Forbidden Planet

In Forbidden Planet, intrepid astronauts—led by Leslie Nielsen—visit the far-off planet known as Altair-4, where the seemingly idyllic lifestyle enjoyed by reclusive scientist Walter Pidgeon and his futuristic glam-girl daughter Anne Francis is suddenly threatened by the inexplicable rampages of an invisible monster. Few science-fiction films from the 1950s remain as popular as this space-opera adaptation of Shakespeare's The Tempest, although not everyone will agree that Forbidden Planet was the genre's most important movie made before Star Wars—a claim made in the excellent new retrospective documentary “Exploring the Far Reaches of Forbidden Planet,” featuring directors Joe Dante, John Landis, and John Carpenter, who are joined by special-effects wizards John Dykstra and Dennis Muren, several film historians, and surviving cast members Nielsen, Francis, Earl Holliman, and Warren Stevens. Warner excels in the production of special features, and the studio has pulled out all the stops once again for this fine double-disc “special edition,” coming up with material that was either believed to be lost or just plain forgotten, including test footage from special-effects sequences and lighting comparisons of the various sets. Other featurettes here include “Watch the Skies,” a TCM documentary on sci-fi film in the ‘50s, and “Robby the Robot: Engineering a Sci-Fi Icon.” The famous Robby also stars in two other extras: The Invisible Boy, a 1958 feature, and “Robot Client,” a vintage episode from The Thin Man TV series. Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. (E. Hulse)[Blu-ray Review—Sept. 14, 2010—Warner, 98 min., G, $24.98—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 1956's Forbidden Planet features an impressive transfer and a DTS-HD 5.1 soundtrack. Blu-ray extras include the follow-up Robby the Robot 1957 feature film The Invisible Boy (90 min.), the original TCM documentary “Watch the Skies! Science Fiction, the 1950's and Us” (56 min.), “Amazing! Exploring the Far Reaches of Forbidden Planet” production featurette (27 min.), The Thin Man TV series episode “Robot Client” (26 min.), “Engineering a Sci-Fi Icon” featurette on the robot character (14 min.), deleted scenes (13 min.), lost footage (10 min.), excerpts from The MGM Parade TV series (6 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: an excellent Blu-ray debut of a sci-fi classic.]