Journey Into Space 1953 (Ep12) Operation Luna

This is a 13-episode serial. Begin with Episode 1 or you’ll be confused as the story progresses.
Journey to the Moon/Operation Luna
Initially, the first series was simply known as Journey into Space, with the subtitle A Tale of the Future added by the Radio Times, but within the BBC it became known as Journey to the Moon. The series was set in 1965 (the year in which Chilton believed humans would first walk on the Moon), and was first broadcast in 1953–1954 on the BBC Light Program. The series was originally intended to have 12 episodes (one source claims 8 episodes), and 5.1 million people tuned into the first episode, but the first four episodes (which took place on Earth) did not prove very popular, and the audience soon shrank to fewer than 4 million. But once the rocket set off for the Moon in episode 5, the audience reaction was much more favorable. The series was extended to 18 episodes, and by the time the final episode was broadcast, 8 million people were tuning in.

In 1958, Journey to the Moon was re-recorded for the BBC Transcription Services (retitled as Operation Luna), because the original recordings had been erased. The first four episodes of the original series were omitted, and episodes 12 and 13 were merged into a single episode. Today, the only surviving recording from the original 1953 series Journey to the Moon is a 5-minute excerpt from the final episode.

Faulds, Kingsley Poynter, and Deryck Guyler were the only actors from Journey to the Moon to reprise their roles in Operation Luna.

In addition to the main characters, other characters in Journey to the Moon included:

Actor Character
Wilfred Walter - Sir William Morgan
Robert Perceval - Mackenzie
Deryck Guyler - The Time-Traveler ("The Voice")
David Jacobs - Miscellaneous characters
John Cazabon - Earth Control
Alan Keith (*) - London correspondent
Duncan McIntyre - Jet's great uncle, Hector
Mark Baker
Errol McKinnon
Jessica Dunning
Wyndham Milligan
(*) Alan Keith (born Alec Kossoff) was the brother of David Kossoff, who played Lemmy.

Chilton wrote episode 8 of Journey to the Moon in response to a challenge from a TV producer, who considered the success of the series to be "a fluke". The producer challenged Chilton to write an episode "that could not be played equally well on television", and Chilton succeeded – a large proportion of the episode takes place in total darkness. During the episode, Jet reads to the rest of the crew by torchlight from The First Men in the Moon by H. G. Wells, the only work of fiction carried on board the ship.

Andrew Faulds's adopted uncle, Hector MacPherson, was an astronomer, and wrote a book called Practical Astronomy. Chilton bought a copy of the book, which first sparked his interest in astronomy, and later led him to write Journey into Space. In episode 7 of Journey to the Moon, Jet's childhood flashback features his great uncle Hector, who was based on Hector MacPherson.

In November 1957, Chilton wrote an episode of the BBC School Radio science series Our Own and Other Worlds, titled "A Trip to the Moon", which featured edited material from episodes 5 and 6 of Journey to the Moon.

The table below indicates the correspondence between the episodes of Journey to the Moon and Operation Luna.

Journey to the Moon Operation Luna Brief plot summary
Episode First broadcast Episode First broadcast 21 Sep 1953.