MovieChat Forums > Forbidden Planet (1958) Discussion > Superior to The Day the Earth Stood Stil...

Superior to The Day the Earth Stood Still

posted 12 years ago by Darvell
12 replies | jump to latest

When we are talking about science fiction movies dealing with aliens and/or Space travels, there were two big movies in the 50s: The Day the Earth Stood Still and Forbidden Planet. I have never understood why The Day the Earth Stood Still was so big. It's not that different from Ed Wood's Plan 9 from Outer Space. I'm not sure if there was any interesting movies about the subject before Forbidden Planet (it could be, but if so, they are not well known). A Trip to the Moon was good, but this surreal short is not exactly a feature.

(And in the 60s, there was 2001: A Space Odyssey.)

[–] arbilab 12 years ago

Plan 9 didn't have Aunt Bee in it.

There were also Invaders from Mars, Earth vs the Flying Saucers, War of the Worlds, and This Island Earth.

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[–] stazza 12 years ago

are these too comparable? they seem very different - one more action/love oriented, the other more cerebral and moral. As a kid, FP was cooler, as an adult, TDTESS touched me mentally more than FB. Both are good, and we can love both! :)

[–] Darvell 12 years ago

They have one thing in common; they are possibly the two most famous science fiction movies of the 50s. I just think the whole "you humans needs to stop making wars and nuclear weapons, or we will force you to do so" a little boring. For me, an adventures to an alien planet outside the solar system is far more interesting.

[–] stazza 12 years ago

That may be why "DAY" was so big: it did that exact preaching FIRST using outer space as a bigger reason to stop. Yeah, TODAY, that plot is old and done too many times, but back then it was probably knew and wild. Just guessing as I was not alive back on release. Would have been cool to see how the people felt about it. That said, I re watch FP 3 times to every 1 rewatch of DAY, it seems. ;)

[–] almostfm-1 12 years ago

It's largely because it was one of the first (if not the first) Sci-Fi movie to tell a larger story than just the movie plot. It wasn't just a movie designed to scare you-it was designed to make you think, and that was a very different from other sci-fi movies at the time.

It's interesting that you mentioned 2001, because in that sense, 2001 is really the decendent of TDTESS.

And for the answer than mentioned Aunt Bee--don't forget that another person in the boarding house was Olan Soule, who played the choir director John Masters in several Andy Griffith episodes.

[–] bjlevine 12 years ago

Wow. Not sure how to respond to someone who thinks TDTESS is similar to PNFOS. The former is one of the most intelligent attempts to deal with the issues of extraterrestrial visitors to Earth and the immaturity of the human race. The latter is just a mess of an attempt to gel the hooror genre with Flash Gorden style aliens.

"Oh no...they sent the wrong Spock!"

[–] Doc_Ostrow 11 years ago

This is a post I made on March 1, 2009:

Compared to the average 50's science fiction movie, Forbidden Planet was a masterpiece. While I enjoy Forbidden Planet, that says more about the poor quality of most 50's sci-fi movies. The other good 50's sci-fi included The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), and The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957). On the next rung down I would include Them! (1954), The Thing from Another World (1951), The War of the Worlds (1953), Invaders from Mars (1953), and This Island Earth (1955). At the bottom of the quality list would be films like Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959) and Robot Monster (1953). Yes, I've seen some really bad 50's sci-fi movies.

Monsters from the Id

[–] first-things-first 11 years ago

I rate them equal. Each telling a different story of earth's possible destruction.

If we can save humanity, we become the caretakers of the world

[–] StuOz 10 years ago

The Day The Earth Stood Still had elements that would later be re-used in Irwin Allen 1960s TV. The Bernard Herrmann score was re-used a lot by Irwin Allen TV and the spacecraft found it's way into the Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea episode: The Sky Is Falling (1964). So TDTESS film has a place with me.

But I like Forbidden Planet more.

[–] jellric 10 years ago

It's not that different from Ed Wood's Plan 9 from Outer Space.

You should be drug tested immediately.

Plan 9 was and is a joke. TDTESS is a thinking person's movie disguised as scifi. Similar to how Rod Serling snuck in social messages using the medium of The Twilight Zone, which is one reason I loved it.

I can understand why action junkies prefer FP, but to put it in the same category as Plan 9 is absolutely ludicrous.