"Forbidden Planet" as TOS prequel?

[TOS Purist]

I've always felt that "Forbidden Planet" makes a pretty cool prequel to the TOS era. Nothing in it really contradicts anything from TOS, and the Earth ship (and her crew, technology, color scheme, and uniforms) aren't that different from what we saw in "The Cage," so it's easy to see a logical progression from the "Forbidden Planet" type of stuff to "The Cage" (which of course segways into TOS). On top of it all, Gene Roddenberry said that the movie inspired him to make TOS, so even as far as the real-world goes, it's certainly a type of prequel.

Anyone who's familiar with the film - what do you think? Agree or disagree? Do you think it's a neat idea or a stupid one? Post below!

 

[trevanian]

All you have to do is see the FP cut scene between the Capt & the doctor at night outside the saucer to see the origins of Kirk/McCoy, which was a GR-established relationship (unlike stuff like the Spock/McCoy, which really developed after the shooting started and Coon came on.)

I think it's a neat notion, myself, but then again, I also thought they could have resuscitated PLANET OF THE TITANS and done that as the feature restart instead of TheAbramsThing. They could have done it with ANY cast, maybe April & crew, that way you could have had less of the superfuturetech and a clean relaunch of Trek with a story that had mythological aspects as well as action-adventure.

Does anybody know about the attempts to do FP again in the 90s? I remember Cameron was supposed to do it after TRUE LIES, but it went nowhere, even though somebody had a script or treatment done.

 

[TOS Purist]

Yes, I always liked the Kirk/McCoy interaction; the scene from "The Corbomite Maneuver" when McCoy banters with Kirk (and especially when McCoy says "If I keep doing this I'll end up talking to myself...while he's by himself is especially clever and humourous) is one of the best examples.

I've always been a fan of "Planet of the Titans," and I wish they had done that instead of TMP! As for Abrams' Trek-By-Name-Only...what else could I say about that disaster that hasn't already been said?

Supposedly J. Michael Strazinski is writing a "Forbidden Planet" movie, which he plans on doing as a prequel rather than a remake of the classic film, to respect it and avoid treading on it or messing it up. Since Strazinski's "Babylon 5" was arguably the best sci-fi show made since TOS, I have confidence that he'll do it up right!

 

[trevanian]

If they find a strong visual director for JMS, that will make for a good balance. I like a lot of B5, and find a couple dozen of them to be excellent (even though I'm a Sinclair guy at heart, I'll admit the AIDS show from second season and several season 3 & 4 shows proved Boxleitner wasn't totally unmemorable), but it is one of the only programs I admire where certain production value issues impair its rewatchability (mainly the stuff where they have live-action in virtual sets or CG people.)

I think I may have the same problem with nuGalactica ... I think the rough look and the fuzziness of stuff like the basestar interiors is going to date the show in a very bad way, though like B5, that doesn't take away from the storytelling achievement.

As for TITANS ... I'm still always on the lookout for Kaufman's treatment or the work done by Scott & Bryant. Doing an action-adventure as the first TREK movie seems like a no-brainer, and they already had a helluva production crew onboard for TITANS ... sigh.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Because I can never resist:

STAR TREK 0: THE FORBIDDEN PLANET

 

[TOS Purist]

Haha...I love that one.

 

[Shaw]

I generally watch Forbidden Planet, The Cage and WNMHGB together as a mini marathon of sorts. I'm of the opinion that the primary idea behind Star Trek was that some 6 years later technology had advanced enough to bring Forbidden Planet quality production to a weekly TV series... and I think that both The Cage and WNMHGB proved that point quite nicely.

 

[trevanian]

Have any of you folks read Gerrold's story THE KENNEDY ENTERPRISE? It is in ALTERNATE KENNEDYS, and the premise is that Joe Kennedy stayed out west and his kids grew up 'in the biz.' Bobby Kennedy was running a studio and wanted to reuse the FORBIDDEN PLANET uniforms, so he greenlit STAR TREK. Later, after he got tired of Shat and Nimoy bitching, he fired them and brought in his brother John to be the new Enterprise Capt, and ratings went through the roof.

I'm not even getting to the good stuff yet, it is seriously funny stuff.

 

[Chrisisall]

IMO, Forbidden Planet IS Star trek.

 

[TOS Purist]

IMO, Forbidden Planet IS Star trek.

Precisely - a Star Trek prequel.

I'm of the opinion that the primary idea behind Star Trek was that some 6 years later technology had advanced enough to bring Forbidden Planet quality production to a weekly TV series... and I think that both The Cage and WNMHGB proved that point quite nicely.

I've always thought the exact same thing. If you watch TOS, the quality of its production was up there with films like "Forbidden Planet." People like to judge it from the standards of our television today, but for its time TOS was some movie-quality stuff!

Here's a really cool trailer for "Forbidden Planet" that a fan put together very well:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8mFWDXIDO0

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

Have any of you folks read Gerrold's story THE KENNEDY ENTERPRISE? It is in ALTERNATE KENNEDYS, and the premise is that Joe Kennedy stayed out west and his kids grew up 'in the biz.' Bobby Kennedy was running a studio and wanted to reuse the FORBIDDEN PLANET uniforms, so he greenlit STAR TREK. Later, after he got tired of Shat and Nimoy bitching, he fired them and brought in his brother John to be the new Enterprise Capt, and ratings went through the roof.

I'm not even getting to the good stuff yet, it is seriously funny stuff.

I've read it. I like how Donald Pleasance as the android that replaces Mr. Spock, and the fates of Shatner and Nimoy. What was Kennedy's character? Captain John Logan or something?

And wasn't it Star Track instead of Star Trek?

 

[Allyn Gibson]

IMO, Forbidden Planet IS Star trek.

There's a musical version of Forbidden Planet entitled Return to the Forbidden Planet that is usually staged with the characters wearing Star Trek uniforms.

 

[Chrisisall]

"...Stuff-?"

 

[Greg Cox]

Have any of you folks read Gerrold's story THE KENNEDY ENTERPRISE? It is in ALTERNATE KENNEDYS, and the premise is that Joe Kennedy stayed out west and his kids grew up 'in the biz.' Bobby Kennedy was running a studio and wanted to reuse the FORBIDDEN PLANET uniforms, so he greenlit STAR TREK. Later, after he got tired of Shat and Nimoy bitching, he fired them and brought in his brother John to be the new Enterprise Capt, and ratings went through the roof.

I'm not even getting to the good stuff yet, it is seriously funny stuff.

That's a great story!

Strange but true: I actually wrote the cover copy for that book:

"Ask not who the Kennedys were. Ask who they might have been."

I'm still proud of that blurb!

 

[Ronald Held]

Those uniforms vaguely resemble those of STTMP?

 

[TOS Purist]

OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG GREG COX OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG

...I'm okay now!

Now that you mention it, I think I remember reading that somewhere. Wasn't the "Kennedy" book mentioned in the sleeve of one of your Khan books?

 

[Rulius]

Am watching Forbidden Planet... has anyone noticed that the music and effects sound very similar to effects on Trek? I keep hearing the engine revving up whine, I've heard what sounds like the transporter effect...anyone else notice this?

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Forbidden Planet is my favorite science fiction movie.

In certain ways, I like it better than Star Trek.

That's only in certain ways, you understand.

That said, it doesn't quite fit with Star Trek unless you kind of cross your eyes. The similarities, I'm increasingly convinced, exist because Roddenberry lifted the largest part of Trek's premise and the initial conception of its "universe" directly from Forbidden Planet without acknowledgment. Given that there's nothing original in early Star Trek ,he could have been copying from quite a few pulp stories (as Cyril Hume probably did) but all the parts are assembled there together in Forbidden Planet and tied up with a nice bow for him - not just the naval analogies but the character attitudes and relationships and much of the story set-up for "The Cage."

Except for Spock. Spock comes from Eric Frank Russell's Martians.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Have any of you folks read Gerrold's story THE KENNEDY ENTERPRISE? It is in ALTERNATE KENNEDYS

Also in the "Alternate Gerrolds" omnibus. And, accompanying the "Blood and Fire" TNG script, in "The Involuntary Human" omnibus.

There's a musical version of Forbidden Planet entitled Return to the Forbidden Planet that is usually staged with the characters wearing Star Trek uniforms.

Here in Oz, it was performed in gorgeous FP uniforms but the surprise viewscreen narrator was a pre-recorded video of Clive "Robbo" Robertson, in a send-up of his own tongue-in-cheek late-night news program. In some parts of the US, James Doohan was cast to pre-record the surprise narrator's speeches. I guess that's when they went for the ST uniforms?

 

[TOS Purist]

has anyone noticed that the music and effects sound very similar to effects on Trek?

I never really noticed any reusing of sound effects...but they DID "reuse" actors! Let's not forget that Warren Stevens, who played Doc Ostrow in "Forbidden Planet," also plays Rojan in "By Any Other Name."

That said, it doesn't quite fit with Star Trek unless you kind of cross your eyes.

In what ways do you think it doesn't fit with "Star Trek's" chronology? Discarding ENT first, of course.