Melies' A TRIP TO THE MOON - 1902

On this day 105 years ago, Georges and Gaston Melies released the short black and white silent fiction film A TRIP TO THE MOON (French: Le Voyage dans la lune). The screenplay, or photoplay, was loosely adapted from Jules Verne's FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON and H.G. Wells' THE FIRST MEN ON THE MOON. Although the conventions, the grammar of cinema, had not been invented or established yet, the experimental nature of A TRIP TO THE MOON is visibly apparent.

"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."- wiki

Poe predates both Verne and Wells, as well as the Melies brothers, with his own voyage to the moon. Poe published "The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans PFaall" in the June 1835 issue of the Southern Literary Messenger. Poe's voyager travels to the moon in a balloon (see Poe's "The Balloon Hoax" for another 'steampunk' fantasy). While Poe planned for this to be the first installment in a series designed as a hoax, the New York Sun began a six part series which came to be known as the "Great Moon Hoax" in the August 25, 1835 edition of the daily newspaper. These articles proclaimed the discovery of life on the Moon. The fake author of the article, Dr. Andrew Grant, reported the discoveries were made by real life astronomer Sir John Herschel using a newly developed telescope. The hoax describes fantastic animals on the Moon, as well as trees and oceans, and bat-like humanoids who have built temples. The true author of the article has been attributed to reporter Richard Adams Locke, although he never publicly admitted to being the author. Reportedly, while Sir Herschel was amused at his name and fame being used in the article, he later became disturbed whenever confronted with questions from people who took the hoax as true. Feeling that his story was too far fetched by comparison, Poe gave up on the idea of any more articles furthering his 'voyage to the moon' hoax.