Forbidden Planet Celebrates 50th Anniversary

Trekweb ^ | 03/30/06

[KevinDavis]

The seminal science-fiction movie Forbidden Planet, starring Leslie Nielsen as starship Commander Adams and Anne Francis as Altaira, premiered on the big screen in March 1956 and celebrates its 50th Anniversary this month. In the movie, the crew of the United Planets starship C-57D goes to investigate the silence of a planet's colony only to find two survivors and a deadly secret that one of them has.

[TXBSAFH]

He was in one episode of lost in space as an evil robot.

[Jeff Chandler]

I believe Robby did indeed show up on a lot of shows.

[doodad]

Yes yes The Tempest set in outer space. Love it.

[RandallFlagg]

Altaira was a BAAAABE!!
I'd post a pic, but this work 'puter won't let me....

[RandallFlagg]

Nope. The only near classic like this that they did was in the MST3K movie: This Island Earth.

I wish they'd do another MST3K -or air the repeats of the calssic.

[laweeks]

Ah, yes. Gorgeous Ann Francis. Fantastic legs. Few of our current "Hollywood Hotties" could compare to her. Just plain beautiful! The film wasn't bad either.

[rogue yam]

Michael Rennie was ill the day the earth stood still
But he told us where we stand
And Flash Gordon was there in silver underwear
Claude Raines was the invisible man
Then something went wrong for Fay Wray and King Kong
They got caught in a celluloid jam
Then at a deadly pace it came from outer space
And this is how the message ran:

Science Fiction - Double Feature
Dr. X will build a creature
See androids fighting Brad and Janet
Ann Francis stars in Forbidden Planet
Oh-oh at the late night, double feature, picture show.

I knew Leo G. Carroll was over a barrel
When Tarantula took to the hills
And I really got hot when I saw Janet Scott
Fight a Triffid that spits poison and kills
Dana Andrews said prunes gave him the runes
And passing them used lots of skills
But when worlds collide, said George Pal to his bride
I'm gonna give you some terrible thrills, like a:

Science Fiction - Double Feature
Dr. X will build a creature
See androids fighting Brad and Janet
Ann Francis stars in Forbidden Planet
Oh-oh at the late night, double feature, picture show.
I wanna go, oh-oh, to the late night double feature picture show.
By RKO, oh-oh, at the late night double feature picture show.
In the back row at the late night double feature picture show.

[fhlh]

Have you heard of a boy named Sue?

:)~

[Joe 6-pack]

"Leslie Nielson should make a funny version in the genre of Naked Gun or Airplane!........."

Nielsen would be great, but I can readily think of two tremendous Sci-Fi satires I can highly recommend if you haven't already seen them....

Mel Brooks's, "Space Balls," and Tim Allen's, "Galaxy Quest" (the latter lampoons the Trekkie culture as much as the genre itself.)

[RightWingAtheist]

One of my all-time favorites as well!

[Jeff Chandler]

Robby also showed up in "The Thin Man", "The Twilight Zone", "The Addams Family", "The Love Boat", "Columbo", "Mork and Mindy", "Clueless", and others.

[Gandalf_The_Gray]

Did the Forbidden Planet robot show up on the Lost In Space TV series, or did Robby just look derivative?

"Robby" was an actual remote controlled machine. I believe he was the first machine to walk on two legs.

The lost in space "robot" was a garbage can with some furnace ducts added & a man inside. No comparison, LIS robot was a POS (pile of sheet metal).

Regards,
GtG

[chimera]

Yes, the recycled "Robby" prop showed up on a Lost In Space episode and I think one of the old Twilight Zone episodes as well. None of those ersatz "Robbys" had the personality of the original, though. But, let's not forget the real star of the movie, a youthful Anne Francis (wowsers!):

[Red Badger]

I've seen both of them. There should be a sequel to Galaxy Quest..........

[Young Werther]

Fred Barton productions bought the robot and licenses it for and sale. In 1956 Robbie was such an expensive movie prop that it was used repeatedly to amortize its cost. Check out the history et al at:

Robbie

[Lekker 1]

My kids rented that about 6 months ago. It was pretty good, but it took a little while to stop expecting some weird antics from Leslie Nielson.

[Yo-Yo]

Robbie the Robot is alive and well!

[RhoTheta]

Don't forget "Buckaroo Banzai" which kind of defies description, although I have seen it referred to as "a silly movie for smart people."

[hattend]

There was a man inside Robby as well

"MGM art director Robert Kinoshita is credited with finalizing Robby's design; pushing plastics fabrication, and robot design technique into the 21st Century. Veteran Western actor Frankie Darrow brought the Robby costume to life, and the robot's eloquent voice was skillfully portrayed by actor Marvin Miller of television's "The Millionaire" series. "

http://www.the-robotman.com/nv_fs.html

[Xenalyte]

Dude, Leslie Nielsen was HOT!