One of the visual highlights of the ‘50s science fiction

DOCTOR MORBIUS

An all-time favourite, with great soundtrack, wonderful “Monster from de Id” and a fetching AnneFrancis as Altaira Morbius.

A cinematicmarvel for the ages.

When an Earth mission arrives on Altair IV, they find that Dr. Edward Morbius and his beauti-ful daughter Altaira are the only survivors from the original expedition that had arrived some 20 years before. Morbius isn’t exactly pleased to see them and would have preferred that they not even land their spaceship. He does his best to get them on their way but Commander Abrams and his men soon face an invisible force leading them to believe that Morbius and the girl are in danger. Morbius claims to know nothing of other life on the planet but does reveal there once existed a far superior race, now extinct, that left a huge subterranean industrial and scientific complex

SCI-FI HISTORYScience fiction is a bit difficult to define, as it includes a wide range of subgeneres and themes. Author and editor Damon Knight summed up the difficulty by stating that “sci-fi is what we point to when we say it”.

This is the evolution of memorable sci-fi flicks.

Sci-fi studiesScience fiction studies, are the critical assessment, interpretation, and discussion of science fiction literature, film, new media, fandom, and fan fiction. Science fiction studies has a long history dating back to the turn of the twentieth century, but it was not until later that science fiction studies solidified as a disci-pline with the publication of the academic journals.

ConceptThis definition assumes that a continuum exists be-tween empiricism and transcendentalism, with science fiction film on the side of empiricism, and horror film and fantasy film on the side of transcendentalism.However, there are numerous well-known examples of science fiction horror films, epitomized by such pic-tures as Frankenstein and Alien.The visual style of science fiction film can be charac-terized by a clash between alien and familiar images.

Scientific elementsWhile science is a major element of this genre, many movie studios take significant liberties with scientific knowledge. can be most readily observed in films that show spacecraft maneuvering in outer space.

Le voyage dans la luneGeorges Méliès 1902

The day the earth stood stillRobert Wise 1951

Star TrekGene Roddenberry 1966

Star WarsGeorges Lucas 1977

Blade RunnerRidley Scott 1982

Star TrekGene Roddenberry 1987

War of the WorldsByron Haskin 1953

Forbidden PlanetFred M. Wilcox 1956

MetropolisFritz Lang 1927

FrankensteinJames Whale 1931

TECHNICAL FETURESThe original 1952 screen treatment by Irving Block and Allen Adler was titled Fatal Planet; the screenplay by Cyril Hume was renamed Forbidden Planet because it was thought to have more box-office appeal.

Block and Adler’s treatment took place in the year 1976 on the planet Mercury. An expedition headed by John Grant is sent to the planet to retrieve Dr. Adams and his daughter Dorianne, who have been stranded there for twenty years.

The film sets were constructed at an MGM sound stage on the Culver City lot and were designed by Cedric Gib-bons and Arthur Longeran. The entire film was interior studio-bound, without any outdoor photography. All outdoor scenes were simulated with sets and visual effects.

A full-size mock up of three quarters of the C-57D was built to suggest its full width of 170 ft (51 m). This was made by a huge painted diorama of the desert landscape of Altair IV. This set took up all the space in a Culver City sound stage. This was the first film in which humans are depicted traveling in flying saucers of their own construction.

The ship was reused in several episodes of the original Twilight Zone, which was also filmed at the MGM studios.

At about $125,000, Robby the Robot was a very expensive film prop for the time.

Robby was later featured in the film The Invisible Boy and appeared in numer-ous television series and movies. Like the C-57D, Robby (and his vehicle) ap-peared in episodes of Twilight Zone.

The animated sequences, especially the attack of the id monster, were created by veteran animator Joshua Meador, who was lent to MGM by Walt Disney Pictures. Curiously, shots showing the shape of the invisible monster outlined in the blaster beams were evidently removed from some prints shown on television — presumably because its ap-pearance was considered too terrifying for younger viewers — and it was many years before these shots were restored.

According to a “Behind the Scenes” feature on the DVD release, a close look at the creature shows it to have a small goatee beard, suggesting that it is con-nected to Dr. Morbius, the only charac-ter with this feature.

SPOILER ALTERTSPOILER ALTERT

If you haven’t seen the movie yet, it’s time to take this fabulous DVD, put it on your television and sit on your couch.

Read this booklet under your own risk, I won’t responsabilize of those spoilers.

Did YOU WATCH THE MOVIE BEFORE? NOW IT’S TIME TO TAKE THIS EXTRA FEATURES DVD AND STILL ENJOYING THE ORIGINAL SCI-FI.

AND PLEASE, DO NOT SPOILER ANYONE.THANK YOU.

CHARACTERS

CHARACTERS

Altaira Morbius was born on the planet Altair IV in the year 2203. Her mother died not long after her birth, following the mysterious mass deaths of nearly all of her co-workers.

Dr. Edward Morbius is a reclusive philologist whose IQ had been boosted by alien technology. He did only one invention, Robby the Robot.

Robby the Robot is probably the most iconic character in this movie, and the first servant robot ever thought. More details of this character will be exposed below.

Commander J. J. Adams is the main character of the United Planets Cruiser C-57D. He makes the most hu-man part of this movie, by attending his thoughts and intuition.

CASTWalter PidgeonDr. Edward Morbius

Anne FrancisAltaira “Alta” Morbius

Leslie Nielsen Commander John J. Adams

Jack Kelly Lt. Jerry Farman

Warren Stevens Lt. “Doc” Ostrow

Richard AndersonLt. Quinn (ship’s engineer)

Earl Holliman“Cookie” (ship’s cook)

George Wallacethe Bosun, Steve

Bob DixGrey

Jimmy ThompsonYoungerford

James DruryStrong

Harry Harvey, Jr.Randall

Roger McGeeLindstrom

Peter MillerMoran

Morgan JonesNichols

Richard GrantSilvers

Frankie Darrostunt performer inside Robby

Marvin Millervoice of Robby

Les TremayneNarrator

James BestC-57D crewman

William Boyett C-57D crewman

ROBOTS

ROBBYDate of Birth 1 July 1955Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Cul-ver City, California, USA

Height 6’ 11” (2.11 m)

OriginRobby was the brainchild of, and de-signed by Robert Kinoshita, and built in mid-1955 by the MGM propdepartment, at a reported cost of $125,000.00 from blueprint plans pro-vided by industrial designer, Robby appears in the epic science fiction classic Forbidden Planet (1956) and its B-movie followup The InvisibleBoy (1957) a year later.Some would say he is the perfect realization of Isaac Asimov’s famous “Three Laws of Robotics”, which Azimov first promulgated in his 1950 story collection, I, Robot.

Convention iconThe Barton brothers completed their full-size replica of Robby in the spring of 1975, and celebrated by booking him at as many StarTrek and sci-fi conventions as they could.

Robby is now owned by the top For-bidden Planet collector in the world, film director ‘Bill Malone’.

Inside RobbyRobby was originally operated by an MGM special effects techniciannamed ‘Glen Robinson’ who subse-quently worked on MGM’s Logan’s Run (1976). Maps of Mr. Robinson’s work can be seen in the next page.

▪ Forbidden Planet (1956)▪ The Invisible Boy (1957)▪ The Thin Man (1958) - season 1 episode “Robot Client”, original aired February 28, 1958▪ The Gale Storm Show (1958) - season 3 episode “Robot from Inner Space”, first aired December 13,▪ The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (1959-1963)▪ The Twilight Zone (1960s)▪ Episode “Uncle Simon”▪ Episode “The Brain Center at Whipple’s”▪ Episode “One for the Angels” (as a tinplate battery operated toy)▪ Hazel (1961-1966)- episode “Rosie’s Contract”▪ The Addams Family in the episode “Lurch’s Little Helper” aired March 18, 1966▪ The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1966)▪ Lost in Space (1966 and 1967) - in two episodes as two different characters (in “War of the Robots” as▪ The Monkees (1966-1968) - one episode▪ The Banana Splits Adventure Hour (1968 and 1970) - recurring appearance as a maid named▪ Columbo (1974) - episode “Mind Over Mayhem”▪ Hollywood Boulevard (1976)▪ Ark II (1976)▪ Holmes and Yo-Yo (1976)▪ Music Machine (1977)- a K-tel compilation LP, photographs featured on both the front and back of the▪ Project UFO (1978)- season 1 episode “Sighting 4010: The Waterford Incident”▪ Wonder Woman (1979) - season 3 episode “Spaced Out”, as the master of ceremonies at a science▪ Mork & Mindy (1979)▪ Space Academy (1979) - episode “My Favorite Marcia”▪ Charmin Television commercial (1981) - as an assistant to Mr. Whipple, named Squeezak, repeating▪ “Heavy Metal (film) (1981) - Selling a hot dog to Harry Canyon.▪ Night Stalker video game (1982) - featured in the print advertising for the Mattel video game for the▪ IBM and Mac Nighstalker Ad▪ The Love Boat - episode “Programmed for Love”[3]▪ Gremlins (1984)▪ the Fighting Fantasy gamebook series (volume Spectral Stalkers)▪ Cherry 2000 (1987)▪ Earth Girls Are Easy (1988)▪ Space Quest (VGA Remake, 1991) - cameo as one of the models purchasable as a nav unit on▪ Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999) - cameo as a piece of junk in Watto’s Junk Shop▪ Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003)▪ The Simpsons▪ “The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror XIV” (2003)▪ “Mayored to the Mob” - “Danger Danger! Bart Simpson!”▪ Stacked (2005) - as the Nightmare NASA Robot▪ Teen Titans (2005) - “Episode 257-494” (renamed Seven-Gorn-Seven and presented as a robot▪ Television commercial for AT&T (2006) - with WOPR, KITT, and Rosie the Robot Maid

GOOFS MERCHANDISING• As the vehicle driven by the robot first drives up to the residence, there is atow cable visible in the foreground, partially obscured by the bushes. This cable is most visible behind thevehicle as it leaves the scene.

• As the tiger passes Altaira on the patio, first a portion of the tiger’s face, and then a portion of the tiger’s hind leg vanish in the split-screen effect.

• Dr. Morbius invites Commander Ad-ams to try his blaster on the Krell metal door. Cmdr. Adams inspects the result, but he’s not pointing to the spot where the beam hit.

• During the landing scene, the shadow of the ship (or a supporting structure of the suspended model) is visible briefly moving across one of the smaller moun-tains at the right side of the screen.

•When Robby the Robot uses the blaster on the plant in the garden, an unidentifi-able shadow suddenly appears on the green V support directly behind Commander. Adams.

• When the ship’s cook is picked up by the magnetic crane, one of the wires that really picks him up is clearly visible.

• In several wide shots of the crew mem-bers outside the ship, there is a faint vertical shadow visible on the painted backdrop behind the ship. It appears to be either a fold in a piece of fabricor the corner of the sound stage wall.

•The star Altair is shown as an orange-red star, eclipsed by one of its (spheri-cal) planets. It is now known that Altair is white and is oblate, with its equatorial diameter 14% greater than its polardiameter, something that was not known when the movie was produced.

• As Altaira emerges from the swim-ming pool, the flesh-coloured suit that she is wearing to give the impression of nudity is visible.

• The robot shows up carrying lead shielding, which he says is “isotope 217”, and he implies it is lighter than ordinary lead. The purported isotope lead-217 does not exist, and if it did, it would be 4% heavier than the most common (and heaviest) isotope of lead (number 208), not lighter.

• Plot holes: Robby the Robot informs the crew that if they do not speak Eng-lish, he is at their disposal with“187 languages”; yet, he says it all in English. If the crew did not speak Eng-lish, how could they know what he was saying?

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