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Bud Brewster Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)
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Joined: 14 Dec 2013 Posts: 17164 Location: North Carolina
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Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2014 1:46 am Post subject: Forbidden Planet (1956) |
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Over on the Classic Horror film board, one of the members asked these questions, because he's of the opinion that Morbius was lying about many things during the story.
atenolol wrote: | Where did the tiger come from? And why a tiger?
Despite Bud Brewster's impressive posts, I think it came from Morbius directly through the machine. I think the tiger is evidence that Morbius does know how to consciously run the machine. |
I composed the message below to show (through my clever sarcasm) that Morbius never lied about anything.
I copied it and put it here for the amusement of our members.
Please bear in mind -- this is sarcasm! I don't believe any of this. In fact, just the reverse in every case.
_____________________________________________
Wow, this idea changes Morbius' character completely! If Morbius knows what the machine does and he can consciously use it to create the tiger, it means he lied outrageously not less than twelve times in the story. And the lies get more and more outrageous as the story progresses.
Here's what I mean.
During the after-lunch conversation, Morbius tells Adams, Ostrow, and Farman that the entire Bellerophon crew had been torn limb-from-limb by "some dark, terrible, incomprehensible force" — and he had no idea what it was.
Lie #1 ~ If Morbius knows how to use the machine to create a tiger out of thin air, he'd have to be pretty dumb not to realize that the "incomprehensible force" was also created by the machine — even if he didn't realize that his own thoughts did it. And according to the Krell I.Q. Test for Average Urchins, Morbius is twice as intelligent as Dr. Ostrow, who said his own I.Q. was 161!
Lie #2 ~ This one is a lie by omission rather than of commission. When Adams says, "That explains the tiger and the deer," during Morbius' lecture in his study, he allowed his silence to give Adams and Ostrow the false notion that the animals descended from the Earth specimens brought back 200,000 years ago.
In the lab Morbius says the Krell had been working on a project he didn't know much about, except that it would "somehow free them once and for all from any dependence on physical instrumentalities."
Lie #3 ~ Blatant lie. He knew exactly what the machine did and how to operated it. If he knew how to create tigers on demand, he would know that the Krell planned to create anything they wanted, any time they wanted it. Remember, Morbius was one smart cookie.
Later, while Morbius is showing the men the Krell machine, Adams says, "What's it all for?"
Morbius avoids the question and just says, "Sometimes the gauges register when the buck deer fight in the autumn, and when the birds fly over in the spring."
Lie #4 ~ Another falsehood by omission. He knows the deer and the birds are creations of the machine, just like the tiger. It isn't a stretch to assume that he consciously created the other animals to provide his lonely daughter with her own private petting zoo!
Lie #5 ~ Morbius wasn't truthful after Chief Quinn's funeral when he showed up at the ship and gave Adams his dire warning of impeding doom. But he puts on another act, feigning ignorance concerning the true nature of the threat. Instead of being honest, he claims he had a "premonition" and says, "The Bellerophon pattern is being woven again."
Near the end of the movie we start getting the real whoppers Morbius tells. Remember, he knows what the machine is designed to do, he knows how to use it, and he knows the Krell completed it just before they were all wiped out. He's twice as intelligent as Doc (before Doc's brain boost), and he's been diligently studying the Krell database for twenty years.
So, when Adams (a man of average intelligence) figures out the nature of the machine, based on a few clues from Doc and twenty seconds of real deep thinking, Morbius sits there all poker faced when Adams tells him that the machine had "enough power for a whole population of creative geniuses . . . operated by remote control . . . operated by the electro-magnetic impulses of individual Krell brains!"
Lie #6 ~ And what does Morbius say when Adams tells him this — something which he's known since the day he created the tiger with his own brain? Why, heck fire, he just feigns ignorance again and says, "To what purpose"?
Liar, liar, pants on fire! He knew damn well what the purpose was! He'd used it to crank out a butt-load of fuzzy critters for his daughter!
Seconds later Morbius goes into an unbelievable act while he continues (for no discernible reason) to pretend he DIDN'T know what the machine was for. Adams tells him that the machine would project solid matter to any point on the planet, in any shape or color, for any purpose. Creation by mere thought.
Lie #7 ~ And does Morbius blush and look down at his toes and say, "Ah, shucks. You got me. I've known that for years." Nope. He stares off into space and says, "Why haven't I seen this all along"?
Good gawd a'might! What an act! Bill Clinton is an Eagle Scout with a merit badge for True Blue Honesty compared Morbius.
And it gets even worse!
Lie #8 ~ When Adams tells him that the Krell forgot about the savage aspects of their own subconscious, Morbius goes all google-eyed again and says, "The beast . . . the mindless primitive. Even the Krell must have evolved from that beginning."
Give me a break! Morbius must have figure all this out years ago for three simple reasons. (1) Doc got it in five minutes flat, (2) Adams came in a close second, and (3) Morbius was way smarter than John and he had a twenty-year head start!
John caps off his dramatic presentation with, "And so those mindless beast of the sub-conscious had access to a machine that could never be shut down — the secret devil of every soul on the planet, all set free at once!"
Lie #9 ~ Morbius responds with a performance worthy of a Shakespearean play, Act 2, scene 4 — "My poor Krell . . . they could hardly have understood what power was destroying them!"
Sniff . . . sob . . . sniffle . . . Hey, somebody get the hook for this ham!
Jeez, what a drama queen! This wasn't anything new to Morbius! He'd used the machine to conjure up a pet tiger (and the other animals) for his daughter, and he knew the only explanation for what killed the Bellerophon crew was something bigger and badder the machine had cranked out. Blamin' the demise of the Krell on the machine was a definite no-brainer!
Lie #10 ~ Still keeping up the puzzling pretense that he didn't know sh*t from Shinola, Morbius shifts gears and starts acting all innocent and ignorant. "Yes, young man, all very convincing . . . except for one obvious fallacy." He states that all the Krell are dead, so there's nobody around to activate the machine.
Yeah . . . right . . . sure . . . nobody except the guy who whistled up that tiger years earlier after he figured what the machine was and how to use it!
Lie #11 ~ After running into the lab, Adams continues to tell Morbius things he already knows, while Dr. Melodrama rehearses for a soap opera by acting like it's all a big revelation.
Just to round this out to an even dozen, Morbius finally admits he's the source of the Id monster — but he never comes out and says, "Okay, you got me. I did it. Read me my rights and slap on the cuffs."
Lie #12 ~ Instead, the fabricating Dr. Phiber gives us that phony display of anguish when he pretends to be all torn up by the "sudden realization" that his subconscious mind has been doing the same thing the Krell's subconscious minds did — go plum postal on everybody in sight!
So, there you have it, folks. The Real Morbius, Revealed At Last! A bald-faced liar from start to finish. That man couldn't tell the truth if you held a gun to his head — which is exactly what John is doing in this picture!
![](http://i.imgur.com/zhVan3Y.png) _________________ ____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
Last edited by Bud Brewster on Wed Mar 20, 2024 1:00 pm; edited 12 times in total |
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Bud Brewster Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)
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Joined: 14 Dec 2013 Posts: 17164 Location: North Carolina
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Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2014 1:53 am Post subject: |
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I put a copy of this post on CHFB after creating it for the original All Sci-Fi. So it's only fair to copy it from there and bring it right back here to The New All Sci-Fi!
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This just in from CNN: Ted Newsom solves the mystery of the gray partition!
I was on Facebook recently with Ted Newsom and he figured out why the gray partition is used in this scene to block the view of the cyclorama in the background.
Ted proposed that it covers up where the cyclorama stops on the right end. That's why we never see any shots in the movie that show the part of the cyclorama we assumed was behind the partition.
There's nothing behind it but the end of the cyclorama!
If you doubt it, whip out your Blu-ray of Forbidden Planet and try to find a single shot that shows more of the cyclorama to the right of what you can see in this shot of Robby driving off.
No other shots show more of the mountains on the horizon -- not even the shots of the crewmen removing the main engine core. The camera points off to the left and avoids showing the end of the 300' x 40' painting that ended a short distance further to the right.
Compare the amount of cyclorama visible in each shot.
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And here's the final proof. Look closely at this behind-the-scenes shot and you'll see that from this angle (way over to the left of the set), the cyclorama ends behind the stairway on the left. To the right of the cyclorama's border we can almost make out equipment and people in the dim light.
![](http://i.imgur.com/IaZUZz6.png) _________________ ____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
Last edited by Bud Brewster on Fri Jul 30, 2021 1:56 pm; edited 4 times in total |
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Bud Brewster Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)
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Joined: 14 Dec 2013 Posts: 17164 Location: North Carolina
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Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2014 2:05 am Post subject: |
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Here's a post I made on the Classic Horror Film board in response to a discussion about the picture below, which CHFB member ryanbrennan complimented.
ryanbrennan wrote: | All seriousness aside, here's a nice shot of the cyclorama. I got this from the All Sci-Fi website, posted by Robert Day. |
To which I replied with --
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Nice picture, yes.
Unfortunately, it's a fake.
It's actually this picture of a background painting being done for some film other than Forbidden Planet. Notice the straight lines converging towards a point about twelve feet from the bottom of the canvas, like a city scene looking down a long street, with a vanishing point in the distance.
Somebody altered a photograph of the miniature Altair 4 landscape used for the landing scene, fading the colors and adjusting the image to make it look as if it were very large and being viewed from an angle.
They started with something like this.
The altered image was pasted over the white canvas (and around the people and objects in front of it) so that it looked as if the cyclorama from Forbidden Planet was being painted by those artist. Notice that in both pictures the same guys are in the same places and in the same poses, and all the other details are exactly the same, too.
It's actually a pretty good job!
But since the picture on the canvas is NOT part of the painted cyclorama for the "saucer set" (because it's actually the miniature "landing scene set" with it's own painted background), the photograph must be a fake.
All Sci-Fi member orzel-w is the keen-eyed guy who spotted the forgery. He's a retired engineer with years of experience at examining technical drawings. That skill helped him also identified what part of the cyclorama this painting came from.
He placed red markers on this cropped section --
-- then he put the same markers on this behind-the-scenes picture that shows where the painting above was located when it was in position behind the C-57-D. It was never actually visible in the movie because it was hidden behind the saucer in every shot. That's a shame, because it's a beautiful work of art.
Here's another BTS picture that shows the end of the cyclorama and the sound stage to the right of it, both of which were covered by the saucer and never actually shown in the movie.
As I mentioned earlier, Fred Wilcox caused a gray panel to be erected behind Commander Adams to hide the end of the cyclorama in this shot, because it would have been visible between the support pedestal and the stairway towards the rear of the ship.
No other scene in the movie has this odd gray triangular partition in that area!
![](http://i.imgur.com/d98bH6w.png) _________________ ____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
Last edited by Bud Brewster on Thu Nov 16, 2017 3:56 pm; edited 4 times in total |
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Bud Brewster Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)
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Joined: 14 Dec 2013 Posts: 17164 Location: North Carolina
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Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2014 2:28 am Post subject: |
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I really regret the loss of the long post I made on the original All Sci-Fi which offered a virtual tour of the Morbius home while I searched for the Sasha Brashoff pieces which Butch brought to our attention.
But this post from the CHFB presents the successful conclusion of my search through the house when I discovered the "lost" Brastoff piece, hiding in plain sight!
From the Classic Horror Film Board, this copy of my post:
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Robert Day thought the wall decoration shown below was created by famed sculptor Sascha Brastoff, and that it was used as one of the decorations in the Morbius home. Part of the confusion was caused by the fact that, for some reason, the picture of this particle item says "Forbidden Planet" at the bottom. But it turned out that the artist who created this is a man named Charles Bronson (no relation to the actor).
I still haven't found out why the film's title is on the photo, but there's no question that the photo is authentic, because Charles Bronson's own website features the picture right next to him. Click on the image below to visit his website.
Robert Day's information concerning props used to decorate the Morbius home stated that a piece by Sasha Brastoff was used as a decoration, and that the piece could be seen in this shot.
Robert (and the rest of us) thought the Brastoff piece was the round wall decoration shown above, the one I later found out was done by Charles Bronson. We thought the wall decoration hadn't actually made it into the shot during filming. However, after carefully looking at the decorations in Morbius' house and comparing them to photos of Sasha Brastoff's work, I realized that the real Brastoff' decorative piece was visible after all — and it had been right in front of us all along.
This metal statue by Brastoff, shown here with Anne Francis and the artist himself —
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— is standing on a black pedestal like the one behind Nielsen. And the sculpture on the pedestal is the same thin human figure in the black-and-white photo, visible only from the knees down in this scene. Notice the shadow of the legs on the wall to the right. There's no other shot in the movie where this statue is visible.
It's a nice bit of Forbidden Planet trivia.
![](http://i.imgur.com/wOG0nRe.png) _________________ ____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
Last edited by Bud Brewster on Mon Jun 27, 2022 5:22 pm; edited 8 times in total |
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Robert (Butch) Day Galactic Ambassador
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Joined: 19 Sep 2014 Posts: 1437 Location: Arlington, WA USA
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Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2014 11:15 pm Post subject: |
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Another unsung hero of Forbidden Planet. This is Colin Low who specialized in painting globes for M-G-M, 20th Century-Fox and Universal. (He was a free-lancer as there was only Chesley Bonestal to rival him — and Chesley was EXPENSIVE. He worked at union scale for George Pal as they were life-long friends.)
This is from a 1960 short documentary titled UNIVERSE. In it is mentioned his work on Forbidden Planet. _________________ Common Sense ISN'T Common |
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Bud Brewster Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)
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Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2014 11:48 am Post subject: |
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___________________________________________________
Orzel-w urged me to include the info I learned about the wall-mounted sculpture we thought was part of the Sasha Brastoff pieces that decorated the Morbius home, the one that has the title of the movie at the bottom of the picture Butch first posted.
Here's the email I go from the artist, Charles Bronson (no relation to the actor) when I asked him about it.
cbhome1@juno.com
Dear Bruce:
Well, the 1956 film Forbidden Planet is one of my favorite 50s sci-fi films. No, the sculpture was never used in the film, the title is an homage to the film, but my work has been featured in two independent films over the years.
Warm Regards;
Charles Bronson
www.artist-charles-bronson.net
![](https://i.imgur.com/mFt9I2N.jpg) _________________ ____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
Last edited by Bud Brewster on Mon May 15, 2023 10:49 am; edited 8 times in total |
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larryfoster Space Ranger
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Joined: 19 Sep 2014 Posts: 104
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Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2014 2:50 am Post subject: |
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Bud Brewster wrote: | Over on the Classic Horror film board, atenolol asked these questions, because he's of the opinion that Morbius was lying about many things during the story.
atenolol wrote: | Where did the tiger come from? And why a tiger?
Despite Bud Brewster's impressive posts, I think it came from Morbius directly through the machine. I think the tiger is evidence that Morbius does know how to consciously run the machine. |
_____________________________________________
I composed the message below to show (through my clever sarcasm) that it didn't make a lick of sense to assume Morbius was lying about anything. I copied it and put it here for the amusement of our members.
Please bear in mind -- this is sarcasm! I don't believe any of this. In fact, just the reverse in every case. |
Glad you prefaced your post with that 'sarcasm' disclaimer statement!
The idea that Morbius created the tiger, etc. Earth animals... comes from that stinking, lousy, novelization of the movie - by W. J. Stuart (the mystery novelist Philip MacDonald writing under the pseudonym). After enjoying the movie for many years, I was talked into buying that so called 'novelization' in paperback. After reading it... I threw it in the trash! That is not the esteemed Dr. Edward Morbius of my idolism! _________________ Tired of waiting on NASA to adopt Flying Saucer technology! Sick of human political-representative government! I want 1970: COLOSSUS (The Forbin Project) A.I. - as World Control government! Providing flying saucer tech, "For the betterment of man." |
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larryfoster Space Ranger
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Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2014 3:03 am Post subject: |
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The "Forbidden Planet" movie's original script (using another name - I forgot), called for the C-57-D ship to be some type of 'rocket ship'. This was later changed in the filming script, to a 'flying saucer' starship. Can Butch (or anyone) tell me exactly who made that decision? I think that person was a genius - whoever they were.
The only change I think required... to make the hyperdrive a seperate detachable (dockable) unit - left in planet-orbit when the saucer lands. _________________ Tired of waiting on NASA to adopt Flying Saucer technology! Sick of human political-representative government! I want 1970: COLOSSUS (The Forbin Project) A.I. - as World Control government! Providing flying saucer tech, "For the betterment of man." |
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larryfoster Space Ranger
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Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2014 7:49 am Post subject: |
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In an updated remake of "Forbidden Planet"... I would replace the original (ugly) Tractor vehicle with this Landram vehicle from: 1978 "Battlestar Galactica" tv series. I like it's relatively small, and weaponized military vehicle - more sensible than a Tractor, and more 'fun' also.
But, it needs its logos changed to this 'United Planets' type:
![](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/71nkALfqg9L._SX425_.jpg) _________________ Tired of waiting on NASA to adopt Flying Saucer technology! Sick of human political-representative government! I want 1970: COLOSSUS (The Forbin Project) A.I. - as World Control government! Providing flying saucer tech, "For the betterment of man." |
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Bud Brewster Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)
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Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2014 1:12 pm Post subject: |
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larryfoster wrote: | Glad you prefaced your post with that 'sarcasm' disclaimer statement!
The idea that Morbius created the tiger, etc. Earth animals... comes from that stinking, lousy, novelization of the movie - by W. J. Stuart (the mystery novelist Philip MacDonald writing under the pseudonym). After enjoying the movie for many years, I was talked into buying that so called 'novelization' in paperback. After reading it... I threw it in the trash! That is not the esteemed Dr. Edward Morbius of my idolism! |
Larry, if you're saying that Morbius didn't create the animals consciously, but the machine produced them based on his subconscious thoughts, then I agree with you, completely!
My belief has always been that the novelization is correct in at least one way -- the machine created the animals without Morbius' knowledge, based on his fatherly concern for the fact that his daughter was lonely.
I do NOT believe that Altaira just lucked out one day and obtained her own petting zoo when a group of descendants from the captured Krell specimens (200,000 years ago) just happened to show up.
I can't figure why anybody would think such an interpretation is more likely -- much less more interesting -- than the intriguing idea that some strange force was creating pets out of thin air for Dr. Morbius' lonely little girl.
After all, we know the Krell machine was built to grant wishes. But Dr. Morbius didn't know this. Being a good daddy, he pondered the problem of how to make his daughter happy with no other kids around to play with.
One day an idle thought came to mind: It was too bad Altaira didn't have a puppy. Or a few deer, a monkey, and a nice friendly tiger. You know, anything furry that would scamper around and lick her pretty face (as long as it was house broken. )
Why, you may ask, did Morbius wish for a tiger?
He didn't, of course. He just knew his little girl giggled and squealed with delight whenever she looked at pictures of animals in the books he gave her, and he imagined his darlin' daughter cavorting around the garden with her own little menagerie.
Sometime later, the animals started showing up. Did this convenient-but-mysterious occurrence perplex Morbius?
Hell yes!
But remember, he does NOT know that the Krell machine grants wishes. And the Krell machine doesn't quite understand what Morbius is really wishing for at any given moment, because by Krell standards his intelligence is comparable to "a low-grade moron" (according to Morbius himself).
That's why the machine went a little overboard when Dr. and Mrs. Morbius didn't want the Bellerophon crew to make them return to Earth.
Morbius and his wife wished they didn't have to do that.
The machine's solution: tear all the people limb-from-limb and vaporize the ship.
There. Problem solved.
My long and witty post that Larry referred to (pause for modest cough ) was intended to make hash of the ridiculous notion that Morbius ever intentionally did anything at all with the Krell machine. Ever.
And Morbius was not lying about anything, either. Find one single lie Morbius' ever told, and the whole climax becomes a very misguided joke.
I mean, come on, people, let's be logical about this. If Morbius already knew what the machine was for and he'd consciously used it in any way whatsoever, then all those anguished faces he makes during the climax are just Eddie's ham-bone attempt to portray a tragic figure for the benefit of his small two-person audience.
Good grief, does anybody really believe Morbius was faking those tortured expressions? Just look at this poor miserable man! Are we really supposed to believe he's trying to fool us?
Why the hell would he do that?
And in this shot, Morbius shouts --
"Guilty! Guilty! My evil self is at that door and I have no power to stop it!"
That's it in a nutshell, folks!
Until the big revelation, he did NOT know what the machine was for, he did NOT know what the machine could do, he did not know it had wiped out the Krell race, he didn't know it had killed the crewmen of both the Bellerophon and the C-57-D, and he had no conscious control over it -- even when it was about to kill his own beloved daughter! _________________ ____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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Krel Guest
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Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2014 4:19 pm Post subject: |
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Why a Tiger? Can you think of a better animal protector for Altaira? Neither the movie or book mention any native life on Altair IV. But that doesn't mean that there wasn't any surviving native life. Morbius dreamed up the Tiger to protect his Daughter from any dangerous wildlife.
David. |
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larryfoster Space Ranger
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Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2014 7:29 pm Post subject: |
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Bud Brewster wrote: | larryfoster wrote: | Glad you prefaced your post with that 'sarcasm' disclaimer statement!
The idea that Morbius created the tiger, etc. Earth animals... comes from that stinking, lousy, novelization of the movie - by W. J. Stuart (the mystery novelist Philip MacDonald writing under the pseudonym). After enjoying the movie for many years, I was talked into buying that so called 'novelization' in paperback. After reading it... I threw it in the trash! That is not the esteemed Dr. Edward Morbius of my idolism! |
Larry, if you're saying that Morbius didn't create the animals consciously, but the machine produced them based on his subconscious thoughts, then I agree with you, completely!
My belief has always been that the novelization is correct in at least one way -- the machine created the animals without Morbius' knowledge, based on his fatherly concern for the fact that his daughter was lonely.
I do NOT believe that Altaira just lucked out one day and obtained her own petting zoo when a group of descendents from the captured Krell specimens (200,000 years ago) just happened to show up.
I can't figure why anybody would think such an interpretation is more likely -- much less more interesting -- than the intriguing idea that some strange force was creating pets out of thin air for Dr. Morbius' lonely little girl. |
I like to stick to the movie dialog as much as possible. I don't believe Dr. Morbius was a liar! But, I reserve one possible exception to that conclusion - regarding the Krell laboratory floor-plunger/switch.
I accept his statements as true.
"[the Krell]... they turned, still with high benevolence... outward toward space."
"Long before the dawn of man's history, they had walked our Earth... and brought back many biological specimens."
"Sometimes the gauges register a little... when the buck deer fight in the autumn or when birds fly over in the spring...".
So, the animals were real... and not as portrayed in that junk novelization!
Bear in mind that we never explored the entire Altair-4 planet. The Morbius home region may not be representative of the entire planet. There may be other areas with abundant plant and animal life. Some native, and some from other planets - like Earth.
Also... we have learned one secret of the great mysterious Krell machine. But, we may not have learned all there is to know of its functions. It can create real objects from individual mental thoughts. But it may possibly also... create from its own artificial intelligence creations - owing to an occasional glitch in its ancient programming. _________________ Tired of waiting on NASA to adopt Flying Saucer technology! Sick of human political-representative government! I want 1970: COLOSSUS (The Forbin Project) A.I. - as World Control government! Providing flying saucer tech, "For the betterment of man." |
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Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2014 8:08 pm Post subject: |
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larryfoster wrote: | In an updated remake of "Forbidden Planet"... I would replace the original (ugly) Tractor vehicle with this Landram vehicle from: 1978 "Battlestar Galactica" tv series. I like it's relatively small, and weaponized military vehicle - more sensible than a Tractor, and more 'fun' also. |
They just didn't make up the front of the Tractor. When I was a child, I loved looking through the books in the local library. In one 1950s book I found an image, I don't remember if it was a drawing or photo, of an all terrain vehicle. It had a front end like the FP Tractor. I remember it was suppose to operate in sand, desert and marsh terrain.
David. |
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larryfoster Space Ranger
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Joined: 19 Sep 2014 Posts: 104
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Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2014 12:30 am Post subject: |
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Krel wrote: | larryfoster wrote: | In an updated remake of "Forbidden Planet"... I would replace the original (ugly) Tractor vehicle with this Landram vehicle from: 1978 "Battlestar Galactica" tv series. I like it's relatively small, and weaponized military vehicle - more sensible than a Tractor, and more 'fun' also. |
They just didn't make up the front of the Tractor. When I was a child, I loved looking through the books in the local library. In one 1950s book I found an image, I don't remember if it was a drawing or photo, of an all terrain vehicle. It had a front end like the FP Tractor. I remember it was suppose to operate in sand, desert and marsh terrain.
David. |
I can't imagine what vehicle you are referring to. I guess I 'm just not fond of 'wheeled' vehicles. I like 'tracked' vehicles, because they look tough. But as an alternative, and especially for ATV use... I would opt for a 'screw-propelled' vehicle. I think they are cool, and a neglected mechanism for land, sand, snow, ice, swamp, and water. Perhaps a BSG Landram vehicle cabin 'on screws' would be a good replacement upgrade to the old Tractor. I can't think of any sci-fi video that used a screw-propelled vehicle.
"Screw-propelled vehicle"
Google Image Search - "screw-propelled vehicle" _________________ Tired of waiting on NASA to adopt Flying Saucer technology! Sick of human political-representative government! I want 1970: COLOSSUS (The Forbin Project) A.I. - as World Control government! Providing flying saucer tech, "For the betterment of man." |
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Bud Brewster Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)
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Joined: 14 Dec 2013 Posts: 17164 Location: North Carolina
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Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2014 1:35 am Post subject: |
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larryfoster wrote: | "Sometimes the gauges register a little... when the buck deer fight in the autumn or when birds fly over in the spring...".
So, the animals were real... and not as portrayed in that junk novelization! |
Oops, you've got it backwards. The movie provides a big piece of evidence that the animals were fabricated by the machine, but you misinterpreted it. The reference to the gauges and the animals by Morbius was a classic case of foreshadowing.
The fact that the gauges registered power usage when the animals were active doesn't prove they were real . . . it proves they were creations of the machine.
Please reconsider your statement in light of the following facts.
When Morbius is asleep in the lab during the Id monster attack, we see the gauges behind Morbius become more and more active while the machine did what Doc described as "renewing [the Id monster's] molecular structure from one microsecond to the next."
Ditto for the scene in which the Id monster uses an increasing amount of power to get into the lab. More and more of the gauges are shown lighting up.
So, again I submit that the film did a fine job of presenting us with evidence that, in addition to the Id monster, the machine demonstrated its ability to "project solid matter to any point on the planet, in any shape or color . . . for any purpose. Creation by mere thought."
The gentle animals are much better examples of what the machine was built to do than a horrible monster that rips people limb-from-limb.
Yes, the machine was capable of doing both. But that's my point.
It DID do both.
It's important for us to realize that the creation of the animals by the machine -- at Morbius' subconscious request -- is the only positive example of the machines intended function. The creation of the animals to bring joy and companionship to Altaira is completely consistent with the way Adams (on behalf of the writers of the script, not the novel) explains to us the true nature of the machine, and what it was intended to do.
If you dismiss the animals as mere descendants of 200,000-year-old biological specimens, you robe the story of a very interesting element that was intended to show us just how well the miracle of the Krell machine was supposed to work.
Hey, here's a bit of irony for us. I'd never thought of this particular argument for the machine-created animals before . . . and it's really the strongest one of all!
Thanks for pointing this out, Larry! ![Very Happy](images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif) _________________ ____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
Last edited by Bud Brewster on Mon Feb 26, 2018 3:28 pm; edited 6 times in total |
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