forbidden planet

THE FLICK: For an entire generation who grew up on the atomic age magazine covers of Amazing Stories and Forbidden Planet was the ultimate realization of their collective dreams: a moving picture compendium of serious sci-fi images and ideas brought to vivid life by MGM in a way no other studio could. It made a pop culture icon out of Robby the Robot and all-but standardized the “look” of science fiction for decades to come until the photorealistic effects on display in Kubrick’s 2001. Far from an instant hit upon its release in 1956, the film earned more respect through the years not only for its monumental production design (the inside of the mysterious Krell’s underground facility is still impressive even in the modern era), but for the ambitious script which essentially transposes Shakespeare’s The Tempest into the outer space genre. Although it’s still steeped in that naïve 50’s sense of wonder, there’s a maturity at work in Forbidden Planet that paved the way for Star Trek and a host of other serious sci-fi projects to come. With all that praise out of the way, let it be said that Forbidden Planet isn’t the most accessible of films, especially when you compare it with the simplistic monsters of Metaluna or other giant-sized lizards and their like. The film isn’t short on spectacle, but it is spread out rather thin. And the central monster of the piece – (spoiler) an invisible expression of Walter Pidgeon’s out-of-control Fruedian “Id” – only makes one shocker of an appearance. The rest of the film requires an active imagination and mature attention span to provide its thrills, mixed in with some great moments of humor – mostly surrounding Anne Francis’ character’s naïvette about her sexual appeal. THE FEATURES: If there’s anything the past year has taught us, it’s that you can count on Warner to do right by its classic catalog. Forbidden Planet comes in a two versions – a limited edition collector’s edition with gobs of printed publicity material and the standard 2-disc 50th Anniversary Edition. The DVD extras are the same on both and include an array of deleted scenes and lost footage plus three documentaries focused on the film. The real winner of the bunch is Watch the Skies: Science Fiction, the 1950‘s and Us which aired on Turner Classic Movies earlier this year. It’s a superlative look at the genre’s most formative decade. Amazing! Exploring the Far Reaches of Forbidden Planet whips through a good number of facts and interviews during its 30-minute running time, gathering comments from fans like Joe Dante and John Carpenter along with original cast member like Leslie Nielsen. Robby the Robot: Engineering a Sci-Fi Icon centers on the design process and aborted concepts around the “real” star of the film. Even cooler is the inclusion of 1957’s The Invisible Boy, an entire feature film co-starring Robby the Robot as the hi-tech friend of a scientist son. It’s a bit on the juvenile side, but serves as a great time capsule. So does the other Robby spin-off, an episode of The Thin Man series entitled “Robot Client,” along with excerpts from The MGM Parade TV series.