Forbidden Planet
It’s the 50th anniversary of one of science fiction’s most enduring classics
Tags: misc dvd Categories: DVD/TV Reviews, Reviews
Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on Dec 20th, 2006
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Forbidden Planet is one of the landmark films of the science fiction genre for a number of reasons (not least of which is Leslie Nielson in a serious acting role). In an era of “scare tactic” style of storytelling where most films used alien invasions as a metaphor for communism (a very real fear in the 1950’s) Forbidden Planet instead takes a more serious approach to the genre and has the production values behind it (for the time) to give audiences a true “out of this world” story that is compelling and still stands the test of time. Yes, it is dated, but then again, no film will hold up to modern technology 50 years after it is made (except those by George Lucas if he keeps meddling with his own revisionist history of his Star Wars films).
If you haven’t seen the film and consider yourself a fan of the science fiction genre, stop reading and go pick this up. For the rest of you I’ll give you a short synopsis of the plot. For several years, the colony on Altair 4 hasn’t been heard from, and the crew of United Planets ship C57-D is sent to investigate. There they find the lone survivors of Dr. Morbius and his daughter along with their robot servant Robbie. The real story of Forbidden Planet is in these characters – the fact that the rest of the colony didn’t survive… something, and these people, particularly Dr. Morbius are not going to leave. The mystery of what happened and is happening on this planet and how it is resolved (I won’t spoil anything for you, but once you start watching you’ll easily be able to guess what comes next) is something that even many of today’s science fiction films still strive for.
The picture looks much better than I remember – of course the film did undergo a restoration for this anniversary edition. Even on regular DVD there’s a lot of clarity and detail that I don’t remember seeing before. A feature on the restoration process would have been nice. The audio is very good as well, but it is the visuals that shive very brightly here. I wish I could see this on HD-DVD for a comparison as well as the original DVD release from several years ago.
There are three documentary features included in the bonus features. One is hosted by Mark Hamill and focuses on the 50’s era of science fiction with plenty of today’s notable names in the genre weighing in. Another deals more specifically with Forbidden Planet and interviews some of the surviving cast, crew and other luminaries. This one could have been much longer than the 30 minutes we are given, as there is a lot of the production that is merely touched on, let alone the various stories from the making of the film.
A third focuses on Robbie the Robot, who would go on to become a cultural phenomenon in his own right. It got to where Robbie was so popular that the character would show up in cameos and guest roles for years. As a matter of fact, two of Robbie’s more notable appearances are included in this DVD set. The first in a full episode of The Thin Man television series where Robbie is a guest star. Frankly, I had no idea there was a Thin Man series and I really hope that it sees a home video release because I love the original movies. The other inclusion is a starring vehicle for Robbie The Invisible Boy, a film that looks like it was pretty much slapped together quickly to capitalize on the famous robot. It is a nice inclusion, and most likely wouldn’t otherwise see the outside of a vault were it not for this.
Other extras include some deleted scenes and “lost” footage (special effects mostly) that didn’t get used as well as some television promotional material from the time and some movie trailers. All in all Forbidden Planet is a must own for science fiction fans, and this edition really brings home this classic in a way that really pays tribute to the care that was given the film originally during a time when science fiction was relegated to “kiddie” fare or just churned out as quickly and cheaply as possible. I would have liked to have seem the documentary features last longer as well as a feature on the restoration process or the special effects of the era, and maybe even a commentary track (by maybe a film historian or some of the directors in one of the documentary features perhaps) but what we have is very much worth owning.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
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+ Great movie from a time when science fiction didn't have many + Wonderfully restored + Great documentary supplements + Robbie starring vehicles |
8.9 |
| What Doesn't | |
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- Documentary features are too short - No commentary |
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| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| A landmark for science fiction, this belongs in most film fan's libraries. | |
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Tags: misc dvd
Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on Dec 20th, 2006 and is filed under DVD/TV Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
