Forbidden Planet (1956) Review - An Influentially Underrated Classic
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 พ.ค. 2021
- A review of Forbidden Planet with SPOILERS and how it has been influential in Science Fiction particularly Star Trek, Star Wars, etc. #ForbiddenPlanet #RobbytheRobot #1950s
- ภาพยนตร์และแอนิเมชัน
![Forbidden Planet- Deleted Scenes/Outtakes/Alternate Footage [HD]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/7Rz1aD4I3Z0/mqdefault.jpg)
It's one of the most critically acclaimed and beloved sci fi films ever made. It's only underrated if you've been living on another planet.
Would that planet include Altair IV? I honestly never heard of this one and no one I knew saw this. I honestly thought it was a B scifi horror movie from the 50s initially after seeing it for the first time in Halloween. I watched it and realized how wrong I was and it strongly influenced a lot of the stuff I watched. I honestly don't think it gets enough praise is what I was trying to get at. I appreciate you watching my video. I've covered a few other movies as well with my most recent, the original Planet of the Apes
@@Nerdporeal I guess it does get lumped in with a lot of 50s sci fi monster films, and it might just be your age. I grew up in the 70s, and I think this will have been shown on TV quite a lot during the Star Wars craze. I saw it a lot as a kid, and this was before video recorders, so it would have had to have been on TV. I'm a cinema nerd too, and I like a lot of vintage films.
@@Nerdporeal There are many in each generation who do not appreciate that important, and often wonderous things happened before they were born, or at least before they gained some memorable consciousness. History, as it happens, is much more than a class at school that some, often justly, find to be a bore. That you appear to be one of these is nothing to speak lightly about. It's a grievous fault.
@@Nerdporeal You must be an Alien not to have heard of this film before
Haha. No one i knew watched stuff that was older than them when i was in school in the 00s. Hence why i was made fun of for being open about watching original star trek as a 6th grader. I owned the tapes from the 90s. I am the exception sir haha. This movie i didnt know about until internet and grrm recommended it
After all those years this movie still ends up in my top 10 of all time. The atmosphere is amazing.
Oh my God....yes. Between the unique sounds and the visuals, you feel you are truly in an alien place.
@@Nerdporeal indeed, but since I seen this movie often it has also started to feel like coming home. Ah the magic of time✨
God forbid that they EVER try to remake this truly groundbreaking classic.
@@davidkeefe2655 indeed, it can only disappoint. They should not touch it. Just like this week I heard Hwood is gonna remake Vertigo, my God that is a shame 😳
Agreed with Kenshobeats, remakes now never capture what made the originals great in the first place and do the opposite of enhance the experience. They make it less..... Shamefully for a cash grab using nostalgia bait
My favorite film as a kid, and each viewing, as I grew older, I got more out of it. I believe that this was one of the films rescued by Wade Williams. Great visuals provide by old school Disney animators.
The fun part is that Leslie Nelson was a comedic actor, and didn't know it!
As reported in Starlog magazine, Wade Williams did indeed rescue the soundtrack electronic tonalities via a transfer to vinyl. This was later also rescued onto CD. I have copies of both.
Whether Williams was involved in the movie's rescue to disc, I don't know. I have that on DVD, but it is also available on BD. You have probably noted I am a devotee, and I have several colour lobby cards, as well as a kitset Robby that I lovingly detailed some years ago. The very large Polar Lights C57D kitset remains under construction... perhaps when I retire. :-) If you search TH-cam you will find how more serious devotees have given this kitset LED lights, and even kitbashed it to show other rooms not seen in the movie! So the movie has a HUGE following still.
@@ronstancil1 Nothing to see here.......
That's funny, because I was thinking "Those special effects look like they're right out of a Disney movie from this era."
You can't miss the influence this movie had on the original Star Trek. And Leslie Nielsen would've made a pretty good Trek captain. Too bad he never got to appear in any films or episodes
I saw this after seeing TOS and I Had to talk about it. So I did here...
"I am serious". "And don't call me shirley"
It supplied a lot of stock footage for The Twilight Zone and The Time Tunnel. The Id monster was a wonderful original.
Never saw the Time Tunnel. Any good?
@@Nerdporeal I saw it many years before I knew what I was watching
Definitely a movie for all Trek fans... Pre-Trek if you will.
Proto-Trek. The original series followed the same general format with the lead actors.
@@jamesbuchanan4414 Agreed. All those years of watching TOS I was like, how have I not seen this?
Yes, Gene Roddenberry told me he was inspired to create TREK from FORBIDDEN PLANET.
What a GREAT movie. I saw it when it first came out and was totally impressed. Nothing like it for DECADES!
Must of been a next level theater experience!
This is one of the movies that should never be rebooted or re-worked.
I totally agree. They would NOT do it justice at all. The lack of creativity and risk Hollywood takes is astounding. Thank you for watching this video. I have covered other films with my most recent examples being Dirty Harry and Planet of the Apes.
Forbidden Planet. One of the best.
Also Metroid!!!
The first time I saw this was in the 1980's late at night and i was stoned. It blew my mind with the story, quality of film and concept. I have watched it many times since then, while not being stoned, and it remains at the top of my favorite film list.
Thank you for sharing that! It blew my mind how much Star Trek and even Star Wars borrowed from this. That's the main reason I made this video, was to point all that out!
Sci Fi allows us to explore philosophical questions that simply couldn't be explored in any other genre. Forbidden Planet exemplifies this.
A reason why I love it so much. Thanks for sharing.
Excellent video! And I agree, this SF classic doesn't get enough praise nowadays. The strange unearthly atmosphere, the gorgeous sets, the weird alien sound FX, and what a fantastic adaptation of Shakespeare's play. Liked & subscribed.
Thank you, it's one of my earliest videos so it can be a little rough around the edges. My most recent movie I did was Planet of the Apes. I appreciate the feedback
@@Nerdporeal You're welcome. I will check it out.
At 10 yrs old this movie was the genesis of my Si-Fi love. I think I went to it 3 times in 1956.
My dad was born that year and honestly, no one in my family saw this movie. I found this believe it or not through watching Halloween and then the author of Game of Thrones said this was his favorite sci-fi of all time so I watched it and couldn't believe how much popular science fiction "stole" from this so I was compelled to make this video. Thank you for watching this by the way. I recently covered the original Planet of the Apes
I was 10 when Star Trek first came out, and I geeked out over it similarly, though I loved syfy even before that. The 1950s and 1960s were the greatest times to be a syfy-loving kid.
I just watched this a couple years back, and I noticed that Altera was only attracted to the Captain as she has only had her father as an example of a man in her life. A true Daddy's girl.
Cmdr Adams yells at her for arousing his men in a fatherly way so yeah I agree!
How have I never seen this!?
Lift that Rock my Friend!
Somewhere in development hell sits a two movie remake written by J. Michael Straczynski, the creator of Babylon 5. The first movie would be a prequel of sorts, showing the crew of the Bellerophon, and their experiences on Altair 4. The second movie would be a remake of Forbidden Planet, however, as the original was attempting to show the Krell technology as advanced as the film creators could imagine, the remake would not attempt to duplicate the look, but would show them to be as advanced as we can imagine today.
I think JMS would have been perfect for that. The planet B5 is orbiting is pretty much a straight up copy of the underground Krell facility.
@@Nerdporeal Yes, the great machine on Epsilon 3 was a homage to Forbidden Planet.
this is so cool, i never knew where that droid was from (as he was similar as the robot in Lost in space yet different) love all the research you did on this.
He actually appeared in an episode of Lost in space together with the robot
Robert Kinoshita designed both Robbie and Robot B9 from Lost In Space
I’ve never believed that the Deer and the Tiger were brought back to Altair IV by the Krell 200,000 Years before, but rather I’ve view them as creations of the Machine since they appear to be the only animals on the entire Planet.
Very interesting take. Perhaps both could be true
@@Nerdporeal plus I have difficulty seeing the Tiger living off Grass as opposed to Venison.
What I still don't understand is why the tiger tries to attack them, when it's entirely uncharacteristic of the animal to do so.
@@ZenMonkeyGod As Altaira began to be more interested in the Captain and leaving with him for Earth, her father began to disapprove of her actions. Her prior ability to walk with the wild animals was the result of her father's Id being pleased with her. It is an indication of her father's changing attitude towards her and leading up to the "monster from the Id" attacking their home and Robbie freezing up when Morbius told him to kill the monster, he couldn't because he knew he would have to kill Morbius to stop it.
@@ZenMonkeyGod it's all bound up with mythological symbolism. At the time the tiger attacks Altaira has lost her innocence and fallen in love with the captain. The animals were only under her control whilst she remained innocent and virginal.
For all it's 50s trappings, this film is one of the most intelligent sci fi films ever made. The writers knew their classical literature, as well as their hard science fiction. I don't think Asimov, Clarke, or Bradbury could have written a better story.
I love Star Trek but I love Forbidden Planet more.
I grew up watching this on TV then saw it in a theater as a teen. They had robbie in the lobby after the show. This I believe was the first sci-fi to be produced as a serious film and it lead the way for many others.
Other than original release I am curious when they rereleased this in theaters?
@@Nerdporeal it was in the 70s an unannounced showing my parents got a random invite to. They (parents) joined all kinds of clubs back then, mostly weekend trip offers, news letters, other advertising gimmicks. Anyway they got an invite to attend a movie showing ( with a ticket purchase of course lol).
Anyway it was a double feature, Freaks and forbidden planet. Strange combo but I was surprised they had robby in the lobby after the show. It had recorded responses and I assume a theater worker inside to make it move. It was stationary though not moving around. As a kid I was very impressed. I dont think it was the real one used to make the movie though. A copy most likely, but it was a good one.
It wasn't uncommon practice back them, I was offered a bunch of tickets to game show which didn't interest me. Lol they where persistent when I didn't want them lol.
@@Nerdporeal oh one more thing, they got other invite too, some to premiere of movies not yet released. Always at different theaters. One I remember was black Christmas, a college serial killer thriller. You would get a reaction card afterwards they collected at the exit.
"Robby in the Lobby" would be a great title if you ever write a song about your childhood. Depending on when you saw it, it might have been one of the replica Robby things built by fans over the years.
@@majkus that though gives me a shiver. I love music but an off key croaking frog and a cat catching a chalk board sounds better than my singing. Lol
Can’t wait for more content!! Awesome video
Congrats on your graduation dude. Welcome to the real world where it is a plethora of problems to be solved...one at a time. May the Wings of Nerdporeals Fly you to Greatness...
Excellent!
I love the special effects for the ray guns and perimeter force field. It's low tech but looks really good. It looks like they composited in footage of water rippling.
You're right it does look like that. The practical sets and the animation are second to none
My view the special effects are sufficiently detailed to enhance the story, not try to top the story. My favorite scene is the power plant 20 miles 20 miles in either direction. Tiny people to give a sense of scale of the power plant. Simple but effective.
It's the only time Disney animators worked on a non-Disney project. It's all hand-drawn animation.
Great synopsis, I look forward to the next one!
Forbidden Planet has all my life been my Top 1 Sci-Fi movie. Even today the special effects are stunning.
Disney’s animation department was brought in to animate the “ID” creature caught in the barrier and the gun effects in the scene where the tiger is disintegrated (and the scene where Robbie gets locked into the “must not kill man” loop)
Back when Disney was an innovator. Now all they do is repurpose and can't even do a good job with that
@@Nerdporeal And when they did The Black Hole - Now THERE is a movie! 😀
I had heard about this movie forever and had heard it was one to watch but put that off because of the year it came out. Then one day I had time to kill and saw it on streaming and gave it a try. I was pleasantly surprised at how thoughtful and actually good looking the movie actually was, and not nearly as corny as I had thought it would be. It was interesting seeing Leslie Neilson in a serious role, but of course almost all of his movies and TV shows were serious before he did Police Squad and The Naked Gun. Give it a watch!
Shirley you can't be serious!
@@Nerdporeal I am serious....
And don't call me Shirley.
For me this period is all about cowboys, aliens and monsters.
Some of my favourite films from the 50s:
The day the earth Stood still
All about Eve
Ben Hur
The Mummy
Night of the hunter
The Dambusters
Dracula
The Ten Commandments
La Strada
Godzilla
Quo Vadis?
Vertigo
Ace in the hole
Shane
North by Northwest
The curse of frankenstein
Rebel without a cause
The forbidden planet
The searchers
A night to remember.
I wouldn't say its as good as the 40s or 60s though.
I will have to add those films to my list. I have only seen a few of them like the Hitchcock ones and a few of the epics.
One of my favorite films of all time.
Seeing how influential this movie was, I needed to talk about this
In the Top 5 Science Fiction Films of All Time! .... My Top 5 : The Day the Earth Stood Still, Forbidden Planet, 2001, The Planet of the Apes, The 5th Element .... Discuss!
@@jamesalexander5623 My Top 5?
1. Forbidden Planet (1956)
2. Godzilla (1954)
3. The War of the Worlds (1953)
4. Planet of the Apes (1968)
5. The Blob (1958)
Planet of the Apes will be my next review retrospective
I have loved this movie since first watching it from TV repeats as a kid in the 1970's. Yes, this is also one of my top sci-fi movies. Several years later in the 1980's, it was funny & surprising for me to retroactively discover that Leslie Nielsen from Naked Gun & Police Squad was the serious captain in this movie, because he did not have white hair yet back then. There are also more familiar faces in there from 1970's shows that I regularly watched, such as Richard Andersen from Six Million Dollar Man, & Earl Holliman (the cook) from Police Woman. Back in the 1980's, I was also into sound/keyboard synthesizers & there was an article in Keyboard Magazine about the Barrons, so I have known about their electronic scorework here since back then. There are some youtube videos here having upscaled some scenes in HD, like maybe around 4 or 5k. They look amazing & somehow gives you a different sort of nostalgia. I wish someone would A.I. upscale the entire movie, to maybe 4k or 8k, including removing any jitter & film scratches & also a music remaster. I believe there was also a reboot in the works, but it might be in development hell at the moment.
Leslie Nielsens performance is iconic....the prototypical Federation Starship Captain
The jaded, super visual effects-bludgeoned dead-end kids who go to movies today have no idea what great sci-fi-storytelling can be without seeing FP, perhaps the greatest sci-fi film ever in terms of plot & story. It is densely layered with sharp Fruedian psychology & a warning to humans of how they risk the same fate as the Krell, the super-race that was mysteriously annihilated overnight thousands of years prior. True, the characters, some of the action nuances & some of the dialogue are fairly 1950's Saturday morning matinee. But the story conceit is still quite brilliant.
This movie is brilliant and thee reason we got great movies thereafter. This movie does not get enough credit for that in my opinion.
I'm thinking you could have also mentioned how TNG's Lt Barclay (Broccoli) was zapped by that probe and given increasing intellect. Not sure it credits back to this film. I wonder what human first thought of the idea to increase intelligence thru technology.
TOS Spocks Brain directly references this. As for increasing intelligence through technology? Probably HG Wells and his cautionary sci-fi...
@@Nerdporeal isn't Prometheus and the gift of fire basically increase of intelligence through technology tho? "Nothing new under the sun"
Prometheus violated the Prime Directive hence his everlasting punishment of torture
Another great ultimately optimistic (though we have some tough times getting there) view of Mankind in Space is 'Things to Come' from 1936. After launching a rocket ship carrying his daughter and Passworthy's son on a dangerous exploratory mission for which they might not return:
Oswald Cabal: There! There they go. That faint beam of light.
Raymond Passworthy: I feel that what we've done is monstrous.
Oswald Cabal: What they've done is magnificent.
Raymond Passworthy: Will they come back?
Oswald Cabal: Yes, and go again and again, until a landing is made and the moon is conquered. This is only a beginning.
Raymond Passworthy: And if they don't come back? My son and your daughter. What of that, Cabal?
Oswald Cabal: Then presently, others will go.
Raymond Passworthy: Oh, God, is there ever to be any age of happiness? Is there never to be any rest?
Oswald Cabal: Rest enough for the individual man - too much, and too soon - and we call it death. But for Man, no rest and no ending. He must go on, conquest beyond conquest. First this little planet with its winsome ways, and then all the laws of mind and matter that restrain her. Then the planets about him and at last out across immensity to the stars. And when he has conquered all the deeps of space and all the mysteries of time, still he will be beginning.
Raymond Passworthy: But... we're such little creatures. Poor humanity's so fragile, so weak. Little... little animals.
Oswald Cabal: Little animals. If we're no more than animals, then we must snatch each little scrap of happiness and live and suffer and pass, mattering no more than all the other animals do or have done. Is it this? Or that? All the universe!? Or nothingness!? Which shall it be, Passworthy? Which shall it be?
Leslie Nielsen is amazing in this film, surely 🙂🙂🙂🙂!
LN : "Absolutely and without false modesty .
And don't call me Shirley 😉😉😊😊!"
Leslie Nielsen is the prototypical Star Trek captain, before Kirk and Picard. You DON"T call him Shirley. Thank you for viewing this video, I have covered other science fiction films with the most recent being Planet of the Apes.
Have always loved this movie and loved Leslie Nielsen as the caption of the ship and crew. As a kid I imaged myself as being on that ship and planet, but not getting killed by the monster.
Agreed. He was the prototypical Starfleet Captain.
One of my favourite films, the Krel machine is still one of the most mindblowing things you’ll see in any movie! The influence on Star Trek is huge, the look of the Enterprise bridge in The Cage was modelled on the Spartan appearance of the C57D’s. It was made less utilitarian for the full series, personally I prefer the original! Another influence was the time the C57D comes out of hyperspace, 17:01….
Another great bit of trivia was that Alta’s garden was made from the remains of the Munchkin village set that was still sitting in the studio some 17 years after The Wizard of Oz was made!
I didn't know any of that. Thank you so much for sharing. As a younger viewer, I saw the Star trek similarities straightaway. Why I made this video actually
My favorite film to this day 50+ years from the first time I viewed the movie as a kid.
No one in my family watched this and my dad used to collect movies left and right. I discovered this on my over 60 years after it came out!
This has been my go to favourite science fiction film, and probably my all time favourite film, since I was a child. I was born in the same year this film was released so that gives you some idea. As a child I always wanted to see the ID monster as it was deemed too scary for TV viewing in the sixties by the censors and it wasn't until the early 80's that I saw this while living in London.
I have multiple models of Robby, he is simply the coolest looking robot of ANY sci-fi movie.
You are the same age as my father. Im glad i discovered this one because no one in my family saw it and they consume a lot older films too. Was blown away how Pre Star Trek this was
Yes, I guess the cultural standards are much different than today. But would the movie be as good if it was made with "modern" norms? The cast was relatively small than might have been used today. But speaking of the cast, look up the actors in this film. They had long careers in TV and movies. This movie is almost 70 years old but still holds up.
Looking into the future i prefer to see all of humanity working together the way Star Trek did it. Nowadays... Modern standards outweigh storytelling and acting chops. I agree Forbidden Planet still holds up today
@@Nerdporeal
The movie is perfect the way it is I wouldn’t change a thing.
One of my all time favorites, lucky to have seen it on the big screen. It was never under-rated, imo. The flying saucer was used in at least 4 Twilight episodes.
Thanks for sharing. I honestly never heard of this and never realized just how important it is to cinema in general
If they ever do a remake of this movie. Benedict Cumberbatch would be great as Dr. Morbius
Will he say....It's Morbin Time and morph?
An homage to Forbidden Planet in Serenity, where the “Research and Rescue” ship crashed on Miranda is the C-57D.
I just watched it and spotted it. This movie laid the groundwork for so much science fiction and it's awesome!
i hope you continue to do analysis/reviews of these older movies. thats one thing TH-cam lacks. It has plenty of film content but not enough breakdowns of old cinema
Sure thing. 2001 is my next video in that regard. I appreciate it. I also did a similar video on Planet of the Apes
Born in 72 and this is my 1st favourite film.
Before its time and a true classic sci fi
Totally Agreed. Thanks for watching!
Seaview's atomic window?
Come again?
"Morbius _ It's YOU !!!"
An extremely underrated movie. I had heard about the movie, but was not very aware of it. I am over 50 years old & watched it for the first time. I am glad I did, but I wish I had watched this movie when I was younger, as it has so much influence on sci-fi to this day. Sure, it's very dated, but they really tried hard with the special effects & sci-fi concepts. I really enjoyed it. This is for sure a "Must Watch" film for any sci-fi fan / movie buff.
Thanks for checking this out. I hope you check out the channel, I have posted other movies from that era I think you will enjoy, Stay Nerdporeal
You should check out a little underrated film called Star Wars. I heard it's dated but they tried hard with the special effects.
Star Wars was mentioned.....
The best film in si-fi and i have seen most of them.
The greatest movie in all science fiction.....is Spaceballs...
One of THE BEST pre-modern cinema sci-fi movies of all time - Hell!.....it’s even better than most of the dross, diversive, woke cr@p we have today (yes Marvel.....I’m looking at you!)
Forbidden Planet would never be made today the way it was. An all male (and Caucasian) crew was a thing of the time. Stories then were told based on classic structure and in this case, Shakespeare
I was so disappointed to hear this guy gig the movie on the casting of white people. SO SICK OF WOKE GARBAGE!!!
It was a minor nitpick. You've seen Star Trek right? The future in the stars will involve the best of all of us. I love this movie. If you watch my channel im the opposite of that word that rhymes with broke
@@timpatrick2109 Yes! I get you! 🤣🤣🤣
I’m 71 yo and have been waiting all these years for them to produce a remake of this film. Still, nothing. This is one of my all time favorites. I’d love to see a remake using modern technology. It would blow away all other movies.
Remakes today never do any justice. Be glad this hasn't happened with Forbidden Planet
@@Nerdporeal I agree. I also think remaking this movie in today's Hollywood climate would be a very bad idea. Can you imagine movies like 'The Last Star Fighter' or 'Enemy Mine' being remade? What about 2001 or 2010? There was something very special in the times they were made that still make them relevant to science fiction. You can't REALLY remake them.
There's a lot in this movie that tells us about our self's. Very Well done Nerdporea. Your observation is spot on. Well Done.....
Thank you. I only saw this recently and was surprised how much other science fiction have "borrowed" from this film. I didn't know this existed until I saw Halloween but even then I thought this was a B Horror film. It's refreshing to be wrong and pleasantly surprised at the same time!
Babylon 5 also did homage to the Kruell underground technology. The planet it is nearest to (in the epsilon Eridani system) has a similar underground, base very similar visually. Recognized it immediately.
Yup, Most science fiction and fantasy today owe its existence in one form or another to Forbidden Planet... B5 is no exception.
Love the review. Appreciate all you do.
Thanks. This was an old video. I just uploaded another one about Planet of the apes
5:59 Just a small note of interest here.
The set you are looking at and is being used here, is the same set with some alterations that was used for the "Munchkin" scene for "The Wizard of Oz".
I had no idea thanks so much for sharing!
I have watched this at least six times it never get's old. I have recommended it a lot of people over the years.
I agree. Any Star Trek fan should see this movie at least twice!
I had a good time with this film, it reminded me a lot of Star Trek. It looks really good on blu ray. Kids will probably find it kind of slow but I find it pretty interesting, as well as a piece of film history.
I saw this years after star trek and was like......yep, i know now what inspired the latter
Stannis talking to Davos after Renly's death in a clash of kings:
“I dream of it sometimes. Of Renly's dying. A green tent, candles, a woman screaming. And blood. I was still abed when he died. Your Devan will tell you. He tried to wake me. Dawn was nigh and my lords were waiting, fretting. I should have been ahorse, armored. I knew Renly would attack at break of day. Devan says I thrashed and cried out, but what does it matter? It was a dream. I was in my tent when Renly died, and when I woke my hands were clean. "
Love that book. I did do a Winds of Winter video if interested. Renlys death was insane. I didn't see that coming
Of note. To be sure Forbidden Planet's framing is Shakespeare's The Tempest., but the main fabric of the story comes from prose science fiction , especially from the magazines. One in particular is Astounding where John Campbell took over editing in 1938 and discovered writers like Robert Heinlein and Issac Asimov. The Krell story is from prose science fiction, Robby has his origin with Asimov, faster than light travel was 'invented' on the page in the 1930s, projected energy weapons and all the 'super science' nomenclature is from the prose form. Forbidden Planet owes most its world building to what was written during the 1930s, 40s, and 50s.
Odd thing about Forbidden Planet , it was not a block buster, but it did well enough at the box office, yet it was another 10 years before Star Trek , borrowing again from the prose form, made some more adult space opera.
Thank you for sharing this. What other books or stories did this draw from?
@@Nerdporeal Started reading science fiction in 1953. Forbidden Planet mostly draws for the 'hard' science space opera of Astounding. Actually by 1950 prose space opera in that magazine was quite sophisticated , actually a good SF author in the 1950s would have caught some awkwardness in the Forbidden Planet screenplay. (I saw this film on the big screen in 1956 (I was 15) with a group of my SF fan teens. Can tell you we were ecstatic. I mean there had been good SF , like the Day The Earth Stood Still or the 1953 War of the Worlds , few others, but we were having to sit through pulpy stuff like Cat Women of the Moon or Queen of Outer Space lots of bad Z movie SF.)
By 1950 magazines like Galaxy and Magazine of F&SF had appeared they now published 'adult' Space Opera too. I think I read that one of the story and screen writers on Forbidden was a real fan of modern SF and the other two were familiar with it.
Before Gene Roddenberry got famous I talked to him once about Star Trek and he said sure nuf all the world building in that show came from the pages the first line SF magazines and novels from the 40s and 50s, this is even true , to a milder extent, of Star Wars too.
As a reader of modern SF (and most of it is not space opera) I was blown out of the water by The Expanse. This show is the first FAITHFUL adaptation of sophisticated adult space I have ever seen on TV. This is the kind of space opera Robert Heinlein, Poul Anderson , James Blish and dozens of others were writing in the 1950s. I know that the two authors of the novels of The Expanse are ardent fans of 50's to the present sophisticated science fiction space opera.
I was the same age when i got into star trek. I have a couple of novels i downloaded but haven't started reading yet. Interplanetary and The Princess of Mars. I want to read Heinlein as well. There is a lot to discover out there and its exciting. Thank you for sharing.
You met the Great Bird of the Galaxy himself? What was he like?
@@Nerdporeal Met him at the World Science Fiction convention in Cleveland in 1966. This is where Roddenberry showed two episodes of Star Trek, first pilot and the second. That first pilot was re-cut and extended into The Menagerie. Next morning Roddenberry was standing around in an alcove off a hallway in the hotel with a model of the Enterprise. Not a single soul was talking to him. So walked over to him and said “lots of that looked very familiar to me!”. He smiled and said “it should”. He started talking about all the nomenclature he borrowed. He had read Astounding in the 1940s and 1950s, FTL ‘warp drive’, matter transmitters, ‘ray’ guns, space opera world building bunch of other SF stuff familiar to fans who read prose SF. He also mentioned that from his reading of SF that he felt most the ‘interstellar-flight’ stories took place 200 to 300 years in the future. Show is listed as being roughly 250 years in the future.
I know later he mentioned the influence of Forbidden Planet , which, as I have said, borrowed it's space opera World Building from the prose form.
I saw him again several times but by then he had become so famous , such a crowd around him, I never talked to him again.
The screenplay, which is readily available for downloading, is very instructive about details omitted from FORBIDDEN PLANET's final cut. For example, during Dr. Morbius' lecture Doc Ostrow draws a speculative sketch of one of the Krell based on their doorways. He imagines a spider-like creature and while operating the plastic educator in the Krell lab, Dr. Morbius expresses a wish that he'd been born with multiple arms and legs ... like the Krell presumably. One thing that many viewers fail to see is a warning what is likely to happen to a society in which technology makes it possible for everybody to enjoy lives of leisure with instant gratification of every desire.
They will somehow die off like the Krell. Destroy themselves. Perhaps Apathy, but most likely carelessness. Unwillingness to think and question, only be excited for next pleasure or desire.
That's an interesting take on this film, but I think the Krell's machine that caused then to unwittingly destroy themselves is not about and excess of "leisure with instant gratification", although that's a very good and highly apt subject for a film. I think that FB, the plot of which is closely taken from Shakespeare's "The Tempest", is more analogous to society creating something very new, very complex and very powerful, the full extent of its power not being fully understood, and which once created cannot be controlled. Having been created to aid its creators, it actually destroys them.
Mary Shelley's 1818 "Frankenstein, A Modern Promethius" (meaning "forethought" who is the ancient Greek mythological "Titan God of Fire", the great benefactor of humankind and the author of the human arts and sciences) is one of the first science-cautionary stories.
Shelley wrote it at a time when "new" sciences that few understood then (nor do very many afterwards, even to this day) were beginning to come into practical existence.
In the '50s when FB was produced, nuclear energy and weapons were exactly that (and still are). This film is one of many made in that era, such as 'Godzilla", "Them", "The Beast form 20,000 Fathoms", "The Beginning of the End", etc., that make that analogy.
@@Glicksman1 In the scene where Morbius is explaining the ID, Robby says "Something dangerous is approaching". They all turn and look at Altaira who just entered. Do you think it possible that she was created by the ID of Morbius, just like his consciousness created her image in the Educator? She is also a creature from the ID?
@@mike-kn5jf I like this idea, but once examined, it doesn't stand up to the plot of the film. Of course, the dangerous thing that is approaching is the monster created by Morbius' ID, as were the monsters that each Krell's ID created that destroyed them. Perhaps Fred M. Wilcoxt directed them to look towards Altaira at that moment to indicate concern for her safety, and/or because they were not expecting her to join and participate in their grim, adult and solely masculine conversation.
Throughout the film Altaira demonstrates that she is a real, adolescent human heterosexual female who, much in stereotypical character, falls in desperate love with the older, handsome, masculine, authoritative Captain Adams (who has a really good haircut), ultimately defying her Father's will by planning to leave the planet with him after her Father displays unfeeling coldness towards the death of Doctor Ostrow.
Her defiance proves her humanity and independence from Morbius. To him his daughter has committed the ultimate sin, she has grown up.
Unless Morbius was deeply Schizoid, a diagnosis which is not indicated in the film, a creation from his ID would not defy his conscious or unconscious will, his EGO, but would specifically do its bidding. With the virtually limitless power of the Krell's vast machinery, it does this at the end by attempting to kill Captain Adams, who from Morbius' ID's perspective, is his daughter's sullier and usurper.
A sightly darker and perhaps more psychologically realistic plot might have been for Morbius' ID to also or even primarily want to kill Altaira for her disobedience and disloyalty, but that would have likely been considered to be too inappropriately depraved.
I love this film but I laugh when the crew of the spaceship that has just travelled Millions of Miles goes gaga over a robot!
Well if a robot could replicated hundreds of gallons of alcohol, wouldn't most people? LOL
Coolest movie EVER !
It's probably been said before, but Star Trek wouldn't have been created if it wasn't for this film. After all, gean Roddenberry directly cited this film as one of the inspirations behind the creation of star trek
Total Agreement there
I loved the idea of the mind (the ID) being the big baddie in this movie.
The Monsters of the Id.... mwahahaha
Saw it in the theater when I was twelve - Great flick.
I first learned of this film watching Halloween
Who says it's underrated it has always been held in high regard.
Back then sure. Nowadays it's overlooked and not talked about enough. I don't think it gets enough attention for how important this movie truly is
Also notice which crew members are meeting with Dr. Morbius at first: The Captain, first officer and the chief medical officer. Well...
Yup, imagine if Spock and McCoy died in the Star Trek Pilot. I was surprised after watching this!
For the Time period it was filmed in, was very ahead of it's time. And it still holds to this very day. In my opion
I agree, My nitpicks don't detract from the film at all. I made this video for the purpose of showing how important it was and that most major franchises would not exist without this movie. I think it needs even more love than it currently gets.
Love this movie! Such a classic
I honestly didn't see it until recently so after seeing all these Star Trek references I wanted to log my surprise in this video
@@Nerdporeal I had the luck of having a VHS around, and I loved it even tho I also had the Star Wars OT which was much cooler for me as a kid.
But I still rewatched this quite a few times; not much action but the story is intriguing and the monster was scary for me at the time, both physically and conceptually. Plus the soundtrack that really took you to an alien planet.
Hopefully more people will watch it thanks to your review
First time I saw any footage was when the kids are watching it in Halloween. I mention it in my Halloween review
I believe that they've tried to move forward with a reboot of this movie but I don't think anything has happened because it's really hard to top a classic!
Agreed, so many franchises owe their entire existence to this film!
saw it on tv 1965 when I was 12 , it was awsome and truly frightening
Years before my time sir. Thank you for sharing
Great review. Only thing I would change are your suggested changes to the movie. None of that is needed. You were showing clips of "other" movies to emphasize these suggestions..... This movie came first.......and told it's story beautifully...... Does not need to take suggestions from the future to make it better. Thanks for the in depth review.
Thank you for the feedback. I wouldn't take my changes too seriously. I couldn't really think of much of anything but I liked the idea of a future where the best of the best reflects all the peoples of the earth like Star Trek did so I kinda regret saying it now. The clips of other movies are just me painting a picture of the background of this movie and 2001 had some beautiful shots to use. I will keep your feedback in mind for future videos.
Anyone else notice that in the movie Serenity, the ship that was sending the beacon from the planet Miranda was also designated C 57 D?
Yep, you're the second comment that mentions that. I watched Serenity and spotted it yesterday.
This is one of, IMHO, three classic Sc-Fi films from the 50's, the other two being "This Island Earth" (1955) and "The Day The Earth Stood Still" (1951). I should politely correct the pod-caster where he thinks FP was the first film to include interstellar travel as part of the narrative because TIE also features travel to other solar systems as a key part of its story. And come to think of it, so does TDTESS because although the viewer never leaves Earth, the protagonist is an extra-terrestrial visitor. I recommend all 3, and definitely suggest that TDTESS 1951 is superior in every way that counts to the 2008 re-make.
I have not seen This Island Earth so you may be right
It is the first film however that shows *humans from Earth* with the capability of interstellar travel rather than human-like aliens as in the other two films you mentioned.
This Movie will always be my favorite. Very COOL movie.
Cool is an understatement
The designation of planets by their primary star goes back to E.E. Smith's Lensman stories of the 1930s, with planets like Rigel IV and Sol III (that's us). It is not clear where Smith got it, and since he never explained the terminology (unlike every single other thing in his books), it is possible that it was not his invention, and that he thought it was already known to his readers. Anyway, Trek didn't get this from Forbidden Planet, and the Lensman stories were certainly another big influence on Trek, with a galactic federation of worlds including non-human species.
Well Original Trek did use Altair in Amok Time, but I believe you that it didn't originate here either. I have Interplanetary on my kindle and read a little of it. Very interesting writing I will say
Nice trivia! Looks like you did your homework.
They were an even bigger influence on The Green lantern Corps., which was clearly based on the Lensmen series.
A family classic of mine.
You will notice a scene where Mörbius shows the crew the atomic core of the underground machine that powers the planet but they have to turn their backs and look at it in a mirror as looking directly was too dangerous. That is a repeat of a scene from Disney’s earlier “ Twenty Thousand Leagues Beneath the Sea” where Captain Nemo shows the crew of the ship he rescuse the atomic core of the Nautilus. I guess they figured that was such a great scene the Disney animators figured they’d use it again. In those days it was “ atomic” that was popular not “ nuclear”. I don’t think in either movie they actually say “ atomic” but it was heavily suggested. These were the days when Ford suggested an atomic car fueled by an on board nuclear reactor. I have no idea why they never built those babies but built the Edsel instead.
I did not know that. I need to see that movie now!
This has amazing effects for the time.
Totally Agree
Always loved this movie as a kid, have it watched many times. It's a classic.
I think this needs more modern awareness of how responsible it is for every major franchise that came after it.
Major inspiration for Star Trek TOS
I Know, and I felt no one talked about that enough! Thank you for watching this video. I have covered other science fiction including my most recent video on Planet of the Apes.
One of the best 50's SciFi
Agreed, the first to leave our solar system I believe
@@Nerdporeal Yes, you are correct
One of the best Babylon 5 episodes is totally based on this great classic too.
Yup the whole idea of Epsilon III where B5 orbits around....haha, they recreate that iconic top down shot
Great review. You did, however, neglect one glaringly obvious homage...the self-destruct plunger mechanism used in "Alien".
Haha, i shoulda known!
Btw i did do an Alien video too like this one. Hope you check it out
My all time favourite sci fi movie. 👍🏻
I appreciate you taking the time to type this comment and watching my rusty video. I have covered other films on my channel. Thanks again and i love this film too
As I commented at another location before I happened upon this video, what if FORBIDDEN PLANET had struck a cord with movie goers at the time and there had been a series of follow up movies similar to what took place with STAR WAR? Would there have ever been a STAR TREK?
Very good question.... I think there would have been with the progressivism of Roddenberry and the allegory of the times. It probably wouldn't be exactly the same and probably would have drawn from those hypothetical sequels too. Would they have been as good as the original? Sequels then usually weren't, not until Godfather Part II
A great film far ahead of its time. I saw it at a theatre and it was a wonderful kid movie. In regard to your comments about diversity. Need you be reminded that this is a 1956 movie and diversity is over rated even in present day. But I agree that crew members rushing the monster with pistons and rifles when huge weapons are not destroying the monster doesn’t make sense.
Thank you so much. I appreciate the feedback. The Diversity part is a minor nitpick on my part. If you wanna see more content, I recently uploaded a retrospective on Planet of the Apes.
It's a GREAT movie - and don't call me Shirley.
What is it?
A picture that moves...... but thats not important right now
Saying they are triangle is like saying we are rectangle because our doors are.
Okay, good point. Just me speculating the Krell appearance.....
I hadn't realised it was based on the Tempest, but I did realise that 'The Sphere' was basically a reboot of it.
Haven't seen the Sphere. Was it a good movie
@@Nerdporeal i enjoyed it, but as I'm a sci-fi fan, I recognised the same plot in it as the Forbidden planet.
Spoiler alert - stop reading here if you intend to watch either
Find an alien artifact that makes your dreams literally real. Or at least your nightmares...
Probably the best SciFi movie ever made. But you made one error. Adams brings the evac reregulation from knowledge. He never contacts earth.
Thank you for watching. I was rusty when I did this, one of my earliest videos. My most recent is one for Planet of the Apes.
The radio was destroyed by the monster they couldn't communicate with the Earth
A very educational movie! - Peter agr 72
Pre Trek if you will. A lot of peoples gateway to the realm of Science Fiction and heck even Freudian concepts.
7.5 on IMDB it's not underrated, and it gets that because of it being the best looking Sci-Fi film, that still looks good today and that is something no other film from the 1950s can do it also has one of the best stories from a 1950s Sci-Fi, so underrated it is not.
Okay, I meant to say not as well known to normies since my family owned a lot of movies but no one in my family has heard of this one. I feel it doesn't get the credit it truly deserves with all these franchises that have borrowed ideas from it and became more popular overlooking this one....
16:45 Re. "dated" effects. The visual effects are not "dated;" rather, they have a *patina* .
Poor choice of words.....haha
Good analysis 👍
Thanks
Less a "review," and more a "re-cap with some commentary." Nonetheless: Enjoyable!
Its still a review. Not all reviews are the same and can include a recap with commentary....and its one of my earliest vids too
I demand a remake to the same quality Same sound affects , Same soundtrack, same Id
Todays people running Hollywood. Unlikely. Today the model is Quantity over Quality. Screenwriting is becoming a lost skill.
We saw what they did with the remake of… The Day the Earth Stood Still. Disaster!
Two words. Anne Francis.
Yessss. Agreed. Thanks for watching. I've been covering other films too
well done...subbed
Thank you. My latest video was a retrospective on Planet of the Apes if you're looking for equivalent content
This is a great movie - I love the classics - my channel does classic reviews also. I would love to have you on to chat classic movies at some point
Four different TH-cam channels with Forbidden Planet clips and each one had 128 up votes on first viewing.
How does this vid compare?
@@Nerdporeal It's a good video. It could be the TH-cam algorithm causing the same numbers of votes