'Forbidden Planet' is one of my very favourite movies. I've loved it since I was little, when the attack of the monster sent me scurrying for cover behind the sofa. I still love it now and watch it periodically, still engrossed in the story. I'll try to keep spoilers out of this article, in case you are lucky enough not to have seen this wonderful movie and have the pleasure of first-time viewing yet to come.

The plot (loosely based on Shakespeare's 'The Tempest') concerns the supposedly-lost Bellerophon mission to Altair IV, unheard from in twenty years. The space cruiser C57D, under the command of J.J. Adams, is despatched to investigate. After a year-long voyage the cruiser lands on Altair IV, finding Dr. Edward Morbius, his daughter Altaira and their robotic assistant, Robby. Morbius and his daughter are the sole survivors of the expedition – all the others, including his wife, killed by a mysterious force.

It transpires that Morbius has discovered artefacts and a city from a fantastically advanced, long-dead civilisation, the Krell. 200,000 years ago, the Krell disappeared overnight, for reasons not understood. Meanwhile, the C57D begins to experience attacks similar to those which killed the Bellerophon crew . .

The C57D lands

'Forbidden Planet' was released in 1956 and it was a trailblazer. The first movie to depict Humans travelling faster than light in a ship of their own building, the first movie to be set entirely in deep space on an alien world, the first movie to have an entirely electronic score. (Louis and Bebe Barron received a credit for 'electronic tonalities' as the Musicians' Union refused to allow a composer credit.) This was no low-budget picture with cardboard monsters and bad acting – the budget was $1.9 million dollars, the cast was excellent, the production values high and the visual effects spectacular for the day.

Let's look at the cast. Walter Pidgeon is a dark, brooding, imposing figure as Morbius. He plays the part as a man who is so focused on his beloved Krell that he is blind to the truth staring him in the face. Pidgeon makes him a sympathetic character as well as a deeply, deeply flawed one. Alongside him is Anne Francis, all youthful naiveté and leg (Anne famously wore extremely short skirts in this movie) – she is an effective contrast to her father and ultimately helps him to see his mistake.

A young Leslie Nielsen – yes, that Leslie Nielsen – plays Commander Adams as a grouchy, by-the-book leader who believes in his mission and his crew. Nielsen plays it absolutely straight and leaves the comic relief to other characters, such as the hapless ship's cook (Earl Holliman). Doc Ostrow is played by Warren Stevens, who would go on to appear in Star Trek, Chief Quinn is played by Richard Anderson, who appeared as Oscar Goldman in 'The Six Million Dollar Man' and 'Bionic Woman' and First Officer Jerry Farman is played by Jack Kelly, who would soon go on to play Bart Maverick in the 'Maverick' TV series.

That leaves one vital cast member – Robby the Robot. Robby was the work of many people under the direction of Robert Kinoshita. Kinoshita also designed the Robot from 'Lost in Space' , hence the passing resemblance between the two automatons. Robby had a stuntman, Frankie Darro, inside and was memorably voiced by Marvin Miller. Robby was a hugely popular character and the prop was reused many times - for example, in 'The Twilight Zone' (a show which also reused the C57D model) and as late as the 1970s Robby popped up in an episode of Mork and Mindy. I'd say that was good workmanship for a movie prop!

Robby

The cast help convey the core themes of the movie: pride, ego, our hidden, dark sides and loss of innocence. The Krell, all those centuries ago, were guilty of monstrous pride and Morbius falls into the same trap. In life, we are often our own worst enemies and this is absolutely the case in 'Forbidden Planet'. As Altaira loses her innocence, by falling in love with Adams, it leads to Morbius finally realising the terrible truth – of course, he's powerless to do anything to stop the events that have been set in motion.

I've mentioned high production values. The movie utilises matte paintings – for example, the gorgeous backdrops of the surface of Altair IV. However, the really impressive use of paintings and sets is in the gargantuan machinery of the Krell city, where Morbius, Adams and Ostrow appear as ants as they walk through the still-active power generation mechanisms. The implied sense of scale is impressive even now. Had this section been poorly-done and underwhelming, it would have weakened the movie considerably. However, the whole sequence is a triumph and remains one of the more memorable moments in Sci-fi cinematic history.

Inside the Krell machinery

The influence 'Forbidden Planet' has had not only on Sci-fi, but beyond, is difficult to measure. There's the obvious things – Star Trek was clearly influenced heavily by the C57D and its crew. Gene Roddenberry was contradictory in his statements on this subject, but the comparisons are there – a deep space, faster than light ship; the Enterprise's transporter pads strongly resembling the deceleration tubes on the C57D . . even the Captain from the first Trek pilot 'The Cage', Christopher Pike, bears many similarities to Commander Adams.

Ben Burtt, who worked on sound on Star Wars, named the Krell machines as an influence. As you compare the huge shafts on the Death Star to those in the Krell city, it's hard not to see the similarity. Burtt was inspired to create similar sounds for those scenes. We could go on with similar instances of direct and indirect influences – suffice to say that 'Forbidden Planet' casts a very, very long shadow.

I suppose the thing I most love about it is that it fired my imagination. It still does. When I was a child I lived in a world where spaceships landed on the fields behind my house, containing invaders from Mars or Venus ready to battle the human race for domination of the Earth. I used to sit at night, staring at the stars, wondering who was looking back at me. 'Forbidden Planet' fit easily into my world view and helped shape it.

There be monsters!

I was forming an idea of the Universe as teeming with life with Earth a part of that whole. Reading, watching and listening to Sci-fi helped reinforce that view. I became convinced that, one day, we would indeed venture into our Solar System and beyond. You have to remember that the Moon landings were very recent then – I was five years old at the time of the final Apollo mission. It was exciting, it was real. We'd seen astronauts on the Moon – the exploits of the crew of the C57D didn't seem so far removed from the reality we had just witnessed.

Of course, 'Forbidden Planet' wasn't the only movie of the genre that I loved – 'When Worlds Collide', 'This Island Earth' and the George Pal 'War of the Worlds' are just three examples of other gems I watched with eyes wide and mouth agape. It was, though, my favourite, the one I most fondly remember and rewatch the most. If you have, somehow, incredibly, sadly, never seen 'Forbidden Planet', I recommend you take a trip to Altair IV aboard the C57D and see the wonders there for yourself.

Thanks for reading!