Movie – Forbidden Planet (1956)

This movie is both sci-fi and SF (see my explanation of those terms in the category introduction post.)  On the surface it can be enjoyed as a simple monster movie with some jokes from a comic relief character.  Dig a little deeper and you find a story that is based on Shakespeare’s play The Tempest, and that incorporates the concepts of the conscious and subconscious as major plot points.  It also throws in two different mysteries to solve.

Movie – The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

First things first – if you saw the recent remake with Keanu Reeves then please try to wipe that from your mind.  While I am not one of those people that hates remakes on principle, this particular remake was tough to watch.  They took an SF classic, threw in a bunch of special effects, and threw out everything that made the original such a great movie.

If you have not seen the remake then the original version is definitely the one to see.  If you have seen the remake, then watch this version so that you can overlay your memory with a much better movie.

Movie – Metropolis (1927)

This movie was the first big budget, feature length science fiction movie.  How big was the budget?  Factoring in inflation it was roughly the equivalent of $200 million.  What did that buy?  Massive sets right out of the German expressionistic art movement, special effects that were decades ahead of their time, 37,000 extras, and the vision of the most influential director of his time, Fritz Lang.

Movie – A Trip to the Moon (1902)

Question: What was the first special effects laden, science fiction blockbuster?

Answer:  The French film Le voyage dans la lune, or as it was known in the U.S., A Trip to the Moon.

When this came out people were amazed by what they saw.  Moving pictures had been available for a while, but they were basically short stage acts captured on film.  This movie used many new techniques including fades, superimposed images, many cuts/edits, and even some early animation to achieve the visual effects.  While the result is something anybody could put together on their computer nowadays, back then it was nothing short of a marvel. 

Movies Before Star Wars

"Michael Rennie was ill/ the day the Earth stood still/ but he told us/ where we stand./ And Flash Gordon was there/ in silver underwear./ Claude Rains was the invisible man./ Then something went wrong/ for Fay Wray and King Kong./ They got caught in a celluloid gem." – Lips, Rocky Horror Picture Show

A lot of people may think that Star Wars invented the big, sci-fi, special effects laden, event movie.  It made a huge impact when it came along because the science fiction films that had come before it for at least a decade were all ones that were kind of depressing.  There were movies about man having destroyed civilization (A Boy and his Dog), destroyed the environment (Silent Running), and a triple-play from Charlton Heston – Soylent Green about severe overcrowding and lack of food, The Omega Man about the end of the human race due to biological warfare, and The Planet of the Apes about man becoming a secondary species.  There were also four Apes sequels that eliminated what little hope was given at the end of the first one.  This doesn’t mean that all of these movies are bad; far from it.  It just means that moviegoers were ready for a big, fun, sci-fi movie at about the time Star Wars came along.

First, explanations on a couple of terms I am going to use.  There are two kinds of science fiction movies – “sci-fi” and “SF.”  “Sci-fi” movies are the somewhat dumbed down ones whose only ambition is to sell tickets – lots of them.  These make up most of the science fiction movies that get released, from all the superhero movies, to all the space battle movies, to all the creepy/cute alien movies.  These have the biggest “wow” factors.

“SF” movies, on the other hand, are actually about something.  The best science fiction books and movies make you look at things in ways that you never have before.  They stimulate thought and maybe even discussion after you are done with them.  A recent example is the movie The Man from Earth.  These kinds of movies do not get released as often because they usually do not sell as many tickets.  Also, let’s face it - a majority of moviegoers today don’t want to have to actually pay attention to a movie that makes them think.  They want one that they can still follow even though they are talking over it, texting, etc.  They just want to be entertained.

Both sci-fi and SF movies are entertaining to me.  Depending on what mood I am in, either one can provide a couple hours of enjoyment.  Are these two categories mutually exclusive?  Almost.  On very rare occasions a movie gets released that is both sci-fi and SF.  The Matrix is an example of this.

There are so many good science fiction movies that came out before Star Wars that I will probably revisit this category at a later date.  I am also going to have an After Star Wars category to recommend movies like the aforementioned The Man from Earth.

In this set I am going to cover A Trip to the Moon (1902) - sci-fi, Metropolis (1927) - SF, The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) - SF, and Forbidden Planet (1956) - SF and sci-fi.

You can find my posts for these movies here:

A Trip to the Moon
Metropolis
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Forbidden Planet

You can also see my After Star Wars category selections here.

On to the reviews…