Boy-oh-boy I enjoyed this 1956 science fiction classic. Though it was hard not to see Leslie Nielsen, young as he was (and looking very much like a member of the Baldwin clan at times) and remember this isn't a comedy. Faces of other cast members are familiar to me as well - mostly because they pepper themselves through my early television years: Gunsmoke, Alias Smith and Jones, The Six Million Dollar Man, Bonanza, The Virginian (quite a few cowboy series for a girl who claims to not like the genre, Michelle).

One of the most interesting things about this movie is how many themes and ideas are familiar in newer productions, like Star Trek and Star Wars. Retro memory kicked in and there was this weird time warp going on in my head where I had to remind myself that Forbidden Planet came first - the Grand-daddy of them all. You can see the title at the end of the trailer (above) are quite In-a-galaxy-far-far-away-esque.

This is no The Angry Red Planet (oh man that's my favourite - every cinemagical moment) this is serously good, and well made - no red cellophane over the lens tricks here!

Well worth a first-viewing or a revisiting.

Now, maybe it's just me, but does anyone think this selection of scene index titles for Forbidden Planet's DVD seem a little... saucy?

5. The red carpet treatment
6. Dr Morbius
7. and he does windows
8. Some dark, terrible force
9. Alataira Morbius
10. Alta's "friends"
11. Preparing for the transmitter
12. "Just a kiss" giving Alta 'tude
13. "I must have a new dress!"
14. Invisible intruder
15. Shock the monkey; the beamer
16. Bathing beauty... and the beast
17. Clarification; the Kral
18. The "plastic educator"
19. Subterranean wonders
20. The perimeter; Cookie and bourban

Plot keywords for the movie on IMDB.com include: magnet, space travel, force field, single father, concealed nudity (?? what the ??), monkey.