What an IMAGINATIVE FILM! First Time Watching Forbidden Planet (1956) | Movie Reaction & Commentary
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- Опубликовано: 29 сен 2024
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My first time watching Forbidden Planet (1956). I did not know what I was in for. What started as as simple futuristic space story slowly evolved to become one of the most inventive films I've ever seen. I hope you enjoyed my Forbidden Planet movie reaction & commentary
Hi, I'm Chris! Welcome to my channel. I react to movies & tv shows hoping to represent what it's really like to experience them for the first time. If you enjoy, you can support me by liking the video, subscribing to the channel, and letting me know your thoughts in the comments.
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Original Movie: Forbidden Planet (1956)
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Thanks for watching! Let me know your thoughts on this film and be sure to subscribe for upcoming reactions like: The Goonies (1985), Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022), All About Eve (1950), and the Time Machine (1960)
I have loved this movie since I first saw it as a teenager. The premise of the subconscious running amok physically is very interesting. Michael Crichton wrote a variation of this in his book Sphere, which was turned into a movie with Dustin Hoffman and Sharon Stone.
Definitely should check out more Walter Pidgeon films, especially those done with Greer Garson.
Love your reactions, keep up the great work
Wait .. .What ?? He yawned !! Burn the heathen !!
He he, only kidding. :)
Thanks for this, This is a brilliant film, watching Leslie Neilson in a serious role is a rare treat. For me I love this film, this is american sci fi done perfectly. It freaked me out when I was a kid and watched it, the idea that my subconscious monsters could become real was nightmare fuel.
Glad you had so much fun with it. Thumbs up
I will definitely have to check out your reaction to "The Time Machine." I am so pleased to see someone delving into the Golden Age of Science Fiction. So many of today's filmmakers that RUclips reactors such as yourself apparently enjoy (Steven Spielberg, anybody?) were inspired by these movies. Thank you for not being a movie snob and only reacting to "recent" movies. You have apparently seen the value in these older films of the past and how they have influenced modern filmmaking. Keep up the good work.
Great reaction, as usual, Chris! Keep 'em coming! Walter Pidgeon was the male lead in consecutive Best Picture Academy Award-winning films: How Green Was My Valley (1941) and Mrs. Miniver (1942). Both are excellent.
@@uncoolmartin460 🤣I often yawn at inappropriate times. I try to cut it out, but just not always possible haha.
You seem to really love the '50s science fiction. That's very cool. I appreciate your reviews of classic cinema. Keep up the great work.
Glad you enjoyed...I continue to campaign for the early Ray Harryhausen classic Earth versus the Flying Saucers....his other early classic 20,000 Miles to Earth has just entered the public domain. His Beast from 20,000 Fathoms 1953 is said to have inspired the Japanese to create Gojira....Godzilla in 1954.
We appreciate your reacting to 50's sci fi!!
Awesome reaction. Could see the joy on your face as new ideas were introduced and then explained. You were right about a lot of it. I started out watching old 50's monster movies as a child in the 60's. I still love them but when I finally saw this I was stunned with the intelligence and thought that was put into the story. With CGI the way it is now I think they could do a movie about the Krell. Another, colorful and, sort of, somewhat intelligent film from the same time period is "This Island Earth" It starts off a bit slow but I loved where it takes you.
Enthusiastic seconding for *This Island Earth* (Universal Studios' answer to MGM's successful venture into big-budget science fiction). Based on the original novel by Raymond F. Jones (serialized in *Thrilling Wonder Stories*, put into novel form by Shasta Publishers of Chicago, 1952), the production values are impressive indeed for the era (though still less than adequate for the vistas presented in Jones's book) and can still be convincing to modern eyes that have been saturated in SF since childhood. 👽
@@goldenager59 this island earth came out first before forbidden planet
@@robertarodecker2558
I was wondering how much longer it would be before somebody finally called me on that. Yes, it's true that the Universal film came out two full years before the MGM one. But actually, by "answer", I meant for a person who thus far of the two films has only seen *Forbidden Planet.*
(I think.) 🤨 🙂
Another classic SF movie you should have a look at is Soylent Green with Charlton Heston and Edward G. Robinson - set in the not too distant future when the world is suffering from serious overpopulation and the Soylent corporation (Soy - lentil) is in charge of providing food for the huge numbers of people on earth. Very powerful movie.
This is one of my favourite Leslie Nielsen movies. Awesome premise with stellar acting.
An awesome premise? What is it?
A fabulous tract of land with a buliding. But that's not important now.
The animated monster that we see was created by artists from Walt Disney's team of animators. Same for all the ray-gun rays and the melting metals and Robbie's sparking circuits when he's in trouble.
I'm glad no one did a remake of "The Forbidden Planet." The remakes of "The Day the Earth Stood Still" and "The War of The Worlds" didn't do the thing for me. Likewise for the remake of "The Time Machine" (2002). I first viewed "The Forbidden Planet" at a local cinema in the early 1960s. I was floored. Since then, this film has become my favorite. The pilot and the first episode of "Star Trek" had certain styling elements that I feel were borrowed from "The Forbidden Planet." Thanks, Casual Nerd Reactions.
Totally agree that the remakes pale in comparison to the originals. However, there was one scene in War of the Worlds that I found particularly riveting. Cruise and his kids have lost their vehicle and are on foot in a large crowd headed for the ferry. They reach a railroad crossing just as the lights and bells activate and the gates lower. A train goes by at high speed, totally engulfed in flame. It passes, the gates open, and the crowd surges forward.
@@wayneg9040 -- Yes! That railroad crossing and train alight scene from Spielberg's version of "The War of The Worlds" was quite harrowing, to say the least! I also liked the scene at the end. God keep Gene Barry and Ann Robinson. Likewise for George Pal and Byron Haskin. Cheers -- W
Actually, Forbidden Planet, the Musical (which I saw in London) was surprisingly good.
@@alanfoster6589 The opening number: Oh the Krell, the Krell, We could never tell / Why they disappeared those centuries ago / But they left behind a present, that surely wasn't pleasant / The ID and the monsters that really made it blow.
@@alanfoster6589 - Ha! Since "The Forbidden Planet" was based very loosely on "The Tempest" by William Shakespeare, I'd think it appropriate to create and perform a musical based on the former. Thank you, Alan. God keep England - the homeland of my beloved Grandparents. Cheers -- W
One of the greatest ground-breaking sci-fi films of all time. After almost 70 years, the special effects are still respectable even by today's standards.
"What weird noises." Interesting comment, as "Forbidden Planet" contains the very first fully electronic motion picture score.
And "The Day the Earth Stood Still" is well known for using the theremin (although not the first.) Both groundbreaking experimental sci-fi scores.
The musicians' guild would not allow the score to be nominated for an Academy Award because they were afraid electronics would put session musicians out of work.
"Nice climate you have here. High oxygen content."
"I seldom use it myself, sir. It promotes rust."
Fun Fact: The famous poster for the film shows a menacing robot carrying a struggling pretty girl - a staple of monster movie posters from the 1950's. In fact, no such scene occurs in the film itself and the robot portrayed in the poster is the very likeable Robby the Robot.
Navel Fact: A boatswain, bo's'n, bos'n, or bosun, also known as a petty officer, deck boss, or a qualified member of the deck department, is the most senior rate of the deck department and is responsible for the components of a ship's hull. The boatswain supervises the other members of the ship's deck department, and typically is not a watchstander, except on vessels with small crews. Additional duties vary depending upon ship, crew, and circumstances. It's not so much a rank as it is a job title.
Bonus Fact: The miniskirt worn by Anne Francis was seen to be the first worn in a Hollywood movie, and resulted in the film being banned in Spain (it was not shown there until 1967), due to General Franco's dictatorship that considered it dirty and obscene that a woman wore a miniskirt to show off legs.
Bonus Fact: This film marked one of the first times a science-fiction project had received a large budget. The genre had rarely been taken seriously by studio executives, and sci-fi films generally received the most meager of budgets. The critical success of this film convinced many in the film industry that well-funded science-fiction projects could be successful. Film historian Ben Mankiewicz has claimed that this film's success made future big-budget science-fiction films possible.
More bonus facts:
1) The music for this film was entirely electronic, the first movie ever to have an entirely electronic score. I wasn’t considered to be “real music” at the time, so it was disqualified for Academy Award nomination.
2) They managed to borrow some animators from Disney to do the battle against the id monster.
This movie is the inspiration for the TV series Star Trek!
This amazing movie is the father of Star Trek. Clearly this inspired Star Trek.
Note: The pads the crew stepped on that looked like they were possibly teleporting we're actually De-excelleration Tubes. Basically, because the ship travels so fast, the crew onboard are also moving ultra fast with it. The tubes stabilize a person keeping the crew from smashing into the walls as the ship quickly slows down.
The "Gorgon" comment was a metaphor. The reactor was so powerful, so deadly, man cannot look at it, just like the Gorgon (Medusa) in mythology.
The spirit of the Star Trek future does reside a bit in FP alright! Even Warren Stevens (playing the Doc here) would star in a good ST:TOS episode "By Any Other Name".
At the time the film was made nuclear reactors were completely new, so when the writers were thinking of the idea of looking at the core of a thousand nuclear reactors like the heart of the Krell power plants they were thinking it'd be like looking at an ongoing nuclear detonation which would fry your retinas like happened to people at Hiroshima and Nagasaki - so, look only into the special mirror that permitted the Krell to see the reaction without also going permanently blind. Like looking through welder's goggles. It just gets misunderstood because watching the movie as a viewer we can see into the reactor window behind them and it looks the same as the mirror. It would have been better to have that image behind them overly bright to make the idea clearer.
@@duanevp Yes, well spoken. On better DVD and Blue-Ray copies of the movie, you can actually see a difference in brightness between the real reactor and the reflection. But it's still very subtle.
I’m actually kind of surprised, a klystron was a real device used for producing high power microwave signals. A klystron transmitter isn’t just technobabble, it’s 1950s technology.
Very good! Back in the 1950s, my uncle worked for an electronics research company. He and I watched this film together. He mentioned the real klystron transmission device.
My understanding is microwaves, like shortwave, reflects off of the charged particle fields of solar wind particles trapped, and concentrated in the ionosphere by the Earth's magnetic field. That's why shortwave radios can receive transmissions bouncing back, and forth between them, and the Earth around the curvature of the Earth. Sometimes all the way around to the other side of the Earth. As such they would be bouncing around off of similar fields all over the galaxy. That would interfere with interstellar communication. Not a good choice for their longest range transmitter. Especially since they had to unship the main power supply of the ship to use it. Seems like movie technobabble to me. I guess it's better than calling it a Gamma span transmitter.
@@walterfechter8080 My understanding is microwaves, like shortwave, reflects off of the charged particle fields of solar wind particles trapped, and concentrated in the ionosphere by the Earth's magnetic field. That's why shortwave radios can receive transmissions bouncing back, and forth between them, and the Earth around the curvature of the Earth. Sometimes all the way around to the other side of the Earth. As such they would be bouncing around off of similar fields all over the galaxy. That would interfere with interstellar communication. Not a good choice for their longest range transmitter. Especially since they had to unship the main power supply of the ship to use it. Seems like movie technobabble to me. I guess it's better than calling it a Gamma span transmitter.
MGM had some technicians from Disney put together some of the special effects -- ghostly rays which were emanated by the Krell machine in its subterranean facility, the force field being disrupted, and the Id monster. As many of you already know, the flying saucer-like spaceship was used in a few episodes of "The Twilight Zone." As far as I can tell, this film was the first to use an all-electronically generated soundtrack. I saw this film on the big screen -- in one of those big movie palaces. Though this film might be considered "corny" and "dated" by many viewers today, it still blows my mind. It's my all-time favorite Sci-Fi film. "The Time Machine" (1960) is my second-favorite Sci-Fi movie.
Fun Facts - Very (extremely) loosely based on Shakespeare's "The Tempest", generally considered Leslie Nielsen's best serious work before he leaned into comedy, and you'll see the props from this movie reused A LOT in movies well into the '80s.
"The Bard" is William Shakespeare's nickname for a reason. His plays have been a positive influence on storytelling to this very day.
Loosely? The first time I saw this, I kept (mentally) spitting "THIS is a BLATANT rip-off!"
Jean-Paul Audette ...I don't remember Shakespeare's play including a robot or being set on a different planet.
The similarity is coincidence. The writers didn't realize it.
@@BigGator5 It's in the First Folio, elided by most directors and anthologists since then, not everybody is up for a four hour play with a robot in a codpiece speaking in iambic pentameter.
The 1950s gave us some great sci-fi films. I think you will also enjoy The Incredible Shrinking Man as it also has a philosophical bend to it. And earlier film, Dr. Cyclops (1940), is a fun sci-fi film I think you will enjoy.
In a three-way tie for my favorite 1950's sci fi films: Forbidden Planet, Them!, The Thing. Notes: As we've just seen, Forbidden Planet was groundbreaking sci fi in concept and design. Them! had actual mechanical full-size giant ants as the menace, with no miniatures or optical tricks. The Thing starred James Arness as the deadly, blood-sucking vegetable creature. Dialogue was very believable. All good stuff.
I love Them!. I know exactly where the anthill scene was filmed. I could see it from my barracks building in 29 Plams. If you look in the background in some of the shots you can see Route 62 and Copper Mountain. Those rocky hills drove me nuts for 18 months trying to remember where I had seen them until I saw the movie while I was home on Leave.
Them! is a must see. One of my top 5 sci-fi movies of all time. Amazingly, it still holds up today. I always wonder why they never seem to remake the classics like, Them!. On the other hand, I hate when they talk about remaking classic films like Forbidden Planet. A discussion worthy of its own video!
@@HeinzP100 There was already a similar film to Them!, 1977's Empire of the Ants. Horrible in every possible way that Them! was great. Although some puppetry was used for the giant ants, most of the effects were cheesy and obvious opticals. The trailer is on IMDB, worth watching for a laugh.
I love Them the story was fun the acting not bad and it broke the mould of 50's sci fi the army was useful and their weapons did something. The Thing I really like the 50's Thing it was a simple monster movie with that mix of isolation and an unknown enemy. Is it technically brilliant? No it's average and the acting ranges from ok to maximum melodrama but it has that simple 50's B movie charm.
John Carpenter's while a good movie with great acting and the SFX were amazing it just lost me when it turned into lets see how much body horror can we get into the running time which is perhaps why I hated the ending it felt like cheesy sequel bait combined with a good dose of aren't I clever. Now before people get up in arms I will not deny it is a brilliant movie and a seminal work but I didn't like for the reasons I stated if you love more power to you.
@@alankohn6709 No strong disagreements from me. I noted above that the dialogue in The Thing was very believable. People interrupted, several conversations were taking place simultaneously, what was being said was just plain conversation. Well, except for "We found a flying saucer." I liked the Carpenter version when it was released, but it hasn't aged well for me. I will give Carpenter credit for the practical effects.
Great movie. Glad to see someone reviewing great films that everyone else isn't doing rather than the same ol' stuff from the past 20 years.
I was shocked to find that that was Leslie Nielson who played Commander Adams. I remember watching this as a kid and always wanting a Robbie the Robot toy lol. And I've watched a few Walter Pidgeon's (Dr. Morbius) movies, one being "The last time I saw Paris" with Elizabeth Taylor. Great reaction as always.
I still want the life size Robbie the Robot replica, with the functioning lights and twirly bits. (this is a real thing)
It's hard to believe that this is the same Leslie Nielsen who many years later starred in Airplane and the Naked Gun movies. His early roles were so deadly earnest and serious. Walter Pidgeon (Morbius) and Anne Francis were in another movie together in 1968, but they were overshadowed by the star of the film in her first movie -- Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl. And Robbie the Robot was featured in other films, as well as countless TV shows like Lost in Space.
I’d have never recognized Leslie had I not seen the name. Whew.
The entire joke with his character in Airplane is supposed to be that he's a respected dramatic actor bringing all his usual chops to lame puns. And now no one gets that joke because he went on to do a bunch more movies like it until now it's the only thing he's known for. Basically, just imagine if the directors' original choice for the role Christopher Lee had taken it.
@@Rmlohner Very true! The first thing I remember seeing Leslie Nielsen was The Poseidon Adventure... the chilling "oh my God " on the bridge of the ship. I also remembered him from Forbidden Planet. All the older actors in Airplane were known for their dramatic acting on TV or movies, and those of us of a certain age found it absolutely hilarious to see them deadpanning their way through these comedies.
@@Rmlohner Christopher Lee is too tall to fit in a plane!
@@jamesalexander5623 Surely you can't be serious. 😉
So much to love about this movie. I was glad to see your unjaded appreciation for the creativity and timely special effects. Elecronic sound generation was used throughout, no 'music' whatsoever, just oscilators and filters. Science fiction movies had just taken a giant step forward. My science loving brother, Robert, loved it too. Guess why :)
Dr Morbius was played by Walter Pidgeon, a sweetly-dignified Canadian actor of distinctive voice, who made several very nice movies opposite Greer Garson, a sweetly-dignified English actress of distinctive voice (I first heard her as the narrator of the animated "Little Drummer Boy"). Their most well-known and important movie is probably "Mrs. Miniver", but they did well in all their outings together. Here they are in a clip from "Madame Curie", a favorite of mine, and in which Pidgeon plays a very different role from Morbius: ruclips.net/video/F6ZGSnazraY/видео.html
Greer Garson is one of my favorite actresses from that era. Mrs Miniver, made the same year as Casablanca, would make a wonderful reaction choice.
Chris, scifi flicks from the 50s are awesome huh? I love 'em and grew up on them in the 60s. The 3 you've done, Earth Stood Still, War of the Worlds and this one are probably the best of that era, and there are a few more of this caliber.
"When Worlds Collide" (1951) released 2 months after Day The Earth Stood Still
"20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" (1954) Disney classic
"The Fly" (1958)
"Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1956)
"This Island Earth" (1955) and if you haven't seen the 1985 Ethan Hawke scifi "Explorers" yet This Island Earth would be a good one to watch first!
"The Incredible Shrinking Man" (1957) noted for it's special sets and effects
"Journey to the Center of the Earth" (1959) a better budget movie this one, and a good one.
Two are B&W the rest color. There's a LOT more 50s scifi and scifi monster monster flicks too. Have a list of 25 films I put together, some really good and some pretty good, but these (along with the three you've done) are top notch and worth including your 50s science fiction collection.
You mentioned how movie tech improved rapidly during the 50s. That continued into the 60s with really good ones like Jason and the Argonauts, First Men In the Moon, Planet of the Apes, etc. And of course the awesome 2001 you've seen. As you watch all these from the 50s and 60s you'll get a sense of why 2001 was such a turning point in scifi and impressed a lot of us then. Kinda like how the Dark Side of the Moon album was for Pink Floyd... a real game changer. VERY much looking forward to The Time Machine, one I first saw at 6 or 7 back in '62 and it was dazzling in the theater. It etched on my mind. And what a way to start the 60s scifi era!
Forbidden Planet was a very thought provoking story and related then as today with certain technologies in the hands of the id. And that "DC" thing they did early in where they got into the Star Trek transporter things. The device allowed them to safely and rapidly decelerate from way past light-speed to space normal speed. Robby appeared in at least two other television shows, a 1963 Twilight Zone episode called "Uncle Simon" one very worth watching, and in a Lost In Space TV episode in 1966. Enjoyed watching Forbidden with you and looking forward to others. 🖖😎
The comparisson of 'Forbidden Planet' and Shakespeare's 'The Tempest' are both accurate and inaccurate.
The similarities: Dr. Morbius (Prospero), Altaira (Miranda), Commander Adams (Ferdinand), Robby the Robot (Ariel), and an argument can be made that 'The Creature from the Id' is Caliban. Many events of the film mirror the play making the film quite literate and deeper than most sci-fi of any type of this era (film, tv, or books). However, the differences are what make the film interesting and amazing, making it one of the best sci-fi films of the 1950s that still inspires today, and makes it timeless.
The differences: Prospero controls magic and causes a storm that crashes the ship on his island. Morbius, while controiling serious forces does so unconsciously...so when the C-57D is attacked in space or the creature shows up around the ship after it lands...it's all what Morbius wants subconciously. Which makes the "Creature of the Id" aptly named. Morbius, like Prospero, knows where his knowledge comes from...Prospero has books, Morbius the machines of the Krell. Prospero succeeds against Caliban (who represents the untamable forces that seek Prospero's destruction), but Morbius fails to control the forces unleashed by the Krell technology casuing his doom.
I love this film. I am so glad you loved it!
Wow...what a great film to react to...I give kudos to whoever suggested it. Other movies to add to your list from this classic era of 1950s science fiction include...
Them (1954)
Godzilla (1954)
When Worlds Collide (1951)
And a personal favorite of mine from 1959, Journey to the Center of the Earth.
When World's Collide, absolutely reactors should watch that one.
@@DylansPen
Non-Caucasians be warned: this movie might be rather depressing. 🙄 😒 🤭
so glad you chose this film for reaction. forbidden planet really moved the game forward for science fiction as a genre, especially with a monster (the "id," borrowed from freudian psychoanalytic theory, the term for uncoordinated instinctual desires) conjured entirely out of the subconscious realm of the human mind. disney animator josh meador created the still impressive effects by which the horrific nature of the id is suggested. the film is notable also for its groundbreaking electronic score by husband-and-wife team bebe and louis barron. apparently, the leaders of the musicians union that represented the members of the great studio orchestras of the day were so taken aback at the notion that two people could supplant an entire orchestra, that they demanded that the barrons' screen credit read "electronic tonalities" rather than music. this also effectively put the score out of consideration for an oscar for best music.
If you are able to go frame by frame of the credits you will see a flash where they credit Disney.
@@GKinslayer josh meador and his affiliation with the disney studio are actually given fairly prominent screen credit in the main titles.
Robby's follow-up film is The Invisible Boy. It's an enjoyable Sci Fi film made for a younger audience. Though it takes place closer to our time (or at least the time it was made), it is sort of a sequel to Forbidden Planet. A bit of dialogue mentions that Robby was brought back by an eccentric scientist who claimed to have visited the future. The Invisible Boy has the earliest example of a Skynet type malevolent A.I. that I know of.
Robby went on to appear in a bunch of TV shows. Everything from The Twilight Zone to Columbo. His largest role was in an episode of Lost in Space where he faced off against the robot in that series. Director Joe Dante put him in scenes in Gremlins and Looney Tunes: Back in Action. The scene in LT: BIA is a treasure trove of aliens and creatures from 50s Sci Fi films.
I refer to FP as the unofficial Star Trek pilot. Gene Roddenberry screened the film for staff when he was developing the series. The scene that reminded you of the Trek transporters was them in a stasis field so they could survive the deceleration from travel faster than light. A nice scientific detail that was rare in Sci Fi of this era.
Re-use of the prop Robby probably influenced Stanley Kubrick when he had the models for 2001: a Space Odyssey destroyed or discarded after production (with only one model I know of, the Aries 1B "golf ball" moon shuttle) surviving.
@@AlanCanon2222 they used the costumes from Forbidden Planet in the films Queen of Outer Space and The Time Machine. I doubt they used the original FP costumes, but the film Amazon Women on the Moon has a group of astronauts wearing something very similar.
DID you know that there was a 1957 sequel ? It is maybe even more imaginative and brilliant that "Forbidden Planet". It takes place on Earth. It takes place in the year 1957. But how could it be a sequel ? Did I really mean prequel ? No, it is a sequel. 2 things to know that are not spoilers: 1. - It takes place in a gated black ops residential community in which the leader of an artificial intelligence project resides with his wife and son. 2. - Remember, at the end of "Forbidden Planet" they were allowing Robby the robot to pilot the ship. Robby's body contains more of the Krell circuitry than was explored in the first film. Remember that the monster was invisible, and that Robby has super strength. Does Robby want to allow 22nd century Earth men to dissemble him or would he rather land in 1947 ?. Remember that the ship must defy Einstein's laws in order to surpass the speed of light. This is the ultimate essay on artificial intelligence.as Robby battles with his own "God", constructed by high I.Q. Earth men using some of his own extra-terrestrial circuitry. After the first 15 minutes you'll never guess where it is going but when Robby makes his first entrance things get more interesting in a hurry. This is titled, "The Invisible Boy" and stars Robby and a very compelling human cast. There is even a space shuttle which looks exactly like the ones that NASA built in the 80s. It is called, "The Glider". There has already been a top-secret space program for years and the publicly known space program that the USA and Russia maintain is just a ruse. There is already a secret moon base.. This film incorporates paranoid theory and philosophy even more than its predecessor. "The Invisible Boy" asks the question : "Is God the creator or the CREATED ?" It never addresses the question of what happened to the crew from the 22nd century and Alta. Presumably they resigned themselves to the reality that they should have not allowed Robby to pilot the ship, something that was surely against the rules. But the captain was in love and prone to mistakes. I guess they lived their lives out in the past and the secret space program probably had something to do with them. They are barely mentioned but the circumstances of Robby being on Earth are revealed in discussion. --
Forbidden Planet was the first time a big studio put it's full effort into a sci-fi film. The cast was very talented as was the direction, script writing, editing, set design and lastly, the sound design. Commander of the ship was Leslie Nielsen, Dr. Morbeus was Walter Pidgeon, his daughter was Anne Francis, also appearing were Richard Anderson, Earl Holliman and of course Robbie The Robot. It was the first time electronic tones were used for the "music" and sound effects of a major film, and the idea of the monsters from "The Id" was all-new to the general public A truly groundbreaking film.
Next to Metropolis (1927), FP is arguably the *most* influential sci-fi flick ever.
Heavily inspired Star Trek, Alien, Star Trek, Star Wars, Firefly, Star Trek*, and most everything else to a degree.
*Not New Star Trek. All new Trek is guaranteed 💯 uninspired.
Someone recommended metropolis recently in discord. Really cool poster!
@@CasualNerdReactions I would *not* suggest Metropolis (1927) as a reaction. It's visually *_stunning_* and a keystone of all cinema...but it's a 2+ hour german-expressionistic silent art film. I'm not sure it's your thing...it's *my* thing, certainly. But I'm a Boss-Level weirdo who's opinions ain't popular.
Actually, Chris, I'd love your reaction to Metropolis, for those very reasons. It is considered one of the great films of cinema history, worth it for the visuals and the beautiful score written for the film. (If you do, make sure it's the recent "complete" version and not the Moroder edit or other versions.
@@davidfox5383 I got to see the "world premiere" of the full cut at the Castro theatre in SF 10(?) years ago, discovered in South America. My partner dressed up as an adorable flapper (sorta made sense) and then the air conditioning failed on a 95° day. There was a 40 minute intro to the 3 hour version with a live orchestra. We were in the balcony, cause I'm poor and thems the tickets I got. The experience was miserable...the added/rediscovered bits are indeed *_shockingly_* awesome...as far as I could see through the sweat waterfalling into my eyes and bleeding into my partner's mascara onto their busby-berkeley dress.
@@CasualNerdReactions All us classic nerds have seen Metropolis. Both the original silent version, as well as the re-released one with the Queen soundtrack.
Earl Holliman who played the cook (and it's so funny to me that such an advanced ship has a cook) would go on to play an astronaut in "Where Is Everybody?", the pilot episode for The Twilight Zone. He provides some nice comic relief, as does Robby.
"Would sixty gallons be sufficient?" is a line my friends and I use a lot.
Funny that Holliman, the comic relief, went on to be known for serious roles, while Nielsen, the super serious commander, went on to become a comedy legend.
Interesting (and slightly galling) that the United Planets still haven't got the hang of the metric measurement system. 🙄 🤭
@@goldenager59 There was enough here for a science-ignorant public to try and deal with. Metrics would have been too much for them :).
Animation & SFX were done by Joshua Meador who was loaned to the studio by Walt Disney himself--probably the money he got for it helped with building Disneyland.
This movie served as one of Gene Roddenbary's inspirations when he was creating Star Trek. The plot is also quite similar to the Trek episode Requiem for Methuselah, in Trek's third season.
Certainly one of the best sci-fi films before 2001: A Space Odyssey which in fact carries some of the idea from this film as well. Morbius' mind, his primitive ape mind, is the monster. In 2001 HAL with his glowing red eye is the reincarnation of the leopard from earlier in the film with it's glowing green eyes, man's brain carried his animalistic nature with him to Jupiter as well and it killed him as well. The monster in Forbidden Planet is truly scary the first time seeing this, I can imagine in the theater it must have been terrifying. Great pick CNR, I've been hoping reactors would start screening this film.
I did see this first in a theatre and the monster truly terrified me, i'll tell you.
One of my favorite sci-fi flicks from when I was a kid... I wasn't around as a kid when this came out, but it was one of those movies my parents showed me when I was a kid. Seeing Leslie Nelson without his silvery hair is always jarring.
What I like best about this film is the fully electronic soundtrack, though almost everything else is great too.
I really am glad you decided to watch this. It's an awesome movie. Another good movie with Walter Pigeon is "Voyage to the Bottom of the sea". Which was the prelude to the TV show. And, the inside of the Krell power generator system was the 1st deep chasm used. Star Wars had nothing on this. A couple of other 50's sci-fi movies would be "When worlds collide" and "This island Earth"
The exterior matte paintings were done by the late great Chesley Bonestell. For us early pre-space flight baby boomers, our visions of other planets and strange new worlds came from the paintbrushes and imagination of Bonestell. You should do a Search for his works...they are amazing. Our local science museum had a wonderful collection of about a dozen of jis original paintings. Sadly when I inquired about them about 10yrs ago, the people running the place now had no idea that the paintings had been there at all, nor what happened to them..Really a shame...I would have loved to have laid eyes on them once more.
Great Movie. won Oscar for special effects. check out fantastic planet, French animated film 1973
David Alexander's official biography of Gene Roddenberry named the seminal 1956 sci-fi adventure Forbidden Planet as “one of [his] inspirations for Star Trek.” Like Star Trek, Forbidden Planet takes place in the 23rd century.
I love forbidden planet. Mr Hyde on Space Steroids! :D
For your consideration; Since you tend to pick cult classics a lot.
Soylent Green. (Charlton Heston and set this year)
The Woman in Black (1991 tv movie version)
Nosferatu Phantom of the Night (70s)
The Man who haunted himself (Spooky pre Bond Roger Moore film :) )
Mark 15:38. A reference to, Medusa, one of the, Gorgon Sisters. Either looking directly at her, turned people into stone, or according to this new commercial for sunglasses, she looked at people and they became stone. Passing for statues of people afterwards. Wearing eyeshades makes her seem like the, "Marvel", character, "Cyclops". But in the original, "Clash of the Titans", Prince Perseus, was given a special shield, that when held just right, he could see her reflection and know when to swing his special sword.
So here, the men need to look at the mirrors, to avoid.... What?! 🤔 Hmm.
Going blind by looking directly at the hot energy?
There was a novelization of the story in the 1960s, and it suggested that Altaira was not Morbius' daughter by natural birth, but a clone of his dead wfie, making the story even creepier and more Freudian. On a side note, Jimi Hendrix said it was his favourite movie, along with Louis and Bebe Baron's ring oscillator sound effects. Listen to the first Hendrix album, and you will clearly hear the influence.
50s Sci Fi is interesting…there are movies like this that are the grand daddies of all sci fi movies.. they still stand up today with solid plots and amazing concepts. Then on the other hand there is the bulk of 50s Sci Fi like The Giant Gilla Monster. There are very few that fall in between lolol
I don’t think I’d want any in between! 🤣
So fun watching this with you! In the intro, I ALMOST felt bad....I (we) don't want to overhype a movie, and since this was mentioned most in the "2001" and "Close Encounters" reactions (initially), I feel like it's not totally fair to this much-older film. I needn't have worried! I love how you figured it out! And as soon as he said "monsters of the Id", you had that "aha" face! When I saw it? I didn't know what the heck "the id" was! I was, like, 8! lol. This movie taught probably lots of us about "the id". Leslie Nielsen getting mad at how Anne Francis dresses and behaves can be cringey and seem from another time.....except most of us felt that way when we first saw it! "It's not her fault she's never been around men! Lay off, dude!" /Seeing this now, it DOES seem like a "Star Trek" precursor! This could have easily been a Star Trek episode or movie/ Robbie The Robot ended up on a TV show, I believe, and at least one other movie. Ok, well.....there's another classic you can cross of your list, congratulations!!!! You've definitely seen MY favorite space-related sci-fi movies (although I like all of the titles on your 50s sci-fi poll). See you on the next one! I'm going to try and see "Everything Everywhere All At Once" asap!
I think I was able to set my expectations accordingly following the track of the other 50s sci-fi I’d seen. It definitely exceeded my expectations so that’s awesome! I’m watching everything the day it comes out, I wanna see it so bad! I’m not even sure if the rental will be available yet, but I’m willing to spend a little extra if need be, this one time. 😅
"Forbidden Planet" and "This Island Earth" were pretty much the "Star Wars" and "Close Encounters" of their time.
I love this movie, too. It's foundational science fiction.
I loved the soundtrack and sound effects in this movie.
Forbidden planet 1956 is an amazing sci Fi movie that had some of the best visual special Effects then any other movie In the genre Chris I recommend another classic this time it's a romantic psychological thriller Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca starring Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine.
Star Trek, before Star Trek.
Wow. I am surprised somebody did a reaction to this film. Awesome.
The transport things in the beginning are to keep the crew from being smeared all over the bulkhead as they slow down from near light speed. That is what happens when you *don't* have inertial dampeners.
Those *were* the Inertial Dampeners.
Another great 50s sci fi movie that is an absolute classic is The Blob. It's super fun!
A unique SF movie! Absolutely nobody involved with it did anything one-tenth as interesting again -- some strange alchemy allowed them to make a masterpiece together, aided by MGM's insistence on making it a classy and colourful affair. And the first all-electronic score!
One of the first science fiction movies to use actual science. A lot of special effects techniques were invented for this film, and even more perfected.
Could you imagine seeing this when it came out! :)
It's a bench mark film for special effects
I really don't understand why people refuse to see older movies. They really wrote stories back then. Certainly, there are bad movies...there are bad movies now.... but there are incredible movies as well. Thank you for watching one of them.
Walter Pidgen was Hollywood royalty. His greatest movie, IMHO, was "How Green was My Valley".
Mark 15:15. This underground facility, inspired the one in, "The Time Tunnel". Both in turn, inspired the one in, "Loki". Ironically enough, the one in, "Loki", is actually the lobby area of a very big luxury hotel built above ground! 😎
Definitely one of my favorite older films. The Time Machine (1960), Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959), Mysterious Island (1961) and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea are a few others from that time period that are excellent.
I'm a huge fan of Verne's novels, not least because of seeing the above mentioned adaptations. He wrote something like 150 of them, many of which, I'm sure, would make great movies. I'd vote for The Meteor Hunt, a romantic comedy earthbound science fiction story. A near-earth object is detected simultaneously by two amateur astronomers whose friendship turns into bitter rivalry over priority of discovery. It's just a "local color" story in the press.... until the two separate observatories that confirm the orbits also run orbital projections and spectroscopic analysis on it. It's huge, it's inbound.... and the impactor is made of solid gold, many times the world's available supply. Great subplots involving marriage and betrothal between two separate couples allow Verne to philosophize wittily on the nature of human romantic relationships.
This is pure 1950's Science Fiction. This is not Science Fantasy or Science Adventure.
Also, maybe we have met the Krell, and they are us.
17:09 "Fantastic" had a broader meaning in the 1950s to what it has today. Its meaning used to include elements of terror, but it has narrowed in the last few deacdes.
Robby the Robot also appeared in the movie THE INVISIBLE BOY.
And several TV series after that ( most notably LOST IN SPACE in which he is pitted against the Jupiter II's Robot B-9 )
This film was groundbreaking in so many ways. For me, the most innovative aspect was the soundtrack.
This movie was one of the first to feature an entirely electronic soundtrack. This made the film all the more ‘alien’ for audiences of the day.
If you noticed in “The Day the Earth Stood Still”, there were a lot of eerie, unearthly sounds. They were created with an instrument known as a theramin. It’s a fascinating instrument that you play by moving your hands near (but not touching) a pair of antennae. Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin used one on the instrumental break of “Whole Lotta Love”.
For this movie, the soundtrack was ‘composed’ by the husband/wife team of Louis and Babe Barron. I put the word compose in quotes because all the sounds were results of experimental homemade electronic circuits, most of which self-destructed after only a few minutes. They had very little control over what sounds came out, which is why I use the term compose loosely.
These homemade audio gadgets were very primitive and lacked the polish of today’s audio tools, which is why many of the sounds are jarring and sometimes difficult to listen to.
Also worth a mention - the scene where Morbius demonstrates Robby’s inability to harm humans was one of the first cinematic nods to what is now known as the first of Isaac Asimov’s 3 laws of robotics.
So glad you took the time and effort to react to this classic sci-fi film.
Since you've watched John Carpenters version of The Thing you should check out Howard Hawks 1951 version. Its just as good a film but is made in a drastically different style. Cheers,
Mark 4:09. I can tell already that I will enjoy your, digital video recordings, so I just subscribed! 😎
Robby, has a spin-off movie that is usually included as a, Bonus Feature, with the DVD of this movie. It isn't a direct sequel movie, unless you consider him to be the primary character of this movie. The title is, "The Invisible Boy". 😎
Anne Francis, was a sweetheart yo meet in person! 😘😍🥰🤩😎. (Though I still dislike moles and I don't consider them to be, "beauty marks"!)
It is probably moot now, but after this movie, then viewing the, "Star Trek: Season 1, Episode 0: The Cage", you would appreciate that first pilot movie more. It closely resembles this movie. So much so, that a lot of, Trekkies & Trekkers, want this movie to be canon within, "Star Trek", despite some different details about, History. The name of the ship and captain, were once shown on a computer monitor's listing of ships docked at a space station starbase! 🖖
A favorite of mine. The scale, quality and imagination is impressive for a Sci-Fi film of that period. It truly stands apart.
It stands as number one, in my opinion, of the 1950's period.
I can't think of this film and not think about a classic bit from the TV show 'Cheers'. "Forbidden Planet? That's a good choice! It's a witty revamp of Shakespeare's 'The Tempest' with Robbie the Robot standing in for the sprite Ariel." ruclips.net/video/JxOcOm-b66o/видео.html (And if you haven't seen them maybe consider adding "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" and "The Day the Earth Stood Still" to your list?)
[EDIT: Oops, I see you've already watched 'The Day the Earth Stood Still'.]
Mark 15:00. Aha! By the way, you are only the second person that I chose to see a reaction video about this movie, from. Last night on, "MeTV", the movie was shown on, "Svengoulie", and that inspired me to see if anyone had made any reáction videos since the last time I checked for some, and now there are plenty!
But anyway, my friend and I saw, "Jurassic World: Dominion", and afterwards, I told him about some movies made for television in the 1970s, by Gene Roddenberry, because two of them, "Planet Earth" and "Genesis", I think they're called, feature underground tube transport systems. The shuttles were self-propelled, and we're not pneumatic air tubes like in one of the, "TMNT", movies. Nor were they reliant on power from the tube tracks, like in, "Godzilla versus Kong", and the new dinosaur movie. When I told him about those, I had forgotten about this version in, "Forbidden Planet". 😁😳✌️😉🤓
Thumb Up #718! 👍 I'm the fifteenth person to like your pinned comment too! 👍. Thanks for the fun, digital video recording! ✌️😎🖖
Final Comments: "Emily and Ares", was first and you're second. While she had her cat with her, and you didn't have an animal companion with you, and while she was honest, she was also not happy, other than liking, Robby, when she usually dislikes robots.
You were also honest, but more cheerful! You also didn't refer to their blasters as, "caulk guns", as tried to do. (She had trouble saying, "caulk".)
My all-time favourite SF film, and made the same year as I was! As a result, I watch this every year on my name-day. I also watch Night of the Demon (Curse of the Demon in USA), with Dana Andrews. You should try this too - look out for the Kate Bush line.
PS the animation of the creature is beyond amazing!!! WAY better than any CGI.
I was born the year this came out and saw it first as a television special at the age of 7 in 1963 and I have to tell you it scared me and everyone so much - my older brother could do the sound of the monster so well and scared me for years. It is hard to explain to today's generation how WAY AHEAD of the times this movie was!
Not the sound! That’s mean and kinda funny. Haha sorry.
So now you've reacted to the Big Three science-fiction films of the 50's. (War of the Worlds, The Day the Earth Stood Still and this one.) I saw your list and many more excellent golden age sci-fi films are still yet to come. There were a few not on your list called "Destination Moon" (years before NASA was created), "Five" (first apocalyptic film) and "When Worlds Collide". All I think from 1951. It's a blast from the past to get to watch and experience again all these classic films with you.
I'm sure someone has already mentioned this, but this film is heavily based on Shakespeare's The Tempest. Morbius = Prospero; Altaira = Miranda; Commander Adams = Ferdinand. Whether Robby is Ariel or Caliban (and whether the Id Monster is Caliban or Ariel) is a hotly debated subject among scholars.
Two Canadians star in this movie - Leslie Nielson as Adams, and Walter Pidgeon as Morbius. Also, Farman is played by Jack Kelly who was Bart Maverick on the classic Maverick western series from the early 60's.
Mark 22:49. Aha! Before, when "murder" was first mentioned, I thought it was in error, because they didn't know about this data yet, and it isn't "murder" when a beast kills people. But now, in retrospect, they could've been thinking it was another crewman, or the professor. As it turns out, it is an aspect of him. 🤔
You’re hitting all my favorites from the era. Another good watch would be This Island Earth.
Mark 10:23. When you're on their planet, you're the, "alien entity", by the way. So it would be a, "native entity". 🤖👽
It was funny earlier, when the guy said that he was warning them, and you wondered aloud if he was threatening them, rather than warning them! 😁😉
They weren't teleporting, they were decelerating 'to you DC stations, men', presumably slowing from 'stardive' to normal space drive, apparently using planets to decelerate further, protect themselves from the heat and light of the star Altair, lots of fun thougthful Campbellian SF here.
Ann Francis was quite a hottie, just gorgeous.!
This set the standard for every science fiction movie to follow! George Lucas praises it as an inspiration for his movies.
An incredible masterpiece that will stand the test of time. I first saw it in 1966, I have found few movies that reach it's originality and scope!!!
After several attempes at creating an appropriate creature - they asked Disney to animate it.
Commander Adam - Leslie Nielsen
That still blows my mind.
The id monster looks great because of Disney s Artistry
This is one of my favorite movies. Robbie the Robot's popularity persists even today, I saw a reference to him in Phil Tippett's Mad God(2021).
It came from the brain storming to two Art Directors (who worked on The Atomic Submarine and other B sci fi movies as writers, FX and art direction) who pitched the idea to Dory Sharey head of the studio and he bought the idea and assigned it to several writers. Only one of them was asked to work on the movie as Art Director and as a result of his partner being aced out he worked uncredited. They didn't like the Disney animated creature and actually wanted it to remain invisible. They based this story on Shakespeare's The Tempest and on the rising popularity of Freudian Psychology featuring The ID, and the script writer got the prediction RIGHT that the ID is an obsolete term as Freudian psychology is not considered bogus.
A classic and yes, very imaginative. Also beautifully-filmed; the color is fantastic for the mid-50s, and still loojks great, today.
classiccccccccccc
Fun fact: certain things including the FTL travel and certain effects would inspire star trek the original series 10 years later
Way ahead of its time,
They haven’t & I hope they don’t remake it.
This film was a huge inspiration to Gene Roddenberry in his creation of Star Trek.
this movie was so ahead of its time...hyperdrive, hard science, excellent special effects and a fully electronic score...still holds up today
morbius is here. The machine is here ,it was prophetic
Thank you for watching this classic!
Yeah, Mon! Great review. You have insights that many never attain. Hope you try some of the cheesier ‘50s space flicks, like Destination Moon, Rocketship X-M (the science is less cheesey in this one) and Flight to Mars (one of my favorites). Thanks for the continued top-quality content.
Thanks for the comment! Perhaps one day i will.
I always loved this film, and it's thoughtful script. But a modern viewer doesn't realise that Altera's skirts would have been scandalous in the swinging 60s, - when I first saw it as a child - let alone the 50s. I clearly remember reports of fashion shows with skirts 4 inches above the knee being FRONT PAGE HEADLINES! Scandal! Shock! Horror! Civilisation is Collapsing! So her wearing things like that around a ship's crew - all-male heterosexuals by definition at the time - who had not seen a woman in over a year was supposed to be obviously provocative to everyone in 1957.
Everyone except her.
Altera's total cluelessness about the effect she was having is of course important to the plot and her character arc. Loved your review, yes it is a remarkably thoughtful story for that time. Actually, it is more thoughtful than big-budget science fiction is now, when you think about it.
More advanced concept than most Sy fy low or big budget.
Mark 11:26. By the way! When I sought clarification, she told me that she was wearing a nude suit, but her character was meant to be skinny dipping. 🤓
That's what I suspected!! I was thinking for the 50s that has to be as close to skinny dipping as they were allowed to get.
When I was a wee little bit of a kid I was taken to a drive-in to see this movie. During the part where the Id Monster attacks the ship, I was so scared I tried to claw my way into the back seat of the car to get away from it.
Did it work?
@@CasualNerdReactions Nope, I failed to make it into the trunk.
You should consider watching the sequel, "The Invisible Boy." Geared more for Saturday matinee showings, it's nevertheless written by Cyril Hume and stars Robby the Robot in his second screen appearance.
DID you know that there was a 1957 sequel ? It is maybe even more imaginative and brilliant that "Forbidden Planet". It takes place on Earth. It takes place in the year 1957. But how could it be a sequel ? Did I really mean prequel ? No, it is a sequel. 2 things to know that are not spoilers: 1. - It takes place in a gated black ops residential community in which the leader of an artificial intelligence project resides with his wife and son. 2. - Remember, at the end of "Forbidden Planet" they were allowing Robby the robot to pilot the ship. Robby's body contains more of the Krell circuitry than was explored in the first film. Remember that the monster was invisible, and that Robby has super strength. Does Robby want to allow 22nd century Earth men to disassemble him or would he rather land in 1947 ?. Remember that the ship must defy Einstein's laws in order to surpass the speed of light. This is the ultimate essay on artificial intelligence as Robby battles with his own "God", constructed by high I.Q. Earth men using some of his own extra-terrestrial circuitry. After the first 15 minutes you'll never guess where it is going but when Robby makes his first entrance things get more interesting in a hurry. This is titled, "The Invisible Boy" and stars Robby and a very compelling human cast. There is even a space shuttle which looks exactly like the ones that NASA built in the 80s. It is called, "The Glider". There has already been a top-secret space program for years and the publicly known space program that the USA and Russia maintain is just a ruse. There is already a secret moon base.. This film incorporates paranoid theory and philosophy even more than its predecessor. "The Invisible Boy" asks the question : "Is God the creator or the CREATED ?" It never addresses the question of what happened to the crew from the 22nd century and Alta. Presumably they resigned themselves to the reality that they should have not allowed Robby to pilot the ship, something that was surely against the rules. But the captain was in love and prone to mistakes. I guess they lived their lives out in the past and the secret space program probably had something to do with them. They are barely mentioned but the circumstances of Robby being on Earth are revealed in discussion. -
@@billythealiensmiller It's a sequel. Watch the movie. Robby is brought back by a time traveling scientist from 1957. There's even a photo taken at a future spaceport.
Strangely enough, we're there now. The internet has given us nearly the same power, giving direct access between the monsters of the Id and the outside world. While it hasn't destroyed our civilization overnight, it's certainly helping it along that way. In public we're falling all over ourselves with politeness, online we're little more than monsters.
Well, it doesn't allow us quite the same power, but the conceptual framework *is* similar. However, the sad fact is that as a race, we are shockingly lacking in empathy. Most of us have been taught better behavior, but as soon as you remove consequences from our actions, our real desires are revealed.
Long before the Internet though, automobiles showed this same truth. 'Road Rage' is the most dramatic example, but the fact is, most drivers don't treat other drivers on the road as people, but things. That one level of separation is all it takes to show how little regard we have for each other.