"They need more bromide on that spaceship!"

[major_clanger]

attimes_bracing commented a little while back that she'd seen very few classic sf movies, and wondered about catching up. So, last night, we started with Forbidden Planet.

Now, I hadn't watched FP for literally decades. I have a dim memory of us showing it at a video night at the SF club at university, and I'd definitely seen it before I first went to see Return to the Forbidden Planet (the stage musical) in London in 1989 or so. So my briefing to attimes_bracing was that this was very early in the 'humans explore space' genre (1956), that bits of it would seem familiar because it had been very influential on a number of TV series, and that she should expect it to be, well, a product of the 1950s.

Ouch. I'd forgotten how much a product of the 1950s it was.

We have an all male, all white crew. Well, the C-57D is clearly a military ship (we twice see Commander Adams holding discipline sessions with crewmen) and that would have been typical for small US ship of the era. The real problems start when Altaira, Dr Morbius' daughter, turns up. Everyone from the C-57D, its captain included, immediately start drooling over her to the point of begin blatantly distracted from what they are meant to be doing, and within a very short time one of them is manipulating her into kissing on the grounds that it's meant to be good for her.

Frankly, the more interesting twist the movie could have used would have been to have it turn out that the monster assaulting the crew had been generated by the Krell Machine not from Morbius' subconscious, but from Altaira's.

(Of course, that's not how 1950s scriptwriters would have done it, and if they had it would no doubt have led to a very misogynist denouement.)

Putting that aside for the moment, FP still stands up well in some areas. Morbius' tour of the Krell Machine is one of sf cinema's great visual scenes, and was echoed by Babylon 5; the effects work is surprisingly good for the time, although I'd be interested to know how much it was influenced by pulp sf-magazine covers of the 30s and 40s. The crew's battle with the Id Monster is also done well, and I suspect that any modern CGI remake would actually be less effective by probably being tempted to show more.

Next up: probably 2001, which at least has less creepiness.

Comments

[legionseagle]

The thing that drives me especially bonkers about FP is the bit where she's swimming nude and he's all "Get some clothes on, NOW!" At which point, I'm thinking a) YOU are a guest in HER house and if you can't handle how she swims, get out or turn your back or at least express your cultural discomfort in some form other than a sodding order; and b) what you said.

[watervole]

You've got to allow for the Shakespearian influence. Altaira is effectively Miranda from the Tempest.

http://sederi.org/docs/yearbooks/09/09%2025.pdf

[ivory-goddess.livejournal.com]

I still love FP, but yes, you do have to switch off any number of 'awareness' filters in order not to be left wincing at some of the attitudes.

[dorispossum.livejournal.com]

As an adaptation of 'The Tempest' I think it still works well. My CGI-hardened students find the effects rather droll - particularly Robbie the Robot, though the Caliban/Id Monster can still impress. Altaira's naked suit is still funny. I like the idea of reassigning the Id monster to Altaira - a lot of modern productions of Miranda are questioning the 'sweet innocent' role the Victorians loved so much - not least given how rage-filled some of her speeches are!

[richardthe23rd.livejournal.com]

Yes, you do have to leave the Fifties aside for a moment to appreciate this one. It's still phenomenally good movie SF for its times, and one of the cleverest of all screenwriting "cheats" to get away with explaining to the audience what an "Id" is.

At least, unlike some other SF movies, it would be Robbie instead of the woman serving coffee to the men on the spaceship.

[purplecthulhu.livejournal.com]

I think Hal is plenty creepy...

[major-clanger.livejournal.com]

At least he didn't perv over the crew.

(Or maybe he did, and he actually went mad from writing Bowman/Poole slashfic. That whole subplot could be recast in terms of HAL's jealously...)

[davidwake.livejournal.com]

I think some of the sexism from Shakespeare's play sneaks in. You are trying to show a character who, due to growing up practically alone, is utterly innocent. Not all the crew become drooling idiots... just sadly the bridge crew.

The element to add would be to make Altaira, so used to doing things her way and having issues adjusting. Then she'd have a forceful personality.

I agree that a remake, and it must have been thought about, would overdo everything.

You've not commented on the extraordinary soundtrack by Louis and Bebe Barron. They were hired to produce some 20 minutes of sound effects and came back with a full score. The first wholly electronic soundtrack.

[major-clanger.livejournal.com]

Yes, the soundtrack is indeed extraordinary. At times it veers towards the electronic weebling that beset 1970s Doctor Who but then any part of it must have been fresh and new for an audience of the time.

[davidwake.livejournal.com]

Just popped it on in the background. I suppose there are bits that are there, because they could, rather than a planned whole. Even so, amazing stuff even now.

Forbidden Planet has the whole of Star Trek inherent within it, particularly when you view Star Trek's first pilot.

[davidwake.livejournal.com]

You can't listen to it all in one go.