inside the vivarium; Imogen Poots (left), alien (right) |
Back in March, I began my annual search (SIHA) for an interesting film about space aliens. I later abandoned all hope of finding a new (in 2020) interesting depiction of aliens and decided to award a retro-SIHA for the best Hollywood aliens of the 1950s. But first...
Vivarium
...sadly, it is often the best movies that get the least hype. ¾ of the way through 2020, I finally began seeing Vivarium on some lists of good science fiction films for 2020 (example). My imagination began running wild when I saw descriptions of Vivarium as a film about an alien child being raised by a human couple.
My interest cooled when I learned that Vivarium is some kind of fantasy horror flick, not what I would count as science fiction.
Grendels in 2014 |
However, I still love the idea of our world being inhabited by aliens who most people are unaware of. That plot element plays a major role in the Exode Saga where aliens such as the Grendels have long been visiting Earth.
My favorite science fiction aliens in a movie from the 1950s are the long-dead Krell of Altair IV in Forbidden Planet. A copy of the movie screenplay from 1954 is available here.
The screenplay included the "prediction" that humans would first land on the Moon at the end of the 21st century. Many of the old science fiction stories failed to anticipate the government-funded Apollo project that put men on the Moon in 1969. Some speculative fiction writers imagined privately funded efforts to reach the Moon, and maybe that was what Irving Block and Allen Adler were thinking would be Humanity's path to the Moon when they wrote their story about interstellar travel.
United Planets Cruiser C-57-D lands on Altair IV. What is fictional science and technological basis of the mysterious blue force-field that allows the interstellar spaceship to gently land on planets? |
It offends the sensibilities of science fiction story tellers that spaceships have a speed limit in our universe. Block and Adler imagined a future in which quanto-gravitic hyper-drive allowed space cruiser C-57-D to travel from Earth to Altair in just one year.
Inside the Krell power-plant. Twenty cubic miles of fusion reactors, all self-repairing and over 200,000 years old. |
Asimov's Influence
By the time I first watched Forbidden Planet, I had read Isaac Asimov's stories about travel across the galaxy using hyperdrive and I was also familiar with his positronic robot stories. One of the ideas explored by Asimov in his fiction was that there might be strange effects of hyperdrive on human brain function. This concept is front and center in the screenplay for Forbidden Planet. The crew members of cruiser C-57-D must receive special drug injections when they make the transition between hyperspace and conventional space.
Related: see spaceoline.
part of the screenplay |
image source |
I suppose it is anti-gravity technology, but for some reason the screenplay depicts the spaceship as turning off its anti-gravity system just before landing C-57-D on Altair IV. There must be one system for creating artificial gravity for the crew while in deep space and another system for letting the cruiser gently land on a planet.
Pop-Psychology
In the Ekcolir Reality. |
Beyond the silly pop-psychology, another annoying aspect of Forbidden Planet is that cruiser C-57-D is a war ship equipped with gun ports and "blasters" and run with military precision by Commander J. J. Adams. The exploration and scientific research craft Belerephon visited Altair IV about 20 years previously and cruiser C-57-D is on a mission to investigate the fate of the Belerephon and its crew.
First Contact
Dr. Edward Morbius, immune to the mysterious "planetary force" that killed all the rest of the crew of the spaceship Belerephon |
As soon as cruiser C-57-D is scanned by radar from the planet's surface, Commander Adams has the crew prepare to start blasting, just in case this is first contact with space aliens.
I understand that the USA had just gone through WWII and another war in Korea, but it is never explained why a war ship is sent to Altair IV. Sorry to disappoint fans of military science fiction, but the itchy finger of Commander J. J. Adams does not get to blast any aliens.
Quickly following the radar scan comes a radio message from Dr. Edward Morbius, the only survivor from the crew of the Belerephon. Dr. Morbius is a philologist, and we have to wonder why the small crew of the Belerephon included a philologist. Apparently, it was because Morbius hated conditions on Earth and wanted to live on a new planet.
Robby |
After landing on Altair IV, the high-ranking crew members of cruiser C-57-D step out on the surface and are met by a robot: Robby. Robby is a clunky robot that looks like a man in a rubber suit. Robby was built in the far future, sometime past the year 2200, with the help of super-advanced Krell technology, and this is the best robot that could be thrown together by Dr. Morbius?
To make a life-long companion for Alta, Robby is gradually made into a sexbot. Alternate movie poster in the Ekcolir Reality |
What if a version of Forbidden Planet had been made in the Ekcolir Reality, a Reality in which women dominated the early days of science fiction? Imagine poor "Alta" Morbius (played by Anne Francis) growing up on Altair IV and facing the possibility of a long lonely life after her father dies.
Dr. Kerby's mechanical geisha, Andrea |
Sadly, human-robot sex was not going to be part of a movie in the 1950s of our Reality. However, in the 1960s, Star Trek brought us Dr. Roger Korby and his mechanical geisha, Andrea.
Wishing for Shore Leave
Sci Fi in 1954, before invention of the penis |
Alta in the Ekcolir Reality |
In the screenplay for Forbidden Planet, one of the crewmen of the spaceship immediately upon meeting the robot, asks Robby: "... which are you, male or female?". Apparently Robby does not need a penis because "he" does everything by "positronic transfiguration"!
As clunky as Robby appears, the robot has amazing abilities that stem from advanced Krell technology. For example, Robby can perform molecular analysis of substances and reproduce any particular molecular structure, in quantity. Thus, when the ship's cook needs a supply of alcohol, Robby can precisely reproduce the brand of liquor that the cook prefers. The soldiers from Earth are impressed: Robby has fantastic abilities that cannot be matched by Earthly science and technology.
image source |
This is the point in the screenplay where the daughter of Dr. Morbius, Alta, walks on stage. Alta was born on Altair IV, then her mother died. Having only known her father, Alta is delighted to meet the soldiers from Earth.
The Science of Unicorns
part of the Forbidden Planet screenplay |
Blasting the tiger. |
How can Krell "educator" technology be compatible with a human brain? Answer. |
In the screenplay, as soon as Alta (inevitably) falls in love with Commander Adams, Alta is depicted as no longer being able to telepathically control the tiger and it attacks. Adams destroys the tiger with his blaster. In the screenplay, it is suggested that Alta's ability to magically tame a tiger is just like the ability of Earthly virgins to tame unicorns.
Aliens: The Krell
the Krell laboratory |
document display technology |
The Plastic Educator
the "mind reading" machine |
By repeated use of the Krell mind-reading technology, Dr. Morbius achieved a brain boost, thus allowing him to construct Robby the robot. By the time when I first saw Forbidden Planet, I had previously read Isaac Asimov's 1957 story "Profession".
Krell technology |
Of course, all the Krell HiTek™ devices need power. Here is how the screenplay describes the output of the vast (20 cubic miles) underground Krell nuclear fusion power-plant: "... the number ten raised almost literally to the nth power of infinity!"
Just hours after the horrible death of Dr. Morbius, Alta blissfully weds the Commander. |
The Unicorn Whisperer
The whole "monsters from the id" concept is enunciated by the ship's doctor who uses the Krell "educator device" to boost his own mental powers.
death by the unconscious |
Robby the robot saves the day and efficiently pilots C-57-D away from Altair IV before the planet is destroyed in the fusion reactor explosion. Alta and Adams return to Earth, where a million years in the future, Humanity will not make the same mistakes, having learned from the example of the Krell.
interstellar travel in 1956 |
Related Reading: Asimov's synapsifier (1950).
Allen Adler in another Reality
Next: "Grean Fiction", a story inspired by Forbidden Planet
visit the Gallery of Movies, Book and Magazine Covers |
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