Fly Me to the Moon
Entry updated 15 June 2026. Tagged: Film.
US animated film (2007). nWave Pictures/Illuminata Pictures. Directed by Ben Stassen. Written by Domonic Paris. Voice cast includes Adrianne Barbeau, Ed Begley Jr, Philip Daniel Bolden, Tim Curry, Trevor Gagnon, David Gore, Christopher Lloyd, Mimi Maynard, Robert Patrick, Kelly Ripa, Nicollette Sheridan and Sandy Simpson, with a live appearance by Buzz Aldrin. 80 minutes. Colour.
Living near Cape Canaveral, three anthropomorphic flies – Nat (Gagnon), I.Q. (Bolden), and Scooter (Gore) – with an interest in Space Flight launch their own tiny Rocket. Inspired by the stories of Nat's grandfather Amos (Lloyd) about how he assisted Amelia Earhart during her transatlantic flight, the trio decides to embark upon their own adventure by stowing away on the Apollo 11 mission to the Moon. When the spacecraft approaches the Moon, it is imperilled by a short circuit, but the flies secretly repair the damage and the lunar module proceeds to land on the Moon. However, NASA has detected the flies and advises Neil Armstrong (Simpson) to capture them, though they quickly manage to escape, and within Armstrong's and Aldrin's helmets, the flies are able to experience being on the Moon. Meanwhile, on Earth, sinister Russian flies named Poopchev (Begley) and Yegor (Curry) are attempting to sabotage the return flight, but they are thwarted by the efforts of Amos, a friendly Russian fly named Nadia (Sheridan), and other flies, so the astronauts are able to land safely. In an epilogue, Buzz Aldrin unnecessarily informs viewers that there were actually no flies on board Apollo 11 and offers inspirational words about the people who have explored space and the importance of their endeavours.
While basically a diverting Fantasy, this film's fanciful plot accompanies a credibly accurate rendering of the Apollo 11 mission, making it at least of associational interest, as does the flies's initial rocket launch. It interestingly intertwines two common narratives about space travel: the stories of real astronauts, meticulously trained, instructed to follow carefully prepared instructions, and constantly monitored from the ground during their flights, and the exploits of the flies, who like most sf space travellers in the 1950s had no background or training in space flight, improbably ended up in a Spaceship, and succeeded without help from skilled overseers solely by means of improvisations and good luck. The superfluous subplot involving scheming Russian flies on Earth seems designed only to pad out the story to achieve the required length of a feature film. [GW]
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