Just watched Forbidden Planet
- Thread starter Cdr MacDuff
- Start date
No offense, but that's fairly idiotic, considering that Forbidden Planet is itself a remake of The Tempest. Obviously it is possible to transcend the source material and to explore new directions.
Highly reccomend it!
Going on still, I loved the feel of the crew, very pseudo-WWII B-17 army flight crew feel to them! Their interaction and dialogue indicates they have all been through a lot together and accpet one another's little quirks.
Cookie could've been lifted right out of a south pacific navy war movie of the time and yet fit in with the crew so perfectly. The Chief (a young Oscar Goldman of Six Million Dollar fame) has a kick ass comment when pushed to do the impossible as he just explained the damage to a coil to the Captian...
Capt. <Snaps> "All right all right, its impossible to fix, so how long will it take?"
Chief <Smirking> "Well....if I don't stop for lunch"
The Captain sees he is dumping on the guy eases off immediately and allows his pro to go back work on it! Classic
You can really see the template for Scotty and Kirk in that very brief scene
Vons
Talos IV - ".....the one forbidden planet in all the galaxy."
"Genesis is planet forbidden!"
There's also all sorts of Forbidden Planet references in "Serenity" (one as pointed out already the "C57D" rescue ship) including the forbidden planet Miranda, which is so dark a secret that no one beyond the government's highest levels knows of its existence.
Much of Babylon V takes its cues from FP, not the least is the Krell-like world that the station orbits with its vastly advanced technology. No surprise Strazynski wanted to script a remake.
There was a JFK alternate-history anthology published awhile back: one story was written by David Gerrold, with Kennedy going into acting instead of politics, and being cast as a starship captain in a low-budget TV series, which used redressed FP models/props/costumes in storage at MGM to save on production costs. Find the book - can't remember the title but shouldn't be hard to locate - its a very strange story that's probaly closer to reality than most would admit.
Just another connection between Trek and FP - with just a "little" bit of re-styling (plunk a bridge-module atop the saucer) the C-57D would fit right in place as the Enterprise's primary hull (originally conceived, the ship was little over 200' in length).
"Genesis is planet forbidden!"
There's also all sorts of Forbidden Planet references in "Serenity" (one as pointed out already the "C57D" rescue ship) including the forbidden planet Miranda, which is so dark a secret that no one beyond the government's highest levels knows of its existence.
Much of Babylon V takes its cues from FP, not the least is the Krell-like world that the station orbits with its vastly advanced technology. No surprise Strazynski wanted to script a remake.
There was a JFK alternate-history anthology published awhile back: one story was written by David Gerrold, with Kennedy going into acting instead of politics, and being cast as a starship captain in a low-budget TV series, which used redressed FP models/props/costumes in storage at MGM to save on production costs. Find the book - can't remember the title but shouldn't be hard to locate - its a very strange story that's probaly closer to reality than most would admit.
Just another connection between Trek and FP - with just a "little" bit of re-styling (plunk a bridge-module atop the saucer) the C-57D would fit right in place as the Enterprise's primary hull (originally conceived, the ship was little over 200' in length).
http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2005/12/review-alternate-gerrolds-by-david-gerrold/
It's in his "Alternate Gerrolds" anthology!
"The Kennedy Enterprise" [1992 short story]
- Synopsis: Reminiscing from an ex-Trek writer on how John F. Kennedy came to portray Captain Jake Logan on a popular sci-fi television show called Star Track.
Hell, if you like TOS, and "The Cage" in particular, you have to see Forbidden Planet. You can make a long list of elements "The Cage" and FP have in common.
Starship on patrol finds colony of humans who've survived a disaster
Crew finds a moment to enjoy the beauty of an alien world
Things aren't what they seem
Beautiful young woman captivates captain
Underground alien civilization
Psychic powers
Big scene involving laser cannon(s)
Crew finds a moment to enjoy the beauty of an alien world
Things aren't what they seem
Beautiful young woman captivates captain
Underground alien civilization
Psychic powers
Big scene involving laser cannon(s)
Yeah, it's silly to spoiler code a movie that's more than 50 years old, but if you've never seen it, catching some of those parallels when you see it is part of the fun. And that's not all of them. I know I'm forgetting something from the last time I did a post like this.
Incidentally, just googling Forbidden Planet, Star Trek, and "The Cage," I came across a story about Leslie Neilsen saying he'd been on virtually every other '60s TV show but was never cast for Star Trek because, he says, they knew Trek was a ripoff of Forbidden Planet. There are a lot of hits out there for that combination of terms, btw; a lot of people have noticed the similarities.
The actor Warren Steven who played Lt. 'Doc' Ostrow MD on Forbidden Planet played Rojan in TOS episode 50, By Any Other Name.
No, it wasn't a "remake" of a Shakespeare play. It was an original movie inspired loosely by the plot of The Tempest.
A "remake" is a very specific thing.
I'd be interested in hearing your definition of "remake" then.
Mea culpa.
That book is titled Involuntary Human by David Gerrold.
This will teach me to try an post so early in the morning. Apologies to anyone who went looking for a book with the other title I cited.
When someone makes a movie over again.
Whether it be a film with the same title, or the same story with another title. To me, at least, it applies strictly to movies and TV series.A new movie version of Romeo and Juliette would not be a remake of Zepherilli's movie, nor a remake of the play. Rather, it would be a new movie production of the original play. Similar to a new stage production not being a remake, merely a new production.
Forbidden Planet owes some of its plot points to The Tempest, but you can't call it a remake, because there's such a huge difference in setting. The most you can acll it, IMHO, is "inspired by" the tempest.
YMMV
A remake seems completely unnecessary. On the other hand, the idea of a crew out exploring the galaxy, the sense of optimism and competence that distinguishes Forbidden Planet (I think very much a product of its time) - there's room for a new movie there, or a TV series. Trek doesn't hold a monopoly on that sort of thing, or at least it shouldn't.
I'll put it this way: I'd take one really good Forbidden Planet spin off series over the last two series 3 movies 'Trek has produced.
Oh, I'd take it over all but about two of the Trek movies - and one of them would be the currently-in-release one.
