Truman Bradley:  Heat, cold, sound.  These are only a very few of the problems that will confront modern man as he ventures into space.

Great news Truman, there is no sound in space!  Again I have to wonder, how did anyone on the production not know this?  To their credit, however, they did not once call the titular other side of the moon “the dark side.”

Professor Lawrence Kerston has invented a new kind of camera.  Unfortunately, he is disturbed by the pictures he has taken, and not just the ones at the playground.  He has not left the lab for 2 days, so his wife has come to nag him in the way that women inexplicably think will make a man more likely to go home to them.  Lawrence says he can’t leave because he has called Dr. Schneider, and he’s coming in.

Katherine says, “Not at 3 am he isn’t!”  Perfectly on cue, Schneider walks into the lab.  The tall bald man is wearing an insanely well-tailored suit, a tie, and has the chipper, self-confident attitude of a casually-dressed man at an earlier hour with a full head of hair.  Katherine apologizes for her husband calling him in at that hour.  He says, “A man with 4 grandchildren is used to getting up at the oddest hours.”  Katherine replies, “Well there are no grandchildren in sight, believe me!”  That’s a nice emasculating zinger, but really makes no sense because 1) Schneider is not either of their fathers, and 2) why would his grandchildren be in the lab?

Lawrence shows Schneider the new camera he invented, and the disturbing picture he took with it.  He has a photo of the moon surrounded by a mysterious corona invisible to telescopes.  A spectrographic analysis identified the corona as being radioactive dust with a wedge of lime.  Lawrence concludes, “Something is going on on the other side of the moon — the invisible side.”

They take Lawrence’s photo to the Dean.  He is skeptical of the new camera and photos “that might throw the world into panic.”  The Dean suggests a six month research project before the news of the radioactive cloud is released.  Lawrence decides this is too important, and sells his findings to a magazine; then the danger is broadcast on the radio.  He is fired faster than a professor refusing to call a student zher.

He lounges around home for a few days, still wearing a tie everyday.  Katherine says maybe the Dean is right.  “Maybe a 38 year old Associate Professor shouldn’t act as if he knows more than everyone else.”  That’s the students’ jobs.

Lawrence goes to pack up his things at work.  He decides to takes a few last pictures of the moon since “atmospheric conditions are ideal.”  Although the atmospheric condition of actually being the daytime seems like an impediment to a non-pro photographer like me.  These new photos are even more convincing and disturbing than the first set.  Even Schneider agrees that streaks in the pictures are “man-made” objects.  I think he just means it was fabricated, rather than occurring naturally.  “Man-made” includes aliens; just not alien women. ^[1]

They call Washington and are summoned to a meeting with General Evans.  The Joint Chiefs decide we must go to the moon to see who and what is up there.  Seemingly overnight, a rocket is launched to the moon.  In minutes, it arrives and the ship is sending back pictures.  The scientists are amazed at the clarity of the pictures being transmitted.  As they approach the far side of the moon, one says, “We’re half way there.”  Hunh?  Does he think the moon is 250,000 miles around?  The ship is unmanned; there is no need for it to return.  No idea.

The rocket detects intense radiation on the far side of the moon; until it is destroyed by the radiation.  That’s why we can’t have radioactive things.  They do get enough telemetry to see that there are mountains of toxic nuclear waste on the moon.  The last photos from the rocket show a fleet of ships leaving.

Schneider believes the aliens will not attempt to communicate with us puny earthlings because “they must be highly civilized to do what they do.”  Yeah, like your civilized neighbor who lets his dog shit in your yard.  These aliens can go anywhere in the universe, but they choose to drop their deadly radioactive waste on the moon of the only inhabited planet within a thousand light years.

On the SFT curve, not a bad episode.

Other Stuff:

• [1] SFT made exactly the same dumb comment in Postcard from Barcelona.  As did I.