Compared to the C-57D, the Metaluna ship is a silly and dated design. That cavernous control deck is mostly wasted space. And what's the purpose of the atom sculpture on a pole?
Well... I'm proposing that only the Metaluna hull would be used - because it is a classic recognizable saucer. But it's original alien interior would all be replaced with human technology components - like from C-57-D, LIS TOS Jupiter-2, and ST TOS Enterprise.
For example, after removing all original interior objects from the Metaluna, then:
* install the lighted arched structure ribs, the air-lock, and possibly the large forward view-port of the LIS Jupiter-2 into the it's command deck dome.
* add crew freeze-tubes, laboratories, machine rooms, living quarters, food galley, storage rooms, etc. to the decks 2 and 3.
* add ship drive engine, air-locks, storage rooms to bottom deck 4. Also add a vehicle bay and hatch to the rear of bottom deck 4, to allow drive out of land vehicles like LIS Chariot after the saucer has landed.
So... the wasted interior space and the crazy atom-on-a-pole thing, etc. of the original Metaluna saucer will be gone. But the 'still recognizable' (classic) hull would remain for 1950's sci-fi fans nostalgia.
If such a modified Metaluna saucer could be patched into the original 1956 Forbidden Planet movie (as a memory squence of Dr. Morbius describing the fate of the Bellerophon), then... it opens the nostalgia door for other FP 'civilans in space' adventures to other planets as FP spin-offs.
Link to images of the Metaluna Saucer physical model:
http://www.fantastic-plastic.com/MetalunaSaucerPage.htm
BTW: if someone wanted to create the sequence of the Metaluna/Bellerophon being 'vaporized on lift-off' from Altair-4... there was a 3d Metaluna Saucer model for the Poser CGI program, available for purchase at Renderosity.com a few years ago - but no longer available there now. It was called "50's Flying Saucers" by artest: dlangerher. I have that purchased Metaluna Saucer Poser CGI model (but not the skill to use it), if it is no longer available anywhere otherwise. It would be nice if someone could add a Chariot Bay hatch to it's bottom rear location, and a 'hide-able' Jupiter-2 large forward view-port to the front of it's dome.
Images of Metaluna Saucer for Poser CGI program: