Product Description
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Forbidden Planet: Ultimate Collector's Edition (DVD)
.com
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This 1956 pop adaptation of Shakespeare's The Tempest is one of
the best, most influential science fiction movies ever made. Its
space explorers are the models for the crew of Star Trek's
Enterprise, and the film's robot is clearly the prototype for
Robby in Lost in Space. Walter Pidgeon is the Prospero figure,
presiding over a paradisiacal world with his lovely young
daughter and their servile droid. When the crew of a spaceship
lands on the planet, they become aware of a sinister invisible
force that threatens to destroy them. Great special effects and a
bizarre electronic score help make this movie as fresh,
imaginative, and fun as it was when first released. --.com
On the DVDs
Nestled in a metal collector's box decorated with variations of
original promo art, the colorfully designed 2-disc 50th
Anniversary Edition of Forbidden Planet (also available
separately ( /dp/B000HEWEDK )) comes in a slip-covered fold-out
case accompanied by a pocket of 17 miniature lobby card
reproductions (eight for Forbidden Planet, nine for the 1957
companion movie The Invisible Boy). On disc 1, Forbidden Planet
is presented with a new digital transfer from restored picture
and audio elements, with soundtrack remastered in Dolby Digital
5.1, offering considerable improvement over the film's previous
DVD release. A selection of deleted scenes were taken from a
faded and scratchy 16-millimeter "work print" that had originally
been viewed by composers Louis and Bebe Barron as they were
creating the film's unique electronic score; they consist of full
or partial scenes cut from the final film--mostly for good
reason, but collectors (and those who first saw this rare
material on the original Criterion Collection laserdisc) will
welcome their inclusion here. The "lost footage" is crude
special-effects test footage, again primarily of interest to
sci-fi historians and aficionados. Given the fact that the
original "Robby the Robot" cost over $100,000 to build in 1955,
it's easy to see why MGM wanted to get their money's worth: An
excerpt from the 1950s TV series "MGM Parade" shows Forbidden
Planet star Walter Pigeon appearing briefly with Robby, and the
popular robot gets even more attention as a guest star in "The
Robot Client," an episode of the Thin Man TV series (starring
Peter Lawford and Phyllis Kirk) that originally aired on Feb. 28,
1958. Disc 1 also includes a gallery of seven science-fiction
movie trailers dating from 1953's The Beast from 20,000 homs
to 1960's The Time Machine.
Disc 2 begins with 1957's The Invisible Boy, a still-enjoyable
B-movie that served as Robby's post-Forbidden Planet showcase.
Here, filmdom's favorite automaton plays sidekick to a young boy
(Richard Eyer) who turns invisible when he gets caught up in a
super-computer's scheme of global domination. Also included are
three documentaries, all of them very good to excellent: In
addition to reuniting the surviving cast members of the '56
classic (including Leslie Nielsen, Anne Francis, Richard
Anderson, Warren Stevens, and Earl Holliman), "Amazing! Exploring
the Far Reaches of Forbidden Planet" is an appreciative tribute
to Forbidden Planet with some of Hollywood's foremost sci-fi fans
including special effects masters Dennis Muren and Phil Tippett,
SF movie expert Bill Warren, and others. "Robby the Robot:
Engineering a Sci-Fi Icon" is a featurette about the robot's
design, creation, and pop-cultural history, featuring original
"Robby" designer Robert Kinoshita, Bill Malone (current owner of
the original Robby), and Fred "The Robot Man" Barton, a lifelong
robot fanatic builds fully authorized, full-scale Robby replicas
for sci-fi fans with deep pockets. Closing out disc 2 is "Watch
the Skies!: Science Fiction, the 1950s and Us," a 2005
documentary from Turner Classic Movies, written and directed by
Time magazine critic Richard Schickel. It's a thoroughly
comprehensive survey of '50s sci-fi and its influence on the next
generation of film directors, including engaging interviews with
George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, John Carpenter, Ridley Scott and
James Cameron.
Last but certainly not least, the Ultimate Collector's Edition
of Forbidden Planet comes with a highly detailed three-inch tall
die-cast replica of Robby the Robot. Should you display it
proudly on your toy shelf or keep it in its cellophane wrapper?
That's a tough call for devoted Robby fans... so you'll just have
to decide for yourself! --Jeff Shannon