Fun Facts Friday: The First Men in the Moon by H.G. Wells

Yesterday I posted about H.G. Wells’ classic sci-fi book The First Men in the Moon which I read because:
a) I wanted to read it
b) It’s a classic book
c) It was for my League of Extraordinary Gentel-Man of la Book challenge which I highly recommend you join if you haven’t so far. It is not only a great challenge, but you’ll also be the life of the party and the envy of all your friends and enemies.

More books by H. G. Wells

1 ) The book is considered a “scientific romance” (I have not idea what that means either) and was the first science fiction book Wells published in the 20th Century (1901).

2 ) C.S. Lewis publicly stated that The First Men in the Moon is “the best of the sort I have read”. He was talking about science fiction books.

3 ) The book is considered the first alien dystopia book and is created with creating a sub-genre of science fiction featuring intelligent social aliens who are insect like.

4 ) Dr. Cavor and his gravity defying material called Cavorite became major plot device in several other books by Wells and others.

5 ) Dr. Cavor’s first name is never mentioned, however he was given “Selwyn” in the graphic novel The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

6 ) Georges Melies’ 1902 adaptation of Wells’ First Men in the Moon, released as Le Voyage dans la lune was the first internationally successful film, however it was an 11 minute version of the book.

7 ) Melies added a love interest in the book which became a staple in later adaptations.

8 ) A wonderful dramatization of Melies’ movie making magic was done in HBO’s From the Earth to the Moon mini-series in an episode appropriately titled: Le Voyage dans la Lune.

9 ) At the time of this post, First Men in the Moon has been adapted 5 times to the silver screen. The last adaptation was in 2010 using 3D technology.

10) Legendary stop motion artist Ray Harryhausen worked on the1964 adaptation of the novel.

Zohar – Man of la Book