MovieChat Forums > Forbidden Planet (1958) Discussion > Sorry, but the Id Monster: No. Just No.

Sorry, but the Id Monster: No. Just No.

posted 10 years ago by bastasch8647
43 replies | jump to latest

I can understand the producers wanting to break new ground and get away from puppet creatures and stop-motion, but that Disney-derived cartoon monster just doesn't have any gravitas. I saw it in a theater in a limited run/re-release (along with The Time Machine) in maybe 1975. The creature didn't convince even on the big screen - nor does it work in the HD version. A cartoon is a cartoon, and after the massive creepy build-up to the great revelation, we get a sort of cross between Warner Studio's Tasmanian Devil and the Bald Mountain monster in Fantasia. It was a big disappointment in an otherwise very fine film. Botching the central villainous character/central special effect really brings this film way, way down.

Related issue: the Id Monster seems to be huge when we see it illuminated by the perimter beams. Yet before this scene, it is able, invisibly, to get aboard the ship and murder the chief technician. And when it first visits the ship, the camera runs up the stairs to indicate its stealthy entrance. But in its major, lethal, visit, the camera shows the steps bending under its weight.

So are we to gather that at first the monster was smaller and lighter and only gained hugeness as Morbius' unconscious jealousy over his daughter's attraction to Nielsen... or what?

[–] brux (14840) 5 years ago

You just have to overlook the effects on science fiction movies done in the 50's. Some of those movies including this one are my favorites.

[–] Rinn13 (167) 3 years ago

1. Sorry, but your complaint about the "cartoon monster" doesn't really hold water, I think. Firstly, because those effects, for the time, were groundbreaking and phenomenally well done. Nothing they could have done with stop-motion, puppetry, or a guy in a suit, would have had the same effect. And I say that LOVING Toho Suitmation and stop-motion monsters. They chose the correct effects style for this particular monster. They wanted something that was truly unique, which it was, and they wanted something ethereal, which it is. It was not a "botch" by any stretch of the imagination, and it may not have "done it" for you, but it terrified audiences in the 50s, and it scared the hell out of me, seeing it on TV as a kid in the 80s.

Secondly, it is not a "cartoon" monster. They only reason they "see" it at all, the only reason it appears like it (briefly) does to them, is because they are seeing its outline in the energy field. All that is animated, is its outline. And even then, the idea was clearly put forth that this "being" (which is not a true being), could have any form. That's just how they saw it, right then. And regardless, personally I think it was a pretty great design.

2. The easy answer is yes. The monster does grow and evolve over time, as it keeps drawing on the Krell machine's energy to grow in power. It is literally Morbious' subconscious desire to be left alone, coupled with his angers and frustrations, given form. At the point when it first attacks the ship, yes, I'd say it likely is "smaller" (as in lesser in power), because it (along with his subconscious feelings/desires) hasn't truly grown yet, it's just starting out. It "grows" in power when it attacks the energy field, and even moreso when it finally attacks his home, and burns its way through those blast doors. But also keep in mind, again, that this has no "true" form. So even if it was the same "size" from the beginning, it easily could have shifted its non-form to get into the ship