"A Trip to the Moon" was one of the most popular films of the first few years of the twentieth century, rivalled only by a small handful of others (similarly spectacular Méliès films such as "The Kingdom of the Fairies" and "The Impossible Voyage" among them). Late in life, Méliès remarked that "A Trip to the Moon" was "surely not one of my best," but acknowledged that it was widely considered his masterpiece and that "it left an indelible trace because it was the first of its kind." The film which Méliès was proudest of was "Humanity Through the Ages", a serious historical drama now presumed lost.