Into the Numinous Moon

Together with Jules Verne, H. G. Wells has always been considered one of the founding fathers of Science Fiction, a term he himself never used, preferring instead to label his stories Scientific Romances. For nearly a century his work has proven irresistible to filmmakers as the countless adaptations of his speculative fiction suggest. His stories were (and remain) appreciated as soaring feats of human imagination, told with grace, wit and descriptive flair. But filmmakers have also come to realize that any straightforward adaptation of his work can be a rather dicey endeavor. Many have found themselves caught between a desire to remain faithful to the novels (and their lovely Victorian settings), and the realities of a world in which such early science fiction has been dramatically overtaken by scientific fact. In addition, Wells was a man of his time, and that meant a tendency to marginalize women, or ignore them altogether, resulting in another problem for 21st centuryfilmmakers. Writer John McCarthy, a lifelong fan of Wells, has taken these issues head-on in his screenplay adaptation of Wells' The First Men in the Moon. Several earlier attempts at treating this story have already made it to the screen, but none have managed to entirely avoid the problems identified above. Finding a story within a story, McCarthy has managed to give new life to his very favorite Wells novel. He has titled his Scientific Romance: INTO THE NUMINOUS MOON. John McCarthy is an artist, writer and movie-lover who lives and works in beautiful Madison, Wisconsin with his wife Kathy and their little dog, Holly.