...and I am betting that none of you knew today was the anniversary of a lunar voyage, in fact the first one ever. Well really now, it is the anniversary not of a real lunar landing but of the very first science fiction film and it was called Le voyage dans la lune and debuted on May 2, 1902 (or October 4, 1902 , or September 1, 1902 all depending on the source you quote or the country of release) I prefer the October 4th date (the date of the US debut) because that makes it a Libra like me but I went with today's date to add it here as a Today In History post instead of having to wait. I do not know which date is correct but the nod for most quoted seems to go to the September 1, 1902 date. Regardless of the date, even if today was not the debut date, the film is worth a blog post and I am posting it today.
I was going to say that I had never seen it, then checked GOOGLE and there it was, not at YouTube as I had expected but at Google video (which I did not know existed). All I can say is Voila! I have seen it now and I love it. Much like sci-fi movies of today, this one was about a small group of scientists/adventurers who head off into outer space, land on the moon, are then accosted by hostile aliens from another world but manage to escape and return home to earth. In the short span of this film are included many of the same things we see in today's films including the space ship, beautiful scantily clad babes, strange worlds, adventure, danger, beautiful scantily clad babes (remember this was 1902 and those are short shorts by anyone's standards), aliens, hostility, violence, humanity overcoming all comers, and so on. For the most part, these movies have changed only in as much as they seem more realistic today, have bigger budgets, and somewhat sexier babes with just a bit less clothing. As I said though, this one had all the basics and I imagine it made the kids and sci-fi buffs of that other time as thrilled as I was the first time I saw Alien.
Of course, being as old as it is it is also corny beyond compare when you look at today's sci-fi movies but yet I think it was worth watching anyway - if just to see the first one ever. I am a bit of a sci-fi buff, I especially love movies and shows along those lines and even though this one is a silent film classic and only 14 minutes long, I think you might love it too if you love the genre. Here it is, with narration (that I am supposing was added many years later as this was a silent film), for your enjoyment.
I may or may not watch it again but I will be certain to watch many more films of the sci-fi genre; films that this one, the first one, spawned to thrill us and chill us.
All the best,
Glenn B
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