Monday, July 28, 2008

Forbidden Planet (1956)

MGM's first big-budget science fiction film, Forbidden Planet, combined state-of-the-art special effects with a storyline based on Shakespeare's The Tempest. In the 23rd century, Cmdr. J.J. Adams (Leslie Nielsen) guides United Planets cruiser C-57-D on a rescue mission to faraway planet Altair-4. Twenty years earlier, Earth ship Bellerophon disappeared while en route to Altair-4. Only the ship's philologist, Dr. Morbius (Walter Pidgeon), survived; in the intervening decades, Morbius has created an Edenlike world of his own, for the benefit of himself and his nubile young daughter, Altaira (Anne Francis). His private paradise is zealously guarded by Robby the Robot, a piece of technology far in advance of anything on Earth. When Adams and his crew land on Altair-4, Morbius announces that he has no intention of being rescued and returned to Earth. When Adams attempts to contact home base, he finds that his radio equipment has been smashed by some unseen force. Holding Morbius responsible, Adams confronts the scientist, who decides to tell all. At one time, according to Morbius, Altair-4 was populated by the Krel, a wise, intellectually superior race. Using leftover Krel technology, Morbius has doubled his intellect and gained the ability to shape a new world to his own specifications. Forbidden Planet was a big influence on future sci-fi outer-space efforts, especially Star Trek. The letterboxed video version is the closest to the original. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide


Theatrical Feature Running Time: 99 mins
Forbidden Planet (1956)
A nice campy movie that I enjoyed immensely. Much of the feel and ideas of the film, were ripped off (used) in later films/TV series like Star Trek was really close to the same feeling as this film and some of the same Sci-Fi technology was the same. Normally I do not do US films unless they are groundbreaking enough to make a statement, and this did that level of requirement.

The evil and good inside one person and the collapse of very advanced civilizations was taken from Star Trek also.

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