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#33 – Blade Runner (1984)
Blade Runner (1982)
Film review #33
Director: Ridley Scott
Do androids dream of electric sheep…?
SYNOPSIS: Los Angeles in the year 2020; six Replicants, androids who were built to mimic humans almost perfectly, have managed to escape an off-world colony, and have landed on Earth, where they are illegal. Rick Deckard, a retired “Blade Runner” (a cop who hunts down replicants), is brought back to the force to hut down and “retire” these replicants. He visits Tyrell, the head of the corporation that built the replicants to examine a test that can distinguish a replicant from a human. There. he meets Rachael, an experimental replicant who believes she is human, implanted with false memories to this end. After 100 questions, the test is still inconclusive about whether she is human or not.
Meanwhile, two of the renegade replicants find an employer of Tyrell corporation, and interrogate him to find a way to meet Tyrell, trying to find away their four year lifespan that is built into them. He suggests they find J.F. Sebastian,the designer of the replicants. Later, Rachael visits Decker at his apartment, trying to prove her humanity by showing him a family photo, but he rejects it, saying it is just somebody else’s memories, causing her to leave in tears. Meanwhile, one of the replicants, Pris, has befriended Sebastian, and he takes her home, where he makes animated dolls using his skills as a designer.
At one of the replicant’s apartments, Deckard finds a photo of a replicant and a snake scale, which he eventually uses to track down a replicant called Zhora to a club. After chasing her through the streets, he catches her and “retires” her. Reporting back to the police, he is told that Rachael has gone missing, and he is to add her to the list of replicants to be retired. Deckard is then attacked by Leon, another replicant, but Rachael appears and shoots Leon, saving Deckard’s life. The two return to his apartment, where Deckard promises not to kill her.
Meanwhile, at Sebastian’s apartment, Roy, the leader of the renegade replicants turns up to tell Pris that they are the only two left. They persuade Sebastian to get them to meet with Tyrell, where they hope they can get him to extend their life. When Roy arrives however, Tyrell tells him that it is impossible, and Roy confesses that he has done many terrible things, but Tyrell dismisses this, saying how special he is in a rather messianic moment. Roy then kills Tyrell and leaves alone.
Back at Sebastian’s apartment, Deckard has entered, and after a brief fight with Pris, kills her just as Roy returns. The two engage in a lengthy fight and chase, ending on a rooftop, where just as Deckard is about to fell to his death, Roy unexpectedly saves him, and dies himself. Back at Deckard’s apartment, he finds Rachael and the two leave the apartment as the movie ends…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Blade Runner is primarily an action film, but it operates on a number of other levels too, utilising notions of the film-noir genre, and using a lot of different religious symbolism and references means this film can be quite complicated, and one could interpret the film in a number of ways.
The film has a very distinct aesthetic. Taking place in the not-so distant year of 2019 in Los Angeles, it is a very “retro-fitted” future, where the city has been developed by merely building over or around the current architecture and structure, so the city is a mass of crowded, narrow streets, and tall skyscrapers that block out the sky from the ground. It reminds me a little of the “Walled City” of Kowloon, in which the city was built on top of itself so much it had to be demolished. Also in the movie, we get glimpses of other future technology, including the hovercars, which are one of the most memorable images from the movie. The images of the Los Angeles skyline in this movie are probably the most famous images to come out of this movie.
Blade Runner has become quite a popular movie over the years, though it didn’t start that way. It was a box office failure (Barely breaking even), and the film was plagued by differences between director and studio, the most controversial part being the voiceover “diary entries” which the studio wanted, but Harrison Ford didn’t, the studio thinking the movie was too complicated without them. The director’s cut edition does not include them, and I think the movie is better without them. The film has quite a large “cult” following, not quite entering the mainstream cinema, but it is on the fringes as a very unique example of science-fiction storytelling, and a remake or sequel has often been discussed.
Very little in this movie is obvious, it is full of strange images and numerous sub-plots that intertwine. The image of Roy, the replicant leader having a very messianic persona, who is looking to save his fellow replicants from the curse of the four year lifespan is an interesting one. He is played very well, torn between these two concepts of being an advanced replicant and having genuine emotions, but not quite achieving them in human form. The human vs Replicant line is blurred further when the notion is brought up about half-way through the film that maybe one should question whether Deckard himself is a Replicant. Though this is never answered, like a number of elements in the movie that are left unresolved at the end, the viewer is invited to make up their own mind.
Overall, Blade Runner is an important movie in terms of science-fiction cinema. It invites the viewer to take it seriously through it’s multiple twists and turns, and interpret what it is happening for themselves. It’s dramatic “neo-noir” style makes it a tense and slick movie that presents the future in a unique way, and is a movie that has stood the test of time, making it an enjoyable and watchable movie.
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#32 – Barbarella (1968)
Barbarella (1968)
Film review #32
Director: Roger Vadim
1960’s science-fiction based on the comic strip of the same name…
SYNOPSIS: Barbarella is contacted on her ship by the president of the Republic of Earth for a top secret mission. She is to retrieve Doctor Durand Durand from the planet Tau Ceti, where he was last seen. Durand has invented a positronic ray, and disappeared in an unknown sector of space. As Earth has been at peace for centuries, weapons are unheard of, and if the positronic ray falls into the wrong hands, it could spell disaster for Earth. As she is on course for the planet though, her ship malfunctions and she crashes on the surface of Tau Ceti…
Barbarella heads out onto the surface, and meets twin girls, who knocker her unconscious and drag her away. When she awakens, she is surrounded by a number of children, who have tied her up and use dolls with razor sharp teeth to bite her. Fortunately, Barbarella is rescued by A huntsman, Mark Hand, who is on the lookout for errant children. She offers to reward him, and he suggests they make love. She is surprised he wants to do it physically, as people of Earth now use pills and psychological analysis instead. She however agrees, and departs from Tau Ceti in her ship, agreeing that sometimes the old ways are the best…
Her ship crashes through the surface of the planet into a labyrinth, badly damaging her ship. She exits her ship and is knocked out by a rock slide, but is rescued by an angel named Pygar. He explains that the labyrinth is where all the people who are cast out of Sogo, the city of night, are forced to live. She is then introduced to Professor Ping, who offers to repair her ship, and suggests she heads for Sogo if she is looking for Durand. Pygar, using his wings gives Barbarella a lift to Sogo. Battling the Great Tyrants black guards along the way, they finally arrive. The two are briefly separated when Barbarella is assaulted by two of the residents. She is saved however, by a one-eyed woman, and Barbarella heads off to search for Pygar.
She finds him and the two try to escape, but find themselves trapped in a strange chamber with an odd liquid beneath the floor. The Concierge, who serves the Great Tyrant who rules Sogo, steps in and takes them away, explaining that the liquid is Mathmos, a demon of sorts that feeds on the negative energy of the people of the city. The two meet the Great Tyrant, who is none other than the woman who rescued Barbarella earlier. Pygar is left to be “crucified” by the Tyrant, and Barbarella is sent to be pecked to death by birds. She is rescued by Dildano, the leader of the resistance, who want to overthrow the tyrant. She offers to thank him by making love, but this time he wants to experience the use of the pill like on Earth. The clumsy Dildano explains that the only time the tyrant is vulnerable is when she is asleep in the Chamber of Dreams, and hands her the invisible key to her lair and sends her on her way.
Barbarella is soon captured by the Concierge again, who traps her in a “pleasure machine”, which will cause her to die by overexposure to pleasure. Barbarella however, being too full of good and pure energy, breaks the machine, and finds out that the Concierge is none other than Durand, who looks a lot older than she was told because of the effects of the Mathmos. He traps Barbarella in the Chamber of Dreams with the Tyrant, so he can proclaim himself ruler of Sogo. His plan is interrupted by Dildano, whose revolutionary forces start to attack, he decides to take them out using his positronic ray. The Tyrant however, releases the Mathmos to destroy Durand and Sogo. She and Barbarella manage to escape by being protected in a focefield apparently generated by Barbarella’s goodness. The two find Pygar and they all fly back towards Barbarella’s ship together.
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: This is an odd sort of film. It seems to be somewhat of a parody of science-fiction, with everything being very tongue-in-cheek. It is a very 60’s film; the psychedelic images of the Mathmos throughout the movie, the scene with the not-so-subtle smoking scene of some sort of drug, the use of “love” in direct reference to how “Peace” was used at the time, and also the soundtrack, which sounds very much like a soundtrack you would find in a more “reality-based” movie of the sixties, or in one of the clubs of the time, quite a difference from the spacey soundtracks one is used to…
Perhaps what makes this movie stand out is the use of a female lead role; something you very rarely see in science-fiction, and almost completely unheard of back then. The erotic and suggestive undertones of the movie really need the use of that innocent, good-natured Barbarella though, and had this been a more serious or traditional science-fiction movie, I’m guessing this would have never have even been given approval to be made. There’s plenty of phallic imagery throughout the film too, so you’re never really taking this film too seriously, as it always one step away from being a complete parody of what itself.
Barbarella was a box office and critical failure, not being released in English until nine years after it was released in France and Italy (The film was filmed in France, and the film was filmed in both languages.). Despite this though, I think it is one of the more memorable science-fiction films of that era, as it does something that is very different. It does not really try to overcome the cheap design and props either, it in fact seems to revel in it. To testify to this, it has a small cult following, and a remake has been talked about it on and off for years. I imagine it would be quite difficult to capture the essence of the original movie, as the decade it was produced in provided a very strong context in which this movie could thrive.
Overall, Barbarella isn’t your typical science-fiction from that era, it is something a little different that never takes itself too seriously. It is important to consider the era it was made, as it plays off many of the definitive aspects of the sixties to appeal to that audience. It’s a little “off the radar” in terms of mainstream science-fiction, but this is why it becomes quite a good parody of the more commercial ones, and having a woman in the lead role in this context is quite subversive and risky, really rounding off this very unique film.
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#31 – The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension! (1984)
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension! (1984)
Film review #31
Director: W.D. Richter
Cult sci-fi about a modern renaissance man and his skilled team…SYNOPSIS: Out in the desert, a group of people have gathered for a test of a new jet car that could break through into the 8th dimension, however, the driver has not yet arrived. So while the final checks are being made, one of them goes to make a call…
In a hospital operating theatre, Dr. Buckaroo Banzai is operating on a patient. Using his skills as a brilliant doctor, he saves the patient, and is impressed by his assistant, and asks him if he would like to join his team. Banzai is then shown to arrive by helicopter at the test site for the jet car. The test starts and Banzai is driving the car as it breaks the sound barrier and continues. Banzai continues despite being order to abort, and he heads directly towards a mountain. Just before he crashes, he disappears into a strange void full of strange shapes and landscapes, as soon as he enters this strange dimension though, he exits out of the other side of the mountain, and so completing a successful attempt to travel into the 8th dimension. Attached to his car though, is a strange creature…
Meanwhile, Dr. Emilio Rizardo, committed in an asylum for the criminally insane is watching the report about Banzai’s achievement on TV. Banzai’s mentor, Dr. Hikita talks about the device that made it possible: The oscillation overthruster. A flashback shows how both Rizardo and Hikita managed to open a portal into the 8th dimension many years ago, and how Rizardo briefly entered the dimension and apparently went insane. Having now built his own oscillator overthruster to reenter the 8th dimension, he phones up a “John Bigbooté”, and escapes the asylum to meet up with some friends at Yoyodyne…
Back with Banzai, he and his team and band, the Hong Kong Cavaliers are doing a gig in New Jersey. Looking out into the crowd, Banzai sees a woman crying. He asks her name, and she responds as Penny Priddy. She is down on her luck, and Banzai, being the renaissance man he is, plays her a song on the piano (Mistakenly calling her Peggy). However, this fails to lift her mood, and is about to shoot herself in the head until someone knocks her and the bullet flies into the air, and she is taken away by police. The team reflect on how she looks exactly the same as his ex-wife. They then learn that Rizardo has escaped, and they have also detected a cloud-like mass over southern New England. Banzai goes to meet New Jersey, the doctor Banzai was working with in the operating theater, and introduces him to the team. Banzai and Perfect Tommy find Penny in jail and bail her to join Banzai.
At a press conference, Banzai explains his achievement in breaking through the 8th dimension, and how his parents died on the hunch that these extra dimensions house aliens and new races, and they reveal the creature they found attached to Banzai’s car. Meanwhile, an alien spaceship high in orbit above the Earth is watching, and launches a thermopod. Banzai gets a call from the president, and recieves a shock from the line, after which, he is able to see through the disguise of Lectroids, the aliens from the 8th dimension, who are trying to take over the world. They kidnap Hikita, and Banzai and the Hong Kong Cavaliers give chase.
The thermopod the aliens launched lands in some woods, and the Lectroids pick up the signal and give chase. Some hunters and cops get there first, and while one of the aliens who emerges is shot, the other escapes. Banzai radios Rawhide, one of the Hong Kong Cavaliers to return to their compound and dig up any information on Yoyodyne industries. The Lectroids find the thermopod and eliminate all the witnesses, but Banzai is close behind. The Cavaliers send out a message to the Blue Blaze Irregulars, a network of volunteers who help out Banzai when he needs it. Two of them in the area, Casper and Scooter Lindley, receive the call and head to Banzai’s aid. He rescues Hikita from the back of the van, and explains he can see the Lectroids, and he knows that they are from planet 10, by way of the 8th dimension. Banzai is rescued by Casper and Scooter, while Hikita escapes on a motorbike.
At the compound, the team are investigating Yoyodyne, and they find that all the employees have the first name “John”, and appeared at the same time that The War of the Worlds broadcast by Orson Welles that announced an alien invasion in 1938 wasn’t a hoax, but was real, and the Lectroids came to Earth on that day. Meanwhile the alien from the thermopod arrives and says he needs to see Buckaroo. calling himself John Parker, he delivers a holographic message from The Black Lectroids, a species of peaceful aliens who banished the Red Lectroids to the 8th dimension. Their leader, John Whorfin (All of the Lectroids have the first name John), now resides in Dr. Rizardo, and will try to steal the overthruster to return to the planet 10 to take revenge. Sure enough, an attack on the compound follows, and Penny is kidnapped, along with the overthruster. The Black Lectroids warn Banzai to retrieve the overthruster, or they will stage a nuclear strike against the Russians and start World War III in order to protect themselves. Rizardo contacts Banzai, telling him to come alone to Yoyodyne industries with the overthruster…
Banzai heads in in his jet car, ordering the Hong Kong Cavaliers to come in after 30 minutes to “mop up”. Banzai is captured by Rizardo/Whorfin and ordered to tell the secret of the overthruster, while the Cavaliers, backed up by the Secretary of defense move in. Banzai manages to escape and rescue Penny, then Banzai and John Parker head off to find the ship the Red Lectroids have been constructed. When Whorfin, and Bigbooté take off in it, Banzai and Parker give chase in a spare thermopod, and blow up Whorfin’s ship with him in it. The victorious Banzai then returns, into the arms of Penny…
THOUGHTS AND ANALYSIS: This is an odd film. It is (I think) primarily a science-fiction, mixing elements of satire, romance and comedy. It has a distinctive 80’s flair that is of its time; the soundtrack, the outrageous costumes and the humour all add up to create that eighties vibe. The special effects in Buckaroo Banzai were really good too; the costumes of the Lectroids are very well done, and though most of the sets aren’t very elaborate in terms of science-fiction, they are still well put together. The jet car and the alien ships have sort of messy aesthetic to them, unlike the more sterile sets one might usually see in science-fiction.
There are a lot of interesting ideas in this movie. The world created in this movie seems very rich and interesting, introducing a rage of interesting characters in Buckaroo Banzai and his Hong Kong Cavaliers. However, I think that the film just isn’t long enough to realise all these interesting ideas in just 102 minutes. This is no more prevalent than in the protagonist of the film: Buckaroo Banzai, a regular renaissance man; who is a surgeon, rocket car driver, rock star and physicist. The film spreads out Banzai across all these areas, in which he handles all with ease. The characters of the Hong Kong Cavaliers, such as Rawhide and Perfect Tommy seem to be really interesting characters, but are never fleshed out during the film. As I said, a rich world has been created, but it is never really elaborated upon. I suppose one should just enjoy the ride that the film offers, rather than trying to overthink what is happening in what is mainly a comedy film. A sequel was planned, which was mentioned at the end of the film, but it was sadly never realised.
With regards to the reception of the film, it failed at the box office, making only half it’s budget back. Its failure in this respect could be due to a number of reasons. As I mentioned earlier, the movie creates an interesting backstory, but there just isn’t enough time to elaborate on it, making the movie a little confusing. The deadpan humour of Buckaroo Banzai also may not be to everyone’s tastes too, I imagine if you went in to see a comedy film as this was advertised, you might not “get” the humour on offer. It’s lack of success can also be attributed to the fact that it was never really advertised to a mainstream audience, instead promotions and advertisements were done at various science-fiction conventions, appealing to that core audience which it would enjoy it, rather than the public in general. Despite it’s shortcomings in the cinema, it has become a cult movie, gaining a small but dedicated fanbase, and a number of spinoffs in the form of novels and comics have been released since the movie, which shows the movie still has that appeal to a circle of people. I think the film can capture one’s imagination quite well with the possibilities of this renaissance man and his band of merry men.
In short, I think Buckaroo Banzai is a fun film; the characters are interesting, the production is slick, and the special effects are well done. It is pretty much a science-fiction film for science-fiction fans though, and other people may not enjoy the humour or the story that the film has to offer. Appealing to the science-fiction core seems like a double-edged sword really: They will get the humour, the characters, and perhaps the confusing plot, but science-fiction is a genre that hinges on it’s audience paying special attention to the details, and since this movie skips over some of the finer details, it can seem a little confusing, even to the core sci-fi fan. But again perhaps this leaves a lot of space for an imaginative mind to fill in the gaps and have lots of fun with the world that is established in the movie. Regardless, it is a fun movie, and if sci-fi is your thing, this should be your thing too.
And remember: “No matter where you go…There you are.”
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#30 – Alphaville (1965)
Alphaville (1965)
Film review #30
Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Welcome to Alphaville, where human emotion is outlawed, and logic is all powerful…
Lemmy Caution, a secret agent from the “Outlands” arrives in Alphaville, a city on another planet, which is ruled by the all-powerful machine Alpha 60, who has outlawed all emotion. Posing as Ivan Johnson, a journalist working for the Figaro-Pravda, he has a number of missions to accomplish: First, he is to find missing agent Henry Dickson, next he must capture or kill Professor Von Braun, the creator of Alphaville, and finally is must destroy Alpha 60 itself. Caution checks into his hotel, acting hostile to those around him, but no one ever shows any response to his actions. Caution enters his room, and checks around and casually kills an agent hiding in his room. He then meets Natacha Von Braun, the daughter of Professor Von Braun, whom he asks to arrange a meeting with the Professor.
Caution heads to the Red Star hotel, where he has tracked down missing agent Henry Dickson. He tells Caution that those who do not assimilate into the state are pushed to suicide, and Dickson soon dies. Caution then returns to ask Natacha for help in meeting Professor Von Braun, but she insists she has never met him, despite being her daughter. Caution begins to fall for Natacha, but as she was raised in Alphaville, she does not understand words such as “love” or “conscience”, and has trouble feeling any sort of emotions. Caution is taken to a swimming pool, where a public execution is taking place. He is told that fifty men are executed to every one woman, and the executions are taking place next to a group of women synchronised swimming. When Caution tries to get close to Professor Von Braun, he is arrested and thrown into an interrogation room.
Caution is then questioned by Alpha 60, who tries to ascertain his purpose in being in Alphaville. Caution is reluctant to co-operate with a machine, but Alpha 60 suggests that he becomes a spy for Alphaville, and is released in the meantime. Caution heads back to his hotel room, where Natacha is waiting for him. He talks to her about things such as poetry, but she does not understand, and reaches for the “bible”, which every room has. Caution is surprised to find that this is not a bible at all, but a dictionary, and Natacha explains that the bible needs to be changed regularly, as Alpha 60 is constantly removing words which are no longer necessary. Caution makes her realise that she was not born in Alphaville, but was brought there from New York when she was a child, and so she still has the capacity to feel these emotions.
Caution finally heads for one last confrontation with Alpha 60 and Professor Von Braun. He finds the Professor, and he offers very little resistance, he tries to tempt Caution with joining Alphaville, or ruling a galaxy, but when he finally refuses Caution’s final attempt to persuade him to rejoin “the outlands” (The world outside of Alphaville) Caution finally shoots and kills him.
Turning his attention to Alpha 60, Caution poses a riddle to the supercomputer, and since it has no understanding of poetry and such, it manages to defeat itself and shut down. Caution finally gets in his car with Natacha and drives off down the highway out of Alphaville. Natacha finally realises that her individuality and understanding of her own feelings can save her, which deals the death blow to Alpha 60. As the two drive off down the highway, Natacha is able to say the three words that set her free: Je vous aime (“I love you”)…
Jean-Luc Godard, the director of Alphaville, was one of French cinema’s most innovative directors during the 1960’s, where he criticised films for their lack of innovation and experimentation. Alphaville takes the distinct genres of science-fiction and film noir and combines them to create a film that is a strange mix between the two. Lemmy Caution, a character that had appeared in a number of previous films set in the present, is here thrust into a more dystopic future, and there is a contrast with this weathered old detective going up against a futuristic supercomputer who controls a planet. This future however, is not like the future we see in most other science-fiction films, it is instead very similar in terms of design to the present. The film was shot entirely in Paris, using different areas of the city for different scenes such as the electric company for the headquarters for the supercomputer Alpha 60, for example. This perhaps makes it not so much a futuristic setting, but more of an alternative present, as the film references that it is taking place in the twentieth century.
There are no special effects or flashy props used in Alphaville; Everything you see on screen is shot directly on location in Paris. Even the more modern (or futuristic) architecture is from buildings which were recently built in the city, and which would be seen as quite futuristic in comparison to the older architecture of the city. The science-fiction aspect of this movie is not so much concerned with the landscape and the technology, but rather about how the people are affected and governed by a machine. The “bible” is an interesting concept that crops up during the film. It is mentioned at the beginning that every room should have a bible, and near the end we find out that this bible is actually a dictionary, which is composed of all the words that Alpha 60 has deemed acceptable, and it is referenced that constant revisions are made when Alpha 60 deems a word no longer necessary. This concept is quite similar to the idea of “Newspeak” in 1984 By George Orwell, in which the ruling party decides which words are necessary, and which ones should be erased from history, altering past documents to suit the present’s needs. The future in Alphaville is always undergoing constant revision as the supercomputer at the head of it all processes new information…
The film is quite experimental in nature. In keeping with Godard’s mantra of innovation and experimentation, the narrative is composed of Caution’s journey through Alphaville, and the intermittent voice of Alpha 60, who serves as a narrator of sorts at certain parts of the movie. During these narration scenes, we usually see flashing images of equations, words and images that are cleverly inserted to accompany the powerful and absolute statements that the computer dictates.
Alphaville is a mix of science-fiction and film-noir, combining two genres which traditionally don’t go together. It has a sense of mystery and drama in a world which is full of mysteries itself. The concept of computer’s ruling humans and outlawing emotions is hardly new (Or maybe it was when it was released?), but it is a fresh take on the subject, by taking the ordinary and everyday, and gives it a “what-if?” twist into the future. It also cleverly references some of the other works of literature and film from that time, using them to rebel against the objectivist mind of the computer. Overall, I would say it is definitely worth a watch.
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#29 – Forbidden Planet (1956)
Forbidden Planet (1956)
Film review #29
Director: Fred M. Wilcox
Sci-fi classic dealing with the “Monster from the Id”…
In the 23rd century, humanity has the power to travel between the planets of the galaxy. The United Planets cruiser C57-D is traveling to the planet Altair IV in order to investigate the disappearance of the Bellerophon, a ship which had gone missing when it landed on the planet twenty years earlier. When they approach the planet, Commander John Adams, who is in command, receives a message on the ship’s radio from a man who warns them against landing. Despite the repeated warnings, Adams orders the ship to go in for a landing…
Upon landing on the surface and venturing out, the crew is met by Robby the Robot, who takes Commander Adams, Lieutenant Jerry Farman, and the ship’s doctor Lieutenant Ostrow to go and meet the man they communicated with on the radio. At a large villa, the trio meet Dr. Edward Morbius, the only survivor from the Bellerophon.
Dr. Morbius explains the fate of the Bellerophon crew: The crew were all savagely killed a few months after landing by a strange planetary force, and only Morbius and his wife survived. His wife died shortly after of natural causes. The meeting is then interrupted by the entrance of Morbius’s daughter, Altaira, whom the Doc takes a liking to. Altaira is fascinated to meet men other than her Father, as she was born on Altair and has never seen any other people. Morbius warns the crew to leave the planet as soon as possible to avoid meeting the same fate as the crew of the Bellerophon, but Adams says he will not leave until he has received further instructions from headquarters, and will stay on the planet until he can do so.
The next night, some of the equipment aboard the ship is sabotaged, though no one saw anyone enter the ship. Adams and Ostrow return to visit Morbius, who tells them of the Krell: An ancient civilisation that vanished from the planet in a single night some 200,000 years ago, just as they were on the verge of the ultimate scientific breakthrough: To discard any physical form and live as pure energy. Morbius then leads them to a secret laboratory where he shows them some of the scientific machines the Krell have left behind, including a “plastic educator”, which enhances intelligence. When the captain of the Bellerophon tried to use it, he was killed instantly, but when Morbius tried it, he barely survived, but his intelligence had doubled. Now being able to access the Krell library, he was able to build Robby the Robot and the rest of the technological marvels in his home. He then proceeds to show the two around a massive cube-shaped Krell underground complex, 40 miles across, and powered by 9200 thermonuclear reactors.
The crew erect a forcefield around the ship to protect them from further intrusions. This proves futile however, as the intruder returns aboard the ship and kills Chief Engineer Quinn. The intruder leaves a large footprint, which the crew finds hard to explain. When the intruder returns again, they find it is invisible, and it’s shape can only be discerned by coming into contact with the forcefield and the crew’s energy weapons, however, they have very little effect on the creature. It kills another four members of the crew, and back at Morbius’s home, we find he is asleep, but when Altaira screams from having a bad dream, he wakes up, and the creature attacking the crew vanishes…
Adams and Ostrow go to confront Morbius again, this time Ostrow uses the “plastic educator” on himself to try and work out what is happening. He realises that the Krell complex was to be used to imagine anything and make it real, but they forgot one thing: The monsters from the Id, the primal subconscious that manifested itself and wiped out the Krell. There being no Krell alive now, they realise it must be someone else’s subconscious creating the monsters: Dr. Morbius. They confront him with this, but he is dismissive. They try to explain to him that when he used the “plastic educator”, he manifested the monster that killed the crew of the Bellerophon, but still he dismisses it.
When Altaira tells her Father she wishes to leave Altair IV and declares her love for Adams, the monster approaches the house. Morbius commands Robby to kill it, but since the monster is an extension of the master he has been programmed not to harm, he shuts down. They then take refuge in the Krell laboratory, but the monster is still hunting them. Morbius finally accepts the truth and tells Adams to activate the planet self-destruct system, and that they have to be 100 million miles away in 24 hours. Morbius is fatally wounded fighting off the monster, and Adams, Altaira, Robby and the rest of the crew watch from space 24 hours later as Altair IV explodes in a brilliant flash of light.
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Forbidden Planet is one the key Sci-fi films of the 1950’s, and is a futuristic venture backed up by a generous budget. The design of the sets and production values are very slick and lavish for their time, as is the use of colour, which was still slowly being adopted into mainstream use in cinemas. The large sets include the highly detailed Krell laboratory, complete with a range of blinking machines and dials, the C57-D starship, and the planet just outside it. The film was very much intended to be view as a futuristic and it achieves that very well.
The character of Robby the Robot is one of the most recognisable characters to come out of the film. Apparently costing $125,000 to make, Robby distinguishes himself from other robots one might see in sci-fi films of that era as being a fully fledged supporting character, rather than being a mere tool of the main cast which robots were generally used for, even elaborate ones such as the robot in Metropolis and Gort in The Day The Earth Stood Still. Robby had his money’s worth got out of him though, being re-used in another science-fiction film The Invisible Boy, and appearing on a number of episodes of the science-fiction series The Twilight Zone. The prop itself has appeared in many more series over the years in various forms, either as Robby, some other form of robot, or just part of a set. All this has lead to Robby becoming a science-fiction icon, and being distinctly recognisable.
The importance of this film in the context of the history of science-fiction development is also apparent. Gene Roddenberry cites it as an influence in creating Star Trek, which itself is one of the major players in science-fiction. Episodes of other popular science-fiction series including Doctor Who and Babylon 5 are also based on the ideas of Forbidden Planet. There was also a musical produced entitled “return to the forbidden planet”, which attests to how this film has a place in the public consciousness and the development of science-fiction movies.
This concept of the “Monster from the Id” is a very interesting concept. It is quite unique as a plot device, and it has a philosophic undertone about it, specifically how our unconscious or primal thoughts can exist separate from the self, and how they may undermine it. It is different from other films that simple use the unknown, or “other” as an antagonist different from humans, but what happens when the enemy is part of your self?
Forbidden Planet is a very important movie in the history of science-fiction and it is still a watchable film today. It has aged, but not so much that it detracts from the experience of the narrative. The story is neatly put together, the acting is of good quality, and there’s a bit of action, humour and philosophy which makes it a worthwhile viewing.
