The late 80s was a Renaissance for Walt Disney Animation, with The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit? becoming blockbuster successes. For children of the 80s and 90s like me, these are beloved films. But none of them even come near my favorite Disney production of all time.

In the mid 1950s animator and director Ward Kimball produced three hour-long specials on space exploration for primetime television. This was long before we had the term “infotainment” enter the popular lexicon, 14 years before the moon landing, 2 years before the creation of NASA, and even shortly before Sputnik was launched!

On the surface this stuff may look like Postwar Americana kitsch, especially to those of us born decades after the space age. But I would encourage you to take off your cynical lenses and step into the slippers and sofa of the average television viewer of the era. In the 40s and 50s, Physics was the science that dominated the news and the American mindset, in theory and practice, similar to what Neuroscience is for us today. Rockets, missiles and atomic weapons captured the collective imagination and probed us to ask deeper questions about human might and ability. 

The research,  design, and theories presented in these productions were the best available knowledge of space and man’s conquest of it. Wernher von Braun even appears in each episode to explain rocket science and space station design to the audience. The wheel space station in the below segment is reminiscent of Stanley Kubrik’s 2001 A Space Odyssey (again, 12 years ahead of its time), and a conceptual interior that would make Wes Anderson green with envy.

As a designer and illustration fan, I’m especially drawn to the art direction of these shows. Kimball was a lead character designer on Midcentury cartoons like Alice in Wonderland, but also an Academy Award Winner for short subjects. His talent shines in the opening segments to the different programs. Kimball digests the folklore and prehistory of man’s conquest of space into colorful shorts full of art history references, hilarious caricature and even some gentle satire. Each little 30-60 seconds is visually distinct from the previous, but it all works on a stylistic level, and never feels jumbled together. I especially delight in this clip below, featuring bizarre alien life forms from long before the phrase “acid trip” was invented and a wonderful parody of science fiction B-movies that were all the rage back then:

The stylistic parameters of limited animation are pushed even further in this conceptual rendering of a manned space mission. I love the WPA poster/Art Deco character and environment designs, coupled with narration by the Robot from Lost in Space. Graphic storytelling at its finest:

I know many will beg to differ, but I think this body of work is the finest thing the Walt Disney Company produced. It might not be the most charming or appealing film, or great even in terms of animation quality. But as an idiosyncratic feat of design and imagination, I think it is worth revisiting again and again. If you are a fan of the Mid-century aesthetic, or if I succeeded in converting you into a fan, I highly suggest looking at more of the work of Ward Kimball.