Forbidden Planet (1956)

In the final decade of the 21st century, men and women in rocketships landed on the Moon. By 2200 AD they had reached the other planets of our solar system. Almost at once there followed the discovery of hyperdrive through which the speed of light was first attained and later greatly surpassed. And so at last mankind began the conquest and colonisation of deep space. United Planets Cruiser C57D, now more than a year out from Earth base on a special mission to the planetary system of the great main sequence star, Altair.

Forbidden Planet opening narration

Enter Ferdinand, selected by Prospero as a suitable mate for his daughter, and son of Alonso. In the meantime Caliban and some men from the ship conspire to kill Prospero, and Antonio to kill Alonso. With the help of Ariel Prospero prevents this, arranges a wedding for Ferdinand and Miranda, and forgives all involved in his exile. Finally he takes back his Dukedom and leaves the island, setting Ariel free. And they all ...

In Forbidden Planet the imperious philologist Morbius and his daughter Altaira are the sole survivors of the ship Belleraphon which landed on Altair IV 20 years ago. A "dark, terrible planetary force" (Caliban) "literally" tore everyone else "limb from limb", and vaporised their ship. We learn that this occurred after a vote had been taken to return to Earth, and that Morbius and his wife were devastated at the prospect of leaving. Morbius is assisted by a robot named Robby (Ariel). A ship arrives under the command of John Adams (Ferdinand) to search for survivors, but is warned off by Morbius. He stresses that should they land he "cannot be answerable for the safety of [the] ship or [the] crew". They follow their orders regardless, and meet the reclusive, secretive Morbius, his beautiful daughter (who has never seen another human), and the family servant - the highly advanced robot Robby. We eventually learn that the source of Morbius's achievements and his power (his magic) is the ancient and highly advanced technology of the former inhabitants of the planet, the Krell, which he has managed to master to some extent over the past two decades.

In the light of the deaths of Morbius's collegues Adams needs to contact Earth base for new orders. To do this the spaceship is temporarily left disabled to construct and power the communications device. Morbius realises with horror that he may have to leave Altair IV and his work for two years should he have to return to Earth to be debriefed. When his unwelcome visitors leave his house he can be seen putting his arm around his daughter, who is obviously as taken with first young men she has ever seen as they are with her.

During the night an unseen something enters the ship and sabotages it. It seems that the long dormant destructive force has awakened. Previously Morbius and his daughter were never harmed, but when Altaira is attacked by her pet tiger the next day - after kissing Commander Adams with every sign of enjoyment - it becomes clear that she is no longer safe from whatever haunts the planet. Her attraction to the commander, and her awakening sexuality and individuality seem to move her out of a sphere of protection which has surrounded her up to that point.

Finding Adams and Ostrow in his study Morbius proceeds to introduce them to the wonders of the lost Krell civilisation. He demonstrates a Krell teaching device which he used to raise his intellect to the level necessary to decode enough of their technology to build Robby, and to gain some understanding of the ethically and technologically advanced Krell and their history. The subterranean Krell construct is "a single machine, a cube 20 miles on each side", source of the enormous Krell power Morbius now has at his disposal, and all that is left of a once mighty race which even managed to conquer their "baser selves". (Interestingly, on the approach to the planet the ship was "radar-scanned" from an area covering 20 square miles.) Ominously, all the Krell perished in the course of a single night, 2,000 centuries ago, apparently on the verge of a great breakthrough.

After the murder of a United Planets officer Morbius reminds Adams that he warned him and tells him that the first death is just the beginning. Asked how he knows Morbius responds that he "seem[s] to visualise it". That night the monster launches a full-scale attack on the camp during which a further three crewmembers die. During the battle the camera cuts away from the action to show Morbius asleep in the lab while the gauges all around him indicate a huge power drain. Adams decides that Morbius and his daughter have to be evacuated, and that either he or Doc Ostrow has to use the "brain booster" to learn how to combat the unseen force that stalks them. (It will be remembered that it vaporised the Bellepheron when it tried to take off 20 years earlier.) At the residence Adams tries to convince Altaira to come with them while the doctor slips away unseen to the Krell lab. Soon after Robby carries the dying Ostrow into the lounge, where he has time to explain all to Adams before he dies prettily on the sofa.

It seems that the Krell did in fact complete their final project, which made "creation through mere thought" possible via the great machine. They failed to realise that they were not only giving their collective Ego access to the machine, but also their Id. (Morbius defines "Id" as "elementary basis of the subconscious mind".) As Adams puts it:

And so those mindless beasts of the subconscious 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 to loot and maim and take revenge, Morbius! And kill!

At their first meeting Morbius told Adams: "And yet, always in my mind I seem to feel the creature is lurking somewhere close at hand, sly and irresistable, only waiting to be re-invoked for murder." That turns out to be an accurate description of what was going on. (It occurs to me that it's not the sort of thing one should say if one is trying to convince people that you're OK and they should leave!) It seems that his use of the Krell educating device, which left him with his intellectual capacity doubled, also forged a bond between him and the great machine - which it will be remembered, can power something without "direct wiring". And the great machine belonged to a race which managed to "free [themselves] once and for all from any dependence on physical instrumentality". When Morbius's studies came him access to their power, he set foot on the same path which lead to their destruction. Unconsciously giving free reign to the ravening monster from his own Id - equal in size and power to his over-weening Ego, and fueled by alien technology - he indirectly caused the deaths of all the colonists when they wanted to return to Earth, as well as the sabotage and murder on the newly arrived Earthship. What he would never do or accomplish consciously his subsconcious "monster" had no compunction about doing with brute force.

As the monster gets closer they decide to hide in the alien laboratory, behind thick Krell steel which even a blaster can't melt but the monster, drawing on the tremendous power below, breaks through. Morbius finally stands up against it, though he still tries to deny it and give it up, and dies - but not before showing Adams how to set in motion a runaway chain reaction involving all the "Krell furnaces". He literally created a monster, and was the only one with the power to stop it. The ship is at last free to leave. Through the viewer the survivors watch the planet blow up, taking with it its dangerous machines and temptations. The end.

Every time I see the film it blows me away. There is a solid plot at its core, a solid idea, backed up by fine performances, glorious colour cinematography, great special effects and great production design. Three of my favourite scenes are the battle between the monster and the United Planets force, the scene in which Morbius shows off his house's massive shutters, the disintegration of the tiger, and of course the scenes which illustrate the scale and majesty of the Krell machine. In the latter the camera zooms in on three tiny figures on a walkway crossing an enormous ventilator shaft which stretches up and down as far as the eye can see. The film does a great job of impressing on one the scale of the alien machine and its unfathomable power.

Today I'm sure viewers today find the crewmembers' lusting after Altaira a bit over the top - they appear ready to jump her at a moments notice. But her innocence and ignorance actually serve a purpose in the plot - she isn't simply there to be ogled. As long as she remains as she is she belongs completely to Morbius, as did the remnants of the Krell civilisation before the intrusion of Adams and the others. Morbius believes his motives to be pure, but he is power-hungry and egotistical. He denies his baser impulses, he denies the very existence of his Id. This leaves him free from responsibility for its actions, and allows his Id to operate without constraint - and to solve his problems for him. (He even warned Adams that "I wash my hands of all responsibility" for what happened if they landed.) When he feels Altaira slipping from his grasp, and his sole ownership of the Krell machine threatened, his Id - enhanced by Krell technology in the same way as his intellect and his Ego - goes on the rampage. When Altaira chooses to ally herself with Adams she becomes the target as opposed to one of the obsessions of Morbius's Id.

With hindsight one becomes aware how many clues there are in the film and in Morbius's pronouncements which point at the origin of the monster. See the Quotes section for some of these. I love the logic to the narrative, and the way the story unfolds. In the final event the text seems to argue that the beasts in us are stronger than our "civilised" impulses. This makes it imperative that we do not overreach ourselves. We are not mature enough to handle the technological marvels we come up with. However, one day in the distant future when the technologically advanced human race reaches the cusp the Krell did they will at least have the example of Morbius's Id and the Krell machine to guide them, as we the viewers have Forbidden Planet.

The visual treatment of [Forbidden Planet] was unsurpassed until 2001: A Space Odyssey, made 12 years later. Despite its flaws, it remains one of the few masterpieces of science fiction cinema.

from the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction by John Clute and Peter Nicholls

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