The First Men in the Moon (2010 film)
Encyclopedia
The First Men in the Moon, also promoted as H.G. Wells' The First Men in the Moon is a 2010
made for TV drama written by Mark Gatiss
and directed by Damon Thomas. It is an adaptation of H. G. Wells
's science fiction
novel The First Men in the Moon
. The film stars Gatiss as Cavor and Rory Kinnear
as Bedford, with Alex Riddell, Peter Forbes
, Katherine Jakeways
, Lee Ingleby
and Julia Deakin
. This is the third collaboration between Thomas and Gatiss (after The Worst Journey In The World
and Crooked House
), and the first film to be produced by their production company Can Do Productions. On adapting the novel Gatiss said "I'm completely delighted to have the chance to bring this wonderful, funny, charming and scary story to BBC Four. It's very rare to be able to adapt a genius like HG Wells for the small screen and we hope to do full justice to his extraordinary vision." The First Men on the Moon was first broadcast on 19 October 2010 on BBC Four
.
) tells young Jim (Alex Riddell) the story of how two men made the first journey to the Moon back in 1909. He relates that when he was a young man, he met Professor Cavor (Mark Gatiss
) at Apuldram
and learned that Cavor had invented 'Cavorite', a substance that blocked the force of gravity. He tells how he encouraged Cavor to think toward the profits his invention might bring, and how the two worked together to build a cast iron
sphere that would fly them to the moon.
The crew mention spacesuits (called "suits") being on board, but these spacesuits are never seen or described or used--unlike in the 1964 film.
As the Moon has a breathable atmosphere no spacesuits are used. Upon being captured by the Moon's inhabitants (whom Cavor names Selenite
s) who throw nets over them and knock them out with sticks, both Cavor and Bedford find themselves in a perilous state after Bedford kills some Selenites with his greater strength when they try to force him over a narrow bridge. In an attempt to escape back to Earth, Cavor decides to remain behind to give Bedford time to reach the spacecraft. Bedford almost crashes the spacecraft into the Sun, but escapes and lands close to home at West Wittering
. However, his hopes of returning to the Moon to rescue Cavor are dashed when the passer-by Chessocks (Lee Ingleby
) accidentally takes off in the craft—Bedford does not know how to produce Cavorite and so cannot produce another craft. Cavor remains in captivity and teaches the Selenites the English language as well as some of mankind's history and the recipe for Cavorite. The Selenites determine that mankind is a threat to the Moon and decide to use Cavorite to make a pre-emptive strike. Communicating his intentions beforehand to Bedford by wireless, in an act of desperation Cavor releases the Cavorite the Selenites are producing and thus evacuates all air from the Moon's surface. This renders it a truly barren world ready to be rediscovered by the Apollo program, though the final shot reveals a Selenite observing the Apollo 11
landing.
The Selenites are not insectile but are somewhat like skinnier versions of the hypothetical "dinosauroid".
The film ends with a tribute to Lionel Jeffries
, who played Cavor in the 1964 film and who died in 2010.
and was repeated on 20 October 2010 at 00:30 on both BBC Four
and BBC HD
. It was made available on BBC iPlayer
for a period of 7 days until 26 October 2010.
Following the original broadcast BBC Four
repeated BBC Two
's biographical drama HG Wells: War with the World starring Michael Sheen
as HG Wells, the author of The First Men in the Moon. The title of the film is a reference to Wells' most famous novel The War of the Worlds
.
s Tim Dowling
found Gatiss' adaptation to have "brilliant" elements, such setting the film as the 60-year old "kinematographic" recording and recollections of an old man (Bedford), told in 1969. This "neat framing device" presents the story as "alternative history" which is "remarkably faithful" to H. G. Wells' original story, treating it "playfully, but ... more or less in earnest." He enjoyed the film's "sly" references to modernity, such as airline flight safety announcements, and its "Pooter
ish approximation of Neil Armstrong
's famous words: 'What is this for us, but a tiny footfall...'" Dowling found that once on the moon, "the drama hits a soggy spot", the Selenite inhabitants "are a little unconvincing," and when the duo are separated, "the narrative runs out of steam," but wrote that "it's worth staying on," and summed up the film as an "engaging slice of time travel."
The Independent
s reviewer Tom Sutcliffe
wrote, "Is there anything deader than science fiction that has been overtaken by science fact? I suppose there might be objections to this rule, but I'm not sure that H G Wells's The First Men in the Moon is one of them, despite the affectionate treatment it was given." While noting the film's "neat framing device" of being set on the same day of the Apollo 11
moon landing
, Sutcliffe described the film's special effects as "not a great deal more advanced" than those of Georges Méliès
. In sum, he found the film "very nicely done, but uncertain as to why."
The first broadcast was watched by 830,000 people, the third largest multichannel audience of the night.
2010 in film
The year 2010 saw many new films released worldwide. 2010 saw a dramatic increase and prominence in the use of 3D-technology in filmmaking and film releases after the success of Avatar in the format, with releases such as Alice in Wonderland, Clash of the Titans, Jackass 3D, all animated films and...
made for TV drama written by Mark Gatiss
Mark Gatiss
Mark Gatiss is an English actor, screenwriter and novelist. He is best known as a member of the comedy team The League of Gentlemen, and has both written for and acted in the TV series Doctor Who and Sherlock....
and directed by Damon Thomas. It is an adaptation of H. G. Wells
H. G. Wells
Herbert George Wells was an English author, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary, even writing text books and rules for war games...
's science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
novel The First Men in the Moon
The First Men in the Moon
The First Men in the Moon is a 1901 scientific romance novel by the English author H. G. Wells. The novel tells the story of a journey to the moon undertaken by the two protagonists, the impoverished businessman Mr Bedford and the brilliant but eccentric scientist Dr. Cavor...
. The film stars Gatiss as Cavor and Rory Kinnear
Rory Kinnear
Rory Kinnear is an award-winning English actor who has worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre.-Early life:...
as Bedford, with Alex Riddell, Peter Forbes
Peter Forbes
Peter Forbes is a Scottish actor.In the theatre he has appeared in the musical Mamma Mia! at the Prince Edward Theatre in London, Twelfth Night, Richard III and A Midsummer Night's Dream...
, Katherine Jakeways
Katherine Jakeways
Katherine Jakeways is a British comedian, actor and writer. Her television appearances include Extras, all 3 series of BBC1's The Armstrong and Miller Show and Miranda. She is also notable as one of the regular cast in the radio series Deep Trouble and Look Away Now and plays Mrs Pepys in Radio...
, Lee Ingleby
Lee Ingleby
Lee Ingleby is a British film, television, and stage actor.He is perhaps best known for his roles as Detective Sergeant John Bacchus in the BBC Drama George Gently and as Stan Shunpike in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban...
and Julia Deakin
Julia Deakin
-Work:On television, Deakin played Stella Tulley in Side by Side and Marsha, the ageing but lovely divorcée landlady, in the British sitcom Spaced ....
. This is the third collaboration between Thomas and Gatiss (after The Worst Journey In The World
The Worst Journey in the World (docudrama)
The Worst Journey in the World is a 2007 BBC Television docudrama based on the memoir of the same name by polar explorer Apsley Cherry-Garrard.-Synopsis:...
and Crooked House
Crooked House (TV series)
Crooked House is a supernatural drama mini-series which aired on BBC Four in December 2008.The three-part series was broadcast on consecutive nights from 22 to 24 December 2008. It was written and co-produced by actor and writer Mark Gatiss, who found fame in the BBC series The League of Gentlemen...
), and the first film to be produced by their production company Can Do Productions. On adapting the novel Gatiss said "I'm completely delighted to have the chance to bring this wonderful, funny, charming and scary story to BBC Four. It's very rare to be able to adapt a genius like HG Wells for the small screen and we hope to do full justice to his extraordinary vision." The First Men on the Moon was first broadcast on 19 October 2010 on BBC Four
BBC Four
BBC Four is a British television network operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable....
.
Synopsis
The film's setting begins in July 1969 as 90-year-old Julius Bedford (Rory KinnearRory Kinnear
Rory Kinnear is an award-winning English actor who has worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre.-Early life:...
) tells young Jim (Alex Riddell) the story of how two men made the first journey to the Moon back in 1909. He relates that when he was a young man, he met Professor Cavor (Mark Gatiss
Mark Gatiss
Mark Gatiss is an English actor, screenwriter and novelist. He is best known as a member of the comedy team The League of Gentlemen, and has both written for and acted in the TV series Doctor Who and Sherlock....
) at Apuldram
Apuldram
Apuldram or Appledram is a small parish on the north eastern upper reach of Chichester Harbour about two miles south-west of the centre of Chichester in West Sussex, England....
and learned that Cavor had invented 'Cavorite', a substance that blocked the force of gravity. He tells how he encouraged Cavor to think toward the profits his invention might bring, and how the two worked together to build a cast iron
Cast iron
Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...
sphere that would fly them to the moon.
The crew mention spacesuits (called "suits") being on board, but these spacesuits are never seen or described or used--unlike in the 1964 film.
As the Moon has a breathable atmosphere no spacesuits are used. Upon being captured by the Moon's inhabitants (whom Cavor names Selenite
Selenite
Selenite, satin spar, desert rose, and gypsum flower are four varieties of the mineral gypsum; all four varieties show obvious crystalline structure...
s) who throw nets over them and knock them out with sticks, both Cavor and Bedford find themselves in a perilous state after Bedford kills some Selenites with his greater strength when they try to force him over a narrow bridge. In an attempt to escape back to Earth, Cavor decides to remain behind to give Bedford time to reach the spacecraft. Bedford almost crashes the spacecraft into the Sun, but escapes and lands close to home at West Wittering
West Wittering
West Wittering is a small village and civil parish, on the Manhood Peninsula, in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England. It lies near the mouth of Chichester Harbour on the B2179 road 6.5 miles southwest of Chichester and has a sandy beach with what has been described as excellent...
. However, his hopes of returning to the Moon to rescue Cavor are dashed when the passer-by Chessocks (Lee Ingleby
Lee Ingleby
Lee Ingleby is a British film, television, and stage actor.He is perhaps best known for his roles as Detective Sergeant John Bacchus in the BBC Drama George Gently and as Stan Shunpike in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban...
) accidentally takes off in the craft—Bedford does not know how to produce Cavorite and so cannot produce another craft. Cavor remains in captivity and teaches the Selenites the English language as well as some of mankind's history and the recipe for Cavorite. The Selenites determine that mankind is a threat to the Moon and decide to use Cavorite to make a pre-emptive strike. Communicating his intentions beforehand to Bedford by wireless, in an act of desperation Cavor releases the Cavorite the Selenites are producing and thus evacuates all air from the Moon's surface. This renders it a truly barren world ready to be rediscovered by the Apollo program, though the final shot reveals a Selenite observing the Apollo 11
Apollo 11
In early 1969, Bill Anders accepted a job with the National Space Council effective in August 1969 and announced his retirement as an astronaut. At that point Ken Mattingly was moved from the support crew into parallel training with Anders as backup Command Module Pilot in case Apollo 11 was...
landing.
The Selenites are not insectile but are somewhat like skinnier versions of the hypothetical "dinosauroid".
The film ends with a tribute to Lionel Jeffries
Lionel Jeffries
Lionel Charles Jeffries was an English actor, screenwriter and film director.-Early life and career:Jeffries attended the Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wimborne Minster, Dorset. In 1945, he received a commission in the Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry...
, who played Cavor in the 1964 film and who died in 2010.
Cast
- Rory KinnearRory KinnearRory Kinnear is an award-winning English actor who has worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre.-Early life:...
as Bedford - Mark GatissMark GatissMark Gatiss is an English actor, screenwriter and novelist. He is best known as a member of the comedy team The League of Gentlemen, and has both written for and acted in the TV series Doctor Who and Sherlock....
as Cavor - Alex Riddell as Jim
- Peter ForbesPeter ForbesPeter Forbes is a Scottish actor.In the theatre he has appeared in the musical Mamma Mia! at the Prince Edward Theatre in London, Twelfth Night, Richard III and A Midsummer Night's Dream...
as Dad - Katherine JakewaysKatherine JakewaysKatherine Jakeways is a British comedian, actor and writer. Her television appearances include Extras, all 3 series of BBC1's The Armstrong and Miller Show and Miranda. She is also notable as one of the regular cast in the radio series Deep Trouble and Look Away Now and plays Mrs Pepys in Radio...
as Mum - Julia DeakinJulia Deakin-Work:On television, Deakin played Stella Tulley in Side by Side and Marsha, the ageing but lovely divorcée landlady, in the British sitcom Spaced ....
as Mrs Fitt - Lee InglebyLee InglebyLee Ingleby is a British film, television, and stage actor.He is perhaps best known for his roles as Detective Sergeant John Bacchus in the BBC Drama George Gently and as Stan Shunpike in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban...
as Chessocks - Philip JacksonPhilip Jackson (actor)Philip Jackson is an English actor, known for his many television and film roles, most notably as Chief Inspector Japp in the television series Poirot and as Abbot Hugo, one of the recurring adversaries in the cult 1980s series Robin of Sherwood. Jackson was born in Retford, Nottinghamshire...
as Voice of Grand Lunar - Ian Hallard as Voice of Phi-Oo
- Reece ShearsmithReece ShearsmithReeson "Reece" Shearsmith is an English actor and writer. He is most famous for his work as part of The League of Gentlemen along with fellow performers Steve Pemberton, Mark Gatiss and co-writer Jeremy Dyson.-Early life:...
as Moon (non-speaking cameo) - Steve PembertonSteve PembertonSteve James Pemberton is an English actor, comedian, writer and performer, most famous as a member of The League of Gentlemen along with fellow performers Reece Shearsmith, Mark Gatiss and co-writer Jeremy Dyson.-Early life:...
as Sun (non-speaking cameo) - Gatiss's dog Bunsen as Faraday, Cavor's dog
Broadcast
The First Men in the Moon was first broadcast on 19 October 2010 at 21:00 on BBC FourBBC Four
BBC Four is a British television network operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable....
and was repeated on 20 October 2010 at 00:30 on both BBC Four
BBC Four
BBC Four is a British television network operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable....
and BBC HD
BBC HD
BBC HD is a high-definition television network provided by the BBC. The service was initially run as a trial from 15 May 2006 until becoming a full service on 1 December 2007...
. It was made available on BBC iPlayer
BBC iPlayer
BBC iPlayer, commonly shortened to iPlayer, is an internet television and radio service, developed by the BBC to extend its former RealPlayer-based and other streamed video clip content to include whole TV shows....
for a period of 7 days until 26 October 2010.
Following the original broadcast BBC Four
BBC Four
BBC Four is a British television network operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable....
repeated BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
's biographical drama HG Wells: War with the World starring Michael Sheen
Michael Sheen
Michael Christopher Sheen, OBE , is a Welsh stage and screen actor. He trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, England and made his professional debut opposite Vanessa Redgrave in When She Danced at the Globe Theatre in 1991...
as HG Wells, the author of The First Men in the Moon. The title of the film is a reference to Wells' most famous novel The War of the Worlds
The War of the Worlds
The War of the Worlds is an 1898 science fiction novel written by H. G. Wells.The War of the Worlds may also refer to:- Radio broadcasts :* The War of the Worlds , the 1938 radio broadcast by Orson Welles...
.
Reception
The show received mildly warm reviews with moderate criticisms of special effects, pacing, and story. The GuardianThe Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
s Tim Dowling
Tim Dowling
Tim Dowling is a journalist and author. Dowling moved to the UK at the age of 27 and currently lives in London with his wife and three children....
found Gatiss' adaptation to have "brilliant" elements, such setting the film as the 60-year old "kinematographic" recording and recollections of an old man (Bedford), told in 1969. This "neat framing device" presents the story as "alternative history" which is "remarkably faithful" to H. G. Wells' original story, treating it "playfully, but ... more or less in earnest." He enjoyed the film's "sly" references to modernity, such as airline flight safety announcements, and its "Pooter
Charles Pooter
Charles Pooter is a fictional character, the supposed author and leading character of George and Weedon Grossmith's comic novel Diary of a Nobody.Pooter is a middle aged and middle class City of London clerk with ideas above his station...
ish approximation of Neil Armstrong
Neil Armstrong
Neil Alden Armstrong is an American former astronaut, test pilot, aerospace engineer, university professor, United States Naval Aviator, and the first person to set foot upon the Moon....
's famous words: 'What is this for us, but a tiny footfall...'" Dowling found that once on the moon, "the drama hits a soggy spot", the Selenite inhabitants "are a little unconvincing," and when the duo are separated, "the narrative runs out of steam," but wrote that "it's worth staying on," and summed up the film as an "engaging slice of time travel."
The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
s reviewer Tom Sutcliffe
Tom Sutcliffe (broadcaster)
Thomas Sutcliffe is a British journalist and arts broadcaster.Sutcliffe studied English at Emmanuel College, Cambridge...
wrote, "Is there anything deader than science fiction that has been overtaken by science fact? I suppose there might be objections to this rule, but I'm not sure that H G Wells's The First Men in the Moon is one of them, despite the affectionate treatment it was given." While noting the film's "neat framing device" of being set on the same day of the Apollo 11
Apollo 11
In early 1969, Bill Anders accepted a job with the National Space Council effective in August 1969 and announced his retirement as an astronaut. At that point Ken Mattingly was moved from the support crew into parallel training with Anders as backup Command Module Pilot in case Apollo 11 was...
moon landing
Moon landing
A moon landing is the arrival of a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon. This includes both manned and unmanned missions. The first human-made object to reach the surface of the Moon was the Soviet Union's Luna 2 mission on 13 September 1959. The United States's Apollo 11 was the first manned...
, Sutcliffe described the film's special effects as "not a great deal more advanced" than those of Georges Méliès
Georges Méliès
Georges Méliès , full name Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès, was a French filmmaker famous for leading many technical and narrative developments in the earliest cinema. He was very innovative in the use of special effects...
. In sum, he found the film "very nicely done, but uncertain as to why."
The first broadcast was watched by 830,000 people, the third largest multichannel audience of the night.
External links
- The First Men in the Moon (2010) at the Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
- "Mark Gatiss: Rocket man" Stuart Jeffries, The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, 11 October 2010.