For years I've been a fan of MGM's film FORBIDDEN PLANET with Walter Pigeon, Altair IV, the lovely fembot Altaira, the alien Krel and the mighty Robby the Robot. But for me and true to my character, the highlight of the movie could only ever have been the creeping one-toed Monster from the ID (below), a raging screaming manifestation of Dr. Morbius's nightmares. It's menacing footprints and the accompanying sound-effect, a sort of metallic 'boing', was only ever equalled in the film fright-stakes by the boiling tracks of the fire-devil in the seminal NIGHT OF THE DEMON.
And thanks to the wonders of science you can see a clip of the Id Monster on You Tube
Back in the early 1970's when my big brother Steve lived in London he visited a sci-fi comic shop called Dark They Were and Golden Eyed (DTWAGE), which I believe is the name of a Ray Bradbury story. Reputed to be the first comic shop in the UK I can clearly remember our Steve giving me something (?) in the shop's distinctive paper bag emblazoned with a fabulous black and white drawing of fantastic creatures, orcs and martians. As I was heavilly into the art of Brian Froud, the Brothers Hildebrandt and Roger Dean at the time, the picture was an immediate hit with me. I managed to keep hold of the bag for years but I've no idea where it is now ( but I did write a song with the same name!) And now to the point of this rather long-winded link to the famous movie above, DTWAGE eventually became the first store in the comic megalith that we know now as Forbidden Planet!
Drunk on the sensory feast that is the flim Forbidden Planet, I never got to see the other outing for Robby the Robot, MGM's THE INVISIBLE BOY. I came across an intriguing snippet about it in my new DK ULTIMATE ROBOT BOOK suggesting that in this second film Robby, the pinnacle of manners and generosity on Altair IV, is ultimately taken over by an alien entity hell-bent on world domination and that this is an early example of what we now refer to as a computer virus! Prophetic. The Invisible Boy is now on my Love Film wish list.
The mere mention of an evil alien virus automatically gets me musing about the menacing alter-ego of our friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man, Venom below. There must be more monsters from the Id and viral martians out there. Anyone got any?
I don't think Altaira was a fembot; pretty sure she was a human female.
ReplyDeleteRobbie also turned up in an episode of "Lost in Space", where I think he was a baddie. And a part of him was in one of the "Man from U.N.C.L.E." films (as part of a rejuvenating machine).
And of course there was the rip-off of the Forbidden Planet ID monster in the Doctor Who story, "Planet of Evil".
Also, did not Robbie appear in an episode of Columbo? I vaguely recall it was a story about a group of geniuses, one of whom was a young boy who had supposedly built and programmed Robbie.
ReplyDeleteOur man Robby has gathered an impressive list of credits
ReplyDeletehttp://www.imdb.com/name/nm1119475/
Cheers Arto
Is it fair to say that Robbie is the most famous robot in the world?
ReplyDeleteJust had a look at the link Anonymous posted: isn't it amazing how many places Robbie turned up in!
ReplyDeleteWoodsy, I'd guess you're right. If I think "robot", Robbie, the Lost in Space Robot and C3PO are the ones that come immediately to mind.