The Most Influential Sci-Fi Movie You've Never Seen Just Got A Huge Upgrade
Another one of them new worlds.
More than two decades before filmmaker George Lucas took audiences to a galaxy far, far away, director Fred M. Wilcox and Forbidden Planet (1956) got there first. Unlike the sci-fi films that preceded it, which were either set on Earth or within our solar system, there’s not a single shot of our planet in the film. Set in the 23rd century, when incredible scientific advancement has enabled faster-than-light interstellar travel yet human beings are doomed to bring their worst impulses everywhere they go, Forbidden Planet introduced several firsts to sci-fi cinema, and its influence on the genre remains unmistakable.
Based on a screenplay by Irving Block and Allen Adler, and recognizably drawing on elements of Shakespeare’s Tempest, the film follows a starship crew on a mission to determine what became of the scientists who reached the “Earth-type” planet Altair IV around 20 years ago and were never heard from again. On approaching the remote planet and expecting lone survivor Dr. Edward Morbius (Walter Pidgeon) to welcome their rescue party, they’re taken aback by his insistence on staying put, as well as his warnings of the terrestrial dangers they’ll encounter if they refuse to turn back. They land anyway, and learn that an unseen entity had ripped apart the earlier expedition. Now, its horrific attacks have resumed.
Visually striking, thematically dense, and sonically innovative, a new, limited-edition 4K UHD from Arrow Video means there’s never been a better time to visit Forbidden Planet.
How Was Forbidden Planet Received?
Forbidden Planet not only netted a box office of $2.7 million against its $1.9 million budget, but it picked up an Academy Award nomination for Best Special Effects. It offered more than flashy visuals: Variety called it “a top offering in the space travel category,” and critic Pauline Kael described it as “the best of the science-fiction interstellar productions of the 50s.” And it was Los Angeles Times critic Philip K. Scheuer who, while praising MGM’s lush production, observed that Forbidden Planet had actually surpassed its genre, calling it “more than another science-fiction movie” and “a genuinely thought-through concept of the future.”
Why Is Forbidden Planet Worth Watching Now?
Because the familiar sci-fi elements of deep-space exploration and contact with alien civilizations wouldn’t exist without Forbidden Planet. It was the first film to depict humans building and piloting a faster-than-light spaceship, depicted here as a flying saucer. Amiable and dry-witted, Dr. Morbius’ helpmate Robby was the first cinematic robot to have a distinct personality — as filmmaker Joe Dante put it in the documentary Amazing! Exploring the Far Reaches of Forbidden Planet (2006), Robby’s predecessors were “of the somewhat clunky variety, where you got basically three metal blocks and a head.”
Robby would not only go on to cameo in The Twilight Zone, but several other props from Forbidden Planet, including its saucer spaceship, would be recycled for other episodes. The film’s outsized influence on cinematic history, however, extends far beyond its furnishings.
Forbidden Planet starred a young Leslie Nielsen before he became known for comedy.
“If there had been no Forbidden Planet, there might not have been 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) or Star Wars or Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977),” wrote Criterion’s Charles Tashiro. And according to David Alexander’s authorized biography of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, Roddenberry acknowledged the film as an inspiration. Consider the friendship between Forbidden Planet’s starship’s captain and its doctor, which resembles that of Kirk and McCoy.
Meanwhile, the film’s pioneering electronic score left a deep impression on sound designer Ben Burtt, who saw the film as a child and was influenced to create sound effects of his own. Burtt eventually went on to craft the soundscape of another pop-culture behemoth: Star Wars. “The sounds inside the Death Star, all the different rumblings, the tonal things when Ben Kenobi goes in to turn off the tractor beam…in some way that idea probably came from Forbidden Planet, the idea of this abyss full of energy that goes on forever,” Burtt said in an interview.
What Special Features Does The Forbidden Planet 4K Blu-Ray Have?
Arrow Films’ brand-new 4K restoration of Forbidden Planet lets it be seen at home, for the very first time, in its original Cinemascope aspect ratio of 2.55:1 and with its reinstated theatrical Perspecta stereo soundtrack. Along with deleted scenes, lost footage, and the original shooting script, Arrow’s limited edition also contains two archival documentaries and a featurette. Newly filmed content includes an appreciation of Bebe & Louis Barron’s groundbreaking electronic score by historian and composer Neil Brand. New essays by Frank Collins and Johnny Mains, and new audio commentary by film historians Kim Newman and Barry Forshaw, provide critical appraisals and context. For more Robby the Robot, the Blu-ray extras include another film that he starred in, The Invisible Boy (1957), as well as an episode of The Thin Man where he featured.
