Forbidden Planet

I was just channel hopping and flicked into the old movie 'Forbidden Planet'.

The scene was when the mad scientist is showing the Captain and Doctor through the underground city of the Krells.

My eyes nearly popped out when they walked onto a narrow bridge, shot from above, which crossed a giant ventilation shaft in the heart of the city/machine.

Sound familiar? I think I now know where the inspiration for the inside of the Great Machine on Epsilon 3 came from

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Demon

that's cool. umm...must make note to see that moive.

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*step up, and say that to my face, you'll get knocked the f*ck out*

Found this JMS message on JMSNews.com:JMS and Coincidences

It deals with the Great Machine design, and has the following quote in it:

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>My second thought was, "Shit, somebody's going to gig us on the Forbidden Planet thing." Nonetheless, it was the right shot, for the right reasons, and we chose to go with it.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Haven't seen Forbidden Planet myself, but it sure sounds as if there's something similar there!

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"There are things out there beyond imagination, and I have a rather healthy imagination." - G'Kar, B5: Rangers
Kribu's Lounge | kribu@ranger.b5lr.com | Kribu.net

JMS deals with monsters of the ego, not monsters of the id, like in Forbidden Planet.

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You're speaking treason! Olivia De Havilland as Maid Marian
Fluently! Errol Flynn as Robin Hood
You're talking treason! Olivia De Havilland as Arabella Bishop
I trust I'm not obscure. Errol Flynn as Dr. Peter Blood

Pallindromes of the month: Snug was I, ere I saw guns.
Doom an evil deed, liven a mood.

"Twilight Zone" reused the ship from "Forbidden Planet" in the episode Third From The Sun.

They even re-used the robot from "Forbidden Planet" in the movie "Robbie The Robot" and in an episode of Lost in Space.

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"The past tempts us, the present confuses us, and the future frightens us ...and our lives slip away, moment by moment, lost in that vast, terrible in-between." Emperor Turhan

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR> Haven't seen Forbidden Planet myself, but it sure sounds as if there's something similar there! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

It's a good movie for its period. Based on Shakespeare's The Tempest. Some excellent effects given it was made in the 50's.

I'd totally forgotten that the Captain was played by Leslie Neilsen, before his Naked Gun days



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Demon

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR> I'd totally forgotten that the Captain was played by Leslie Neilsen, before his Naked Gun days

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Too busy looking at Anne Francis.

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"The past tempts us, the present confuses us, and the future frightens us ...and our lives slip away, moment by moment, lost in that vast, terrible in-between." Emperor Turhan

Forbidden Planet still rocks 50 years on. Just like King Kong.

Think of it as a forerunner to Star Trek and every Sci fi series/movie that followed.

Weirdest music ever.

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I've never seen "Forbidden Planet," but I've heard of it. I really haven't seen that many old science fiction movies. The oldest one that I have seen was Planet of the Apes. I'll be making a point now to see "Forbidden Planet" so that I can see that scene. Thanks for mentioning it here.

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Ivanova is always right. I will listen to Ivanova. I will not ignore Ivanova's recommendations. Ivanova is God. And if this ever happens again, Ivanova will personally rip your lungs out.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR> Weirdest music ever <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Makes Chen's music for Crusade sound almost conventional Movie and music were way ahead of their time.

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Demon

If the "oldest" SF film you've ever seen is the original Planet of the Apes, you've really missed some great stuff.

Here are some pre-1968 SF films that are worth watching, in addition to Forbidden Planet:

Earth vs the Flying Saucers
The Day the Earth Stood Still
It came from Outer Space
Invaders from Mars (1953)
The Incredible Shrinking Man
It! The Terror From Beyond Space
The Thing (From Another World)
The War of the Worlds
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1976)*
Them!
Fantastic Voyage
The Time Machine (1960)
Fahrenheit 451
5 Million Years to Earth
Quatermass 2
When Worlds Collide
Donovan's Brain
The Blob
This Island Earth
Things to Come
Fiend Without a Face
The Tenth Victim (1965)
The Fly (1958)
Destination Moon
Creature from the Black Lagoon
The Invisible Man (1933)
X! The Unknown

If you can find the original Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers serials (not the edited "feature film" versions) they're worth checking out. Crude, but fun.

Fritz Lang's silent Metropolis (1927) is a classic, but I understand that it is hard to find a decent version on home video. I saw a decent (but still incomplete) cut on PBS many years ago.

I haven't seen Lang's Woman in the Moon (1930, AKA Rocket to the Moon) but it is another seminal SF film, of great historical interest. Among other things Lang "invented" the count-down in the movie. He thought working backwards from 10 was more dramatic. German rocket enthusiasts copied the idea from the film, and brought it to the U.S. after the war.

Since I think they count as both SF and Horror I'll add:
Frankenstein (Karloff original)
The Bride of Frankenstein

The amazing thing is that I know I've left many good films off the list above, but I'm sure others will think of them.

Regards,

Joe

* OK, so this is post-1968. But it is one of the few remakes that is really worthwhile, so it is worth a look (after you've seen the original.)

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Joseph DeMartino
Sigh Corps
Pat Tallman Division
joseph-demartino@att.net

[This message has been edited by Joseph DeMartino (edited February 24, 2002).]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR> The amazing thing is that I know I've left many good films off the list above, but I'm sure others will think of them. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Failsafe (1964)
On The Beach (1959)
Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb (1964)

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"The past tempts us, the present confuses us, and the future frightens us ...and our lives slip away, moment by moment, lost in that vast, terrible in-between." Emperor Turhan

I found a copy of Forbidden Planet in our library and I take it out about once a year. Definitely worth a look.

A number of the ones Joe mentioned are shown late at night on a couple of channels, mainly for laughs, I think.

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I always seem to be diagonally parked in a parallel universe.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR> A number of the ones Joe mentioned are shown late at night on a couple of channels, mainly for laughs, I think. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Earth vs. The Flying Saucers
Plan 9 From Outer Space
Invasion Of The Saucer Men


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"The past tempts us, the present confuses us, and the future frightens us ...and our lives slip away, moment by moment, lost in that vast, terrible in-between." Emperor Turhan

Plan 9 From Outer Space deserves its reputation as the Worst Movie ever made.
Notice: Not worst SF movie. Worst Movie, period.

Those who have never Seen "Plan 9" should rent Ed Wood instead.
It tells the story of the Making of Plan 9 as well as the Rest of Ed Wood's not so illustrious Hollywood career.
Including a couple scenes from his Glen/Glenda in which he played a cross dressing whatever it was.

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Do not ascribe your own motivations to others:
At best, it will break your heart.
At worst, it will get you dead."

[This message has been edited by bakana (edited February 24, 2002).]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR> Plan 9 From Outer Space deserves its reputation as the Worst Movie ever made.
Notice: Not worst SF movie. Worst Movie, period. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I concur. It is also one of the funniest SCI FI movies but not meant to be.

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"The past tempts us, the present confuses us, and the future frightens us ...and our lives slip away, moment by moment, lost in that vast, terrible in-between." Emperor Turhan

A few more: King Kong (1933), The Mummy (40?), Rodan (54?), Godzilla (1956), 4D Man (50's), Mask Of Fu Manchu (30's), Village Of The Damned (60's), Journey to The Center Of The Earth (1959), Dr. Cyclops (1940?) Aelita, Queen Of Mars (1924) Russian silent film.

Fritz Lang's Metropolis was fully restored with a newly recorded stereo sound track a few years ago, so I'm more optimistic than Joe about finding a good copy. I wouldn't be suprised if it was on DVD by somebody like Criterion.

I realize that Plan Nine From Outerspace is often cited as the worst film ever made, but I don't agree. Certainly its production values are about as low as you can go, but... personally, I think that 1953's Robot Monster with a guy in a gorilla suit and a space helment is way less creative, and way worse. I've seen a few other low budget scifi clunkers that I think are worse, but I would also call some big budget films worse, my candidates being Ishtar, and two Eastwood films I loathe from premise to execution, The Gauntlet, and The Eiger Sanction. So there!

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You're speaking treason! Olivia De Havilland as Maid Marian
Fluently! Errol Flynn as Robin Hood
You're talking treason! Olivia De Havilland as Arabella Bishop
I trust I'm not obscure. Errol Flynn as Dr. Peter Blood

Pallindromes of the month: Snug was I, ere I saw guns.
Doom an evil deed, liven a mood.

Heh, I never noticed the simularity between the Great Machines of Epsilon 3 and Forbiden Planet. I did however notice the simularity (in appearance) between the invisible creature in that movie and the Soldier of Darkness in ... that one episode of B5 I can't remember the name of at the moment. It came from the sleeper ship that drifted near B5. I'd imagine the visuals for those scenes were inspired by "Forbiden Planet".

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR> They even re-used the robot from "Forbidden Planet" in the movie "Robbie The Robot" and in an episode of Lost in Space. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Robbie's a great ol' robot! He was used in many many movies and TV series well into the '80s and maybe into the '90's too. I know he was he in the first "Gremlins" movie ... not sure if anything after that. I wonder if he's listed on IMDb.com.

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A couple other "nods" to former movies:

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR> "Well, unless its a coincidence, the "circled doodled message left by a madman after he commits suicide" is VERY similar to what happens in Dr. Strangelove. Again, maybe its JMS's homage to Kubrick (like the "2001" style spacesuit that appeared in a second or third season episode, I forget which, of B5)."


Just to clarify this....

Re: the note... the script as written calls only for the finding of a note with the words "scorched earth" on it. It was John Copeland's idea to do the note as shown, and yes, he's said quite openly over on AOL that it was his nod to Strangelove. (John directed that episode.)

Re: the suit ... that wasn't an intentional 2001 nod ... we went to Modern Props to get a space suit for Babylon Squared, and the only one they had on hand that would work for us was one left-over from 2010, which I asked the folks in costume to change as much as possible ... though it was pretty much what it was regardless.
So that one wasn't intentional.
jms <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

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Do not ascribe your own motivations to others:
At best, it will break your heart.
At worst, it will get you dead."

Forbiden Planet was one of my earliest exposures to scifi. My mom had a tape of it. It is quite well done for its age and compares favorable to amny modern films. If you ever want to piss off a star trek fan just say that the top three ST characters were stolen from this movie.

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"I was free to wallow in my own crapulence." -Mr. Burns in "Who Shot Mr. Burns Part Two"