[1] The film begins with an introduction by Walt Disney and his robot friend Garco, providing a brief overview of the episode.

The overview starts with an animated presentation about mankind seeking to understand the world in which he lives, first noticing patterns in the stars, and developing certain beliefs regarding the celestial bodies.

Ideas from science-fiction authors H. G. Wells and Edgar Rice Burroughs are brought to life with more colorful animation, and, as done before, science fiction comics of the time are parodied.

Later on, the program adopts a serious tone as it profiles each of the planets in the Solar System, explaining what would happen if a human were to live on each of them.

An extended sequence speculates at what the conditions on Mars might be like given sufficient water: cannibalistic plants, a trilobite-like creature which eats the dust left behind by dust storms, silicon-based lifeforms which rely solely on minerals for nutrition, leaving behind amazing and strange if ephemeral formations, and a slew of predators, including one that has radial symmetry and magnifies the Sun's rays to burn its hapless prey, and another which stuns with ultrasonics.

In 2003, with the cooperation of Disney, a 35mm five-minute excerpt from Mars and Beyond was restored and presented in Don Hertzfeldt's Animation Show theatrical tour.