Forbidden Planet

[rickgriffin]

Every time I come back to this review, a couple points come to mind I was surprised Chuck didn't touch on.

Firstly, the Barrons' score not being classified as music was more than just a slight to their profession--it meant that the score and sound effects became INELIGIBLE for an Academy Award. Now, I'm sure this pissed off the studio just as much as it did the Barrons, since fewer available academy awards affected their picture overall as well. (As it is, Forbidden Planet only received one nomination, for Special Effects, losing to Ten Commandments)

However--and Chuck showed this--in the movie Morbius refers to the same "tonalities" as music. Which is a perfect loophole, after all even if they can't mention it in the credits, nothing says characters in a movie can't say whatever they want. I am REALLY curious to know if this was a deliberate FU to the union on behalf of the producers, director or what.

[MadAmosMalone]

http://sfdebris.com/videos/films/forbiddenplanet.php

Thought I'd go ahead and add a link to the review.

I sincerely hope this movie is never remade/reimagined/retread/whatever. There's something charming about the original and that certainly includes the "electronic tonalities" featured. It adds to the otherworldliness of the setting.

As a side note, this is one of my favorite movies of all time. I saw it when I was ten and it gave me nightmares for weeks afterward. I love everything about this movie.

[rickgriffin]

Gah, completely forgot to link it, sorry.

The problem with hypothetically redoing a movie like this, like a lot of good 50s sci-fi (such as The Day The Earth Stood Still) is they can't justify a larger budget, because a lot of what makes it work on its own is that it remains low-key. Maybe if some independent studio could remake it as a passion project I could see it working, but other than that there wouldn't be a lot *to* spend money on without bloating the script. If they did that it'd probably end up MORE LIKE Star Trek (We have to stop the invisible monster from destroying earth! To battlestations! and then they crash the ship into the planet)

[MadAmosMalone]

Definitely agree there. In fact we could probably do an entire thread about what is wrong with movies in general today and why classics like this one work so much better despite being so dated.

[Rocketboy1313]

I sincerely hope this movie is never remade/reimagined/retread/whatever. There's something charming about the original and that certainly includes the "electronic tonalities" featured. It adds to the otherworldliness of the setting.

They already did. It was a show called "Star Trek" with William Shatner, Deforest Kelly, and Leonard Nemoy.

[MadAmosMalone]

Yes, you are correct of course. I had often read that Roddenberry was inspired by Forbidden Planet but that's not quite the same as doing a remake of it. On the IMDB message boards (before they went kerblooey last month) I used to read about people's ideas for a reimagining of this movie. One idea was to recast Morbius with Sigourney Weaver. Another one would have had "ghosts" of the Bellerophon crew re-created by the Krell machine. Lots of other strange ideas. Some I liked, others not so much. I just can't help but think that if modern Hollywood decides to re-boot this classic they'll phuck it up royally. To his credit, I think if it really was Roddenberry's intention to remake this movie then he set about it the right way, by making his own legally distinct property with elements from the movie and not a direct copy of it.

[Dindu]

Oh, I dunno, i could cope with a remake.

I'm tremendously fond of the film but there are some very dated ideas and concepts in it. As long as it was a making a fresher version than trying to make a better version, i'd have no real issue.

I'd love to see a modern take on Robbie and the IdMonster. I can see there being some grounds for removing the incredibly weird subplot of the crew of all male all white horn-dogs perving on Alta, or WTF they brought tigers with them on the Bellerophon.

You'd have to preserve a bunch of things - the sounds would have to be heavily based on the tonalities, for example. The temptation would be to make all the tech stuff awesome, and I think the simplicity of design is actually a better aethestic. You probably don't want to turn the pace up too much and anyone who starts speaking about needing more action ought to be escorted off set, but...

Also, now I think of it, a lot of SF stuff is made with 3D these days where it's not needed and so is distracting, but FP? It's SCREAMING for it.

Awesome panoramic shots of the planet surface? Oh yeah. The ID Monster? Oh yeah, but, most of all, the Krell Machine, damn but I'd love to see that.

Anyhoo. Yeah, I'd be fine with a remake as long as it didn't suck. Then again virtually every film made in the last twenty years sucked, so, perhaps a forlorn hope. Either way though, a remake coming out would not require me to go grab my BR copy and throw it at a nearby squirrel.

Also, Von Sydow, Moretz, Urban, Hudson, Wannamaker, Palicki and Pertwee.

[MadAmosMalone]

WTF they brought tigers with them on the Bellerophon.

Morbius mentioned that the Krell had visited Earth a long time ago and those animals are descendants of samples collected then. Doesn't make any more sense than the Bellerophon bringing them either. When the Krell civilization went up in smoke, these creatures somehow survived that cataclysm? The Krell died out millions of years ago, right? The earth creatures didn't evolve to adapt to an alien planet in all that time? Maybe they were creations of Morbius' subconscious brought to life just like his id monster?

I agree the all-white, all-male crew is way out of date. Also agree the men getting a little rapey over Alta was really bad. The effects could be updated but I got my doubts if they could be improved.

I'd be fine with a remake as long as it didn't suck.

But it would. They wouldn't stop with just diversifying the cast and updating the effects. They'd try to tweak the story as well. They'd try to make it relatable to a modern audience. The Day the Earth Stood Still and War of the Worlds remakes both sucked. I don't have the highest confidence in Hollywood anymore.

*shrugs* Oh well, I guess I'll just retreat into my classic movies and only come out to periodically shout at young whippersnappers to git offa my lawn.

[Robovski]

IMO don't make a new Forbidden Planet, it'd be forever compared to the original. Just make The Tempest in Space again and make it it's own thing.

[Dindu]

Morbius mentioned that the Krell had visited Earth a long time ago

D'oh! So he did.

The Krell died out millions of years ago, right? The earth creatures didn't evolve to adapt to an alien planet in all that time?

Also, if it were more than three million years, where the fekk did they find a tiger?

Maybe they were creations of Morbius' subconscious brought to life just like his id monster?

Nah, don't buy it. They're about when he's awake, and solid.

At least with a remake you could make it a spacetiger...

The effects could be updated but I got my doubts if they could be improved.

At the risk of invoking preternatural ire...

I do not believe that any effects done for a hypothetical remake could be as ground-breaking, or impressive for their time. I'd also admit that, as we're inurred to CGI visual amazment that it'd be tricky if not impossible to really blow people's socks off.

But...

Couldn't be improved? Pshawww...

Even if you're looking at the 57D's weapons alone, almost anything would be better than 20mph firebugs that required the SFX team to freezeframe the firer. By all that's holy I want to see decent rayguns back. Not Star Trek's line of doom, but, rayguns. I want rayguns that go 'crack' and boil off the atmosphere. That you can keep running but they overheat way quickly. I'd really like to see the 57's guns be a good indicator of just how desperate things get; they lads keep holding the triggers for longer and longer, the smoke and heat getting out of control, weapons starting to melt...
Getting carried away.
Sorry.

Robbie getting overheated looks like disney overlaid. The IdMonster is, well, OK, the IdMonster is STILL terrifying, and the shot of his lifting a crewmember and throwing them is Godzuki.
You'd REALLY have to be careful about how you did the IdMonster - the entire film would hang off it. (Not that alone but you get that wrong it wouldn't matter what else was right)
If it were being remade you'd have to have a dedicated team of fans standing by so anyone who said things like 'But it just doesn't look scary, can't we have horns?' could be swiftly retired through the window.

BUT

C'mon, it could be done better.

They wouldn't stop with just diversifying the cast and updating the effects. They'd try to tweak the story as well.

Well, that alone I don't have an issue with - there are aspects of the original that kinda suck, and removing them gives you airtime to expend some time on other, more interesting things. They really don't seem all that bothered that several hundred people got literally ripped limb from limb. They don't seem especially alarmed when it starts happening to the crew. With more modern sensibilities there are aspects of the darker parts of the human psyche that you could spend more time on.

They'd try to make it relatable to a modern audience.

Well, if you mean the modern 20-something audience, yeah, that would be a concern. Putting identity politics into it (or anything) would blow goats.
Though, I'd say, at it's core it's a story about what it is to be human, that we are all driven by urges both good and bad. There's room in there to explore things a little more widely, what are Alta's hidden motivations? The captain's? The original has the doc trying out the machine but we don't see much of that other than a chance to drop some exposition.

I don't have the highest confidence in Hollywood anymore.

Mine had dropped to zero after the Farce Awakens, until Rogue One, then it came back up to 'a teeny tiny slice'.

But, yeah, I'm saying it could be done well, but I wouldn't have confidence that it would be.

Oh well, I guess I'll just retreat into my classic movies and only come out to periodically shout at young whippersnappers to git offa my lawn.

Oh, I hear that. Rewatched Barbarella this evening. Another film I wouldn't mind looking into remaking, but one you COULD NOT do in this age of snowflakes.

And they wanna reboot the Matrix.

The MATRIX.

Not Saturn 3. Not The Black Hole. Not even Buck Rogers.

I don't think these kids can steer...