Forbidden Planet

FORBIDDEN PLANET (Blu-ray)
Warner Home Video

Release Date: Oct 4th, 2010
Certificate (UK): PG
Running Time: 98 minutes

Director: Fred M. Wilcox

Cast: Walter Pidgeon, Leslie Nielsen, Anne Francis and Robby the Robot

In the past 60 years, science fction films have made great leaps and bounds with their special effects and elaborate set deisgns, although content wise, they’re making what I would call moderate progress. Still, Forbidden Planet is a film that has a lot to answer for.

It’s set in the year 2257 when a team of astronauts lead by Commander John J. Adams (Nielson) land on Altair 4 to investigate the disappearance of another spacecraft some 20 years previously. They are met by Professor Morbius, his daughter Altaira and the rather delightful Robby the Robot.

Morbius tells the team that an unknown force was responsible for the death of the other crew members and the destruction of their spacecraft, he tries to warn them that they may suffer the same fate. His daughter Altaira is curious as she’s never seen any man but her father before. As she is unskilled in the ways of these things, pretty much all of the crew members have a go with her; teaching her the techniques of hugging and kissing, but Commander Adams is the one who is most taken with her.

Elsewhere, as the men encounter a tiger, they are quick to draw their guns and the crew’s cook takes advantage of Robby’s helpful nature and gets him to produce several gallons of alcohol.

When their spacecraft is attacked and one of their crew is killed, just as Morbius warned, they come to realise that the “unknown force” Morbius spoke about is actually a part of his subconscious mind manifesting itself. As the result of an earlier experiment, Morbius’s brain could interact with a machine allowing for anything his mind could imagine to materialise. Even Robby is powerless to stop it as it would mean harming Professor Morbius and his programming dictates that he cannot harm a human being.

Hailed as one of the pioneering films in the sci-fi genre, Forbidden Planet is a colourful and exciting journey to a far away world filled with exotic plants, green skies, orbiting moons and terrifying monsters. It’s blatant sexism and display of human nature as ultimately selfish and arrogant is often overlooked though. Backed by an electronic score, the first of its kind to be featured in a film and with Robby the Robot in his debut role, it’s easy to see why it continues to endure, even after all these years.

Warner’s Blu-ray package also includes the feature length movie The Invisible Boy (1957), a kind of sequel to Forbidden Planet in which Robby the Robot teams up with a ten year old boy. Together they cause havoc when the boy overrides Robby’s basic functions so that he won’t be so responsible and allow him to have fun.

Patrick Samuel

The founder of Static Mass Emporium and one of its Editors in Chief is an emerging artist with a philosophy degree, working primarily with pastels and graphite pencils, but he also enjoys experimenting with water colours, acrylics, glass and oil paints.

Being on the autistic spectrum with Asperger’s Syndrome, he is stimulated by bold, contrasting colours, intricate details, multiple textures, and varying shades of light and dark. Patrick's work extends to sound and video, and when not drawing or painting, he can be found working on projects he shares online with his followers.

Patrick returned to drawing and painting after a prolonged break in December 2016 as part of his daily art therapy, and is now making the transition to being a full-time artist. As a spokesperson for autism awareness, he also gives talks and presentations on the benefits of creative therapy.

Static Mass is where he lives his passion for film and writing about it. A fan of film classics, documentaries and science fiction, Patrick prefers films with an impeccable way of storytelling that reflect on the human condition.

Patrick Samuel ¦ Asperger Artist

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