At the Buchan Island Rocket Research Station, Professor Wedgwood (Peter Williams) is working on a project that will send two rockets to the moon. One will have a crew consisting of Professor Wedgwood, Professor Mary Meadows (Pamela Barney), an expert on the moon, Dr. O’Connell, (Harold Goldblatt) the geological chemist and Ian Murray (Hugh Evans) the communications engineer. The other will contain their needed supplies and will be piloted by a robot pilot.
Wedgwood’s three children, Valerie (Gillian Ferguson), Jimmy (Richard Dean) and Geoffrey (Stewart Guidotti) are on hand to see the ships take off.
When the supply ship encounters a problem the automatic pilot breaks down. A real pilot, Conway Henderson (Gerald Flood), a scientific journalist, must man the ship. Needing a crew to assist him Henderson takes Jimmy and Geoffrey with him. Little do they know that they have a stowaway on board.
In May of 1960 the UK produced a six episode children’s program called “Target Luna” which was a science fiction story about traveling to the moon. Unfortunately none of the episodes have survived. The show, however, was a hit so three more series were produced. The first, “Pathfinders in Space” was released in September 1960. The roles were the same but there were some cast changes done, including the change of Jimmy’s pet hamster “Hamlet” turning into a guinea pig.
Produced by Sydney Newman the Luna and Pathfinder series were, according to Newman, the precursor to Dr. Who. The production values and special effects are late 50’s style and the programs are very much in keeping with the lighthearted Dr. Who theme of suspension of reality. Yes, in children’s shows, children go to the Moon, and Venus and Mars. And they take their pet guinea pigs with them.