The First Men in the Moon was written by H. G. Wells in 1901. It bears many similarities to the 1865 Jules Verne novel,
“From the Earth to the Moon”. The story describes the events surrounding a voyage to the moon by two men.
Mr. Bedford is a down on his luck playwright and Dr. Cavor is an eccentric, intelligent scientist and inventor. The two men team up and make plans to travel to the moon. Dr. Cavor has invented a metal which he calls cavorite. Cavorite, used properly, is an anti gravity device that minimizes the impacts of the Earth’s gravitational pull. The two men build a spaceship and coat it with the anti gravity material. They then embark on a journey to the moon.
Once Bedford and Cavor arrive at the moon, they find it to be a desolate place. Fortunately, it has a breathable atmosphere and the two men can easily breathe the air. Once the lunar sun rises, thick vegetation begins to grow very rapidly. They call the vegetation bayonet scrub, due to its sharp thorny nature. Bayonet scrub grows so rapidly, that the two men become lost in the thick developing forest. The men become hungry so they eat some of the vegetation. They immediately become
intoxicated and are unable to function properly.
After roaming for a while in an intoxicated state, they are captured by the
inhabitants of the moon. These inhabitants live underground and bear similarities to Earth’s insect life. The Moon’s inhabitants are called Selenites. Because Bedford and Cavor live on Earth with its greater gravitation pull, the two men are significantly stronger than the Selenites. They promptly use their strength to escape and kill several of their captors in the process. Cavor, however is injured while Bedford makes his way back to the spaceship. Realizing that Cavor will not make it to the ship, Bedford returns to the Earth without him.
On the Moon, Cavor is ultimately welcomed by the Selenites. They gave him enough freedom to manufacture a transmitter. He contacted Bedford and informed him that he had befriended the leader of the Selenites. Cavor gave the Selenites the impression that the inhabitants of the Earth are war like and violent. Subsequently, the Selenites end all communication with the Earth and all contact between Cavor and Bedford has ended. Bedford never learns of the ultimate fate of Cavor.
This story has been adapted to cinema several times. The latest version in 1964 starred Lionel Jeffries as the eccentric Dr. Cavor. “The First Men in the Moon” is an entertaining early science fiction work, although not nearly well known as H. G. Wells most famous works, “The War of the Worlds” or “The Time Machine”. It is one of the earliest space travel stories and is a recommended book for fans of early science fiction.
Mark Askeda