Hash Bringing Goes to the Movies

‹ Back

Forbidden Planet

 

1958's Forbidden Planet is a classic sci-fi exploring mans fear of progress as well as the fear of man's own inner demons. The film explores ideas of what prior civilizations may have developed in their quest for technological advancement, and how those advancements lead to the civilizations demise. The movie also touches on themes of isolation and control as the scientiest Morbius attempts to hide his technological findings from the rest of mankind in hopes of preventing the human race from the same fate as the Krell (the long deceased alien race in the film). Finally it touches on the necessity to control your inner feelings to prevent the deteremint of mankind. 

 

 

(SPOILERS)

 

Forbidden Planet opens with the spaceship C-57D traversing the galaxy. Commander John J. Adams (Leslie Nielsen) is tasked with visiting the distant planet Altair IV to search for survivors of a previous scientific expedition that has gone mysteriously silent. Upon arrival, the crew meets a lone robot named Robbie, who leads them to his creator, the scientist Dr. Edward Morbius. Morbius reveals that he is the sole survivor on the planet, detailing the tragic demise of the rest of his party, and requests that the search party leave immediately to avoid a similar fate. As the three-man party prepares to return to their ship, Morbius’s daughter, Altaira, arrives and quickly captivates the all-male search party.

 

As the crew investigates the deaths of the previous expedition members (and weirdly teaches Morbius’s daughter how to kiss in the woods), they encounter violent occurrences caused by invisible monsters they initially believe to be remnants of the Krell. The attacks start with minor vandalism of instruments and escalate to crew members’ deaths. Commander Adams returns to Morbius’s home to investigate further and discover Morbius’s secret: he has been studying Krell technology and has used a Krell device to enhance his own knowledge.

 

The climax occurs when one of Adams’s crew members uses the Krell machine to enhance his own knowledge, just as Morbius's had initially done. This attempt proves fatal, but before dying, the crew member reveals that the monsters are manifestations of Morbius’s subconscious. As the invisible monster approaches Morbius’s home, Adams convinces Morbius that the monsters are products of his own mind. Morbius is fatally injured by the monster, but before dying, he instructs Adams to set the planet’s self-destruct mechanism. The film ends with Adams and Morbius’s daughter watching the planet explode.

 

 

 

Forbidden Planet was groundbreaking for its time, featuring several sci-fi firsts including the first man-made starship capable of faster-than-light travel, the first intellectual robot, and the first film to take place entirely on an alien planet. It was also one of Leslie Nielsen's earliest works; I was hardly able to recognize him as a young 30-year-old actor!

 

While the theme of humanity’s ambition to develop technology that may eventually lead to its downfall is not unique in sci-fi, the concept of the monster being generated from Dr. Morbius’s subconscious was an intriguing plot point. I also really enjoyed Robby the Robot and appreciated that Dr. Morbius was intelligent enough to program ethical rules into the robot, such as not allowing it to harm beings with a consciousness.

 

Overall, the film is very interesting and a great watch. I highly recommend checking it out.