Begone ye earthling creatures bold, there are no women here.

August 8, 2009 5:14 PM

Disney's Man and the Moon(1 of 6). One-horned unigoats versus SCIENCE! featuring Werner von Braun who, to the nose adds a small atomic reactor in preparation for [cue dramatic music] a trip around the moon. [via]
posted by tellurian (11 comments total)

tellurian: A hairy, man-like creature with bat wings, who shares only the coolest stuff from the internet.
posted by steef at 5:44 PM on August 8

The via link adds a lot of interesting detail to the moon model, made by Roger Howard.

The moon seen in the Disneyland attraction was, naturally, an intensely accurate scale model sculpted by Pasadena artist Roger Hayward. Hayward, who was also an accomplished scientific illustrator, had won international attention in 1934 when he constructed an enormous section of the moon's surface for the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles.

The image following the above text is amazing. Creating scale models of such detail, especially some 35 years before the moon landing.

For more weekend reading, here's an article on Von Braun and Walt Disney.
posted by filthy light thief at 5:58 PM on August 8 [1 favorite has favorites]

Gah! Wernher.
posted by tellurian at 6:11 PM on August 8

Wehrner Von Braun wryly dismembered by Tom Lehrer...
posted by wendell at 7:55 PM on August 8

That moon model was my favourite part. The sculpting was amazing and paint job of the lunar seas really sold it.
posted by bonobothegreat at 8:28 PM on August 8

Oh, man, I have such clear memories of the Moon ride at DL from when I went there as a kid. Partially because the liftoff sequence scared the bejeezus out of me.

But the bit of the video talking about Kepler and his book and all that made me immediately think of Mannheim Steamroller and Fresh Aire V. (Mannheim Steamroller was not always a schlocky Christmas carol band... They did quality stuff once upon a time...)

The album is based on the book, and the music is some of the best. Shockingly, the video covered all the parts the album does, too. Here is the album in order (thanks to YouTube -- I hope everyone can use these links)

Lumen
Escape From The Atmosphere
Dancin' In The Stars
Z-Row Gravity
Creatures of Levania
Earthrise/Return
The Storm
posted by hippybear at 10:38 PM on August 8

madamjjj led us to a similar Disney/Von Braun six-part series a few years ago: Mars and Beyond.
posted by LeLiLo at 11:15 PM on August 8

So this is Disney, producing science! Or atleast, cutting edge science! for the times.

Now we probably couldn't get these same videos shown in the classroom, due to the statements of the earth being >6,000 years old, etc.
posted by mrzarquon at 10:02 PM on August 9

I vividly remember watching the original broadcasts of these shows when I was a kid. Many years later, having become an artist/designer, I developed a bad-guy robot character for a video game. I bought the DVD of MARS AND BEYOND when it became available, and lo and behold, there was the character I had thought was mine -- the tin-can robot who kidnaps the girl and spirits her away in a flying saucer, sneakers and all. D'oh!
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 7:19 AM on August 10

Now we probably couldn't get these same videos shown in the classroom, due to the statements of the earth being >6,000 years old, etc.

This comment makes me wonder whether or not you actually watched any of them. In the classroom 'due to the statements' indeed!
posted by tellurian at 8:13 AM on August 10

> This comment makes me wonder whether or not you actually watched any of them. In the classroom 'due to the statements' indeed!

Not saying that these specific videos should be shown really, but even with their glaring factual errors, they would be dismissed for the things that would actually be considered to be true, evolution, how the earth is old, etc.
posted by mrzarquon at 12:03 PM on August 10