Forbidden Planet

This article is about the movie Forbidden Planet. For information about the bookstore chain of the same name see Forbidden Planet (bookstore).

Plot

In the film, the space cruiser C-57-D is sent to planet Altair IV to search for survivors of the ill-fated Bellerophon Expedition, lost some twenty years hence. As their ship arrives, the crew detects some immense power source scanning the ship. They are contacted by the sole survivor of the Expedition, Doctor Edward Morbius (Walter Pidgeon). Upon landing, they are met by Robby the Robot, who takes them to Morbius' home. Morbius explains that within a year of the Expedition arriving, some unknown force had wiped out the Expedition overnight. Only he, his wife (who died of natural causes), and his infant daughter survived. Morbius fears that the same fate may await the crew of the C-57-D. He has no fears for himself, as he and his daughter have remained unharmed, and his house has an interesting array of high-tech defenses. The captain (played by Leslie Nielsen) begins to question Morbius' technological abilities, as his speciality on the original expedition, as philologist, had been in languages.

Related Topics:
Altair - Bellerophon - Walter Pidgeon - Robby the Robot - Leslie Nielsen - Philologist - Language

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For twenty years, Morbius tells the captain, he has been reconstructing the history and some of the minor technologies (such as Robby) of the Krell. They, the planet's natives, had all died two thousand centuries before in one mysterious night of total destruction. Morbius shows the crew a Krell nursery, which includes an "education machine" that instantly killed one person who tried it. He explains that it put him into a coma for almost two days, though he recovered with a doubled IQ.

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Morbius then shows them the planet's interior. There, a vast underground machine powered by a countless number of thermonuclear reactors has been operating, self-repairing and self-maintaining, purpose unknown, for all the millennia since the death of the Krell. The effects shots of the Great Machine are well done, showing miles-deep shafts with huge and incomprehensible structures moving up and down and vast energy discharges passing between them.

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Things get interesting for the captain when he meets Morbius' beautiful but extremely naïve daughter, Altaira (Anne Francis). Nineteen years old, she is very curious about human relations. The captain's second in command, establishing the tradition so avidly followed by James T. Kirk, enlightens her on some aspects of this. That night, while Morbius sleeps in the Krell nursery and power meters all round the walls start going off the scale, the ship comes under attack from some invisible being made of pure energy. Morbius is awakened by his daughter, screaming from a nightmare. The attacker vanishes and the power meters revert back to near zero.

Related Topics:
Anne Francis - James T. Kirk

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The starship's doctor sneaks in to use the education machine. Although he dies from its effects, he gasps out his realisation of what killed the Krell: the huge machine let the Krell materialize anything they wanted at a mere thought. But: "They forgot one thing, John. Monsters! Monsters from the Id!" Though the Krell considered themselves civilized, their unconscious minds also had access to the machineries. The race was wiped out in one night of frenzied destruction, as the Great Machine enabled the acting out of their unconscious urges.

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In the confrontation that follows, Morbius realises that his session with the Educator attuned his mind to the machinery. He (or, rather, his wish to be left alone to study the Krell) had been responsible for the deaths of the rest of the Expedition. He realises that Altaira should be meeting other people and forming relationships. But his other, darker desires have control over the machinery, which prompted an attack on the starship that might take her away. Ultimately, Altaira declares her love for the captain and chooses to leave the planet with him, despite the risks posed by the planet's forces.

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In the ultimate attack of the machine, the entire power of the generators is directed to a single force that attempts to break into the inner sanctum to which the principals have fled - the Krell nursery with its power monitors. Morbius, resisting the monster attacking his refuge, dies from exhaustion and from the shock of realizing that the monster is in fact responding to his unconscious mind, causing the death of his fellow scientists. Before his death (not seen) — as the only means to protect everyone else from destruction by another Machine-powered monster — Morbius instructs the captain to initiate the self-destruction of the Machine. He has realized that the Machine is far too dangerous to be used by any race which can't fully control its mental processes.

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