The problem with judging science on the basis of MST riffs is that MST writers get science wrong every bit as often as the movie makers. The science in this film is accurate and well considered. To wit, 1) The "steam" is outgassing (which somehow people believe in the movie Deep Impact but not in this film, because MST told them to laugh at it, and they aren't thinking for themselves, alas.) In 1960, it was assumed that there would be constant, dangerous lunar outgassing. As it ends up, the outgassing probably was over by 3.5 billion years ago, but in 1960, we knew only a little bit about the phenomenon.
2) The dust pits are of regolith, which NASA was very concerned about when choosing Apollo landing sites. Look it up.
3) The moon has an atmosphere. Look it up.
4) Walking "slow and stupid" under lesser gravity was also accurate, and since no one had been on the moon in 1960, they guessed how that would look, and they guessed pretty well. It's easy to laugh at this in retrospect, but I never saw even an attempt to get this right in other moon films of the era.
and so on. The movie makers got this all right, which for the date of the film in startling and admirable. A lot of contemporary s-f films to this one were ridiculous in comparison. (Yes, they had the typical and inaccurate meteor shower scene, but you can't have everything.) A lot of current s-f movies have much worse science. Much! It is also admirable to see a diverse cast, including, gasp, women. NASA took over twenty years to catch up with the imagination of these filmmakers, and Kubrick didn't get that right in 2001, either, filmed ten years later, so kudos to the filmmakers for that.
The movie is a little slow, admittedly. But there is a plot, a heroic sacrifice, and, my favorite part, the earth people don't win. They scurry home barely alive, their asses kicked by aliens. That seems more realistic than all the earth-wins s-f films that posit aliens with profoundly advanced technologies who bother to visit other planets and then can't figure out how to beat up an inferior species with gumption, rain, the magical ability to pilot alien craft, or table salt.
Thus, to summarize, the science in this science fiction film is far better than average, even comparing it to today's films. There is a plot, but it's a little bit slow. And the acting is not that wonderful.
2) The dust pits are of regolith, which NASA was very concerned about when choosing Apollo landing sites. Look it up.
3) The moon has an atmosphere. Look it up.
4) Walking "slow and stupid" under lesser gravity was also accurate, and since no one had been on the moon in 1960, they guessed how that would look, and they guessed pretty well. It's easy to laugh at this in retrospect, but I never saw even an attempt to get this right in other moon films of the era.
and so on. The movie makers got this all right, which for the date of the film in startling and admirable. A lot of contemporary s-f films to this one were ridiculous in comparison. (Yes, they had the typical and inaccurate meteor shower scene, but you can't have everything.) A lot of current s-f movies have much worse science. Much! It is also admirable to see a diverse cast, including, gasp, women. NASA took over twenty years to catch up with the imagination of these filmmakers, and Kubrick didn't get that right in 2001, either, filmed ten years later, so kudos to the filmmakers for that.
The movie is a little slow, admittedly. But there is a plot, a heroic sacrifice, and, my favorite part, the earth people don't win. They scurry home barely alive, their asses kicked by aliens. That seems more realistic than all the earth-wins s-f films that posit aliens with profoundly advanced technologies who bother to visit other planets and then can't figure out how to beat up an inferior species with gumption, rain, the magical ability to pilot alien craft, or table salt.
Thus, to summarize, the science in this science fiction film is far better than average, even comparing it to today's films. There is a plot, but it's a little bit slow. And the acting is not that wonderful.