In 2012 the film Room 237 was released. The documentary showcased three pretty nutty interpretations of Stanley Kubrick's horror classic The Shining: one claims it was about the slaughter of Native Americans, another said it was actually about the Holocaust, and the final one revealed it was really Kubrick's "confession" at having helped orchestrate the Apollo 11 moon landings which were faked. The faked moon landing is a classic in the conspiracy theory canon, and has produced such memorable materials as Capricorn One and the YouTube video of Buzz Aldrin punching that one guy. The theory mainly focuses on the famous footage of Neil Armstrong making his one giant leap for mankind actually being filmed on Earth - possibly at Area 51 - as a propaganda tool against the Ruskies. And who better to direct that footage than Kubrick, who had just managed to depict the most "accurate" portrayal of space travel in space with 2001: A Space Odyssey? The story goes that NASA approached the director as he finished up post-production on 2001 and asked him to helm the footage for the first three moon landings (presumably it then got passed onto George Lucas). Popularity of the conspiracy was helped along by the mockumentary Dark Side of the Moon, which included real-life NASA employees and actors pretending that Kubrick had fake the moon landings. Unfortunately many people didn't notice the "mock" part and took the film as proof of their beliefs, and later lead to the sections of Room 237 which claimed a carpet in the Overlook Hotel looked like the Apollo launch pad. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
