched on April 11, 1970, at 2:13 p.m. EST, and landed on April 17, 1970. Between 1968 and 1972, twenty-four American astronauts flew from Earth to the Moon (three of them having done so twice). One of those astronauts was captain of the Apollo 13 mission: Jim Lovell, who is played by Tom Hanks in the film.
Michael-Lopez Alegria's other favorite space film is actually a documentary called Apollo 11. The documentary was directed by Todd Douglas Miller (who is also known for his other documentary Dinosaur 13). Miller also served as editor and producer for the film. The documentary tells the story of the very first crewed Moon landing where mankind took its first step on the Moon. There are no actors in this film, and there is no narrative story (or "characters"). The film isn't even narrated by anyone. It is edited exclusively through news broadcastings of the real life event as well as through historical footage telling the story. Michael said that Apollo 11 is "brilliantly weaved together. If you're a space person, it's an amazing movie," to which Billy Boyd responded, "I will be watching that."
After Alegria finished discussing his favorite space films, Billy Boyd confessed to his love of all things space-related, especially movies. The LOTR actor recently saw a new 2021 movie titled Stowaway which Billy says might just be his new favorite space film. The film stars actors Anna Kendrick (Pitch Perfect, Twilight) and Toni Collette (Hereditary, Knives Out). The story is about a three-person manned spacecraft on its way to Mars when a fourth unknown passenger starts jeopardizing both the mission and the safety of everyone onboard the spaceship. The mission is planned for two years, and the spacecraft has been designed to produce inertia-based artificial gravity.
Billy Boyd asked Michael if this theory of artificial gravity is possible, and Michael confirmed that it indeed is. If there is a spacecraft with a fixed point that spins the ship, then in theory the further an astronaut is away from the central point, the more they would feel the effects of the artificial gravity even if the craft wasn't spinning that quickly. All three of these films are very different. One is completely devoid of any outside creativity, another is still very accurate but with more of a human or creative touch, and the other is a sci-fi drama with a fictional story based on theory and characters. Depending on their mood, viewers could have three very interesting and satisfying films to watch based on everyone's very topic of space exploration and discovery.