Man in Space:
Originally aired in 1955, this was the very first installment of the Tomorrowland segment of Disneyland. This episode was remarkably prescient in its depictions of space travel, and was so popular that it was edited down into featurette form, released theatrically the following year, and eventually earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary - Short Subject.

Narrated by Dick Tufeld (best known as the voice of the robot in Lost in Space), Space includes a loony animated sequence typical of Kimball (excerpted and released as an educational short titled All About Weightlessness) as well as clips from such classic early science fiction films as Georges Melies’ Voyage to the Moon (with its classic image of a rocket ship embedded in the eye of the man in the moon) and Fritz Lang’s The Girl in the Moon. A few real-life rocket scientists are on hand to present such concepts as multi-stage rockets and satellite technology, and realistic animation is used to depict how the first flight into space may occur.

Man and the Moon:
Also known as Tomorrow the Moon, this 1955 program analyzes man’s fascination with its nearest celestial neighbor, our moon, including its impact on man’s mythological, religious and cultural histories. Renowned scientist Dr. Wernher von Braun details, step by step, how man can reach the moon and back through the use of manned space stations.

This episode was even more ambitious then the first, for it used a live action simulation, complete with actors and miniatures, to reenact the first voyage around the moon.

Mars and Beyond:
Easily the most accessible and comical of the batch is this 1957 episode, which was also released as a theatrical featurette and spawned a short, called Cosmic Capers. You know you’re back in the fabulous 50s when Garco, a retro-looking robot, introduces Walt at the start of the show.

Popular Disney voice artist Paul Frees narrates as well as provides all the voices here, so you know you’re in for a fun ride as we take a look at man’s fascination with the infamous red planet. Referencing the works of authors H.G. Wells and Edgar Rice Burroughs, Mars touches on U.F.O.s, little green men and pulp sci fi tales, but also takes a serious turn when it relates the creation of Earth to help better theorize how life may have developed on other planets. This leads to a series of hallucinogenic, mesmerizing images of extra-terrestrial animal and plant life … the animators sure had a field day on this episode.

Although perhaps quaint today, one can imagine the impact these episodes had on audiences of the day, especially for children with stars in their eyes. The episodes may have even lead several young viewers to become interested in science, youngsters who grew up to become the scientists of today.

Eyes in Outer Space:
This half hour featurette from 1959 was eventually shown on the Disneyland TV show as part of the 1962 episode Spy in the Sky. As an indication of its serious approach, this film was billed as “science factual�?, and won the 1960 Thomas Edison Foundation Award.

Frees returns to narrate the history of man’s relationship with weather and how satellites are used to track, study and … maybe one day … control it, as seen when a futuristic weather center attempts to stop a hurricane off the coast of Florida.

Our Friend the Atom:
With its rose-colored view of atomic energy, this 1957 episode is obviously the most dated, but it still offers compelling information on the subject, information that was also available in a companion book that was published at the same time the show originally aired. An updated version was released in 1980 under the title The Atom: A Closer Look.

Using footage from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and the fable of The Fisherman and the Genie (who bares a striking resemblance to Aladdin’s, by the way), Atom illustrates the discovery of the microscopic building blocks that form every element, and how the power they create may be used as an alternative source of energy for man. In one particularly effective demonstration, mousetraps and ping-pong balls are used to illustrate an atomic chain reaction.

But even with its wide-eyed optimism, Atom does make a point that creation and destruction are equally viable when it comes to atomic energy … thus why it should be “our friend�?.

EPCOT:
Disney theme park aficionados will be most interested in seeing this 25 minute short, which was filmed in 1966 and shown to the local governments and population of Central Florida to explain just what Disney had in store for the secretive ‘Florida Project’ that would eventually be known as Walt Disney World. Although portions of this film have been seen throughout the years, this is the first time it has been made available to the general public in its entirety since its original presentation.

As most know, the original concept of Walt’s EPCOT was indeed a true Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow - an actual model city and not the theme park that was eventually built over a decade later. Beginning with old school footage of Disneyland and WED Enterprises (now Walt Disney Imagineering), Walt steps in to take over and, despite his failing health at the time (just two months prior to his death; this would be his last filmed appearance), he is just as enthusiastic as ever, practically giddy at the chance to present his newest toy to the world

Granted with the “blessing of size�?, Walt continues to elaborate on this “living blueprint of the future�?, which will always be in “a state of becoming�?: a city where people can live, work and play on the cusp of innovation. In addition to the proposed theme park, EPCOT was to include housing (both homes and apartments), schools, businesses, a high-rise hotel complex with convention center, internationally themed venues filled with stores and restaurants, theaters, nightlife attractions, even an airport, all connected by a vast rapid transit system that consisted of monorails and people-movers. One can see how the threads of ideas now commonplace in the now sprawling Walt Disney World Resort lead back to Walt’s original tapestry of ideas.

This concept is still fascinatingly intriguing and, even with such planned communities of today as Disney’s Celebration, has still never been fully realized. Who knows, maybe someday …