The Best Movies You’ve Never Seen podcast – The Dish

Episode: The Dish
Podcast: Best Movies You’ve Never Seen
Date: 2026-08-14
Hosts: Stephen Fenech & Trevor Long

[00:01:44] Stephen Fenech: Hello and welcome to The Best Movies You’ve Never Seen, our movie— our podcast, I should say, about movies. Movies that I’ve seen and I know very well. And the whole idea of the show is to show them to Trev Long, our co-host who has never seen them before. Trev, welcome.

[00:02:01] Trevor Long: One of Australia’s leading movie reviewers.

[00:02:03] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, you’re getting up there.

[00:02:03] Trevor Long: What are we now, 250-something?

[00:02:04] Stephen Fenech: So yeah, I think we passed 250. Yeah, yeah. So you’re Richard Wilkins level now.

[00:02:10] Trevor Long: He is in my dust.

[00:02:12] Stephen Fenech: This week we are watching The Dish. This is an Aussie movie, warm-hearted comedy drama that follows, let’s call it the true-ish story of the 64-meter Parkes Observatory radio telescope in rural New South Wales and the role it played broadcasting the 1969 Apollo 11 moonwalk to 600 million people.

[00:02:37] Trevor Long: Wow.

[00:02:38] Stephen Fenech: All from a sheep paddock in Parkes.

[00:02:41] Trevor Long: There you go.

[00:02:41] Stephen Fenech: Now the movie is actually based on a true story. The name of the real director of the Parkes antenna was Dr. John Bolton. Now did you know this movie was brought to you by the same people who did The Castle?

[00:02:54] Trevor Long: I did know.

[00:02:54] Stephen Fenech: Are you aware of that?

[00:02:55] Trevor Long: That’s one of the, one of the many things I know about this movie, even though I haven’t watched it.

[00:02:58] Stephen Fenech: So directed by Rob Sitch and the, what’s the name of their company?

[00:03:02] Trevor Long: Working Dog.

[00:03:03] Stephen Fenech: Working Dog. They’ve done a fantastic job with The Castle, and of course they’ve brought their talents to this one. But at time of recording, reason we put this up in the run is because we are paying tribute to Sam Neill, who passed away a few weeks ago at the time of recording. So we thought we’d, uh, this would be a bit of a tribute to his talents. I think one of his — obviously not his most well-known film, but I think one of his best-known Australian films.

[00:03:31] Trevor Long: And we’ve done many of his before.

[00:03:33] Stephen Fenech: We have, yeah.

[00:03:33] Trevor Long: We did Dead Calm.

[00:03:34] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, Hunt for Red October, Jurassic Park. So we’re Sam Neill fans.

[00:03:38] Trevor Long: We are, we are.

[00:03:40] Stephen Fenech: Righto, had you heard— you’d heard of this, surely?

[00:03:41] Trevor Long: So I’ve heard of this, no doubt. And here’s the thing about this movie — I hadn’t seen it. I definitely knew the story, not just because I’m a big Working Dog fan from the Degen days through The Late Show, all the way.

[00:03:53] Stephen Fenech: Yep, yep.

[00:03:54] Trevor Long: Love everything they do.

[00:03:55] Stephen Fenech: But this one got through to the keeper though, didn’t it?

[00:03:56] Trevor Long: Uh, well, it’s just a movie, so I don’t — that’s the weird thing. I knew so much of it but had not watched it.

[00:04:06] Stephen Fenech: Okay, well, I’m glad we’ve done something about that. Let’s talk Roger Ebert’s review — 3.5 out of 4 stars.

[00:04:17] Trevor Long: Wow.

[00:04:18] Stephen Fenech: Ebert’s review praised how seamlessly the film weaves the moonwalk and the small-town plotlines together without giving away its twists, singling out the clever, simple solution to the crisis when Parkes loses the spacecraft signal. He also loved the supporting cast — the mayor’s daughter, the mayor and his wife, and the overzealous security guard — and rated it alongside The Castle as a genuinely warm, good-hearted comedy, a nice change from crude Hollywood humour. He gave it 3.5 out of 4.

[00:05:42] Trevor Long: How good’s Rog?

[00:05:43] Stephen Fenech: Rog has a turn of phrase, eh?

[00:05:45] Trevor Long: Isn’t he good? That’s it, 3.5 out of 4.

[00:05:47] Stephen Fenech: 3.5 out of 4. And this was — Australia was pretty much in the limelight because this came out just weeks after the Sydney Olympics.

[00:05:59] Trevor Long: Oh right, okay.

[00:06:01] Stephen Fenech: It was, uh, in Australia was kind of the, you know, up there in everyone’s thoughts.

[00:06:05] Trevor Long: Right, okay.

[00:06:06] Stephen Fenech: Rightio, this is your last exit before the freeway. We’re gonna dish on the dish pretty deeply. And if you haven’t seen it, you can catch it on Fetch, which is your all-in-one entertainment box.

[00:06:16] Trevor Long: Everything you need in one single box connected to your TV. Great value entertainment, more content in one place, smart and easy to use. You get free-to-air TV, included channels, streaming apps, interactive games, the movie and TV store, which is just so deep and rich in content — 11,000 movies or more, over 800 TV shows, 50 premium channels. There’s the movie box, which we love because as a subscriber you’re paying $3.99 a month, you get 30 ad-free movies every single month. So there’s something to watch every night if you choose, as well as all the smart apps you need. So your Netflix, your Stan, your Disney Plus, they’re all there as well. It’s everything you need in one remote, and you can find out more at fetchtv.com.au.

[00:06:57] Stephen Fenech: Righty-o, you’ve now finally seen The Dish, and I just want to hear your first impressions after your first time.

[00:07:04] Trevor Long: It’s a great story, isn’t it? I just think the way these guys tell a story — not even how it’s written, just tell a story — he’s excellent. And here’s a weird observation. I think the — you would describe it, I assume, as cinematography, but some of the shot selection—

[00:07:20] Stephen Fenech: oh, it is brilliant. Yeah, it’s a nice spot. I want to go there. I want to go to Parkes.

[00:07:25] Trevor Long: We should go there.

[00:07:26] Stephen Fenech: We should do it. I do a radio segment — there’s a radio segment. I’m on radio there every Thursday morning. I’ve got a segment out there. I should drive out there and do it in person.

[00:07:34] Trevor Long: You would love stargazing out there. Oh man, the dark sky would be phenomenal.

[00:07:39] Stephen Fenech: Let’s plan that, eh?

[00:07:40] Trevor Long: Bring it on.

[00:07:40] Stephen Fenech: Righto, what’s your social media post?

[00:07:42] Trevor Long: Pretty much what I just said. The Dish is often described as an Aussie classic, and that’s more than true. It’s a wholesome story written really well. The cast is excellent, the shot selection is just brilliant. A fun representation of Australia on the global stage and a story well worth knowing.

[00:07:56] Stephen Fenech: Mate, I remember watching this at the movies because, as I told you, it was just after the Sydney Olympics. I was sports editor back then and I’d worked like 3 weeks straight without a day off, and this was one of my first days off after the Olympics. I remember thinking, oh, I can go to the movies, and I went and rewatched it a number of times, of course. Right, let’s get into the cast. And of course, the late Sam Neill plays Cliff. He was in Jurassic Park, we’ve done Hunt for Red October, we’ve done Dead Calm recently. He died on July 13th, 2026. Our old mate Patrick Warburton, he plays Al. That’s right, he’s Puddy in Seinfeld, was in Men in Black 2, he’s very good in this. He plays Al Burnett, the NASA representative, and he was also in Bee Movie. So he’s — him and Seinfeld, they said, hey mate, come star in my movie as well.

[00:08:47] Trevor Long: Nice.

[00:08:48] Stephen Fenech: Uh, Roy Billing plays Bob McIntyre.

[00:08:50] Trevor Long: He’s been in a lot of—

[00:08:51] Stephen Fenech: he’s been in a lot of shows.

[00:08:52] Trevor Long: He was in Underbelly, wasn’t he?

[00:08:53] Stephen Fenech: Correct, yeah, Underbelly. He was in Charlie and Boots with Shane Jacobson and Paul Hogan.

[00:08:58] Trevor Long: Oh, okay.

[00:08:59] Stephen Fenech: He was also in Aquamarine, another Aussie movie. Kevin Harrington plays Mitch — remember, he’s wearing his shorts and he’s the little bit upfront with the Aussie, with the American dude.

[00:09:12] Trevor Long: Yes.

[00:09:13] Stephen Fenech: Tom Long, no relation, plays Glenn. Mitch was in Sea Change, so was Tom Long — they were together in Sea Change.

[00:09:22] Trevor Long: Sadly, I looked it up, Tom passed away of encephalitis.

[00:09:25] Stephen Fenech: He did, at the age of 51 back in 2020.

[00:09:28] Trevor Long: Wow, because I saw his name up on screen, I immediately Googled him. And yeah, so as you’ve said, no relation, no relation that I’m aware of anyway.

[00:09:35] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, righty-o. Before we get to the top scenes, the run-through, let’s have a chat about Hisense. Hisense have just released their new RGB Mini LED TVs. These are state-of-the-art new TVs with new backlighting technology. The RGB Mini LED — the actual red, green, blue colors are in the backlight, so you’re getting greater color volume and greater accuracy. It’s a real lift to your picture quality. It’s all run through the HiView AI engine, so it’s got a special processor that can process each red, green, and blue cell as well. But it’s not just about the picture — it’s also out-of-the-box 4.1.2 multi-channel surround sound. So it looks great, sounds great as well. Got an anti-reflection and glare-free coating also. And hey, it’s not just for watching movies — native 170Hz for games.

[00:10:36] Trevor Long: Hello!

[00:10:37] Stephen Fenech: Wow.

[00:10:37] Stephen Fenech: Also, and watching your sport too, of course. You’re going to watch big screen and, you know, go big or go home. This TV is available in — well, the UR9 series is available in 85 inches, but they do have a 115-inch version if you want to have a splurge. But for now, the UR9 would look great in my lounge room, as I’m sure it would look in yours. If you want to check it out, find out more at hisense.com.au. Yes, righty-o. Now the movie starts off — an elderly man who’s driving up the Parkes Radio Telescope driveway pauses in front of the massive structure. A young technician approaches and says, sorry sir, you’re in the wrong spot, the visitor centre’s down here. And the old man looks up and we see that it’s an old Cliff Buxton, Sam Neill’s character, the former director of the observatory.

[00:11:27] Trevor Long: I really like the fact that they bookend this, the whole movie this way.

[00:11:30] Stephen Fenech: Yes, it does.

[00:11:31] Trevor Long: It’s a really nice kind of nod to his career. Essentially, it’s his way of going, you know, I’ve got memories here.

[00:11:39] Stephen Fenech: I love this. Next scene is the Australian PM receives a call from the US President about the radio telescope in Parkes.

[00:11:50] Movie Audio: [The Australian PM takes a call from US President Nixon thanking him for use of the Parkes telescope, then presses his staff for details on NASA’s plan to make Parkes the prime receiving station for the Apollo 11 moonwalk.]

[00:12:42] Stephen Fenech: You know what, great, amazing bit of exposition here. So you describe the telescope, describe what it’s needed for, Americans were involved.

[00:12:51] Trevor Long: Yep.

[00:12:51] Stephen Fenech: Now my interjection is going to be called moonshots.

[00:12:54] Trevor Long: Okay, I’ll play that one.

[00:12:55] Stephen Fenech: My moonshot here is that the Prime Minister seemingly knew nothing about this, but in actual fact, the PM knew all about that telescope.

[00:13:05] Trevor Long: Okay.

[00:13:05] Stephen Fenech: And half of the telescope’s construction funds came from the Australian government. Now, on the day of the Apollo 11 landing, the Prime Minister at the time was John Gorton, and he made a surprise visit to Honeysuckle Creek, not Parkes. I’ll explain why later.

[00:13:21] Trevor Long: Right here.

[00:13:22] Stephen Fenech: Now back to the dish. It’s July 1969, days before the Apollo 11 launch. The team prepares for their backup receiving role. The crew is Dr. Cliff Buxton — Sam Neill’s character — this pipe-smoking observatory head, and we learn later in the movie that he’s lost his wife.

[00:13:47] Trevor Long: He’s grieving his wife. Here’s what I love about the way that’s written — it’s clear early on, but it’s not exposed in any great detail. It’s just filtered, just a little twinkle all through the movie, which is lovely.

[00:14:03] Stephen Fenech: Mitch, played by Kevin Harrington, is the quick-tempered patriotic lead technician, and Glenn, the soft-spoken mathematical genius, that’s the late Tom Long. NASA has also sent in their representative, Al Burnett, played by Patrick Warburton, suit and tie and all, to oversee the operation.

[00:14:21] Trevor Long: He stands out as the American — not just because he’s big and bold with his accent, but he’s also dressed for it. It’s a really — again, he seems formal.

[00:14:31] Stephen Fenech: Well, and what I like too is in this part of the film, a reporter’s there and interviews them all — again, information.

[00:14:41] Movie Audio: [A reporter needles the team about America spending years and billions only for it to fall to Australia to relay the broadcast; Cliff and Al respond with dry, confident professionalism.]

[00:15:13] Trevor Long: Cliff, always the straight down the line.

[00:15:15] Stephen Fenech: Easy ever. Yeah, yeah. Now the town of Parkes is getting ready. Mayor Bob is over the moon — get it? He’s the one who actually spearheaded bringing the telescope to Parkes.

[00:15:28] Trevor Long: Right, so this is his crowning glory.

[00:15:29] Stephen Fenech: So he’s thinking, how good’s this? Now another moonshot for you: the film is set in the town of Parkes but was actually filmed not in Parkes but in Forbes, the neighbouring town — the main streets and stuff like that — because it looks more like Parkes would have back in the ’60s.

[00:15:48] Trevor Long: Parkes has grown up a bit.

[00:15:49] Stephen Fenech: Parkes has developed, that’s right.

[00:15:49] Trevor Long: So it looks a bit more modern.

[00:15:51] Trevor Long: Forbes, stuck in the ’60s.

[00:15:53] Stephen Fenech: Forbes is frozen in time.

[00:15:55] Trevor Long: It’s pretty much — you know how they say anytown USA — that’s pretty much anytown New South Wales, Forbes.

[00:16:00] Stephen Fenech: Correct.

[00:16:01] Trevor Long: And you know what, you could take, like Orange from the ’60s, it could be anywhere.

[00:16:04] Stephen Fenech: Yeah. Now there’s that. I do love the little subplots that are running — there’s Rudy, who’s their hyper-zealous security guard, taking guarding the sheep paddock perimeter a bit too seriously. His sister Janine is flirting relentlessly with our man Glenn, who can’t summon up the courage to ask her out.

[00:16:24] Trevor Long: Yeah, it’s a great little — again it’s, like Cliff and his wife — you don’t have to talk about it for 5 minutes, she finishes his sentence, a little bit still through there.

[00:16:32] Stephen Fenech: The mayor’s anti-establishment daughter Marie is protesting the space program as just a vanity exercise, while dodging an earnest Army Reservist suitor. Remember that?

[00:16:43] Trevor Long: Hilarious.

[00:16:44] Stephen Fenech: Now the mayor’s throwing a launch party and they all watch it together, proud of the part Parkes is playing.

[00:16:52] Movie Audio: [Family and neighbours gather around the TV as the Apollo 11 launch approaches, chatting anxiously about the astronauts and the rocket fuel, cheering as the launch gets the all-clear.]

[00:18:03] Stephen Fenech: What a great little snapshot of all the characters there. And the little kid’s real eager, knows everything about it.

[00:18:09] Trevor Long: Nerd.

[00:18:10] Stephen Fenech: He goes, oh, it’s full of hydrogen. He goes, oh, can they fix it?

[00:18:12] Trevor Long: And he’s not doing it to impress his dad. He’s just literally—

[00:18:14] Stephen Fenech: oh, he’s so into it.

[00:18:16] Trevor Long: Yeah, he’s just into it.

[00:18:17] Stephen Fenech: He’d be like, you and your Formula 1 — he just knows all about it. Spot on. The crew at the dish are also watching the Apollo 11 launch. Big deal, this one — a big occasion. The world is watching the mission stage by stage. The team go through their routine checks, and Al from NASA is watching their every move. Mitch is sick of Al second-guessing everything they do.

[00:18:42] Trevor Long: Had a gutful.

[00:18:55] Movie Audio: [Tension boils over between Aussie technician Mitch and NASA’s Al, with Mitch bristling at being second-guessed and Al insisting he has full respect for the team’s work.]

[00:19:41] Stephen Fenech: So yeah, he’s—

[00:19:41] Trevor Long: Al’s actually the sane one there. You feel like Mitch is taking it a bit strong against Al, given Al’s response — he’s like, mate, full respect, and appreciate the same in return. Mitch doesn’t say anything, so it’s for Cliff to jump in there.

[00:19:55] Stephen Fenech: Unfortunately, another little subplot there. The ball kicks off — the Parkes crowd throws a ball for the US Ambassador, with some hilarious results here.

[00:20:07] Movie Audio: [At the town ball, a formal announcer calls for the U.S. national anthem — and the band strikes up the Hawaii Five-O theme song by mistake.]

[00:20:31] Trevor Long: You know what’s funny? I knew that was going to happen because it like—

[00:20:34] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, she told them a couple of days earlier.

[00:20:36] Trevor Long: Yeah. And she said, you’ve got to play the US one, learn it, and they’re like, you’ve got 2 days.

[00:20:42] Stephen Fenech: Yeah.

[00:20:42] Trevor Long: And so they just tune into the most popular American TV show at the time and assume that’s the anthem. Genius.

[00:20:48] Stephen Fenech: So there was no internet to help him out at the time, was there? Right, I’ve got another moonshot here. There was no US ambassador in Australia in July 1969.

[00:20:57] Trevor Long: Oh really?

[00:20:57] Stephen Fenech: That was a little feature of the movie that they decided to add.

[00:21:01] Trevor Long: They didn’t have one.

[00:21:02] Stephen Fenech: Well, William H. Crook, who had resigned that year, stayed on until April, and then Walter Lyman Rice was appointed US Ambassador to Australia in September ’69. Can you believe it — there was no US Ambassador to Australia during the period of the moon launch and moon landing.

[00:21:24] Trevor Long: There’s a space during space.

[00:21:25] Stephen Fenech: That’s it. Now the town blows a fuse — a massive electrical blackout.

[00:21:32] Trevor Long: Yeah, what I love about this is it happens during that ball. Al’s at the ball in black tie, and like seconds later you realize Al’s in the car — he knows if there’s been a power outage, we need to find out what’s happening back at the Dish.

[00:21:43] Stephen Fenech: The generator fails as well during the outage. Something should have kicked in as a backup, causing the Dish’s tracking computer to lose power.

[00:21:53] Movie Audio: [Panic erupts in the control room as a generator failure wipes the tracking computer and the crew scrambles onto manual controls, losing contact with Houston entirely as the dish’s position is lost.]

[00:23:16] Trevor Long: Problem.

[00:23:20] Stephen Fenech: I do get the — I do get the — know the feeling when you lose stuff.

[00:23:20] Trevor Long: When you lose — we’ve all done it at some point, haven’t we? Wiped a drive, wiped something, you know.

[00:23:25] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, it’s frustrating when you can’t find something.

[00:23:27] Trevor Long: It’s really — you put a lot of effort into something and then it disappears.

[00:23:30] Stephen Fenech: So here’s my moonshot — the portrayal of this wasn’t quite accurate. It might have been good for the movie, but there was no drama. There was full professionalism. All parties were on board.

[00:23:46] Trevor Long: There was no power outage.

[00:23:47] Stephen Fenech: No power.

[00:23:47] Trevor Long: They didn’t lose the ship. No.

[00:23:48] Stephen Fenech: All right, that was purely a device for the movie.

[00:23:52] Trevor Long: Yeah, I mean, it kind of is important, I guess, because otherwise this is a documentary.

[00:23:56] Stephen Fenech: Oh, that’s right. They took a little bit of license in some parts of the movie, and obviously all those subplots and everything as well — not everyone was accurate. This was an adaptation of a true-ish story, remember I told you, right?

[00:24:12] Trevor Long: Okay.

[00:24:12] Stephen Fenech: Mission Control in Houston queries Parkes over the intercom.

[00:24:17] Trevor Long: They’re radioing in saying, what’s happening? Where’s the signal?

[00:24:20] Stephen Fenech: Now here’s the thing, right — they’re scared that NASA will strip Parkes of its status and ruin their international reputation. Cliff makes a split-second decision. He lies to Houston, asserting that they have a clear signal.

[00:24:34] Trevor Long: He’s like, everything’s fine here, I don’t know where the communications breakdown is.

[00:24:37] Stephen Fenech: Now Al comes back and realizes that Cliff’s lied, and he’s faced with ruined missions and possible diplomatic fallout if he exposes them — and, to his credit, he reluctantly corroborates the lie to Houston.

[00:24:52] Movie Audio: [Cliff and Al argue over whether to come clean to Houston about the lost signal, with Mitch pushing to tell the truth while Cliff insists on stalling to protect the mission — Al ultimately backs Cliff’s call.]

[00:25:55] Stephen Fenech: So now it’s Al’s turn to step up.

[00:25:57] Movie Audio: [Al gets on the radio and covers for the team, telling Houston the signal loss must be downstream of Parkes.]

[00:26:21] Stephen Fenech: So that kind of, I think that was kind of a bonding episode there. He sort of bonded with them — he’s got their back sort of thing, you know.

[00:26:29] Trevor Long: Well, in his own mind he’s got to decide, in the space of minutes, or seconds really—

[00:26:35] Stephen Fenech: Yeah.

[00:26:36] Trevor Long: He’s got to think about what would happen.

[00:26:38] Stephen Fenech: He took their side. Now, these are funny parts — remember the US ambassador drops in, they can’t find Apollo 11, and they give him a tour and end up faking a call to Neil Armstrong.

[00:26:49] Trevor Long: Yeah, they’ve got, they’ve got—

[00:26:51] Stephen Fenech: and the other part of that is Rudy — is it on his phone? Oh yeah, good. Al suddenly gets some inspiration — he knows where Apollo 11 is. He points to the moon in the daylight sky and says, there, it’ll be a few degrees in or out.

[00:27:06] Trevor Long: See, now I’m annoyed. So if none of this happened, that didn’t happen either.

[00:27:09] Stephen Fenech: We’ll discuss that later. Yes, though that didn’t happen either.

[00:27:15] Trevor Long: Wow.

[00:27:15] Stephen Fenech: So, but in the movie, with minutes to spare before their scheduled shift as the primary signal station, the team locates the signal again, re-establishing a live tracking lock. NASA never finds out there was a lapse.

[00:27:31] Trevor Long: Well, they knew there was a lapse, they just didn’t know where the source was.

[00:27:33] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, Mitch admits he’s generated a mistake.

[00:27:36] Trevor Long: Yeah, so this is young, brash Mitch the Aussie.

[00:27:39] Stephen Fenech: Yep.

[00:27:40] Trevor Long: Now confronting, you know, humble.

[00:27:42] Stephen Fenech: Yes.

[00:27:43] Trevor Long: The American NASA boss.

[00:27:45] Stephen Fenech: He admits he stuffed up. Expecting hostility, Mitch is surprised when Al forgives him and breaks the ice, bonding the team into a single unit.

[00:27:56] Movie Audio: [Mitch apologises to Al for misjudging him as a NASA hotshot; Al reassures him that not everyone at NASA is a genius, reflects on how often things go wrong before launches, and reveals a recent lunar module test crash — leading Mitch to joke about 11 being an unlucky number.]

[00:29:06] Stephen Fenech: Now there’s a little — one of the other subplots of the film is Glenn and then Janine, which is Rudy the security guard’s—

[00:29:13] Trevor Long: Sister.

[00:29:13] Stephen Fenech: And she’s got the hots for him. And Mitch is sort of teasing him and saying, why haven’t you asked her out yet, you know?

[00:29:20] Trevor Long: And Cliff’s playing the kind of father figure here as well, somewhat encouraging.

[00:29:25] Stephen Fenech: Sometimes, mate, you just got to take a risk, you know. Anyway, he finally plucks up the courage.

[00:29:29] Movie Audio: [Glenn thanks Janine for fixing his car’s bumper bar and the two dance around asking each other out, before Glenn finally works up the courage to invite her out on Friday night.]

[00:30:38] Trevor Long: That’s it.

[00:30:39] Stephen Fenech: It’s fine, mate.

[00:30:40] Trevor Long: Glenn, now — great, that’s a great scene, but there’s all — this is where my cinematography thing comes in. It’s a great shot from behind there. The camera’s in the middle of the Dish, Cliff and Al are sitting on the stairs of the Dish sloped up, and it’s literally directly in line with that tree-lined road that Cliff walks down at the start of the movie. And I’ve gotta tell you, especially given the passing of Sam Neill, if you were Patrick Warburton, that’s — you’d want that on your wall, wouldn’t you? Special. Just a beautiful shot.

[00:31:14] Stephen Fenech: Can you do that if you went out there? Would they let you do that?

[00:31:17] Trevor Long: No, they don’t let you walk up on the dish.

[00:31:19] Stephen Fenech: No.

[00:31:19] Stephen Fenech: Do they let you play cricket on the dish?

[00:31:20] Trevor Long: I’m pretty sure they don’t.

[00:31:22] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, they’d be good to do it. Righto, the mayor’s throwing a banquet. The Australian Prime Minister and US Ambassador arrive in Parkes for a formal dinner at the mayor’s house.

[00:31:32] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:31:32] Stephen Fenech: Now they’re all watching the moon landing. Apollo 11 lands on the moon, everyone watching and listening, really tense. Remember when they’re describing the landing? Eagle has landed with 30 seconds of fuel left. Did you realize that?

[00:31:46] Trevor Long: No.

[00:31:47] Stephen Fenech: 30 seconds of fuel. That’s true, I looked that up. That is actually true.

[00:31:50] Trevor Long: They only need that 30 seconds to get off then.

[00:31:53] Stephen Fenech: Well, no, they had a different tank to get off — they had to launch off it, leave the base there, and then connect with Michael Collins, who’s in orbit around the moon. I was one when they landed, mate — you were not, you weren’t born.

[00:32:10] Trevor Long: Yeah, you weren’t even a thought.

[00:32:13] Stephen Fenech: I was one, but — in fact, you know what, I remember when I was one, we flew back to Malta, we moved back to Malta.

[00:32:21] Trevor Long: Right.

[00:32:22] Stephen Fenech: I remember my dad telling me — when we were on the plane going back to Malta, the pilot announced over the loudspeaker that man had just landed on the moon. So I was actually closer than most people to the moon landing. Now the winds picked up — Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin are preparing to land the Eagle lunar module. A fierce storm rolls across the New South Wales plains.

[00:32:49] Trevor Long: And what’s interesting here is I had no idea there was such a huge gap between it landing and walking.

[00:32:57] Stephen Fenech: And the moonwalk.

[00:32:57] Trevor Long: It’s not like, yeah, I’ve landed, let’s go.

[00:32:59] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, well, but the wind was picking up at this time, so they’re thinking, now we’ll be right because we’ve got some time.

[00:33:08] Trevor Long: Yeah, because they’re not required — it’s on the other side of the Earth at this point, they don’t need to be involved, they’re not on schedule to be the rostered dish.

[00:33:16] Stephen Fenech: But just so you know, the safety regs say that if the wind exceeds 30 knots, more than 55 kilometers an hour, the telescope has to be stowed horizontally to prevent structural damage. Now, what does Neil Armstrong decide to do? He says, stuff this, why sleep? We’re gonna walk early.

[00:33:37] Trevor Long: Now, is this all true? So, mate, I gotta tell you, they’re idiots at NASA. How could you not — I could have told you that was gonna happen.

[00:33:46] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, we didn’t want to sleep.

[00:33:47] Trevor Long: Imagine sitting there going, okay, so we’ve planned it so that they land and then 4, 5, 6 hours later they get out.

[00:33:51] Stephen Fenech: They get out.

[00:33:52] Trevor Long: Someone should have put up their hand and said, listen, he’s gonna wanna get out straight away, and there’s nothing we can do to stop him.

[00:33:57] Stephen Fenech: I’m surprised they weren’t thinking about when would be the best time — you obviously want it in the time where America’s awake. So here’s my moonshot: he did, Armstrong, that was true, he overruled the sleep break. He said, we don’t want to sleep, we want to walk. And it’s true, they did walk ahead of schedule.

[00:34:16] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:34:16] Stephen Fenech: Now here’s this, right — NASA’s primary receiver in Goldstone, California experiences signal degradation.

[00:34:25] Trevor Long: This is all true, this is true.

[00:34:27] Stephen Fenech: So the Parkes Dish becomes the only radio telescope capable of receiving clear video footage of the moonwalk.

[00:34:40] Movie Audio: [Houston tells Parkes that Goldstone is having relay problems and that Parkes must become the prime receiver, forcing the team to weigh moving the dish into dangerous wind against the safety risk to the structure and crew — Al argues it’s worth the gamble.]

[00:36:19] Stephen Fenech: See that?

[00:36:20] Trevor Long: Big time.

[00:36:21] Stephen Fenech: Have a crack. Now, I only realized during those transmissions, PKS — that’s short for Parkes.

[00:36:25] Trevor Long: Parkes, yeah. Parkes.

[00:36:27] Stephen Fenech: My moonshot here: Fox Mason was the actual name of the NASA representative, not Al Burnett. And the character represented by Mitch never got to see the moonwalk pictures live — he was too busy keeping the dish pointed at the moon, so he never saw the moonwalk, he was all at the controls.

[00:36:53] Trevor Long: He was, yeah, working.

[00:36:55] Stephen Fenech: So this was true, right — the wind speeds hit 50 knots and kept climbing, the steel structure groaning, now facing catastrophic structural failure. Cliff, Al, Mitch, and Glenn vote unanimously to override safety protocols, keeping the dish angled into the storm.

[00:37:13] Trevor Long: So to be clear, this is all true?

[00:37:14] Stephen Fenech: This is true.

[00:37:17] Trevor Long: See, what’s fascinating is the story of the dish playing its role in the moon landing is cool.

[00:37:22] Stephen Fenech: Yes, it’s cool.

[00:37:23] Trevor Long: Yes, it’s not a movie though, because you gotta have these moments, right?

[00:37:27] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, of course. So this — this happened though.

[00:37:29] Trevor Long: No, but what I’m saying is, I wonder — this drama is what made them realize it was a movie. They knew there was—

[00:37:39] Stephen Fenech: they needed—

[00:37:39] Trevor Long: this was an obstacle. They realized they may as well put another one in because they’re—

[00:37:43] Stephen Fenech: absolutely. My moonshot here: on the day of the moonwalk, winds were gusting 100 kilometers an hour and kept blowing a gale throughout. The observatory’s then-director John G. Bolton made the decision to keep pointing into the wind.

[00:38:17] Movie Audio: [Neil Armstrong’s television picture and famous first words come through clearly via the Parkes dish, broadcast to the watching world, as the whole town of Parkes looks on in silent awe and the Prime Minister raises a toast.]

[00:39:33] Stephen Fenech: Amazing, very cool. The entire town of Parkes — the mayor, the protesters, the band, the scientists — just watching in silent awe. The Prime Minister raises a glass to the town of Parkes, and then the mayor is passed one of those traditional notes from a minder and says, “You bloody beauty!” — and the Prime Minister turns to him and says the same. Well, so shifting back to present day — we’re back to old Cliff, back at that spot at the start of the movie.

[00:39:50] Movie Audio: [Back in the present day, an elderly Cliff is gently turned away from the restricted area by a young guide, shares a wistful moment reflecting on the site, and quietly walks off, unrecognised.]

[00:40:18] Stephen Fenech: That was nice. That was really nice.

[00:40:19] Trevor Long: Only could have been better — I thought they were going to flash back and tell me that was little Billy, the mayor’s son.

[00:40:26] Stephen Fenech: Ah, the bloke who was real.

[00:40:27] Trevor Long: Yeah, he went on to work there. That would have been awesome. Just throw in the storyline, will you?

[00:40:32] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, that liquid hydrogen kid. That would be great if they ever remake it.

[00:40:38] Trevor Long: I don’t think they need to.

[00:40:39] Stephen Fenech: Okay, so then we see the elderly Cliff Buxton walk back to his car, looking up once more at the giant, quiet giant in the sheep paddock.

[00:40:47] Trevor Long: Lovely.

[00:40:47] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, righto, let’s get to some lines here. Now this is an interesting one — when they were finding out that Parkes was involved, the mayor was saying it’s like a vindication of my decision.

[00:40:58] Movie Audio: [A proud Mayor Bob explains to his family why the Prime Minister’s visit means so much — not politics, he insists, but vindication of his campaign to bring the telescope to Parkes in the first place.]

[00:41:27] Stephen Fenech: That was an episode.

[00:41:38] Trevor Long: Who said that?

[00:42:00] Stephen Fenech: This is a funny line too. Remember when Janine comes out and sees Rudy out there and he’s got a gun?

[00:42:00] Trevor Long: Yes.

[00:42:03] Movie Audio: [Security guard Rudy self-importantly interrogates his own sister Janine at the compound gate before waving her through as an “authorized visitor.”]

[00:42:23] Stephen Fenech: And this is funny too, when they’re at the — I think it’s one of the pre-launch banquets or something, and Marie speaks up.

[00:42:32] Movie Audio: [At a banquet, Marie needles the room about the scale of the worldwide TV audience, quipping about everyone watching on ‘the one telly.’]

[00:42:49] Stephen Fenech: Great. Righto, how did that happen? I’m going to use this section — sort of fact v fiction. There are a few things I need to—

[00:42:54] Trevor Long: so we’ve already established the power outage didn’t happen.

[00:42:58] Stephen Fenech: No, we’ve got to correct the record. The movie took a bit of license — they gave all the credit to Parkes. In reality, the Honeysuckle Creek tracking station near Canberra played not maybe an equally important role but a large role in Apollo 11.

[00:43:20] Trevor Long: Yeah, so they’re the filthy ones. They’re filthy.

[00:43:21] Stephen Fenech: Honeysuckle Creek had a 26-meter dish, and it’s referred to in the movie — and in fact the first 8 minutes of footage of the moon landing was through Honeysuckle Creek.

[00:43:34] Trevor Long: Right, right.

[00:43:35] Stephen Fenech: So the moon landing — but the moonwalk I think was Parkes as well.

[00:43:39] Trevor Long: Okay.

[00:43:39] Stephen Fenech: The flicker on the screen — you can see it when they’re switching, if you look at the original footage, there’s a flicker as they change the receiving dishes. We already established there was no power failure — the quality control at Parkes was pretty solid, pretty professional. The movie took a bit of license to add some drama. The staff names were all personalized. The real director John Bolton passed away in 1993.

[00:44:08] Trevor Long: Oh yeah, okay.

[00:44:09] Stephen Fenech: There was no animosity between the NASA crew and the dish workers, as was seen in the film — they all got along pretty well and still to this day work together.

[00:44:19] Trevor Long: Oh, lovely.

[00:44:21] Stephen Fenech: All Apollo communications — I remember when they were talking directly to Houston — that was processed via Honeysuckle. Parkes never spoke directly to Houston.

[00:44:33] Trevor Long: Oh, there you go.

[00:44:34] Stephen Fenech: And they also never played cricket on the Dish — they filmed the scene on the actual Dish, but they were told they had to use a tennis ball, not a cricket ball.

[00:44:44] Trevor Long: You wouldn’t use a cricket ball for that anyway.

[00:44:45] Stephen Fenech: Of course, yeah. How’s that for a—

[00:44:48] Trevor Long: How’s that?

[00:44:49] Stephen Fenech: Right, the speaker workout — I thought an excellent soundtrack.

[00:44:53] Trevor Long: I thought the way they enhanced the original moon footage.

[00:44:56] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, the moon communication was — that’s the best I’ve heard it. Even the parts when Neil Armstrong was saying, are you getting a good TV picture — that was real. I’ve never heard him say that before.

[00:45:08] Trevor Long: I think I’ve heard that.

[00:45:09] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, also too, the speakers — my theatre was rocking when all the winds were blowing around too.

[00:45:13] Trevor Long: Oh, that was pretty dramatic.

[00:45:15] Stephen Fenech: It felt like you could feel the movements, the groans of the dish. Thank God I got a big screen. Well, I think you summed it up — there’s some great cinematography, some great shots. That one with Patrick Warburton.

[00:45:28] Trevor Long: I just think it’s easy to—

[00:45:29] Stephen Fenech: great frame.

[00:45:30] Trevor Long: It’s easy to take a script and go, okay, we need to shoot all these scenes, but then it’s another level to go, we need to spend this time on this shot and include it, you know what I mean — because it really makes a difference. It’s like the helicopter shot of the dish in the paddock — that’s a really important shot to establish and confirm what we heard from the Prime Minister about being in the sheep pen. It’s cool.

[00:45:52] Stephen Fenech: It looked great. And the moon footage looks sensational too, what we saw — I think they cleaned it up a bit for the movie. We’ve covered the moon landing and NASA side of it. If the movie was made today, you’d still have to set it the same way — it would look exactly the same, nothing you’d do different.

[00:46:12] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:46:13] Stephen Fenech: Every day is a school day. What’s our theme? I think teamwork.

[00:46:19] Trevor Long: Absolutely, teamwork’s right.

[00:46:20] Stephen Fenech: I also reckon one of the other themes is take a chance, because it happens a few times.

[00:46:26] Trevor Long: Take a chance on the wins, take a chance on that girl.

[00:46:29] Stephen Fenech: Remember, early on, Cliff was telling Glenn — if you don’t ask her out, you never — you’ve got to take a risk, mate, you’ve got to have a go. And then towards the end of the movie, when they’re discussing moving the dish, it’s worth taking the risk. Glenn’s kind of learned his lesson there. And it’s also, like, the little town that could — no one had heard of this town—

[00:46:53] Stephen Fenech: and they played such a crucial role.

[00:46:58] Trevor Long: Amazing.

[00:47:00] Stephen Fenech: Alrighty, best use of the pause button. Do you remember when they look underneath there, when it’s stowed — it says stowed and free, free, free. Now if you look closely, they are labels of a modern P-Touch label maker, so heat-sensitive little labels — not of the time, let’s just say. Right, another best use of the pause button — on the blackboard, when the calculations are trying to find Apollo 11, the word ‘parallax’ is spelled wrong — they’ve spelled it with 2 R’s instead of 1.

[00:47:35] Trevor Long: You’re just being a knucklehead.

[00:47:35] Stephen Fenech: There’s 2 R’s and 2 L’s in the way they spelled it, but there’s only one R and two L’s. Things you might not know.

[00:47:41] Trevor Long: Hit me.

[00:47:42] Stephen Fenech: The Dish interiors were obviously shot on a set.

[00:47:44] Trevor Long: Let me say obviously, I didn’t— I wouldn’t have—

[00:47:46] Stephen Fenech: Well, yeah, they were. All scenes though showing the actual Dish were shot on location.

[00:47:51] Trevor Long: Of course.

[00:47:51] Stephen Fenech: They actually closed the facility for 3 weeks to accommodate filming.

[00:48:03] Trevor Long: Yeah, the—

[00:48:06] Stephen Fenech: Parkes technicians do not take a ride on the moving Dish — the crew playing cricket, that’s also a fictional scenario. And the archival footage of the ascent stage of the lunar module lifting off from the moon is not from the Apollo 11 mission.

[00:48:19] Trevor Long: Huh.

[00:48:20] Stephen Fenech: The first images of a liftoff showing the exterior view of the lunar module were actually from the Apollo 15, 16, and 17 missions.

[00:48:31] Trevor Long: All right.

[00:48:31] Stephen Fenech: Did you notice the moon phase when they go, oh, there’s the moon, point there? The moon phase during the Apollo 11 landing would have been a first quarter — the movie shows a near-full moon.

[00:48:44] Trevor Long: Horrible.

[00:48:45] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, no one would have seen that that day.

[00:48:46] Trevor Long: Imagine being at Working Dog going, we have to wait 6 months for it to be a quarter moon.

[00:48:51] Stephen Fenech: Sorry, mate.

[00:48:52] Trevor Long: Sorry, just film it, it’s the moon.

[00:48:53] Stephen Fenech: All right, what’s the meme? I love their measurement of whether it’s a disaster — are we stuffed? Yeah, we’re stuffed. And I love it when the mayor finds out it was them, he goes, “You bloody ripper!” I like Cliff asking Janine out.

[00:49:13] Trevor Long: It’s like, “What did you say? Nothing?” There’s something in that, I reckon.

[00:49:18] Stephen Fenech: And I also like, “You think we’re drongos?” Or, “You think I’ve got my ass hanging out of my decks?” You think the dish should just tell a story?

[00:49:33] Trevor Long: There’s nothing else to say.

[00:49:35] Stephen Fenech: Say what it is. I can remember an editor telling me — just say what it is, don’t try to be too flowery.

[00:49:40] Trevor Long: Exactly.

[00:49:41] Stephen Fenech: It’s the dish. The one thing you want?

[00:49:46] Trevor Long: Uh, Cliff’s pipe.

[00:49:47] Stephen Fenech: I’ll take Al’s glasses.

[00:49:49] Trevor Long: Wouldn’t mind Janine’s car.

[00:49:51] Stephen Fenech: Oh, the old FJ. Was that an FJ?

[00:49:52] Trevor Long: I don’t know, it might have been an Austin.

[00:49:54] Stephen Fenech: And I wouldn’t mind the console—

[00:49:57] Trevor Long: that they were working on. If you’re gonna go big, I’ll take the dish. I mean, what are the limitations here?

[00:50:03] Stephen Fenech: Righto, okay, 3 questions for Trev. Were you, before watching this movie, aware of the importance of Parkes in the moon landing?

[00:50:13] Trevor Long: That’s what’s annoying about having never seen the movie. Yes, because of this movie’s reputation I knew about it, but I hadn’t seen the movie, do you know what I mean?

[00:50:19] Stephen Fenech: Like, okay, so you’re thinking, hang on, why do they matter — it’s a movie about the dish. So what kind of gave you that knowledge?

[00:50:28] Trevor Long: I think it’s the anecdotal conversations from people about this movie that have given me that knowledge.

[00:50:36] Stephen Fenech: All right, question 2: I know Glenn and Janine weren’t real, but if they were, do you think they would have ended up getting married?

[00:50:45] Trevor Long: 3 kids, maybe 4, one on the way.

[00:50:47] Stephen Fenech: I reckon 5 kids, still living in Parkes — they’ve got great-grandchildren now.

[00:50:52] Trevor Long: They’re not going anywhere.

[00:50:53] Stephen Fenech: Great-grandchildren. Okay, question 3: too long, too short, or just right?

[00:50:58] Trevor Long: I believe it was perfect. I don’t remember thinking anything other.

[00:51:00] Stephen Fenech: It was less than 2 hours, was it?

[00:51:02] Trevor Long: I feel like it was an hour 40, hour 48 or something.

[00:51:04] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, it was good — that’s a good length for me. I think under 2. You’re a big fan of under-2 movies.

[00:51:09] Trevor Long: Yeah, it’s got to have a 1 in it for sure, and preferably not a 50 in the minutes.

[00:51:14] Stephen Fenech: Fair call. All right, that was The Dish — give us your wrap-up and rating.

[00:51:18] Trevor Long: I hate this because I looked back and I gave The Castle a 9.5.

[00:51:24] Stephen Fenech: Okay.

[00:51:25] Trevor Long: And this is better than The Castle.

[00:51:26] Stephen Fenech: You think so?

[00:51:27] Trevor Long: Yeah, I think this is better.

[00:51:28] Stephen Fenech: What, you mean—

[00:51:29] Trevor Long: I think it’s a better movie. I think the script is excellent. The Castle’s a funny story, but I just think the global reach of this is so much better. Anyway, I can’t give it a 10, I just don’t think it’s there, but I have to give it a 9.5.

[00:51:46] Stephen Fenech: Oh well, yeah, that’s massive. I’m at 8.5. Okay, that’s huge.

[00:51:50] Trevor Long: I’m entitled to my opinion.

[00:51:51] Stephen Fenech: I’m not saying anything different — this is basically Rog territory.

[00:51:54] Trevor Long: But yeah, okay, I’m basically on par with Rog.

[00:51:57] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, no, Rog is a big fan too. Absolutely. Okay, should we talk about next week?

[00:52:02] Trevor Long: Which, by the way, will be our 250th movie. I looked it up.

[00:52:05] Stephen Fenech: Which one?

[00:52:05] Trevor Long: Next week.

[00:52:06] Stephen Fenech: Okay, now it’s our next week movie if you exclude the recasts, in terms of actual original shows.

[00:52:12] Trevor Long: Yes.

[00:52:13] Stephen Fenech: The Long Kiss Goodnight.

[00:52:14] Trevor Long: He’s our 250th.

[00:52:16] Stephen Fenech: Released in 1996, starring Geena Davis, Samuel L. Jackson, directed by Renny Harlin.

[00:52:26] Trevor Long: Now, The Long Kiss Goodnight was written by Renny Harlin.

[00:52:29] Stephen Fenech: No, no. I’m going to ask you about Shane Black, the hotshot writer. What other blockbuster did Shane Black write? We’ve done it.

[00:52:42] Trevor Long: Oh, okay.

[00:52:43] Stephen Fenech: Is it A, Risky Business, B, Lethal Weapon, C, The Warriors, or D, RoboCop?

[00:52:53] Trevor Long: I think you put The Warriors in there — I think you’re tempting me.

[00:52:58] Stephen Fenech: Which one? Pick one.

[00:52:59] Trevor Long: Lethal Weapon.

[00:53:01] Stephen Fenech: Correct.

[00:53:02] Stephen Fenech: Shane Black wrote Lethal Weapon.

[00:53:04] Trevor Long: I thought you were going to say The Warriors, I was—

[00:53:06] Stephen Fenech: no, no, I threw that in there because I knew you would have thought that, but you saw around my little ploy — it was Lethal Weapon.

[00:53:12] Trevor Long: Yeah, nice.

[00:53:13] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, that was what sort of put him on the map, and he got—

[00:53:15] Trevor Long: we’ve done that, haven’t we?

[00:53:16] Stephen Fenech: Yes, we have — he’s got big dollar, we’ve done all 4 of those movies.

[00:53:19] Trevor Long: Yeah, that would have been a dead giveaway, although I wouldn’t have remembered.

[00:53:22] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, we’ve done them all, mate. Anyway, that was The Dish. I’m glad you enjoyed it — 9.5, that’s massive.

[00:53:28] Trevor Long: Huge.

[00:53:28] Stephen Fenech: Next week though, looking forward to seeing The Long Kiss Goodnight. See you then.

[00:53:32] Trevor Long: See ya.