Forbidden Planet

Rating:
Summary: Get it, but in DVD version
Review: Forbidden Planet is probably the best work of Hollywood sci-fi ever. I'd be hard pressed to name something better. Star Wars ranks up there, but this movie tops anything I have seen. It's a story about men, their limitations, their love, and their nature.

The cinematography is great, and the special effects are almost epic for a movie from the fifties. We get to see a very young Leslie Neilson in a serious role and his performance alone is awesome. The plot comes together quite well at the end, and though you'll probably have some idea towards the end about the resolution of the movie, it's still very enjoyable.

However, don't buy anything but a quality DVD or VHS copy of this. This VHS copy is full screen, and plays like a home dubbing. I'd recommend the DVD but the enhanced widescreen VHS edition is watchable.

Rating:
Summary: Poor reproduction.
Review: I bought this film because it has always been one of my favorite classic Sci-Fi moves. It has everything from monsters to sexy women. But it was a real disappointment for me to have to watch this poor quality reproduction. I will hope that someday another production company will remake this with the quality it deserves. If I wanted this junk, I could have stuck with my old VHS.

Rating:
Summary: Monsters of the Id
Review: The planet of Altair 4 is home to Robbie the Robot and its creator and his daughter. Quite possibly the best sci-fi movie in the 50's!

Rating:
Summary: Monsters from the Id!
Review: "Forbidden Planet" is a classic Sci-Fi tour de force staring Leslie Nielson, Walter Pidgeon, and Anne Francis. It was released in 1956, but holds up surprisingly well against "Star Wars" of the 1970's and even the most recent digital entries into the genre.

The story of Dr. Morbius, re-discovering the technological marvels of a lost race of Krell on the distant planet Altair, is updated Shakespeare: "The Tempest". And while "Forbidden Planet" excels in special effects, it's enduring fascination is to be found in story, a parable of technology vs its inventor, the monster vs Dr. Frankenstein, the enemy of our own making. "Forbidden Planet" shows us the dark side of human kind, a forbidding gestalt of uncontrollable, sub-conscious urges. Even intelligence --seemingly papered over the more powerful id --cannot negate the deep impulses to be found in all of us. Just as "Lord of the Rings" depicts the absolute corruption of absolute power, "Forbidden Planet" confronts us with the physical manifestation of our inmost monsters.

I found a statement recently on the internet that the U.S. is hated by 100% of terrorists. Aside from being a tautology, it misses the point. FBI statistics, for example, published by the conservative Brookings Institute, utterly repudiate the political exploitation of terror. The figures show plainly that while Ronald Reagan most vociferously waged his famous "War on Terrorism", terrorist attacks against the United States actually increased --three times greater than under Clinton who is criticized for not having waged such a war. It raises the question: is waging a war and failing preferable to not waging a war and succeeding?

Like Morbius of "Forbidden Planet", too late do we recognize that the only demons that howl are of our own making. Shakespeare's "The Tempest" deals with the same question: what does it mean to be human? The traditions of the enlightenment, and more recently, of existentialism, come down heavily on the side of the fully realized individual --free to be human within the context of a free society. How oddly quaint and surrealistically naive that seems after a mere two years of debacle and the unleashed madness of the monsters from the Id.

Rating:
Summary: so that's where Star Trec got it from
Review: How wonderful it was to see this movie again. From the hokey electronic soundtrack to the meglo-maniacal scientist this movie has it all. A simple United Planet recon trip to a colony established some years earlier turns deadly. I'm sure Gene Roddenberry watched this very carefully as this could have easily been a superior star trec episode. I saw it with my 18 yo NYU daughter (who has been buying her comics in a place in lower manhatten called "forbidden planet".) Now she knows why. A classic amoung classics. (Maybe next time they could remaster the sound?)

Rating:
Summary: Sci Fi Champ
Review: Truly one of the sci fi champs of its day using no-nonsense special effects and telling a thought-provoking story. In addition, Leslie Nielson (from The Naked Gun and Police Squad series) actually has a believable dramatic role.

Rating:
Summary: "A green sky, a man could get used to that!"
Review: So spoke Lt. 'Doc' Ostrow (Warren Stevens) of the United Planets Cruiser C-57-D after it arrived at the planet Altair IV. The C-57-D, commanded by Commander John F. Adams (Leslie Nielsen), was sent to Altair IV from Earth to rescue a colony sent there two decades earlier on the spaceship Belleraphon because all contact was lost shortly thereafter. When the C-57-D arrived at Altair IV, they received a warning from philologist Dr. Edward Morbius (Walter Pigeon) that they should not land. He also claimed to be the lone survivor of the doomed Belleraphon. However, Commander Adams had his orders and the C-57-D landed on Altair IV in spite of Dr. Morbius' objections. After landing, Dr. Morbius and his robotic companion Robby (Robot the Robot) greeted the C-57-D crew, but Dr. Morbius continued to insist that they should leave immediately. Unexpectedly, a beautiful woman, Altaira (Anne Francis), appears. She is Dr. Morbius' daughter, whom he had ordered not to be seen while the C-57-D crew was on the surface. The crew is delighted to meet Altaira, who have not seen a woman for 378 days while en route to Altair IV, but they were also surprised because she was not listed on the Belleraphon's passenger manifest. Dr. Morbius explained that he was married by the Belleraphon captain, but that his wife died on the planet shortly after giving birth to Altaira.

Altaira was not the only thing that Dr. Morbius planned to hide from the spaceship visiting from Earth: he also had no intention of revealing Altair IV's biggest secret, but Commander Adams and Doc Ostrow forced the issue. Reluctantly, Dr. Morbius explained that a race far more intellectually and techonologically advance than mankind, the Krell, once inhabited Altair IV. Sadly, for hitherto unknown reasons, the Krell became extinct virtually over night as well as all other life on the planet 200,000 years earlier; but not all of the Krell's secrets had been lost. As foretold by Dr. Morbius, strange things begin to happen to the visiting spaceship and crew similar to what ultimately destroyed the Belleraphon; and the isolated peace that Dr. Morbius and Altaira knew on the dead planet before the spaceship's arrival evaporates.

Taking inspiration from William Shakespeare's play "The Tempest", writers Irving Block and Allen Adler created a brilliant story for "Forbidden Planet". The Duke Prospero in "The Tempest" became Dr. Morbius, his daughter Miranda became Altaira, the enslaved spirit Ariel became Robby the Robot, Ferdinand became Commander Adams, the island of exile became the planet Altair IV and Caliban became a monster bent on destruction.

Under the direction of Fred M. Wilcox, the acting, dialog and special effects for "Forbidden Planet" greatly surpasses nearly all other sci-fi films produced in the 1950's and 1960's. Having been twice previously nominated for Best Actor in 1942 for "Mrs. Miniver" and in 1943 for "Madame Curie", Walter Pigeon's portrayal of Dr. Morbius was exceptional. "Forbidden Planet" received a 1956 Oscar nomination for Best Special Effects, but lost to the only other nominated film, Cecil B. DeMille's "The Ten Commandments". It was not until Stanley Kubrick filmed "2001: A Space Odyssey" in 1968 that a sci-fi film surpassed "Forbidden Planet" in quality and achievement. The few films comparable to "Forbidden Planet" from the 1950's include "The Day The Earth Stood Still" (1951) and "War of the Worlds" (1953).

Time has not caused "Forbidden Planet" to lose any of its excellence. Sci-fi fans more accustomed to modern computer-enhanced special effects may regard the effects used in "Forbidden Planet" to be dated, but most will more than likely come to appreciate what Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was able to achieve with 1950's film technology. For example, some may be surprised to see that George Lucas (in his 1977 film "Star Wars") was not the first to show what a holographic image could look like, as demonstrated in "Forbidden Planet". Some may also be surprised to see Leslie Nielsen portray a serious character, instead of his more recent, bumbling comedic characters in films such as "Airplane!" (1980) and "The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!" (1988). Overall, I give "Forbidden Planet" a highly deserved 5 out of 5 stars, as it will always be a timeless, landmark sci-fi film warning us to always beware of monsters from the id!

Rating:
Summary: A multitude of reasons to watch this film
Review: - Some good special effects involving the spaceship, the weapons disintegrating their targets, the vast subterranean Krell complex.
- A simple but compelling story
- The performance of Walter Pidgeon
- Anne Francis (hubba hubba)

There are a few minor problems with the film, like the goofy ship's cook character, but they don't detract much from this very enjoyable, landmark science fiction film.

(By the way -- some other reviewers have noted the debt owed this movie by subsequent sci-fi franchises such as Star Trek. This is undoubtedly true; if you've seen the original Star Trek pilot "The Cage", you can see the similarities in the space vessels, uniforms, weapons, etc. -- not that they look exactly the same, but that they have the same feel as those in Forbidden Planet).

Rating:
Summary: A gem of a transfer for a gem of a film
Review: This is one of the four greatest SF films of all time, and this DVD truly does it justice. It contains both full screen and 16:9 widescreen formats. The anamorphic 35mm source print for this disk looks freshly struck, and the widescreen presentation exhibits gorgeous color and resolution, especially in the component video mode. The stereo soundtrack exhibits low noise and high fidelity. For those with progressive scan DVD players and true widescreen capable equipment, this disk is a real treat. If you are at all into SF films, this DVD belongs on your shelf.

Rating:
Summary: Seen it over and over, even 7 year old loves it
Review: Wish they made them like this still. DVD colors are good and excellent quality.