The classic science fiction film of the 1950s comes onto DVD in a new two-disc edition to celebrate its 50th Anniversary. The set also highlights the real star of the show - Leslie Nielsen or Walter Pidgeon? Nope. Robby the Robot.
Commander Adams (Leslie Nielsen) is in charge of starship C-57D. The ship is in the area of planet Altair 4. They’re on a mission to check up on the starship Bellephoron (a much more interesting name than C-57D) which disappeared in the area over 20 years ago. They drop out of hyperspace and are contacted by a mysterious voice telling them to stay away from the planet. They chose to ignore it and land on the planet. They’re greeted by Robby, a robot, (Robby the Robot, method actor) who takes Adams, Doc (Warren Stevens), and Lt. Farman (Jack Kelly) to Dr. Morbius (Walter Pidgeon). Morbius is the only survivor of the Bellephoron expedition, or so he would have them believe.
They’re greeted by Morbius’ daughter Altaira (Anne Francis) who introduces herself to the space sailors against her father’s wishes. The men are struck by Altaira’s beauty, especially since they’ve been at space (or sea) for so long. Morbius warns the men that there was a invisible force on the planet that killed the Bellephoron crew, save for Morbius and his wife (who died long ago).
Adams wants to evacuate Morbius and Altaira from the planet and goes back to the spaceship to contact earth. During the night, an invisible force invades the ship and destroys their communication equipment and kills chief engineer Quinn (Richard Anderson) thereby making communication with earth impossible. Adams then confronts Morbius and, perhaps in an attempt at good will, Morbius gives Adams and Doc a tour of his greatest discovery.
It seems that the planet was inhabited by a race called the Krell. They were very advanced in their technology and were working on taking it to a higher level when they suddenly vanished. Morbius himself, while playing with Krell machinery, has had his intelligence boosted allowing him to build Robby. While all this is going on we have some comedy relief as the ship’s cook (Earl Holliman) gets Robby to manufacture a large quantity of whiskey for him. Adams and Altaira begin to fall in love, but suddenly the creature is back and is attacking the crew with more fervor.
Forbidden Planet is THE science fiction film of the 1950s. Sci-Fi epics of the day were usually handled by the B unit (or even Z unit) of the studios of the day. MGM decided to give their film the A treatment. They shot it in glorious color, high production values, and in Cinemascope. Walter Pidgeon was really a big star at MGM and stars of his magnitude usually did not appear in what would’ve been considered a project that’s below him. It really is a film for the entire family.
The kiddies could go in and be fascinated by Robby and the adults could latch on to the literary aspects or adult situations of the film. The show is an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, definitely something highbrow compared to the other Sci-Fi films of the time period. It’s amusing in one of the documentaries to see some famous faces who originally watched the show for Robby and towards adulthood began to figure out the adult situations that escaped them as youths.
Forbidden Planet also features an eerie “score” that perhaps the first film to use electronic sounds instead of a musical score. It is an excellent movie and certainly a classic of its time.
Forbidden Planet is presented in anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) and enhanced for 16x9 televisions. This version sports a new digital transfer from restored digital and audio elements and has not looked better. It’s more impressive when you watch the documentary “Watch the Skies” (on disc two) and see how crappy the clips of the movie used in it look. Special features are numerous, but I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t a commentary on the film. Guess you can’t win ‘em all.
Disc one includes 13 minutes of deleted scenes from a workprint of the film and 9 minutes of lost footage (rare test footage). There’s also 2 excerpts from MGM Parade (totaling 6 minutes) that highlighted Forbidden Planet and feature Robby and Walter Pidgeon. The final feature focuses on Robby, who had a career beyond Forbidden Planet. It’s a 25 minute episode of the 1958 TV show The Thin Man (starring Peter Lawford and Phyllis Kirk) that guest starred Robby. Finally, there’s a collection of Sci-Fi trailers, including Forbidden Planet and the Invisible Boy.
Disc two contains the 1957 full length feature The Invisible Boy which also starred Robby the Robot. It also contains three very nice documentaries. The first is the 55 minute “Watch the Skies!: Science Fiction, the 1950s and Us.” It has Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Ridley Scott, and James Cameron discussing 1950s Sci-Fi films interspersed with clips from those features. The next is the 25 minute “Amazing!: Exploring the far reaches of Forbidden Planet.”
It features new interviews with visual effects artist Dennis Muren, director Joe Dante, Leslie Nielsen, sci-fi novelist Alan Dean Foster, visual effects artist John Dykstra, director John Carpenter, director William Malone (who owns the original Robby), sci-fi historian Bob Burns, director John Landis, film historian Rudy Behlmer, theatrical director of “The Tempest” Geoff Elliott, Anne Francis, Earl Holliman, author Bill Warren, co-designer of Robby Robert Kinoshita, Richard Anderson, visual effects artist Phil Tippett, Warren Stevens, composer (of Forbidden Planet) Bebe Barron, and sound designer Ben Burtt.
The final documentary is the 13 minute “Robby the Robot: Engineering a Sci-Fi Icon.” It interviews some of the above and adds author/science writer Steven Kotler, Robby replica builder Fred Barton, and Professor Maja Mataric (co-director of USC Robotics lab).
Forbidden Planet has something for all ages within. The film has never looked better (a High Def DVD is also available or coming soon). Fans of the film will want to pick it up for the beautiful transfer. If you’re a fan of Robby the Robot then you’ll get a lot of his appearances (well, they only included a clip from the Wonder Woman episode he appeared in and no clips of his appearances on Lost in Space [from Fox, that’s why]). The film is also available in an Ultimate Collector’s Edition that comes in a tin with a tiny replica of Robby, but expect to spend more money for that one. Forbidden Planet is an excellent science fiction movie in an excellent DVD edition.
Forbidden Planet (Two-Disc 50th Anniversary Special Edition) is now available at Amazon . As of yet, this version of the DVD is not available in the U.K. Visit the DVD database for more information.
Forbidden Planet (Ultimate Collector's Edition) is now available at Amazon . As of yet, this version of the DVD is not available in the U.K. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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