Meet you on the far side of the Moon

I'm old enough to remember when there was only one picture of the far side of the moon -- a Russian space first, actually. The Russians managed to send a satellite, Luna 3, into a position where it could send back a very noisy picture of the side of the Moon we never see; this showed up on textbooks for many years hence. Here it is.

Things have changed. Below is the newest complete image of the Moon's backside; and it's decidedly different than the front side. I wonder if the Moon's front side hadn't had the face, the maria, the lady with the diamond necklace (Tycho), etc. if it would have been quite so interesting to us. I imagine it would have been, but I'm glad the side we see has more variety to look at.

The current lunar far side image, courtesy of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter:



There are theories as to why the two sides are so distinctly different, such as:

The Far Side of the Moon Explained

I don't think that's the final word, however.