Forbidden Planet

Forbidden Planet is a 1956 American science fiction film produced by Nicholas Nayfack, directed by Fred M. Wilcox that stars Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, and Leslie Nielsen. Shot in Eastmancolor and CinemaScope, it is considered one of the great science fiction films of the 1950s, and a precursor of contemporary science fiction cinema. The characters and isolated setting have been compared to those in William Shakespeare's The Tempest, and the plot contains certain analogues to the play.
Forbidden Planet pioneered several aspects of science fiction cinema. It was the first science fiction film to depict humans traveling in a faster-than-light starship of their own creation. It was also the first to be set entirely on another planet in interstellar space, far away from Earth. The Robby the Robot character is one of the first film robots that was more than just a mechanical "tin can" on legs; Robby displays a distinct personality and is an integral supporting character in the film. Outside science fiction, the film was groundbreaking as the first of any genre to use an entirely electronic musical score, courtesy of Bebe and Louis Barron.
Forbidden Planet's effects team was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects at the 29th Academy Awards. In 2013, the picture was entered into the Library of Congress' National Film Registry, being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Plot

In the 23rd century, the starship C-57D reaches the distant world Altair IV to determine the fate of an Earth expedition sent there 20 years earlier. Dr. Edward Morbius, one of the expedition's scientists, warns the relief ship not to land, saying he cannot guarantee their safety, but C-57D Commander John J. Adams ignores his advice.
After landing, Adams and Lieutenants Jerry Farman and "Doc" Ostrow are met by Robby the Robot, who transports them to Morbius' residence. Morbius describes how one by one the rest of the expedition was killed by an unknown force and that their starship, the Bellerophon, was vaporized as the last survivors tried to lift off. Only Morbius, his wife (who later died of natural causes), and their daughter Altaira were somehow immune. Morbius offers to help them prepare for the return journey, but Adams says he must await further instructions from Earth.
The next day, Adams finds Farman attempting to seduce Altaira; furious, he dismisses Farman and berates Altaira for her naivety and clothing. She reports the incident to Morbius, and claims that she never wishes to see Adams again. However, she later designs a new, more conservative gown to please Adams. That night, an invisible intruder sabotages equipment aboard the starship. Adams and Ostrow attempt to confront Morbius the following morning concerning this. While waiting for him, Adams steps outside to talk to Altaira. Adams apologizes for his behavior and they kiss. When they are unexpectedly attacked by Altaira's tiger, Adams disintegrates it with his sidearm.
When Morbius appears, Adams and Ostrow learn that he has been studying the Krell, a highly advanced native race that perished overnight 200,000 years before. In a Krell laboratory, Morbius shows them a "plastic educator", a device capable of measuring and enhancing intellectual capacity. When Morbius first used it, he barely survived, but his intellect was permanently doubled. Morbius then takes them on a tour of a gigantic Krell underground machine complex, a cube 20 miles (32 km) long on each side, still functioning and powered by 9,200 thermonuclear reactors. Afterwards, Adams demands that Morbius turn over his discoveries to Earth. Morbius, however, states that "humanity is not yet ready to receive such limitless power".
To guard against further sabotage, Adams has a force field fence erected around the starship. It proves ineffective when the invisible intruder returns and murders Chief Engineer Quinn. Morbius warns Adams that he has a premonition of further deadly attacks, similar to what happened with the Bellerophon. That night, the creature returns, but is outlined in the fence's force field. The ship's weapons have no effect, and the creature kills Farman and two others. Morbius, asleep in the Krell lab, is startled awake by screams from Altaira; at the same instant, the roaring creature vanishes.
Later, while Adams tries to persuade Altaira to leave, Ostrow sneaks away to use the Krell educator. He is fatally injured, but with his dying breath, Ostrow tells Adams that the underground machine was built to materialize anything the Krell could imagine. He says that the Krell forgot one thing, however: "Monsters from the Id". Their own base subconscious desires, given free rein and unlimited power by the machine, brought about their quick extinction. Adams asserts that Morbius' subconscious mind created the creature that killed the original expedition and attacked his crew; Morbius refuses to believe him.
After Altaira tells Morbius that she intends to leave with Adams, Robby detects the creature approaching. Morbius commands the robot to kill it, but Robby knows it is a manifestation of Morbius and shuts down. The monster melts through the almost indestructible Krell metal doors of the laboratory where Adams, Altaira, and Morbius have taken refuge. Morbius finally accepts the truth. He confronts and disowns the creature, but is fatally injured, whereupon the monster vanishes. Before Morbius dies, he has Adams initiate a chain reaction within the Krell reactors, saying everyone must be 100 million miles away within 24 hours. At that safe distance, Adams, Altaira, Robby and the surviving crew watch the destruction of Altair IV.

Cast

Walter Pidgeon as Dr. Edward Morbius
Anne Francis as Altaira "Alta" Morbius
Leslie Nielsen as Commander John J. Adams
Robby the Robot as Himself
Warren Stevens as Lt. "Doc" Ostrow
Jack Kelly as Lt. Jerry Farman
Richard Anderson as Chief Quinn
Earl Holliman as Cook
George Wallace as Steve
Robert Dix as Grey
Jimmy Thompson as Youngerford
James Drury as Strong
Harry Harvey, Jr. as Randall
Roger McGee as Lindstrom
Peter Miller as Moran
Morgan Jones as Nichols
Richard Grant as Silvers
Frankie Darro, stuntman inside Robby the Robot (uncredited)
Marvin Miller, voice of Robby the Robot (uncredited)
Les Tremayne as the Narrator (uncredited)
James Best as a C-57D crewman (uncredited)
William Boyett as a C-57D crewman (uncredited)

Production

The screenplay by Irving Block and Allen Adler, written in 1952, was originally titled Fatal Planet. The later screenplay draft by Cyril Hume renamed the film Forbidden Planet, because this was believed to have greater box-office appeal. Block and Adler's drama took place in the year 1976 on the planet Mercury. An Earth 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. From then on, its plot is roughly the same as that of the completed film, though Grant is able to rescue both Adams and his daughter and escape the invisible monster stalking them.
The film sets for Forbidden Planet were constructed on a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) sound stage at its Culver City film lot and were designed by Cedric Gibbons and Arthur Lonergan. The film was shot entirely indoors, with all the Altair IV exterior scenes simulated using sets, visual effects, and matte paintings.
A full-size mock-up of roughly three-quarters of the starship was built to suggest its full width of 170 ft (51 m). The ship was surrounded by a huge, painted cyclorama featuring the desert landscape of Altair IV; this one set took up all of the available space in one of the Culver City sound stages. Principal photography took place from April 18 to late May 1955.
Later, many costume and prop items were reused in several different episodes of the television series The Twilight Zone, most of which were filmed by Rod Serling's Cayuga Productions at the MGM studio in Culver City, including Robby the Robot, the various C-57D models, the full-scale mockup of the base of the ship (which featured in the episode To Serve Man), the blaster pistols and rifles, crew uniforms and special effects shots.
At a cost of roughly $125,000, Robby the Robot was very expensive for a film prop at this time - it represented almost 7% of the film's $1.9 million budget and equates to at least $1 million in 2017.^{[Note 1]} Both the electrically controlled passenger vehicle driven by Robby and the truck/tractor-crane off-loaded from the starship were also constructed specially for this film. Robby later starred in the science fiction film The Invisible Boy and appeared in many TV series and films; like the C-57D, Robby (and his passenger vehicle) appeared in various episodes of CBS's The Twilight Zone, usually slightly modified for each appearance.
The animated sequences of Forbidden Planet, especially the attack of the monster, were created by the veteran animator Joshua Meador, who was lent out to MGM by Walt Disney Pictures. According to a "Behind the Scenes" featurette on the film's DVD, a close look at the creature shows it to have a small goatee beard, suggesting its connection to Dr. Morbius, the only character with this physical feature. Unusually, the scene in which the Id Monster is finally revealed during its attack on the Earth ship was not created using traditional cel animation. Instead, Meador simply sketched each frame of the entire sequence in black pencil on white paper; each page was then photographed in high contrast, so that only the major details remained visible. These images were then photographically reversed into negative and the resulting white line images were then tinted red, creating the effect of the Id Monster's body remaining largely invisible, with only its major outlines illuminated by the energy from the force-field and blaster beams.

Reception

Forbidden Planet had its world premiere at the Southeastern Science Fiction Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina on March 3 and 4, 1956, and opened in more than 100 cities on March 23 in CinemaScope, Eastmancolor, and in some theaters, stereophonic sound, either by the magnetic or Perspecta processes.
The film received positive reviews from critics. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote that everyone who worked on the film certainly "had a barrel of fun with it. And, if you've got an ounce of taste for crazy humor, you'll have a barrel of fun, too." Variety wrote: "Imaginative gadgets galore, plus plenty of suspense and thrills, make the Nicholas Nayfack production a top offering in the space travel category." Harrison's Reports called the film "weird but fascinating and exciting," with "highly imaginative" production. Philip K. Scheuer of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the film was "more than another science-fiction movie, with the emphasis on fiction; it is a genuinely thought-through concept of the future, and the production MGM has bestowed on it gives new breadth and dimension to that time-worn phrase, 'out of this world.'" John McCarten of The New Yorker called the film "a pleasant spoof of all the moonstruck nonsense the movies have been dishing up about what goes on among our neighbors out there in interstellar space." The Monthly Film Bulletin of Britain praised the film as "an enjoyably thorough-going space fantasy," adding, "In tone the film adroitly combines naivete with sophistication, approaching its inter-planetary heroics with a cheerful consciousness of their absurdity that still allows for one or two genuinely weird and exciting moments, such as the monster's first advance on the spaceship."
According to MGM records the film initially earned $1,530,000 in the U.S. and Canada and $1,235,000 elsewhere resulting in a profit of $210,000
Forbidden Planet was re-released to film theaters during 1972 as one of MGM's "Kiddie Matinee" features; it was missing about six minutes of film footage cut to ensure it received a "G" rating from the Motion Picture Association of America. Later video releases carry a "G" rating, though they are all the original theatrical version.
The American Film Institute nominated the film for their top 10 science fiction films. The score was nominated for AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores.

Home media

Forbidden Planet was first released in the pan and scan format in 1982 on MGM VHS and Betamax videotape and on MGM laser disc and CED Videodisc; years later, in 1996, it was again re-issued by MGM/UA, but this time in widescreen VHS and laserdisc, both for the film's 40th anniversary. But it was The Criterion Collection that later re-issued Forbidden Planet in CinemaScope's original wider screen 2.55-to-1 aspect ratio, on a deluxe laserdisc set, with various extra features on a second disc. Warner Bros. next released the film on DVD in 1999 (MGM's catalog of films had been sold in 1998 to AOL-Time Warner by Turner Entertainment and MGM/UA). Warner's release offered both cropped and widescreen picture formats on the same disc.
For the film's 50th anniversary, the Ultimate Collector's Edition was released on November 28, 2006, in an oversized red metal box, using the original film poster for its wraparound cover. Both DVD and high definition HD DVD formats were available in this deluxe package. Inside both premium packages were the films Forbidden Planet and The Invisible Boy, The Thin Man episode "Robot Client" ("Robby The Robot", one of the film's co-stars, was also a guest star in both The Thin Man episode and The Invisible Boy) and a documentary Watch the Skies!: Science Fiction, The 1950s and Us. Also included were miniature lobby cards and an 8 cm (3-inch) toy replica of Robby the Robot. This was quickly followed by the release of the Forbidden Planet 50th Anniversary edition in both standard DVD and HD DVD packaging. Both 50th anniversary formats were mastered by Warner Bros.-MGM techs from a fully restored, digital transfer of the film. A Blu-ray disc edition of Forbidden Planet was released on September 7, 2010.

Novelization

Shortly before the film was released, a novelization appeared in hardcover and then later in mass-market paperback; it was written by W. J. Stuart (the mystery novelist Philip MacDonald writing under the pseudonym), which chapters the novel into separate first person narrations by Dr. Ostrow, Commander Adams, and Dr. Morbius. The novel delves further into the mysteries of the vanished Krell and Morbius' relationship to them. In the novel, he repeatedly exposes himself to the Krell's manifestation machine, which (as suggested in the film) boosts his brain power far beyond normal human intelligence. Unfortunately, Morbius retains enough of his imperfect human nature to be afflicted with hubris and a contempt for humanity. Not recognizing his own base primitive drives and limitations proves to be Morbius' downfall, as it had for the extinct Krell. While not stated explicitly in the film (although the basis for a deleted scene first included as an extra with the Criterion Collection's LaserDisc set and included with both the later 50th anniversary DVD and current Blu-ray releases), the novelization compared Altaira's ability to tame the tiger (until her sexual awakening with Commander Adams) to the medieval myth of a unicorn being tamable only by a virgin.
The novel also includes an element never included in the film: when Dr. Ostrow dissects one of the dead Earth-type animals, he discovers that its internal structure precludes it from ever having been alive in the normal biological sense. The tiger, deer, and monkey are all conscious creations by Dr. Morbius using the great machine as companions ("pets") for his daughter and only outwardly resemble their Earth counterparts. Since the Krell's Great Machine can project matter "in any form" it has the power to create life. Thus, the Krell's self-destruction can be interpreted by the reader as a cosmic punishment for misappropriating the life-creating power of the universe. This is why Commander Adams says in his speech to Altaira "... we are, after all, not God".

Soundtrack

Forbidden Planet's innovative electronic music score, credited as "electronic tonalities", partly to avoid having to pay any of the film industry music guild fees,^{[citation needed]} was composed by Bebe and Louis Barron. MGM producer Dore Schary discovered the couple quite by chance at a beatnik nightclub in Greenwich Village while on a family Christmas visit to New York City; Schary hired them on the spot to compose his film's musical score. While the theremin (which was not used in Forbidden Planet) had been used on the soundtrack of Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound (1945), the Barrons' electronic composition is credited with being the first completely electronic film score; their soundtrack preceded the invention of the Moog synthesizer by eight years (1964).
Using ideas and procedures from the book Cybernetics: Or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine (1948) by the mathematician and electrical engineer Norbert Wiener, Louis Barron constructed his own electronic circuits that he used to generate the score's "bleeps, blurps, whirs, whines, throbs, hums, and screeches". Most of these sounds were generated using an electronic circuit called a "ring modulator". After recording the basic sounds, the Barrons further manipulated the sounds by adding other effects, such as reverberation and delay, and reversing or changing the speeds of certain sounds.
Since Bebe and Louis Barron did not belong to the Musicians Union, their work could not be considered for an Academy Award, in either the "soundtrack" or the "sound effects" categories. MGM declined to publish a soundtrack album at the time that Forbidden Planet was released. However, film composer and conductor David Rose later published a 7" (18 cm) single of his original main title theme that he had recorded at the MGM Studios in Culver City during March 1956. His main title theme had been discarded when Rose, who had originally been hired to compose the musical score in 1955, was discharged from the project by Dore Schary sometime between Christmas 1955 and New Year's Day. The film's original theatrical trailer contains snippets of Rose's score, the tapes of which Rose reportedly later destroyed.
The Barrons finally released their soundtrack in 1976 as an LP album for the film's 20th anniversary; it was on their very own Planet Records label (later changed to Small Planet Records and distributed by GNP Crescendo Records). The LP was premiered at MidAmeriCon, the 34th World Science Fiction Convention, held in Kansas City, MO over the 1976 Labor Day weekend, as part of a 20th Anniversary celebration of Forbidden Planet held at that Worldcon; the Barrons were there promoting their album's first release, signing all the copies sold at the convention. They also introduced the first of three packed-house screenings that showed an MGM 35mm fine grain vault print in original CinemaScope and stereophonic sound. A decade later, in 1986, their soundtrack was released on a music CD for the film's 30th Anniversary, with a six-page color booklet containing images from Forbidden Planet, plus liner notes from the composers, Bebe and Louis Barron, and Bill Malone.
A tribute to the film's soundtrack was performed live in concert by Jack Dangers, available on disc one of the album Forbidden Planet Explored.

Track list

The following is a list of compositions on the CD:

Main Titles (Overture)
Deceleration
Once Around Altair
The Landing
Flurry Of Dust – A Robot Approaches
A Shangri-La In The Desert / Garden With Cuddly Tiger
Graveyard – A Night With Two Moons
"Robby, Make Me A Gown"
An Invisible Monster Approaches
Robby Arranges Flowers, Zaps Monkey
Love At The Swimming Hole
Morbius' Study
Ancient Krell Music
The Mind Booster – Creation Of Matter
Krell Shuttle Ride And Power Station
Giant Footprints In The Sand
"Nothing Like This Claw Found In Nature!"
Robby, The Cook, And 60 Gallons Of Booze
Battle With The Invisible Monster
"Come Back To Earth With Me"
The Monster Pursues – Morbius Is Overcome
The Homecoming
Overture (Reprise) [this track recorded at Royce Hall, UCLA, 1964]

Costumes and props

The costumes worn by Anne Francis were designed by Helen Rose. Her miniskirts were the first ever seen in a Hollywood film (not counting those seen in 1937's On the Avenue), and resulted in Forbidden Planet being banned in Spain; it was not shown there until 1967. Other costumes were designed by Walter Plunkett.
Robby the Robot was operated by diminutive stuntman Frankie Darro. He was fired during filming after almost falling over while in the expensive prop, following a five-martini lunch.
In late September 2015 several screen-used items from Forbidden Planet were offered in Profiles in History's Hollywood Auction 74, including Walter Pidgeon's "Morbius" costume, an illuminating blaster rifle, blaster pistol, a force field generator post, and an original Sascha Brastoff steel prehistoric fish sculpture seen outside Morbius' home; also offered were several lobby cards and publicity photos. On November 2, 2017, the original Robby the Robot was offered for auction by Bonhams, and it earned US$5.3 million including the buyers premium. It set a new record for TCM-Bonhams auctions, surpassing the US$4 million earned for a Maltese Falcon in 2013, making it the most valuable film prop ever sold at auction.

In popular culture

In the opening of the film, the narrator mentions that humanity landed on the Moon for the first time in the last decade of the 21st century. However, that prediction was incorrect due to humanity first landing on the Moon in the 1960s. The narrator also mentions that all the Solar System's planets were visited by 2200 AD and then faster than light drive was invented shortly afterward.
An Australian radio adaptation using the original electronic music and noted local actors was broadcast in June 1959 on The Caltex Radio Theatre.
In Stephen King's The Tommyknockers, Altair-4 is frequently referenced as the home planet of the titular alien presence.
In the authorized biography of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, Roddenberry notes that Forbidden Planet "was one of [his] inspirations for Star Trek".
Elements of the Doctor Who serial Planet of Evil were consciously based on the 1956 film.
Forbidden Planet and star Anne Francis are named alongside ten other classic science fiction films in the opening song "Science Fiction Double Feature" in the stage musical The Rocky Horror Show and its subsequent film adaptation.
The British musical Return to the Forbidden Planet was inspired by and loosely based on the MGM film, and won the Olivier Award for best musical of 1989/90.
A scene from the science fiction TV series Babylon 5, set on the Epsilon III Great Machine bridge, strongly resembles the Krell's great machine. While this was not the intent of the show's producer, the special effects crew, tasked with creating the imagery, stated that the Krell's machine was a definite influence on their Epsilon III designs.
The Outer Limits episode "The Man with the Power" revisits the premise of a person's subconscious manifesting as a destructive, murderous entity.
Fallout New Vegas's DLC Old World Blues uses multiple references including Doctor Mobius as a reference to the Morbius in the movie, the protectrons being modeled after Robby the Robot, and The Forbidden Dome being based on the movie's title.
In the first Mass Effect game while examining the planets in the Gagarin system of the Armstrong Nebula, on the planet's Junthor survey feed about the planet. A reference is made "Monsters from the id."
Author George R. R. Martin cites Forbidden Planet as his favorite science fiction film and owns a working replica of Robby the Robot made by Fred Barton Productions.

Cancelled remake

New Line Cinema had developed a remake with James Cameron, Nelson Gidding, and Stirling Silliphant involved at different points. In 2007 DreamWorks set up the project with David Twohy set to direct. Warner Bros. re-acquired the rights the following year and on October 31, 2008, J. Michael Straczynski was announced as writing a remake, Joel Silver was to produce. Straczynski explained that the original had been his favorite science fiction film, and it gave Silver an idea for the new film that makes it "not a remake", "not a reimagining", and "not exactly a prequel". His vision for the film would not be retro, because when the original was made it was meant to be futuristic. Straczynski met with people working in astrophysics, planetary geology, and artificial intelligence to reinterpret the Krell back-story as a film trilogy. In March 2009 Straczynski reported that the project was abandoned, and that a new script was requested.
Another remake effort appears to be underway by Ragnarok Creative (following a preliminary effort by Studio Ronin in 2016). At present alternative design stills and an upcoming trailer are mentioned, though the previous trailer by Studio Ronin appears to have been withdrawn.

Il pianeta proibito

Il pianeta proibito (Forbidden Planet) è un classico del cinema di fantascienza del 1956, diretto da Fred M. Wilcox e prodotto dalla Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, da cui fu tratto un romanzo omonimo scritto da W.J. Stuart e pubblicato nello stesso anno.
La trama è vagamente ispirata alla commedia teatrale La tempesta di Shakespeare. Nella realizzazione della pellicola furono impiegati numerosi effetti speciali della Walt Disney Productions e della musica elettronica, per conferire il carattere alieno del contesto. Il film è ricordato anche per la presenza di un robot, Robby, riproposto in successive pellicole e serie televisive.
Dal 2013 è conservato nel National Film Registry della Biblioteca del Congresso degli Stati Uniti d'America.

Trama

XXIV secolo, l'incrociatore spaziale C-57-D, al comando di John J. Adams, è inviato in missione sul pianeta Altair IV, quarto della stella Altair, alla ricerca di sopravvissuti della spedizione Bellerofonte, giuntavi vent'anni prima e della quale non si hanno notizie. Giunti in orbita il comandante è contattato via radio da uno dei membri di quella spedizione, il professor Edward Morbius, che tenta di dissuaderlo dall'atterraggio.
Sbarcati, giunge ad accoglierli una vettura condotta dal robot Robby che reca il comandante e i secondi alla residenza di Morbius. Egli è un anziano studioso filologo, unico superstite della spedizione Bellerofonte poiché tutti gli altri sono stati uccisi da una "forza misteriosa", a eccezione di sua moglie, deceduta successivamente per cause naturali. L'uomo è convinto che questa entità non costituisca più una minaccia, né per lui né per sua figlia Alta, nativa del pianeta, pur temendo come essa possa tornare a manifestarsi. Contravvenendo alle disposizioni di suo padre, la ragazza si presenta ai tre ufficiali, destando loro un certo interesse.
Morbius ammonisce che i nuovi arrivati possano risvegliare la forza e infatti una notte l'impianto trasmettitore viene misteriosamente danneggiato. Su pressione del comandante Adams, Morbius rivela parte delle sue scoperte, di come il pianeta fosse stato abitato da una razza aliena nobile e potente chiamata Krell, eticamente e tecnicamente più progrediti. Prima che gli esseri umani popolassero la Terra, i Krell scesero sul pianeta raccogliendo dei campioni di DNA, spiegando così la presenza di animali terrestri su Altair IV. Questa nobile razza tuttavia sarebbe scomparsa misteriosamente in una sola notte. Nei sotterranei della residenza Morbius mostra dei macchinari di costruzione aliena come uno strumento in grado di incrementare l'intelligenza, da lui stesso sperimentato a rischio della propria vita, e soprattutto la "Grande Macchina", un apparato tuttora funzionante che si sviluppa per enormi profondità nelle viscere del pianeta, costituito da migliaia di reattori nucleari. Morbius ritiene come essa faccia parte di un progetto grandioso che avrebbe liberato gli alieni dalla dipendenza di ogni mezzo fisico.
Farman tenta di sedurre una troppo ingenua Alta, subendo la ramanzina del comandante, e nel frattempo il tecnico delle comunicazioni Quinn resta ucciso. Il mostro invisibile ha lasciato delle impronte sul terreno e il medico Ostrow riesce a riprodurre da esse un calco in gesso di un piede deforme munito di un mostruoso artiglio, deducendo la natura antropoide.
Morbius, apertamente ostile a divulgare i suoi studi, attribuisce il misfatto alla forza misteriosa risvegliatasi, ammonendo il comandante ad abbandonare il pianeta. La notte successiva l'equipaggio subisce l'attacco diretto del mostro praticamente invisibile e che si manifesta nel suo orrore alla luce dei fasci di energia. La creatura viene respinta a stento con un tributo di vittime, tra cui il tenente Farman. Il comandante e il dottore comprendono il permanere della minaccia sicché decidono di prelevare Morbius e sua figlia. Adams ritiene che qualcuno debba sottoporsi al potenziamento dell'intelligenza per comprendere quanto stia accadendo.
Adams e Alta, ora innamorati, discutono su come persuadere Morbius ma nel frattempo, a loro insaputa, il dottore si è sottoposto all'apparecchio subendo uno shock fatale. Prima di spirare egli rivela la ragione della scomparsa dei Krell e la natura dell'entità assassina. Avvalendosi dell'enorme energia dalla "Grande Macchina", era stato creato uno strumento in grado di proiettare materia con il solo pensiero, senza considerare la materializzazione dell'inconscio e con esso i "mostri dell'Id", ai quali dovettero soccombere.
Il comandante, alla luce dei nuovi elementi, comprende come l'entità origini dalla mente di Morbius, il quale sottoponendosi all'esperimento per potenziare la propria mente, generò a suo malgrado il mostro, artefice dello sterminio della spedizione. Lo studioso, con ogni probabilità, temeva che gli altri scienziati potessero condividere e detenere le conoscenze dei Krell e inconsciamente Morbius voleva essere il solo a possederle. Morbius tuttavia non crede a tale cosa reputandolo impossibile. In quel momento Robby avverte l'irruzione della creatura, minacciosa più che mai, a causa della gelosia di Morbius verso la nuova coppia. Alta non sopportando la freddezza del padre nei confronti degli altri ha scelto infine di seguire il suo amato comandante e abbandonare Morbius su quel pianeta. Morbius attiva all'istante le pareti d'acciaio della casa ma è una questione di tempo prima che il mostro invisibile entri. Nel lasso di tempo. Il comandante Adams cerca di convincere che il mostro che li sta attaccando è il demone di Morbius alché egli nega apertamente, ritenendolo impossibile che lo abbia chiamato lì per uccidere la figlia per avergli disobbedito. Il mostro ormai è prossimo a entrare e robot non può opporsi, in quanto il mostro è parte del suo padrone. Infine si disattiva. Il gruppo riesce a scappare e si rifugia nei sotterranei blindati. Adams confonde la combinazione della porta, in quanto tutto quello cha Morbius sa, anche il suo mostro id là fuori ne è al corrente. In una piccola colluttazione, Adams spiega a Morbius che usando la macchina Krell per ampliare l'intelligenza ha fatto in modo di collegare il suo subconscio alla grande macchina permettendo al suo demone di manifestarsi e che lui è il responsabile della morte di tutti i suoi amici e colleghi. Morbius ebbe tracce di quello che accadde quando dormiva, vedendolo nei suoi incubi, e fu per questo che poi avverti all'inizio il comandante Adams di non scendere sul pianeta. Ora che Alta si è ribellata, il subconscio di Morbius ha manifestato il suo mostro per punirla della sua disobbedienza. Adams insiste con Morbius di trovare una soluzione alla svelta poiché il mostro infine li ha raggiunte ed è questione di tempo prima che fonda la porta e lì raggiunga. Benché la porta blindata sia fatta di metallo Krell la grande macchina fornisce costantemente il mostro di energia per potenziarsi sempre di più.
Oramai consapevole della propria responsabilità, Morbius affronta il suo demone rinnegandolo e restandone ferito mortalmente. Prima di morire, egli spiega loro come azionare un congegno a tempo di autodistruzione.
Dallo spazio i sopravvissuti assistono all'esplosione del pianeta dei Krell.

Produzione

Fonti di ispirazione

Il film trae liberissima ispirazione alla commedia shakespeariana La tempesta., prevalentemente per le similitudini con i personaggi, in particolare Prospero = il dottor Morbius, Miranda/Altaira, gli spiriti Ariel e Calibano con il robot Robby. Adams ha una vaga attinenza con Ferdinando. La macchietta di "Cookie" il cuoco - doppiato da Nino Manfredi - ricalca i personaggi di Stefano e il giullare Trinculo. L'entità assassina avrebbe attinenza con lo spirito che agisce su Prospero.

Cast

Film d'esordio sul grande schermo di Anne Francis e di Leslie Nielsen il quale a sua volta, dopo una lunga fase di caratterista televisivo, guadagnò popolarità molti anni dopo, come protagonista di film comico-demenziali; tra questi la serie Una pallottola spuntata.

Effetti speciali

Le sequenze animate, in particolare l'attacco del mostro, furono create dal veterano degli effetti speciali Joshua Meador, prestato per l'occasione alla MGM dalla Walt Disney.

Robby il robot

Il robot Robby fu l'oggetto scenico cinematografico più costoso mai costruito all'epoca e ispirò la produzione di numerosi giocattoli. Nel cinema tornò in piccole apparizioni (tra cui Il robot e lo Sputnik, Gremlins del 1984, Le ragazze della Terra sono facili del 1988, Looney Tunes: Back in Action del 2003).
In televisione Robby apparve in tre episodi della serie TV Ai confini della realtà, in uno come protagonista, e negli anni sessanta, nella serie commedia La famiglia Addams e negli anni settanta, nella serie poliziesca Colombo, e nella serie commedia Mork & Mindy.
Robby ispirò i programmatori della Bethesda Softworks per la creazione dei robot Protettori nel videogioco Fallout 3.
Robby è il primo robot della storia del cinema a rispettare le Tre leggi della robotica di Isaac Asimov postulate nel 1941-42. In una scena del film Robby si rifiuta di obbedire a un ordine illecito di Morbius, sostenendo che causerà la sua disattivazione se ripetuto. Il robot si dimostrerà poi impotente davanti all'Entità perché vi riconosce parte della mente del suo padrone. A partire da questo film quasi tutti i robot rispettarono le tre leggi della Robotica.

Distribuzione

L'edizione italiana del doppiaggio venne effettuata dalla ODI di Roma.

Critica

«La prestigiosa MGM dispiega un grande apparato produttivo nobilitando un genere in quegli anni considerato "minore". Nella vicenda si respirano - è stato detto spesso - le atmosfere della shakespeariana "Tempesta", e degli eroi solitari ed "eretici" di Jules Verne, di cui il personaggio di Morbius è nobile epigono.
Rompendo con i meccanismi abituali del genere, Il pianeta proibito presenta un interessante accostamento ai temi della psicanalisi e propone una riflessione, ancora molto attuale, sulla incapacità dell'uomo nel gestire la conoscenza.»

(Fantafilm)

Colonna sonora

Una grande novità fu l'uso della musica elettronica per la colonna sonora, composta da Louis e Bebe Barron. Sebbene lodata dalla critica, la loro colonna sonora fu esclusa dalle candidature agli Oscar per una disputa sorta con la Federazione Americana Musicisti, a cui i Barron non erano iscritti.
La colonna sonora completa venne tuttavia pubblicata per la prima volta solamente nel 1976, vent'anni dopo l'uscita del film, da Planet Records in LP con numero di catalogo PR-001. L'album è stato in seguito ristampato numerose volte nel corso degli anni, sia in LP, sia in MC e CD, da diverse altre case discografiche.

Tracce

Musiche di Louis Barron, Bebe Barron.

Main Titles - Overture – 2:20
Deceleration – 0:50
Once Around Altair – 1:09
The Landing – 0:40
Flurry of Dust - A Robot Approaches – 1:09
A Shangri-La in the Desert / Garden with Cuddly Tiger – 1:32
Graveyard - A Night with Two Moons – 1:15
"Robby, Make Me a Gown" – 1:16
An Invisible Monster Approaches – 0:46
Robby Arranges Flowers, Zaps Monkey – 1:17
Love at the Swimming Hole – 3:11
Morbius' Study – 0:37
Ancient Krell Music – 1:47
The Mind Booster - Creation of Matter – 0:56
Krell Shuttle Ride and Power Station – 2:31
Giant Footprints in the Sand – 0:45
"Nothing Like This Claw Found in Nature!" – 1:23
Robby, The Cook, and 60 Gallons of Booze – 0:56
Battle with Invisible Monster – 2:50
"Come Back to Earth With Me" – 1:17
The Monster Pursues - Morbius Is Overcome – 5:45
The Homecoming – 1:56
Overture Reprise – 2:13

Durata totale: 38:21

Opere derivate

Dal film fu tratto un romanzo omonimo a opera di W.J. Stuart, pubblicato nello stesso anno di uscita del film. Rispetto al film il libro approfondisce maggiormente la vicenda dei Krell e il rapporto tra questi e Morbius. Diversamente dalla versione cinematografica, nel libro Morbius si sottopone più volte alla macchina, accrescendo la sua intelligenza molto al di là delle possibilità umane, mantenendo però inalterata la sua natura imperfetta di uomo, causa della propria fine.

Spin-off

Nel 1957 la MGM realizza uno spin-off de Il pianeta proibito, si tratta del film Il robot e lo Sputnik (The Invisible Boy), di cui è protagonista Robby il robot, qui ritornato sul pianeta Terra e, grazie a un viaggio nel tempo, scaraventato nel XX secolo. Robby, malandato, viene riparato da un ragazzino dotato di superpoteri mentali, divenendo però lo strumento di un computer malvagio.

Remake

Nel 2008 fu annunciato un remake del film, su sceneggiatura J. Michael Straczynski, e con Joel Silver come produttore con il patrocinio della Warner Bros.

Influenza culturale

Il film risultò suggestivo per gli spettatori per l'ambientazione totalmente aliena e per i macchinari rappresentati. Il pianeta proibito fu uno dei primi tentativi di una fantascienza adulta, ed ebbe un'influenza determinante sul genere, esattamente come accadde per 2001: Odissea nello spazio dieci anni dopo.
L'astronave dispone di una non specificata propulsione interstellare di enorme potenza, ma la navigazione avviene manualmente. La presenza di un robot alla guida della nave, nella scena finale, rappresentò allora una novità. La teoria della relatività postula che superare la velocità della luce è impossibile, e guidare manualmente una nave spaziale sembra oggi assurdo, ma avrebbe dovuto sembrarlo anche allora.
Scenografie dell'astronave furono riutilizzate nella serie Ai confini della realtà, nell'episodio Terzo dal Sole, tratto dall'omonima novella di Theodore Sturgeon.
I costumi furono riutilizzati nel film di fantascienza La regina di Venere (1958), in un improbabile gineceo venusiano I costumi degli astronauti furono utilizzati anche nel film L'uomo che visse nel futuro, in particolare dalla protezione civile che tenta di mettere in salvo i cittadini nell'apocalisse atomica che il protagonista si trova a vivere negli anni sessanta^{[senza fonte]}.
L'ideatore di Star Trek Gene Roddenberry ammise in una sua biografia l'influenza de Il pianeta proibito nella creazione e nei motivi che caratterizzarono la serie, dai personaggi ai mezzi tecnologici. In effetti si notarono similitudini tra le armi e i comunicatori impiegati. L'effetto scenico di uno "smaterializzatore" anticipa il teletrasporto in Star Trek.
Contrariamente alla quasi totalità dei film di fantascienza dell'epoca, il film non vede il nemico nel Comunismo ma nella mente dell'uomo stesso.
Il film è la principale fonte d'ispirazione del racconto Tigre, in fiamme (Tiger, Burning) di Alastair Reynolds (2006). Nel racconto è esplicitato il legame con La tempesta shakespeariana, utilizzata come "segnale dal futuro" colto dal drammaturgo inglese. Alcuni nomi dei personaggi del film compaiono nel racconto, volontariamente storpiati in funzione della storia.