Cavor, and presumably all humanity, is now on trial, he attempts to kill the Grand Lunar with the elephant gun, failing because of Cavor's interference. Now running for their lives, Bedford manages to find the sphere, and he and Kate are able to make an escape. Cavor voluntarily stays behind on the Moon. Bedford flies the sphere up a vertical shaft of light, shattering the massive window-like covering at the top, and he and Kate return to Earth. He concludes his story by mentioning that they came down in the sea off the coast of Zanzibar, their sphere sinking without trace. They managed to swim ashore, but Cavor's ultimate fate remained unknown to them. In the present, Bedford, the UN party, and newspaper reporters watch on television the latest events on the Moon. The UN astronauts have broken into the Selenite's underground city and find it deserted and decaying. The ruined city begins to crumble and collapse, forcing the astronauts to hastily retreat to the surface. Seconds later the entire lunar city is completely destroyed. Bedford realizes that the Selenites must have succumbed to Cavor's common cold virus to which they had no immunity. Cast Edward Judd as Bedford Martha Hyer as Kate Lionel Jeffries as Joseph Cavor Miles Malleson as Dymchurch registrar Norman Bird as Stuart Gladys Henson as nursing home matron Hugh McDermott as Richard Challis, UN Space Agency Betty McDowall as Margaret Hoy, UN Space Agency Huw Thomas* as announcer Erik Chitty* as Gibbs, Cavor's servant in Dymchurch Peter Finch* as the bailiff Marne Maitland* as Dr. Tok, UN Space Agency * Not credited on-screen. Production Development Harryhausen was planning on following Jason and the Argonauts (1963) with a version of H.G. Wells' 1904 novel The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth when he met with writer Nigel Kneale. Harryhausen had long wanted to film Wells' First Men in the Moon but producer Charles Schneer was not enthusiastic, in part due to worries about the film's period setting. Kneale thought it was an excellent idea, however, and he and Harryhausen managed to persuade Schneer to make it. Schneer said Kneale "is a very dour, straightforward, serious classicist. He was recognized in England as being the contemporary science-fiction screenwriter. I hired him because we needed his technical expertise. Then, we superimposed on that what we thought audiences would appreciate". Another writer was brought on