Mark Gatiss's The First Men on the Moon: Tue 19 Oct 2010

[SiHart]

Coming soon to BBC 4:

League of Gentlemen actor plays Professor Cavor in his own BBC4 adaptation of HG Wells's science fiction comedy thriller.

The League of Gentlemen's Mark Gatiss is to star in his own adaptation of HG Wells's science fiction comedy thriller The First Men in the Moon for BBC4.

Gatiss will appear alongside Waking the Dead and Silent Witness actor Rory Kinnear as one of two men who journey to the moon in 1909.

Kinnear plays Julius Bedford, a young man who meets scientist Professor Cavor, played by Gatiss. The pair use Cavor's invention, Cavorite, to help them defy gravity and fly to the centre of the moon.

The First Men in the Moon is the first drama commission for Gatiss and director Damon Thomas's independent production company, Can Do.

Thomas and Gatiss previously worked together on Antarctic drama The Worst Journey in the World and ghost story serial Crooked House for BBC4 last Christmas.

Gatiss, who has also written two episodes of Doctor Who, said: "I'm completely delighted to have the chance to bring this wonderful, funny, charming and scary story to BBC4. 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."

BBC4 controller Richard Klein added: "The First Men in the Moon is a thoroughly modern classic, a witty and satirical piece of writing by one of Britain's foremost and original science fiction writers.

"It shines a light on man's natural desire to always get it wrong. I am delighted that Mark Gatiss has decided to bring this forgotten and yet wholly timely work to our screens."

The First Men in the Moon was commissioned by Klein and BBC drama commissioning controller Ben Stephenson. The BBC's executive producer is Jamie Laurenson.

Si xx

[Alex]

I love the sixties adaptation of this, I used to watch it a lot when I was a kid and I think it still stands up today - it just has a certain charm about it which makes it so likable. I've a lot of faith in Gatiss, so hope that this will be interesting.

I wonder what happened to his adaptation of The Vesuvius Club - http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/apr/27/books.bbc - I was really looking forward to seeing that, but I guess it must have stalled in production somewhere along the line.

[Andrew Curnow]

Is that the one with Lionel Jeffries in, Alex? If so, then I agree, it's a charming film - and I haven't seen it in far too long.

I read the book once I think, back in 88/89, and seem to recall enjoying it. More readable than War of the Worlds I'd say.

[Jon Masters]

I read the book once I think, back in 88/89, and seem to recall enjoying it. More readable than War of the Worlds I'd say.

But the DWW comic strip version wasn't as good

[Alex]

Is that the one with Lionel Jeffries in, Alex? If so, then I agree, it's a charming film - and I haven't seen it in far too long.

I read the book once I think, back in 88/89, and seem to recall enjoying it. More readable than War of the Worlds I'd say.

It is, I love the way it begins with the American astronauts finding the British flag on the moon, and then the story unfolds - it's a shame we don't make that sort of quaint but elegant film to this day, it has such a beautiful innocence to it that's sadly missing from cinema today.

[WhiteCrowNZ]

I do remember it as being good fun - esp the Harryhausen aliens. Lionel Jeffries was always brilliant in such things, it's a shame he never made more films as an actor.

Lionel Jeffries has a very Edwardian feel to him - mainly as so many of the memorable actors he played come from this era. Gatiss has that same thing to him as well. Will he be able to play Professor Cavor as sympathetic?

[Carol Baynes]

Is that the one with Lionel Jeffries in, Alex? If so, then I agree, it's a charming film - and I haven't seen it in far too long.

It's very entertaining, although I haven't seen it in many years. I think it was a Charles H. Shneer production; the man behind such well loved epics as "Jason and the Argonauts", "Valley of the Gwangi", "Clash of the Titans" and the "Sinbad" series.
His partner Ray Harryhausen did the stop motion animation for this one as well. It's a long time since I saw it, but is there some kind of 'moon cow' (bit like a giant catterpillar) and several animated Lunar people??

[SiHart]

There's a trailer and some details of this here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/tv/comingup/thefirstmeninthemoon/

Si xx

[WhiteCrowNZ]

Sounds exciting ... but then again have to remember this *is* BBC4 we're talking about ...

[Alex]

Sounds exciting ... but then again have to remember this *is* BBC4 we're talking about ...

That's normally a good thing though isn't it?

I really like the look of it from the trailer, though it seems like they've borrowed David Tennant's aged face from Last of the Timelords for Kinnear's older version of Julian. And Gattiss looks bizarrely like Vivian Stanshall, though that's not neccessarily a bad thing at all.

[WhiteCrowNZ]

That's normally a good thing though isn't it?

Lets put it this way - I'm expecting the Lunar aliens (can't spell them) to be realised as the Zarbi!!!

[Si Hunt]

Rory Kinnear won't top his performance in the Blakes 7 episode "Gold".

Si.

[SiHart]

It's on BBC 4 tomorrow at 9pm

Si xx

[Perry Vale]

And on BBC HD at 12.30am.

[Dirk Gently]

I'm going to be out.

I wanted to see this.

[SiHart]

After all that, i have to say it didn't really hold my attention I'm afraid. It wasn't bad- there was some nice design work on the capsule and on the moon, but really I was quite underwhelmed by it.

Si xx

[Perry Vale]

Yes, my attention strayed whilst watching it. I thought the CGI aliens were very well realised on screen, better than some I've seen in DW/TW/SJA.

[Llordllama]

I'm with you Sim, I thought the production values were high and I so wanted to be gripped by the bit of classic speculative fiction done in the victoriana way. And yes, I was mostly bored. Ended up reading the wikipedia entries for the previous versions, the book and this one while I watched to see how cloesly they matched/varied. A nice effort, but try harder next time.

Although the exploding Selinian head/punch did make me laugh