Directed by | Georges Méliès
Produced by | Georges Méliès
Written by | Georges Méliès
Gaston Méliès
Starring | Georges Méliès
Victor André
Bleuette Bernon
Jeanne d'Alcy
Henri Delannoy
Cinematography | Michaut
Lucien Tainguy
Distributed by | Gaston Méliès
Release date(s) | September 1, 1902
October 4, 1902
Running time | 14 min (at 16fps)
8 min (at 25 fps)
Language | Silent
Budget | 10 000FF

A Trip to the Moon (French: Le Voyage dans la lune) is a 1902 French black and white silent science fiction film. It is loosely based on two popular novels of the time: From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne and The First Men in the Moon by H. G. Wells. It was written and directed by Georges Méliès, assisted by his brother Gaston. The film runs 14 minutes if projected at 16 frames per second.

A Trip to the Moon was extremely popular in its day and is the best-known of the hundreds of fantasy films made by Méliès. It is also considered by many to be the first science fiction film, and utilizes innovative animation and special effects.

Synopsis
At a meeting of astronomers, their president proposes a trip to the Moon. After addressing some dissent (by throwing paper at a heckler), six brave astronomers agree to the plan. They build a space capsule in the shape of a bullet, and a huge cannon to shoot it into space. The astronomers embark and their capsule is fired from the cannon with the help of a bevy of beautiful women in sailors' outfits. The Man in the Moon watches the capsule as it approaches, and it hits him in the eye.

Landing safely on the Moon, the explorers get out of the capsule and watch the Earth rise in the distance. Exhausted by their journey, the astronomers unroll their blankets and sleep. As they sleep, a comet passes, the Big Dipper appears with human faces peering out of each star, old Saturn leans out of a window in his ringed planet, and Phoebe, goddess of the Moon, appears seated in a crescent-moon swing. Phoebe calls down a snowfall that wakens the explorers. The explorers then seek shelter in a cavern and discover giant mushrooms. One astronomer opens his umbrella; it promptly takes root and turns into a giant mushroom itself.

At this point, a Selenite (an insectoid alien inhabitant of the Moon) appears, but it is easily killed by an astronomer, as the creatures explode if they are hit with a hard force. More Selenites appear and it becomes increasingly difficult for the explorers to destroy them as they are surrounded. The Selenites arrest the astronomers and bring them to their leader. An astronomer picks the Chief Selenite up off its throne and dashes him to the ground, exploding him.

The astronomers run back to their capsule (continuing to whack the pursuing Selenites on the way). Five get inside. The sixth uses a rope to tip the capsule over a ledge on the Moon and into space. A Selenite tries to seize the capsule at the last minute. Astronomer, capsule, and Selenite fall through space and land in an ocean on Earth! The Selenite falls off and the capsule floats back to the surface, where they are rescued by a ship and towed ashore.

Complete version
When originally screened, the film featured a final scene depicting a celebratory parade in honor of the travelers' return. Until recently, this scene was considered lost, and does not appear on any commercially available editions. However, a complete cut of the film was discovered in a French barn in 2002. Not only is it the most complete cut of the movie, but it is also entirely hand-colored. It was restored and premiered in 2003 at the Pordenone Silent Film Festival.

Style
Some historians suggest that although A Trip to the Moon was among the most technically innovative films up until that time, it still displays a primitive understanding of narrative film technique. American film scholar Ken Dancyger writes that the film is "no more than a series of amusing shots, each a scene unto itself. The shots tell a story, but not in the manner to which we are accustomed. It was not until the work of American Edwin S. Porter that editing became more purposeful." However, it has been said that Porter was inspired partially "by the length and quality of Méliès's work."

Although most of the editing in A Trip to the Moon is purely functional, there is one unusual choice: when the astronomers land onto the lunar surface, the "same event is shown twice, and very differently": the first time it is shown crashing into the eye of the man in the moon; the second time it is shown landing on the moon's flat terrain. The concept of showing an action twice in different ways was experimented with again by Porter in his film, Life of an American Fireman, released roughly a year after A Trip to the Moon.

Distribution
Méliès had intended to release the film in the United States to profit from it; however, Thomas Edison's film technicians secretly made copies of it and distributed it throughout the country. Méliès never profited from it and eventually went broke.

References in popular culture
The film has been referenced many times in popular culture. Two music videos are based entirely on and filmed similarly to Le Voyage dans la Lune: Queen's 1995 music video for "Heaven for Everyone", and the award-winning video for the Smashing Pumpkins 1996 hit "Tonight, Tonight"; additionally, Aqua's music video for their song "Lollipop (Candyman)" draws from it. The well-known image of "the man in the moon" from this film, with the rocket having crashed into his eye, was shown on the cover of Led Zeppelin's compilation album "Early Days", in the background in the film The Adventures of Pluto Nash, and appears in parody in the Futurama episode "The Series Has Landed (S01E02)" with Luna Park's mascot "crater face." The image is also parodied in The Simpsons episode Blame it on Lisa in the opening Itchy and Scratchy cartoon, and prominently at one point in the graphic novel Lucifer.

It has been featured in a 1987 episode of Reading Rainbow.
The making of A Trip to the Moon is recreated in the final episode of From the Earth to the Moon, a TV docudrama series about the Apollo programme. Georges Méliès is played by Tchéky Karyo.
It is listed as number one on 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die.

Threadless T-shirt designs printed a shirt entitled Le Voyage Dans La Lune which depicts a scene from the famous film of the same name.
The Moon character in The Mighty Boosh is inspired by this film.
A Trip to the Moon lent its title to the 1992 UK rave track Trip II The Moon, by Acen.
Portions of the film were seen in the Epcot Center attraction Horizons.

The article "A Trip to the Moon" is part of the Wikipedia encyclopedia. It is licensed under the terms of the GNU FDL.

modified: 2007-11-30 00:34:52