First Men In The Moon (1964)

Today on Far Future Horizons we are proud to present the SciFi motion picture classic ~ The First Men in the Moon (1964).

The Usborne Book of the Future

One book that I fondly remember from my youth is 'The Usborne Book of the Future', first published in 1979 by Usborne Books, and written by Kenneth Gatland and David Jefferis. The book is a very illustrative and colourful trip in time to the year 2000 and beyond. Portrayed in its pages is the exciting and wonderful world of robots, cities of the future, space colonies and interstellar travel. This is the future as seen from the stand point of almost thirty years ago, a future that many of us still dream of today and remains yet to be realized.





My most favorite illustrations in the book are the ones depicting Space Arks and Asteroid Colonies as envisioned by Dandridge Cole back in the early 1960s. 

The Quest for the Phoenicians

Today on Far Future Horizons we voyage back into antiquity in a quest to understand – The Phoenicians.

Hidden beneath Greek and Roman ruins lies a civilization lost to history. The Phoenicians were people of the Levant, living among the Canaanites of the Old Testament and with a domain covering the eastern Mediterranean and beyond. From 1200 BC to the razing of Carthage in 146 BC, the Phoenicians spread ever westward.

They were the true “lords of the sea” skilled and audacious seafarers, merchants and colonizers of the early Mediterranean world. 

Yellowstone Eruption

Today on Far Future Horizons we explore a very explosive question: What would happen if the"mega-volcano" underneath Yellowstone National Park erupted?

The world's largest, most active volcano system exists in the western United States. Some six hundred and fifty thousand years ago, the Yellowstone Volcano erupted. Lava and pyroclastic flows covered three thousand square miles with an ash layer some three feet thick.

Chasing Pluto

Today on Far Future Horizons we present the latest installment of the acclaimed PBS documentary series NOVA which goes behind the scenes of the New Horizons flyby of Pluto.

On July 14, 2015, the New Horizons spacecraft, one of the most advanced ever built, is scheduled to fly by Pluto to take the very first detailed images of the dwarf planet. After nine years and 3 billion miles, we will finally get a close look at this strange, icy world, but only if the craft can survive the final, treacherous leg of its journey, which could take it through a dangerous field of debris.

An Evening with Jules Verne

Today on Far Future Horizons we would like to offer our dear and faithful readers an Evening with Jules Verne.

Our two video features for today are two Vernian movie classics: Walt Disney's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954) and the Mysterious Island (1961) produced by Charles H. Schneer and the legendary special effects pioneer Ray Harryhausen.

Among Ray Harryhausen’s most notable works are his animation on Mighty Joe Young (with pioneer Willis O'Brien, which won the Academy Award for special effects) (1949), The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (his first colour film) and Jason and the Argonauts, featuring a famous sword fight against seven skeleton warriors.

An Odyssey to the Edge of Darkness

Join us today on Far Future Horizons as we embark on a journey beyond the Sun, the Earth and the inner planets, into the frigid realm of the giant planets and beyond. 

SciFi Science - Destroying the Death Star

Destruction of planet Despayre in the Original Star Wars Film

Today on Far Future Horizons we join Dr. Michio Kaku for another exciting episode of Sci Fi Science. 

Death Star Super Laser

His mission, to come up with innovative ways to destroy the most dreaded weapon in the know Galaxy - The Death Star.

Space Is Our Future - A Campaign for Space

The Moon, Mars and Beyond National Space Society Banner© Bill Wright

Today on Far Future Horizons we will be showcasing the National Space Society’s (NSS’s) video to promote their “Space Is Our Future” campaign.

One Small Step - The Australian Story

Today on Far Future Horizons, in order to commemorate  Australia's major contribution to the Apollo Lunar Exploration Program  and as my own personal salute and tribute to my good friend Ralph Buttigieg (who got me into the whole business of blogging), I would like to present the documentary One Small Step - The Australian Story.

Forty-six years after the Apollo 11 moon landing, this one-hour documentary explores the front-line role Australian radio astronomers and technicians performed in bringing to the world Neil Armstrong’s "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind."

Apollo 11 interviews with Arthur C Clarke and Robert A Heinlein (July 20, 1969)

Today on Far Future Horizons we present a treasure from the CBS News Archives.

Jules Verne’s From the Earth to the Moon (1958)

Today on Far Future Horizons we are proud to present Jules Verne’s From the Earth to the Moon (1958).

To the Moon

U.S. astronaut Buzz Aldrin salutes the U.S. flag on the surface of the Moon after he and fellow astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first men to land on the Moon, July 20, 1969. 

For two hours in the July of 1969, the world stood spellbound as two men landed and walked on the moon. Tens of millions watched it happen, on blurry black and white television sets as the event unfolded a quarter million miles across the heavens.

For the first time in human history, all humankind was united as one as two of our number took their first fleeting steps on the Moon.

Legacy: India - The Empire of the Spirit

Today on Far Future Horizons we are proud to present the second installment of Michael Wood’s documentary series Legacy where he traces rise of both Asian and Western civilization in one global perspective in these thought-provoking videos. 

Legacy: A Search for the Origins of Civilization

Today on Far Future Horizons we present Legacy:  A Search for the Origins of Civilization.

Here is another great documentary produced in the year 1991 concerning the origin of civilization and hosted by the renowned historian Michael Wood.

Host Michael Wood traces the rise of both Asian and Western civilization in one global perspective in these thought-provoking videos. From the crumbling ruins in the Iraqi desert to those of Greece and Rome, viewers contemplate thriving cities and complex societies that have vanished, a reminder that other nations prospered for thousands of years. Now all that remains is their legacy.

How Life Began

Today on Far Future Horizons we explore the origin of life on Earth. How was non-living matter transformed into life and sentience? What was the firing pistol that started the evolutionary race to ever increasing complexity from simple organic matter to matter that has become alive and aware?

Back into the Abyss

"A non-terrestrial intelligence! NTIs. Oh man, that's better than UFOs! Oh, but that works too, huh? "Underwater Flying Objects". ~ Alan "Hippy" Carnes, from the motion picture The Abyss (1989)

Today on Far Future Horizons we will take a journey to the deepest depths of the ocean and return to – The Abyss. In today’s video feature we take an in depth look at the creative process behind the stunning non-terrestrial intelligence (NTI) creatures in James Cameron’s The Abyss.

The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP)

Today on Far Future Horizons we commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the Apollo Soyuz Test Project. Today's video feature is The Mission of Apollo / Soyuz a  NASA Spaceflight Educational Documentary released in 1975. 

The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) was the last mission in the Apollo program and was the first joint flight of the U.S. and Soviet space programs. The mission took place in July 1975. For the United States of America, it was the last Apollo flight, as well as the last manned space launch until the flight of the first Space Shuttle in April 1981.

From Here to Infinity

Today on Far Future Horizons we honor Patrick Stewart on his Seventy-fifth birthday by  joining him on a Starship of the imagination that will take us on a voyage – From Here to Infinity.

Will the Universe end with a bang, or a whimper? Horizon traces the discovery of a dark energy, a mysterious force that may explain how everything will end one day.

Will the Universe live forever? Well I’d guess you’d have to define what life meant. Will the universe cease to exist or will it exist in another form – in which case has it really died? The Universe is currently expanding into itself, before anyone asks what is it expanding into), instead of re-collapsing into a big crunch, negative gravity (in all its variety of names) would appear to be the stronger influence and is making a crunch unlikely.

Mission to Mars

Painting of Pyramid and Face the Cydonia region of Mars © Corina Chirila

Today on Far Future Horizons we present the science fiction movie “Mission to Mars” which was released in the year 2000 and directed by Brian de Palma about a rescue mission to Mars following a disaster during the first manned voyage to the planet. The film was partially inspired by the Disney Attraction of the same name.

Star Trek - The Captain's Summit

On September 8th, 1966 Television boldly went where it never went before. Today on Far Future Horizons we celebrate the  enduring legacy of Star Trek.

For the first time in Star Trek history, five of the final frontier's greatest names have been brought together for a seventy minute rare and unprecedented round table event.

The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951)

"Klaatu barada nikto"

Today on Far Future Horizons we present the SciFi movie classic “The Day The Earth Stood Still” released in 1951. This film was released by  20th Century Fox and produced by Julian Blaustein and directed by Robert Wise. Starring in the lead roles were actors Michael Rennie and Patricia Neal.

Tesla - Master of Lightning

Today on Far Future Horizons we commemorate Nikola Tesla's 159^th birthday by presenting the PBS documentary Tesla: Master of Lightning.

Nikola Tesla invented many of the electrical technologies which form the basis of our technological civilization, including: alternating-current (AC) power transmission and electric motors; high-frequency (HF) communications, the basis for radio and television; neon lighting; remote radio-control; radio astronomy and X-rays. He was the man that developed the technology that electrified America and the world.

Yet despite his great body of work he is largely forgotten today by the general public.

His visionary genius and technical skill was countered by his lack of business acumen and eccentric personality. After dying penniless in 1943, his "missing papers" regarding the construction of a 'death ray' became the focus of international intrigue.

How the Universe Works ~ Supernovas

Today on Far Future Horizons we present another exciting episode from the acclaimed documentary series How the Universe Works.

In this installment of How the Universe Works we explore the cataclysmic death of massive supergiant stars. These explosions are known as Supernovas and they play an important role in Cosmic Evolution.

Pluto Rediscovered

Pluto is a tiny world that resides on the outer edge of our solar system, at a staggering distance of 5.6 billion kilometers from Earth. It is so remote that even using the world's most powerful space telescope, the Hubble; it appears as nothing more than a blurry blob.

One week from today humanity will have its first close encounter with Pluto.

Join us today on Far Future Horizons as we embark on a voyage of discovery to this mysterious dwarf planet on the outer fringes of our solar system.

Today's video feature is another exciting episode of the acclaimed National Geographic Channel documentary series Naked Science – “Pluto Rediscovered”.

Batman Tech

Today on Far Future Horizons we explore the technological wizardry of "The Caped Crusader" in another exciting episode of Modern Marvels.