Do I have to tell you the plot of the 1956 film ‘Forbidden Planet’? OK, for those Science Fiction fans who might have missed it. In the 23rd century, the United Planets Cruiser C-57D, with nineteen male crew, is checking on planet Altair IV after not hearing anything in over 20 years. They receive a radio message from Dr. Edward Morbius (actor Walter Pidgeon) not to land but its captain, John J. Adams (actor Leslie Nelsen), disregards this and lands. Morbius sends a mechanoid, Robby, the Robot, to take Adams, his deputy Lieutenant Jerry Farman (actor Jack Kelly) and ‘Doc’ Ostrow (actor Warren Stevens) to his residence for a meal. They also meet Morbius’ daughter, Altaira (actress Anne Francis) and Adams get a little smitten. Farman gets a little more smitten. Morbius explains about a menace on the planet that killed all the colonists, the last leaving on their spaceship. He explains that he found the relics of the Krell, the original inhabitants of the planet but its inventions are too powerful for mankind.
That night, back at the spaceship while the crew sleeps, an invisible creature boards and does a little damage and kills Chief Engineer Quinn (actor Richard Anderson). Adams gets a better guard the next night and a force field and under laser fire, they see the outline of the creature before it vanishes.
The rest is spoiler. There’s a lot more than this and are you sure you haven’t seen the film?
The significance of ‘Forbidden Planet’ should not be under-estimated. It was properly budgeted, great effects which still holds up today. The creature effects and such created by a Disney animator. Robby, the Robot was the breakout star, appearing in other films and TV shows and definitely an influence on ‘Lost In Space’s Robot. The film was also viewed as the prototype for ‘Star Trek’. The cruiser even uses reverse polarity. Do I need to tell you this is a crucial film? Now, it’s out on blu-ray disk and I’m watching the advance copy.
The audio commentary is with Kim Newman and Barry Forshaw. Forshaw saw it in the cinema, Newman on TV who bows to Forshaw’s knowledge. They compare the film to ‘The Tempest’ but not as a complete fit. I hadn’t realised that Pidgeon had thought the film was below him. There’s a lot of talk about SF and 1950s films in general and ‘This Island, Earth’ isn’t forgotten. There’s enough geeky stuff here to keep you well satisfied.
An entire blu-ray disk of extras.
The first is ‘Unearthly Aura’, an exclusive to Arrow Video with film historian/composer Neil Brand who gives a brief recount on MGM wanting to hit the SF film market dominated by B-movie studios but with more money and making it impossible for them or TV channels to duplicate. Then it is a look at Louis and Bebe Barron’s electronic music, called ‘tonalities’ because neither of them belonged to the music union. They had convinced MGM that what they could do was appropriate for ‘Forbidden Planet’ and used it to score the film.
Running at 55 minutes, ‘Watch the Skies!: Science Fiction, The 1950s And Us’ is an eyeopener retrospective from Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Jim Cameron and Ridley Scott, all recorded separately, about 1950s films and their influence on them. Well worth watching because there are also a lot of film extracts. Oddly, there are 6 or 7 films I hadn’t heard of and will need investigating as to their availability. I was also paying attention for any they ignored and there were two significant ones, ‘This Island, Earth’ and ‘Invasion Of The Bodysnatchers’. It might just be not getting the clearances for them.
‘Amazing!: Exploring the Far Reaches of Forbidden Planet’ runs at about 27 minutes. Created in 2005, it has members of the cast and current special effects creatives looking at aspects of the film. With the latter folk, with the likes of Dennis Murren and John Dysktra and, if you’ve never heard them speak, then this is your opportunity.
‘Robby The Robot: Engineering A Sci-Fi Icon’ runs at about 14 minutes with the same people as above. Seeing the different designs for Robby from B-level that didn’t look right and then designer Robert Kinoshita made a model and hit it on the nail. Seeing the design to carry a human inside and the SF version is quite a contrast. I had a goggle for what they showed here but no luck. For the record, inside the robot was Frank Darro and voiced by Marvin Miller.
The ‘Deleted Scenes’ are a mixture of these and try-outs runs at 13 minutes, again from 2006. Its rather interesting seeing a different voice doing Robby. Certainly not deep enough but shows how much effort is taken to get the right voice. Seeing some scenes without the animation from Disney animator Joshua Meador shows how much he added to the scenes.
‘Lost Footage’ running at 6 minutes from 2006 has a similarity to ‘Deleted Scenes’ with more emphasis on special effects from the unused MGM film library and pointing out there were three different scale models of the C-57D.
‘The Invisible Boy’ (1957) runs at nearly 90 minutes in black and white featured Robby the Robot in his second feature film. Robby cost a lot of money to build and Warner felt it important to use it as much as possible and remove the comma from ‘Forbidden Planet’s titles.
The Stoneman Institute of Mathematics has the interest of the military and a visit by Colonel Macklin (actor Dennis McCarthy) and General Swayne (actor Harold J. Stone). Nine levels down and under staff restriction, Dr. Tom Merrinoe (actor Philip Abbott) shows off his top notch computer. The military are a little upset that it is more accurate than their own mathematicians. Merrinoe’s son, Timmy (actor Richard Eyer), lacks his father’s yen for maths. Merrinoe talks to his computer about his son and told he is a poor doctor. Merrinoe leaves his son with the computer who heightens his IQ. Timmy beats his father at chess and a wish fulfilment to play with Robby. Much to the distain of his mother, Mary (actress Diane Brewster), Timmy gets Robby to make a better kite that he can fly in. He gets his Dad’s computer to improve Robby and whenever he does something wrong, he can become invisible, hence the film name. Things can only get worse.
I’m beginning to wonder if Robby had an agent as he pops up in a 26 minute episode of ‘The Thin Man’ from 1958 starring Peter Lawford as Nick Charles, who has to prove Robby did not commit murder. I should point out that in each of appearances, Robby has a different voice.
From ‘MGM Parade’, we have 2 minutes from episode 27 with Walter Pidgeon doing a general promo for the film. He’s there again in episode 28 for 4 minutes introducing his invention, Robby the Robot. Only to be corrected that 50 MGM technicians actually did the work with a Robby in a different dubbed voice.
There are two ‘Theatrical Trailers’. The first is obviously for ‘Forbidden Planet’ running at 3 minutes 40 seconds. I’m giving these times exactly in case you see other promos and want to compare the differences. With this one, in the credits, Robby is just called ‘The Robot’. Looks like the promotion department weren’t paying attention. The other is for ‘The Invisible Boy’, running at 2 1/2 minutes.
Lastly, ‘Film Cells’. I’m not sure if its because I have nothing showing how to navigate or the advance disk but I couldn’t get beyond the opening picture. For the record they cover ‘The Original Script’, ‘Poster And Lobby Cards’, ‘Black & White Promo Stills’ and ‘Color Promo Stills’. Enjoy when you can see them.
As you might have noticed above much of these extras came from 2006. A little investigation shows there was a 2-DVD special out released then. I think the only reason I didn’t go after it was because I already had a copy of the film. This time, you have it in ultra-blu-ray and everything, so the quality is upped.
If you truly have never seen ‘Forbidden Planet’, then you’re missing a treat. It shows what happens when a major studio invests money in a film and was probably the ‘2001’ of its day, but a little profound. Just don’t upset any Krell surrogates.
GF Willmetts
September 2026
(pub: Arrow Films, 2026. 2 4K UHD blu-ray disks 98 minute film with extras. Price: £29.99 (UK). ASIN: B08R5LT589. There’s also a limited edition out 04 October 2026)
check out website: www.arrowfilms.com/p/4k/forbidden-planet-limited-edition-4k-uhd/17929157/
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