View source for Man and the Moon

{{distinguish|Man on the Moon (disambiguation)|Man in the Moon (disambiguation)}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}

{{Infobox television episode
| series       = [[Walt Disney anthology series|Disneyland]]
| image        =
| caption      = 
| season       = 2
| episode      = 14
| writer       = 
| director     = [[Ward Kimball]]
| teleplay     = 
| story        = 
| music        = [[George Bruns]]
| photographer = 
| editor       = 
| production   = 
| airdate      = {{Start date|1955|12|28}}
| length       = 
| guests       = 
| prev         = 
| next         = 
| episode_list =  
}}

"'''Man and the Moon'''" is an episode of ''[[Walt Disney anthology television series|Disneyland]]'', which originally aired on December 28, 1955.<ref name=Cotter>{{cite book |last1=Cotter |first1=Bill |title=The Wonderful World of Disney Television |date=1997 |publisher=Hyperion Books |isbn=0-7868-6359-5 |pages= 132, 536}}</ref> It was directed by Disney animator [[Ward Kimball]].

The show begins with a humorous look with a man's fascination with the Moon through animation. This segment features characteristics of the Moon depicted from [[William Shakespeare]] and children's nursery rhymes to lunar superstitions and scientific research. Then Kimball comes on with some information on the Moon, supplemented by graphics. Kimball then introduces [[Wernher von Braun|Dr. Wernher von Braun]], who discusses plans for a trip around the Moon. Dr. Wernher von Braun was employed as a technical consultant on this film by Walt Disney, and on a number of other Disney films.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0902042/|title=Wernher von Braun|website=IMDb|accessdate=17 August 2017}}</ref> He had a great knowledge of rockets, as he had helped to develop the [[V-2]] rocket while working for [[Nazi Germany]].

Finally, a live action simulation from inside and outside the crewed ship ''Lunar Recon Ship RM-1'' dramatizes what such an expedition might be like, including an almost-disastrous hit by a very small meteor. Towards the end, this film presents what seems to be a bit of "sci-fi"; as the RM-1, crossing the Moon's night side, approaches the night/day terminator, high radiation is suddenly detected, and a flare fired over the area reveals what looks like a rectangular double wall, or the ruins thereof, extending out from a crater; strangely, none of the crew remark on it, and the unusual radiation is never mentioned again.  This episode later reaired in 1959 under a new title: "'''Tomorrow the Moon'''".

This episode was preceded by "[[Man in Space]]" and followed by "[[Mars and Beyond]]". It was repeated on June 13, 1956, and September 25, 1959.<ref name=Cotter/>

==Home media==
The episode was released on May 18, 2004, on ''[[Walt Disney Treasures: Wave Three#Tomorrow Land|Walt Disney Treasures: Tomorrow Land]]''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Tomorrowland DVD Review |url=https://www.dvdizzy.com/tomorrowland.html |website=DVD Dizzy |access-date=14 February 2021}}</ref>

==See also==
* "[[Man Will Conquer Space Soon!]]"
* "[[Our Friend the Atom]]"

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb episode}}
* {{DisneyAtoZ|title="Man and the Moon"}}

{{Ward Kimball}}

[[Category:Walt Disney anthology television series episodes]]
[[Category:1955 American television episodes]]
[[Category:Works about the Moon]]
[[Category:Spaceflight]]
[[Category:Space advocacy]]
[[Category:Television episodes directed by Ward Kimball]]
[[Category:Wernher von Braun]]
[[Category:Works about astronauts]]


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