Line #47 Film/ForbiddenPlanet


1	[[quoteright:315:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/forbidden_planet.jpeg]]
2
3	->''"See androids fighting\
4	Brad and Janet!\
5	Anne Francis stars in\
6	Forbidden Planet!"''
7	-->-- "Science Fiction, Double Feature", ''Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow''
8
9	''Forbidden Planet'' is a 1956 ScienceFiction film directed by Fred M. Wilcox, written by Cyril Hume, and starring Creator/WalterPidgeon, Creator/AnneFrancis, and a [[LeslieNielsenSyndrome pre]]-''Film/{{Airplane}}'' Creator/LeslieNielsen.
10
11	How to best sum up its plot? Think [[Creator/WilliamShakespeare Shakespeare]]... '''[[AC:[[RecycledInSpace IN SPACE!]]]]'''
12
13	Loosely adapted from ''Theatre/TheTempest'' (with a few nods to Creator/HPLovecraft's ''Literature/AtTheMountainsOfMadness''), ''Forbidden Planet'' tells the tale of an Earth rescue mission to the planet Altair IV in order to determine the fate of the starship ''Bellerophon'', which landed an earlier expedition. United Planets Cruiser ''[=C-57D=]'', piloted by Commander John J. Adams (Nielsen), arrives to find that the ''Bellerophon''[='s=] sole survivors are Dr. Edward Morbius (Pidgeon), his daughter Altaira (Francis), and their robot house servant, [[JustForFun/RobbyTheRobot Robby]]. Adams's investigation into the mystery reveals secrets that can change the course of human civilization but unleashes a hideous monster in the process.
14
15	A classic of '50s sci-fi cinema whose story, production values, and special effects hold up well even by today's standards. It is the first film whose soundtrack consists entirely of electronic music and which was written for magnetic tape (and it was made by a couple, Louis and Bebe Barron).
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17	By the way, if you watch this film and can't help but think it feels completely like a ''Series/{{Star Trek\|TheOriginalSeries}}'' episode (but without Mr. Spock), that's no accident -- Creator/GeneRoddenberry fully admitted that ''Forbidden Planet'' was one of the primary inspirations for his series, and ''Forbidden Planet's'' fingerprints are all over ''Trek's'' writing, story, style, and tech, especially the original pilot episode, ''[[Recap/StarTrekS1E0TheCage The Cage]]''. It also gave some Japanese creators their momentum, and its elements can be found again in ''Anime/SpaceBattleshipYamato'' and ''Anime/SpaceRunawayIdeon.''
18
19	It spawned a JukeboxMusical version called ''Theatre/ReturnToTheForbiddenPlanet'' which hit its popularity in the '90s, winning an award and gaining a slight cult following.
20
21	----
22	!!This film provides examples of:
23
24	[[foldercontrol]]
25
26	[[folder:Tropes A-M]]
27	* AbsentAliens: The Krell have been extinct for millennia by the time the story takes place. No physical evidence of their appearance seems to have survived, the only hints being the triangular doorways in Morbius' complex, the knee-high safety railings, and the greater width of a headset's connector-arms.
28	* AdaptationalVillainy: [[spoiler: Shakespeare's Caliban is by and large a HarmlessVillain who realizes his folly and is reconciled with Prospero at the end of ''Theatre/TheTempest.'' The Id Monster is an unstoppable force of destruction that Morbius must take his own life to defeat.]]
29	* AlienSky: Altair IV has a green sky and two moons.
30	* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Altaira is warned that the captain can't be trusted with women, and she promptly zeroes in on him.
31	* AllMenArePerverts: Invoked on two occasions.
32	** The XO, in an attempt to get Altaira for himself, implies that his captain and the ship's doctor can't be trusted alone with women. He then proceeds to prey on her innocence to introduce her to kissing. Altaira is unimpressed with kissing until she tries it with the captain.
33	** The Captain attempts to justify his crew's behavior by noting they are all in superb physical condition, average [[LudicrousPrecision 24.6]] years old, and have been cooped up on the ''[=C57D=]'' for 13 months. Mind you he need not apologize. Altaira is thoroughly enjoying herself.
34	* AllPlanetsAreEarthlike: Downplayed; no "survival suits" are required, but the captain points out the gravity is slightly less and orders everyone to adjust their equipment accordingly, and the oxygen content 4.7% richer.
35	* ArtificialGravity: One of the few movies where they switch it off before landing on a planet.
36	* [[ArtisticLicense Artistic License - Food Hygiene]]: Cookie never removes his apron, even when he leaves the ship. This makes it much easier to tell him apart from all the other white men in uniform, but is not best practice for food hygiene. As well as protecting your clothes from the food, the apron also protects the food from your clothes. By never removing it, he risks bringing outside dirt into the kitchen. ''Alien'' outside dirt. That said, food hygiene seems like something that [[ButtMonkey Cookie]] might not care too much about.
37	* ArtisticLicensePhysics: Nothing could survive three billion electron volts? Really? ''Tissue paper'' could withstand far more than that! The thermal energy sucked out of your skin when a snowflake melts on it is about a billion times higher. A common misconception is that "electron volt" is the same as a regular volt. Actually, it's the energy gained by a single electron accelerated through an electric potential difference of one volt. This is an incredibly tiny amount of energy. Alternatively,the three billion electron volts could be the energy in each particle, which is absurd in the other direction, being roughly three thousand times the energy of a gamma photon. The decay of a single gamma photon into visible light can be very easily observed with the unaided eye.
38	** Electron volts can also be used as a measurement of temperature. Using this formulation, 3 [=GeV=] is equivalent to a temperature of around 35 trillion degrees Kelvin, so the statement makes sense.
39	* AsYouKnow: Commander Adams gives a shipwide broadcast telling the crew why they're going to Altair IV, even though he specifically mentions they've been given briefing lectures on the subject.
40	* BelligerentSexualTension: The captain and Altaira.
41	* BigDumbObject: The vast self-powered UndergroundCity of the Krell qualifies. Standing in one of the huge ventilation shafts, Dr. Morbius says that the platform they're standing on runs for twenty miles in either direction, and there's 7800 levels above them. And there's 400 other shafts like it.
42	* BigRedButton: Actually a switch, that activates the countdown on the Krell planetary SelfDestructMechanism.
43	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Morbius dies, but he manages to stop his runaway Id from destroying his daughter.]] And the Forbidden Planet explodes, taking the unimaginably advanced science of the Krell with it. True, the protagonists manage to keep Robby, who is stated to be beyond state of the art, but Krell technology is thousands of years ahead of anything we have, and just from what we see they could have revolutionized agriculture, power generation and metallurgy to such a degree that it would have been one of the most important discoveries in human history. Then again, even the Krell, in all their development, ultimately proved unable to wield such power without self-destructing, and they had longer to get used to it.
44	* BloodlessCarnage: The battle with the Id Monster, considering it had the weapons and strength to tear anything that got too near it limb from limb (as was revealed in a GoryDiscretionShot earlier). It was already pushing the boundaries for a 1950s sci-fi movie; hard to fault it for using this trope.
45	* BreakoutCharacter: JustForFun/RobbyTheRobot. Robby was re-used in many subsequent sci-fi movies and even television programs not only due to his popularity but also to recoup the tremendous cost of constructing him.
46	* CallingTheOldManOut: Altaira was reluctant at first to leave with the crew, as she doesn't want to leave her father and still believes she and her father are immune to the monster. Until she sees he has no sympathy for Lt. Ostrow, calling his death karma for his own "greed and folly".
47	-->'''Morbius:''' The fool, the meddling idiot. As though his [[SonOfAnApe ape's brain]] could contain the secrets of the Krell.
48	-->'''Altaira:''' Morbius... you wanted me to make a choice. Now you've chosen for me.
49	* CharacterAsHimself: JustForFun/RobbyTheRobot is billed in this manner. (He was actually operated by Frankie Darro and voiced by Marvin Miller.)
50	* CoversAlwaysLie: See that poster up there? The robot's not the bad guy. And he never carries the woman [[TouchOfTheMonster like that]], although he does carry a dying man that way at one point. The woman in the poster isn't a very good match for Altaira either. The poster was most likely a ShoutOut to pulp science fiction magazines like ''Amazing Stories''.
51	* CrystalSpiresAndTogas: The Krell, before the destruction of their civilization, lived in "cloud-piercing towers of glass and porcelain and adamantine steel," and their culture had apparently all-but destroyed problems of prejudice and poverty. By the time the humans get there everything above ground has all crumbled into dust.
52	* CurbStompBattle: The one time that the humans are prepared for the arrival of the Id Monster makes ''not the slightest difference'' as it tears through weaponry, shields and [[RedShirt Red Shirts]] like tissue paper. Each time they score a hit, the Krell machinery just adds another 10x more energy to it .. and it ''keeps on coming.''
53	* DeadlyUpgrade: The doctor uses an UpgradeArtifact to rapidly become smart enough to learn the planet's secrets, but [[FinalSpeech dies in the process]]. Earlier, Morbius did the same thing and survived, but he took his time, and even then... well, [[EnemyWithout see below]].
54	* DeadpanSnarker: Robby to a certain extent.
55	--> '''Commander Adams:''' Nice climate you have here. High oxygen content.\
56	'''Robby:''' I rarely use it myself, sir. It promotes rust.\
57	\
58	'''Altaira:''' Robby, I want you to run up a new dress for me.\
59	'''Robby:''' Again?
60	* DeathOfTheHypotenuse: Lieutenant Jerry Farman, which eliminated any possibility that he could interfere with Adams and Altaira getting together.
61	* DisproportionateRetribution: After the invisible monster lifts the hatch, a man sleeping nearby rouses slightly, but sees nothing so thinks he's dreaming and goes back to sleep. The next day Adams docks his [[SpaceX space pay]] even though the man wasn't even on guard duty.
62	* DistractedByTheSexy: Happens to all the crewmen who meet Altaira, who is ObliviouslyBeautiful and can't understand why being so friendly and outgoing might fuel some male predatory behavior. Commander Adams isn't immune to it himself and he reads her the riot act about how distracting she is to all the men. Altaira tries to have a concealing dress made to avert this, but utterly fails to make Altaira look frumpy and instead makes Adams even more attracted to her than before.
63	* DoAnythingRobot: Robby, an early example. He is incredibly strong, has a vast database, is a MatterReplicator, and although he can't hurt humans, he can disarm them, and has some kind of stinger ray for shooing away animals.
64	* EatingTheEyeCandy: Altaira is clearly thrilled at having a whole shipload of hunky spacemen to choose from and eager to gain experience.
65	---> "You're lovely, Doctor, but the two on the end are ''unbelievable''!"
66	* EldritchAbomination: The Id Monster. It doesn't drive people insane (more ''feeds off their inner insanity''), but it's utterly unlike anything living. It's loaded with (un)natural weapons quite capable of shredding anything that gets in its way. Worst of all, the Krell machinery feeding it gives it effectively ''infinite'' strength. ''Nothing'' will stop it from reaching its intended target and destroying it [[spoiler:except its originator's HeroicSacrifice.]]
67	* EnemyWithout: Coupled with UnstoppableRage, Morbius' id can use the ForgottenPhlebotinum that runs the planet's machines to create a monster literally born of jealousy and possessiveness to deal with intruders, which his conscious self is powerless to stop.
68	* EternalEngine: The Krell machinery, which was underground, 20 miles long ''per side'', in the shape of a cube, and full of fusion reactors.
69	* EurekaMoment: After the id monster's attack on the ship, Adams and Doc Osgrow discuss how it could withstand their weapons, and the Doc reasons that it was [[HealingFactor regenerating itself]] "from one microsecond to the next!" The phrasing gives Adams the key clue to the monster's source (Morbius said the same thing about a mental projection he'd showed them, made with the Krell machinery).
70	* ExactWords:
71	** Altaira is told by papa not to go near the ship, so she just parks nearby. "After all, this isn't very near." He earlier tells her not to turn up for lunch, so just turns up for coffee afterwards.
72	** In a secondary example, Cook "sneaks out" of the ship to obtain 60 gallons of liquor from Robby the Robot at their meeting place amidst the rocks. While engaged in conversation with Cook, Robby pauses and scans the area, causing the human to ask if someone's "coming this way", which Robby reassures him is not the case. [[spoiler:An invisible monster proceeds to sneak aboard the ship and kill a crew member]].
73	* ExplainExplainOhCrap: Subverted at first, as Morbius was in denial of the obvious.
74	-->'''Morbius:''' The last Krell died 2,000 centuries ago. But today, as we all know, there is still at large on this planet a living monster.\
75	'''Adams:''' Your mind refuses to face the conclusion.
76	* {{Expy}}: The main characters mirror the main characters of ''Theatre/TheTempest'': Morbius is Prospero, Altaira is Miranda, Robby is Ariel, the Id Monster is Caliban, the Captain is Ferdinand, and the Krell serve the position of Sycorax. Cook and Trinculo both serve as drunken comedy relief.
77	* FailedFutureForecast: Men and women in rocketships have reached the Moon by the end of the [=21st=] Century (though in fairness, we're still waiting for that Film/WomanInTheMoon).
78	* FlyingSaucer: This time the humans have one (the United Planets Cruiser ''[=C57D=]'', said to be the inspiration for the saucer section of the ''[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries U.S.S. Enterprise]]'').
79	* FourthDateMarriage: Late in the movie Altaira absolutely refuses to deny her love for the Captain, even though they've known each other for like three days by that point.
80	* FriendToAllLivingThings: Altaira, until she first feels sexual desire, at which point it shuts off like a light switch.
81	* FutureMusic: Alleged to be the first film with an all-electronic score.
82	* FutureSocietyPresentValues: The opening narration seems to imply a certain amount of equality in the future... and then immediately shows us a crew made up entirely of white men. The attitudes of said white men towards Altaira are also noticeably very 1950s, particularly the attitude towards her skimpy outfits. There's even one point where Commander Adams tells Altaira to start covering herself (because it's her responsibility to keep the men from [[MaleGaze ogling her]]), and she has Robby make her a new dress because just putting on a pair of pants would be unthinkable. However, those attitudes were somewhat justified because, when the film was made, Sputnik I hadn't been launched into orbit yet and no one knew ''if'' someone could survive both the Zero-G of outer space and the G-forces of an orbital rocket launch or atmospheric re-entry. The requirements for the first group of American astronauts was for military test pilots with large amounts of jet experience ... which excluded most male American pilots and all female American pilots.
83	* GetTheeToANunnery: [[http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/original-porcelain-enamel-1d-monsters-247625879 Id Monsters]], for that fizzy sweet apocalyptizing goodness.
84	* GhostPlanet: The planet Altair IV is essentially this, with just Dr. Edward Morbius and his daughter living there.
85	* GoneHorriblyRight: The last invention of the Krell was evidently meant to be an improvement over their MatterReplicator technology that would allow them to give form and substance to anything they could imagine without having to feed a sample of it into a machine for analysis first. As the ship's doctor Lt. Ostrow concludes, their new device was a smashing success at this, but it also DugTooDeep in a psychological sense: the Krell forgot about the irrationally evil and violent desires lurking deep in the subconscious imagination of every rational being, to which their new device ''also'' gave form and substance. These "monsters of the id" then destroyed their civilization and exterminated them all, and came close to doing the same to all the humans on the planet after Dr. Morbius took to fiddling with it.
86	* GoodCannotComprehendEvil: "My poor Krell. After a million years of shining sanity, they could hardly have understood what power was destroying them."[[note]][[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]] from their ''own minds!''[[/note]]
87	* GoodHairEvilHair: Dr. Morbius' goatee pegs him as close to evil, while Adams and co. are clean shaven to the point of being shiny. [[spoiler: Subverted eventually, however. Morbius isn't evil, just human. And his better nature ultimately wins out.]]
88	* GoryDiscretionShot: The Id Monster sneaks into the ship at one point and absolutely ''shreds'' the first crewman it comes across. The captain's description of the remains may seem almost quaint compared to modern horror standards, but for a 1950s audience it must have been pure NauseaFuel.
89	* HamToHamCombat: When monster attacks the house, Leslie Nielson goes full ''Captain Kirk'' and Walter Pigeon puts on his best ''Tragic Trek Villain'' as they argue over the source of the Krell monster.
90	* HaveAGayOldTime: Dr. Morbius says that his enhanced intellect, by the standards of the Krell, would be comparable to that of a "low-grade moron," which at the time was a technical term for someone with an I.Q. in the 51-70 range.[[note]]Fun fact: this word later mutated into a slur, and the term "retard" was actually invented as a ''politically correct alternative.''[[/note]]
91	* TheHeartless: The id monster.
92	* HeroicSacrifice:
93	** Knowing that the Krell machine could kill a human using it, Lt. Ostrow runs off when Commander Adams is distracted to use it. This could be hubris and him wanting to use it first (Commander Adams had insisted he go first), or taking the risk on himself to spare his captain. Either way, he lives just long enough to reveal the nature of the id monster and provide the means of saving everyone.
94	** [[spoiler:Once he realizes that the id monster is ''him'', Dr. Morbius begs Commander Adams to kill him to save his daughter. He then confronts the monster directly, resulting in his death.]]
95	* {{Homage}}: Besides the tributes listed above, creatures similar to the id monster have appeared in series as diverse as ''Series/TheOuterLimits1963'' ("[[Recap/TheOuterLimits1963S1E4TheManWithThePower The Man with the Power]]") and ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' ("[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS7E2AllBottledUp All Bottled Up]]").
96	* HornySailors: The crew of the spaceship is all-male and stir-crazy from a long flight, and respond energetically when they come across the MadScientistsBeautifulDaughter. Two of the ship's officers start a CockFight over her. As the phrase goes, SpaceIsAnOcean.
97	* HumansAreWhite: Apparently only white people are sent on interstellar journeys, because there is no evidence of any other races on the ship.
98	* IncrediblyLamePun: [[http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/original-porcelain-enamel-1d-monsters-247625879 Id Monsters]], for that fizzy sweet apocalyptizing goodness.
99	* InertialDampening: When their spacecraft decelerates on the approach to Altair IV, the crew stow their breakable gear and step into their "D.C. stations" which presumably neutralise their inertia.
100	* InnocentFanserviceGirl: Altaira, being completely unaccustomed to normal social mores. (Though if you look when she gets out of the water you can see she's wearing a flesh colored suit).
101	-->'''Altaira''': "What's a bathing suit?"
102	* JustifiedTrope: Why is the self-destruct device so easy to access? Because everyone on the planet was (externally) morally perfect.
103	* LetMeGetThisStraight: Commander Adams sarcastic summing up of the report by the two sentries and a sleeping soldier who failed to see the InvisibleMonster.
104	* LogicBomb: Robby's "built-in safety factor": [[ThreeLawsCompliant he is compelled to obey Morbius, but is also compelled not to harm a rational being, and he shorts out if those two mandates come into conflict]]. Backfires when Morbius, in a panic, orders Robby to kill the Monster, and trips the failsafe instead, because Robby realizes that the Monster is being generated by the Krell machine from Morbius' own subconscious. The only way for Robby to kill the monster is to kill Morbius, which the failsafe will not allow, causing Robby to freeze up and be unable to take any action.
105	* LostTechnology: The Krell, an alien race who lived on the titular Planet but died out hundreds of thousands of years ago, left behind an artifact that could dramatically boost the intellect of those few primitive, backward humans who survived the process. Their machines could also read the thoughts of those who used the artifact, and even cause some of those thoughts to become reality.
106	* MadeOfIndestructium: During their tour of the Krell city, Dr. Morbius has Commander Adams try out his blaster on a door made of 26 inches of molecular-condensed metal; the beam doesn't even warm it up. However when Morbius tries to use those same doors to hold off the ID Monster it's to no avail, because the monster can draw on [[InfiniteSupplies as many of the city's thermonuclear generators as it needs]] to burn through it.
107	* MadScientist: Lampshaded by Dr Morbius after demonstrating that Robby is ThreeLawsCompliant; even if he was the proverbial mad scientist of the "tape thrillers", [[TemptingFate he could not possibly harm anyone with the technology he has]]. Turns out he has other attributes of a mad scientist like hubris, lack of self-awareness, and a failure to think things through.
108	* MadScientistsBeautifulDaughter: Altaira's father, Dr. Morbius, keeps her completely isolated from the social world outside Altair IV.
109	* MarsNeedsWomen: The poster of Robby carrying Altaira. Once you know he's harmless, it tends to lose its impact.
110	* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent: Coupled with {{Foreshadowing}}; During the id monster's big attack on the ''[=C57D=]'', the film inserts a shot of Morbius sleeping (and having a nightmare) in the Krell lab; behind him, the energy gauges of the Krell machinery are lighting up one after the other, and darken once he awakens. The same thing happens later during the climax in that same lab, when Adams is trying to convince Morbius of the monster's true source, with the gauges lighting up one by one as the monster tries harder to get through the door until the entire wall is lit up.
111	* MeaningfulName:
112	** Morbius is very close to "Morpheus", the Greek god of sleep. And what happens when Morbius sleeps? It's also close to "morbid", and Morbius is obsessed with studying a dead civilization.
113	** Altaira is apparently named after the planet she was born on - Altair IV. Her name probably says more about her father than it does about her character.
114	* MentalMonster: The monster that killed most of the crew of the starship ''Bellerophon'' was formed by the equipment left by the Krell, evidently meant to be an improvement over their MatterReplicator technology that would allow them to give form and substance to anything they could imagine. [[spoiler:The equipment, however, also gives form and substance to irrationally evil and violent desires lurking deep in the subconscious imagination of every rational being, and the monster the protagonists face is really the Id of Dr. Edward Morbius]].
115	[[/folder]]
116
117	[[folder:Tropes N-Z]]
118	* NeverSplitTheParty: Subverted; Farman lets [[TooDumbToLive Cookie go outside the energy fence]] on an errand [[BlatantLies that even he can tell is bogus]]. At one point Cookie has the requisite falling on his face and looking up to see...not a terrible monster, but [[NotSoDire Robby with a huge pile of bourbon bottles]]. While he's busy, the invisible monster simply walks through the fence to attack those inside.
119	* NeverTrustATrailer: See the poster up at the top? Not only does the depicted event never happen, it's intentionally misleading. (There is a notable Robby fake-out in the movie that works better if you've seen the poster).
120	* NoSeatBelts: Averted when Robby tells them to buckle up before driving a vehicle at his speed. And its not necessary for the spaceship because they have InertialDampening.
121	* NoManShouldHaveThisPower: Dr. Morbius insists that humanity won't be able to handle the power granted by the Krell artifacts. Captain Adams resents Morbius setting himself up as the arbiter of this technology; [[spoiler: when Morbius himself can't handle the power, Adams realizes this really is too much power for humanity, so he doesn't object to destroying the entire planet.]]
122	* NoNameGiven: The cook is never named.
123	* NoOshaCompliance: Justified; while the railings of the bridges spanning the massive ventilator shafts are below knee height, the Krell are implied to be a lot shorter and squatter.
124	* NothingIsScarier: Most of the appearances by [[spoiler: the id monster]] feature... well, nothing. The creature is invisible unless 'colored' by some sort of energy (IE, the perimeter fence, blasters, etc). In fact, the only thing seen during its entire first "appearance" is footprints in the dust and dented stairs when it enters the ship, although one crewman can hear its breathing.
125	* NotSoAboveItAll: Commander Adams initially tries to protect Altaira from the lewd advances of his crew, but is not impervious to her charms himself.
126	* OnlySixFaces: The space crew can seem this way, since they're all clean shaven, brown-haired men with similar haircuts and identical uniforms (with the exception of the cook).
127	* OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions: Apparently not.
128	-->"The Lord sure makes some beautiful worlds."
129	* OverrideCommand: Altaira uses "Emergency Cancellation Archimedes" to get Robby to allow the captain and doctor into the house against her father's orders.
130	* PapaWolf: A shipload of sex starved spacemen sniffing around his daughter has Morbius understandably upset. [[spoiler: It also brings out Morbius's long-dormant 'creature from the id,' eventually endangering even her with its unreasoning possessive rage.]]
131	* PerilousPowerSource: The Krell cube's power source, sunk into the planet fifty miles below the machine itself, is filled with 9200 thermonuclear reactors. Morbius shows them the inner workings, but only through a heavily filtered mirror. "Man cannot behold the face of [[{{Medusa}} the gorgon]] and live!" ("Gorgon Gazing" was even [[Administrivia/EverythingYouWantedToKnowAboutChangingNames the former]] [[TropeNamer trope name]]).
132	* PietaPlagiarism: Robby carrying Altaira in the poster. In the actual movie he does carry a dying man this way.
133	* PlanetaryCoreManipulation: The ancient Krell machine was powered by energy from the planet's core, and when the planet is destroyed in the end, it's done by setting off a chain reaction at the core.
134	* PleasePutSomeClothesOn: Captain Adam's reaction to Altaira's [[InnocentFanserviceGirl being exposed while swimming.]]
135	* PlungerDetonator: The SelfDestructMechanism that destroys the planet is a rod (minus the horizontal handle) that rises up from the floor; it is pushed down again to activate it, lighting up a BigRedButton in the process.
136	* {{Precursors}}: The Krell. The movie only gives vague hints on what they might have looked like. The doors are much wider at the base than human doors, the teaching device is designed for something with a head much larger than a human's, and the railings along the catwalks in their huge machine are at about knee height for humans.
137	* ProperlyParanoid: There are some lessons here that could have been learnt by ''Star Trek'' away teams, like deploying a security team before allowing the officers to disembark, setting up an energy fence perimeter, and having a camera attached to your communicator to confirm you're not speaking under duress.
138	* RagnarokProofing: Subverted. Krell stuff ''was'' built to last, as the underground complex beneath Morbius's house demonstrates, but, in the words of Doctor Morbius, ''"...seemingly on the threshold of some supreme accomplishment which was to have crowned their entire history, this all-but-Divine race [the Krell] perished in a single night. In the two thousand centuries since that unexplained catastrophe, even their cloud-piercing towers of glass, and porcelain, and adamantine steel have crumbled back into the soil of Altair IV, and nothing, absolutely nothing remains above ground."'' The Krell machine and its laboratory remained intact and functioning because it was designed and built that way with the ability to self-repair and self-maintain itself.
139	* RaygunGothic: One of the definitive examples; Robby the Robot in particular came to be iconic of the style.
140	* RealityHasNoSoundtrack: Instead of a conventional score, the film uses electronic sounds to suggest an otherworldly atmosphere. Hollywood composers, following the town's usual treatment of new styles and ways of doing things, panicked that these electronic musicians would put them all out of work, and had the couple that produced the music blacklisted for the rest of their careers.
141	* ReversePolarity: Used by name by the ''[=C-57D=]'''s crew during the landing process on Altair 4.
142	* RobotAntennae: Robby the Robot has two asymmetrical circular antennae as "ears."
143	* RobotBuddy: Robby is perhaps the UrExample of this trope. Polite, friendly and helpful, though occasionally droll and sarcastic (but never malicious), it's little wonder why he was the breakout star of the film, especially when you see him just [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments standing around getting drunk]] with the ''[=C57D=]'''s cook.
144	* RobotNames: The classic "Robby the Robot" even [[AddedAlliterativeAppeal alliterates]]!
145	* RogerRabbitEffect: The id monster, during his on-screen appearance, which was animation done for the film by Disney animator Joshua Meador.
146	* SayMyName: Altaira calls her father "father" throughout the film until she decides to leave, at which point she calls him "Morbius".
147	* SeeTheInvisible: The monster's tracks can be seen, and its outline becomes visible when it moves between the energy-fence's pylons or has raygun fire splash off of it.
148	* SelfDestructMechanism: At the end, destroys the planet and all the knowledge of the Krell.
149	* SelfHealingPhlebotinum: Said of the Krell machines.
150	* ServileSnarker: Robbie the Robot draws on the ancient tradition of snarky butlers and other house-servants.
151	* SettingUpdate: Shakespeare's ''Theatre/TheTempest'', '''[[RecycledInSpace IN SPACE!]]''' Famously, this took the form of updating the magic of the original into scientific concepts, like Morbius being a scientist rather than a magician and using Freud's theories of the elements of the unconscious mind rather than the classical elements of the natural world, and associating the moral, logical superego with Robbie the Robot while [[spoiler: the Monster from the Id represents the unfettered, mindless impulses and drives of the mind]] in the same vein as Ariel's association with air and fire while the brutish Caliban is connected to the "lower elements" of earth and water.
152	* ScottyTime: Played with when the Chief shows Commander Adams the busted SubspaceAnsible. He acknowledges that repair is impossible...and wants to know how much time will it take. The Chief just quips, "Well if I don't stop for breakfast..."
153	* StarfishAlien: The Krell are never shown, but they are clearly not humanoid, based on the tools and furnishings they leave behind.
154	* StealthInsult: After his daughter complains about Commander Adams shouting at her for no reason that she can understand, Morbius has Adams try out the Krell IQ test for children and isn't surprised at the low result, because all a commander has to have is a loud voice.
155	* StealthSequel: Robby the Robot was so popular that he appeared as the co-star in a B&W children's movie called ''Film/TheInvisibleBoy''. In an application of this trope, the movie was implied to take place in the same universe as ''Forbidden Planet'', with Robby being pulled back in time to the [[TheFifties present day]] by a scientist's experiment. Some releases of ''Forbidden Planet'' include ''The Invisible Boy'' as DVDBonusContent.
156	* SuperingInYourSleep: Dr. Morbius.
157	* {{Technobabble}}: It didn't start with ''Franchise/StarTrek''. At least here it's just to add a technological sheen, rather than a plot device.
158	* TechnologyPorn: Has the requisite "showing off the wonders of alien technology" scenes that would be done far less smoothly in FollowTheLeader sci-fi movies of the 50s and 60s.
159	* ThouShaltNotKill: The robot is programmed to shut down should he be ordered to harm any "rational being". This feeds directly into a LogicBomb, when the robot is ordered to do exactly that, though this is to demonstrate that he is harmless and friendly to an audience used to [[RobotWar more-traditional robots]].
160	* ThreeLawsCompliant: Robby, most definitely. We're shown very early that he cannot harm humans, and that he will obey any order other than to kill. This becomes a plot point, later, when Morbious orders Robby to destroy the monster, only for Robby, who knows the truth of the monster, to freeze up, unable to comply. This is part of what convinces Morbious at last of the truth of his link to the monster.
161	* TooDumbToLive: When the monster attacks and kills two men who get too close, while showing itself to be completely unaffected by their weapons, Jerry Farman runs forward (into the line of fire of the others, forcing them to cease fire) to continue shooting at it at point-blank range. His subsequent death is both utterly predictable and utterly pointless.
162	* TouchOfTheMonster: The above poster -- though subverted as Robby is the resident RobotBuddy.
163	* {{Tulpa}}: The [[spoiler: Id Monster is this to Morbius.]]
164	* VirginPower: Altaira's communion with the animals. She loses the ability as soon as she starts to enjoy kissing Commander Adams. [[spoiler: Rather than a Garden of Eden allegory, it represents her jealous father's internal resentment of her leaving him.]]
165	* WhatDidYouExpectWhenYouNamedIt: The ship that originally brought Morbius to Altair IV is called the ''Bellerophon''. In Myth/ClassicalMythology, Bellerophon was a great hero who tamed the Pegasus. However, he also fell victim to [[{{Pride}} hubris]], and was punished by being sent crashing down to Earth from his mount, where he died a blinded cripple.
166	* WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove: The crew is eager to demonstrate the human custom of "kissing" to Altaira. She is initially unimpressed, but quickly warms up to it.
167	* WhiteAndGreyMorality: Morbius: it implies that even the worst people have good intentions.
168	* WorthlessYellowRocks: Robby has no problem whipping up a dress for Alta overnight using 5-to-15 carat diamonds which he has on hand.
169	* YouAreNotReady: Morbius' dictum that he would parcel out the dead planet's {{Phlebotinum}} as he saw fit so as not to corrupt humanity. Eventually, TheCaptain agrees with him that ''none'' of it should be used by anyone else, and the planet is made to self destruct. On the other hand, the crew ''does'' bring a fully functional AI robot with superhuman strength and an on-board MatterReplicator back with them, so the Krell tech certainly wasn't ''all'' destroyed.
170	[[/folder]]

Context Film / ForbiddenPlanet