Science Fiction has changed so much through the years from Metropolis to Star Wars but the Classic era for me was the movies from the 1950′s and 1960′s. Perhaps one of the greatest Science Fiction Movies of all time was made in 1956. That movie was called Forbidden Planet and starred Walter Pidgeon, Ann Francis and a very young Leslie Nielsen.

If you were to ask anybody to name a sci-fi movie from the 1950′s, most people who know something about classic Science Fiction would probably name The Day The Earth Stood Still and Forbidden Planet even if they have never watched them. These movies are as popular today as they were then.

Forbidden planet is all about a team of military explorers lead by Commander J. J. Adams (Leslie Nielsen) who are sent to find out what happened to the members of the Bellerophon expedition sent to the planet Altair IV. When they get there the only members of that expedition to still be alive are Doctor Edward Morbius played by Walter Pidgeon, his daughter Altaira played by Ann Francis. With them is their servant robot “Robbie” who takes care of all maintenance.

The original inhabitants of Altair IV were the Krell who were wiped out many years before. It soon becomes clear that whatever wiped out the Krell may be the same as what wiped out most of the Bellerophon expedition.

What makes this movie so unique is the fact that the story has very strong similarities to Shakespeare’s the Tempest as well as having a chilling musical score. This score was the first of its kind, to use all electronic instruments.

Because this movie was from the 1950′s it is of course going to suffer from outrageous moments, and in Forbidden Planet these mostly come from Robbie the Robot. It didn’t do Robbie any harm though as since then he has become one of the most famous and best-loved robots of all time.

Original Forbidden Planet memorabilia is now proving to be very sought after these days with collectors looking to pick up these very rare items such as original Forbidden Planet posters and models.