By Richard A. Coyle
This was one of the great Science Fiction movies of all time, and one of my first films. I saw Forbidden Planet as young boy and absolutely loved it. In fact, I think I fell in love with Anne Francis, too, as she became the model of a woman I sought most of my life. And how I wished for Robby to be my big brother and chase the school yard bullies away. This fantasy became even more meaningful after Robby’s second adventure, ‘The Invisible Boy,’ came out, where a boy about my age (then) did indeed become owner and friend of Robby.
My boyhood dream would finally come true decades later after the advent of the personal computer, when I was able to combine a picture of me taken with Gort from ‘The Day The Earth Stood Still’ with a picture of Robby and a shot of the C57D space ship standing on Altar Four. By using Corel Photo Paint, I was able to take my photo with Gort, originally taken in a camera shop on Ventura Boulevard in North Hollywood where one of the real stand-in fiberglass props was on display, and combined it to make my boyhood fantasy complete.
It goes with out saying that I hunted down all I could find and experience from Forbidden Planet over the years. Without question, though, my two greatest discoveries were meeting the film’s renowned collector, Mr. William Malone, and of course, my hero, Robby.
I must digress to point out that besides being Forbidden Planet’s number one fan, William Malone has also become a fine director. His third film, ‘House on Haunted Hill,’ has just come out, and I can’t wait to see it. I had the wonderful opportunity to work on his second film, ‘Creature,’ and thanks to his gracious support, I received my only film credit during that production. Ironically, my work on ‘Creature’ included recreating the original Master Computer from ‘The Invisible Boy’ for use as the main computer panel in this film. My enjoyment of ‘Creature’ was greatly enhanced when I realized Bill was making a subtle sequel to ‘Forbidden Planet.’ With his use of many Krell Lab set parts from his personal collection, he dressed the set of the alien specimen lab of this film and paid further homage with various lines from FP. One such reference was a line hinting at the origins of this lab being from an alien collection that included items from a visit to our solar system. ‘Ten thousand century’s ago’ a line right out of FP, when Doctor Morbius explained that the Krell had visited Earth and brought back specimens, like the deer and the tiger.
With my early visit to Bill Malone’s home, I obtained a few shots of the FP props and went home to recreate my own copy of the famed simple Blaster.
Here are a few shots of Bill’s original Blaster. Unfortunately, I seem to have lost the full shot of the blaster together, so all I have left are these two shots with the rear cap removed. Bill was kind enough to give me a pair of blaster body vacuum-formed shells from his own run of Blasters years ago, along with a casting of the rear cap. From these parts I recreated my own version of the Blaster, which some of you may have seen.
I had also hoped to make the Blaster holster and a FP rifle, as well as all the hardware that went with it — like the com link with the built in TV camera. Ultimately, I thought I would one day recreate the complete custom uniform and all the hardware, and, if fortune really came my way, someday to own my own Robby. Alas, so many plans, so little time! So far all I have are the many stills I have collected for that ‘someday’ work. In the pages that follow I thought I would share some of these photos with you.
One of the things I have been able to obtain are many great behind-the-scenes shots taken during the making of the film. These are rare and odd stills, possibly for the MGM Publicity Department. One looks like Altaira (Anne Francis) is getting her hair blow-dried by Robby; but a closer look and you see a Blaster with a straight tube or rod in place of the tip. Man, if he were to pick up the wrong gun? well, let’s just say her head would really be blown!
Here is one with Anne Francis on Robby’s car by herself.
And as I hoped to make a Robby I got a few shots of him.
And Robby carrying Doc. Oswald.
Here is one where the producers had to cheat, the Robby costume could not side down, so they made cardboard cutout legs to cover the fact that they had to remove the real legs for him to pilot the ship at the end of the film. That’s Hollywood.
And while we are in the control room, a great shot that shows the upper deck…
Crewmen fighting off, or are they simply playing, with the infamous ID Monster.
And last a couple of great shot s of the C57D Landing on Altair Four.
Last but not least here are a couple of great links for more sites on the great film:
