What Dr Tyson says is simply absolutely inconsistent with what is actually shown in the movie. He wrongly assumes the waves are tidal bulges similar to the tidal bulges on Earth, and that Miller´s Planet rotates once every 1,5 hours. That is, however, impossible.

1. If Miller´s Planet rotated at such a speed, then, under the assumption it is slightly larger than Earth (1,3 g are mentioned, so let´s assume an equatorial circumference of 45000 km), then the tidal bulges would "move" at about 30000 km/h (a person standing on the planet would move towards the bulge at 30000 km/h) - this is simply not what we see in the movie (at least not in most scenes, I´d have to watch it again to check the scene where they first spot the wave.)

2. As Dr Tyson points out, there are always 2 tidal bulges - one created by gravitational pull, the other one on the opposite side of the planet, created by the centrifugal force. It is thus impossible for an observer on the planet to observe the 2 tidal bulges at the same time. But in the movie, we see one wave vanishing on the horizon (Cooper even comments on that), while the next wave is already approaching!

Kip Thorne´s explanation that the planet is in fact tidally locked and does not rotate around its axis (just moves back and forth a bit) seems to make sense. And Dr Tyson, regardless of the awe the fangirl who interviewed him was in (and no, I am not going to type that joke containing the word bulges that has just appeared in my head...), was more entertainig than correct, I´m afraid...

What Dr Tyson says is simply absolutely inconsistent with what is actually shown in the movie. He wrongly assumes the waves are tidal bulges similar to the tidal bulges on Earth, and that Miller´s Planet rotates once every 1,5 hours. That is, however, impossible.

1. If Miller´s Planet rotated at such a speed, then, under the assumption it is slightly larger than Earth (1,3 g are mentioned, so let´s assume an equatorial circumference of 45000 km), then the tidal bulges would "move" at a speed of thousands of km/h at most latitudes - this is simply not what we see in the movie (at least not in most scenes, I´d have to watch it again to check the scene where they first spot the wave.) But the next point may be more valid:

2. As Dr Tyson points out, there are always 2 tidal bulges - one created by gravitational pull, the other one on the opposite side of the planet, created by the centrifugal force. It is thus impossible for an observer on the planet to observe the 2 tidal bulges at the same time. But in the movie, we see one wave vanishing on the horizon (Cooper even comments on that), while the next wave is already approaching!

Kip Thorne´s explanation that the planet is in fact tidally locked and does not rotate around its axis (just moves back and forth a bit) seems to make sense. And Dr Tyson, regardless of the awe the fangirl who interviewed him was in (and no, I am not going to type that joke containing the word bulges that has just appeared in my head...), was more entertainig than correct, I´m afraid...