Thursday, September 10, 2009
City on the Edge of Forever.Detailed Review of Ellison's First Draft Script
city.gif (3196 bytes)
City on the Edge of Forever.Detailed Review of Ellison's First Draft Script
written by Harlan Ellison
FIRST DRAFT, dated June 13, 1966
report & analysis by Dave Eversole
Ellison wrote at least two treatments, one dated March 21, 1966, the other, May 13, 1966, that are very similar, and true to the plot of his teleplay, although there are a few differences. Originally the Slum Angel was named Sister Edith Koestler, and the city where the action took place was Chicago. Also, in the first treatment, Beckwith is captured in the teaser, court-martialed and sentenced to death by firing squad. In their quest to find an uninhabited planet on which to execute Beckwith, they stumble upon the Planet of the Guardians. Kirk beams down with Beckwith, Spock, Rand and the firing squad. They discovet the Guardians, and Beckwith escapes, diving into the Vortex. This review will be taken from the plot of Ellison's published teleplay.
TEASER
We open deep in space. Kirk, via his Captain's Log, informs us that the Enterprise's chronometers are running backward, and they have followed a radiation trail to the source of the disturbance, a strange silvery planet hanging before a wan dying sun. Kirk goes on to voice his concerns that some of his crew have gone bad. Though all undergo psych-probes from time to time, they've been out in space for two years now, under too much strain, and a few may have gone sour.
Onboard the Enterprise, in Lieutenant Richard Beckwith's cabin, young Lieutenant LeBeque is sweating bullets. We soon learn that Beckwith is a drug dealer, specifically of a banned substance known as The Jewels of Sound. LeBeque is desperate for a fix of the Jewels, but Beckwith is holding out. LeBeque can do him certain favors, specifically, LeBeque can arrange for Beckwith to go on the landing party to the planet they are currently orbiting. Beckwith foresees a future for himself in which he can hook entire populations of planets on the Jewels and become rich and powerful beyond imagination.
Beckwith finally gives the trembling LeBeque a Jewel of Sound. LeBeque gulps it.
Two hours later, LeBeque comes down off his high. He is on the bridge and Spock is yelling at him to damp a starboard unit that he was allowing to run in the red. Spock dismisses him from the bridge, tells him to put himself on relief.
LeBeque has had enough. He knows he nearly destroyed the ship through his drug use. He goes to Beckwith's cabin, and declares he is through. He is going to get off the drugs, and Beckwith will be turned in. He leaves.
Beckwith grabs a large piece of faceted jade stone he has used as a paperweight, follows LeBeque into the corridor, and in front of multiples witnesses, crushes LeBeque's skull, killing him instantly. Beckwith panics as a crewwoman scream bloody murder. He runs away as calls go out for security.
Beckwith dashes to the Transporter Chamber, overpowers the guard on duty, takes his phaser rifle, enters, knocks out the Transporter Chief, and beams himself down to the planet below. Kirk and Spock enter right behind him, see what he has done.
"Fit out a patrol! Jump!" Kirk orders.
ACT ONE
Kirk, Spock, Yeoman Rand and six security guards beam down the planet's surface in search of Beckwith. It is a dying cinder of a world, barren (no ruins), but strangely, despite the almost completely burned out sun, the planet is not frigid, not frozen, it is warm and comfortable. Janice wears a backpack electronic unit. They discover Beckwith's footprints and begin tracking him. Kirk suddenly stops as a glitter of sunlight off something on a far plateau catches his eye.
KIRK
(almost dreamily)
Mr. Spock: do you see the city up there?
Do you see it, too?
SPOCK'S VOICE O. S.
It is there, Captain. It is illogical,
but it is apparently real.
KIRK
(in awe)
Like a city on the edge of forever.
Kirk and crew climb the mountain, but before they reach the city, on a lower plateau, they discover the Guardians of Forever. Described as nine-feet tall, ancient-looking, gray-silver in tone, with mitered white hair that rises up, long beards that hang down, dressed in shapeless robes, and still, never moving.
Much as in the aired episode, Kirk and Spock question the Guardians, who have been here since before our sun burned bright. They live in the ancient city above, and guard the Time Vortex of The Ancients. The Vortex is set between two cliffs, in a defile, is fifty feet tall, half as wide, and shimmers with a red fiery effect across its entire surface. The Guardians show the Enterprise crew some examples of the time periods on Earth they could visit. One such series of scenes shows Depression Era New York City. If they can control and show the flow of time, how easy it would be for them to control a simple thing like atmosphere and temperature, Spock says.
When Spock mentions that travel in time could possibly alter the present the Guardians explain that time is elastic and will revert to its proper shape if the changes are small and insignificant. Only death, or the altering of the sum of intelligence, will permanently distort and change time.
Beckwith, has been hiding, observing everything that has transpired. He dashes out, roughhouses his way past everyone, but Spock knocks the phaser rifle out of his hands. Beckwith grabs Rand to use as a shield, but she twists away. Before the others can reach him, he dives into the Vortex, and with a LOUD WHOOSH is gone.
He has passed into what was, the Guardians say. They suddenly go alert, something is wrong! The entire universe has been altered due to a great disturbance in time. Although they control the planet and those on it, from here outward the universe is different. The Guardians receive telepathic calls from their city, they explain that they must go there to investigate these "traumas" to the timeline, and vanish.
Kirk is worried, it is obvious to him. Beckwith has changed time by killing again. He orders Rand to activate the beam-up signal. The six guards beam up first, then Kirk, Spock and Rand follow.
As they materialize, Kirk reacts in shock. It is not the Enterprise, the people who stand before him, holding his six guards at phaser point, are not his people, but rather vicious-looking free-booters dressed in motley-garb. They are RENEGADES.
From the script:
In the forefront of the group stands the RENEGADE CAPTAIN whose evil nature is so evident on his face that no one could doubt for a moment that this man is the vilest scum of a million worlds. He has a weapon of extreme ugliness pointed at Kirk and Spock and Rand. His smile is the smile of an animal.
RENEGADE
(with chill warmth)
Welcome to the Condor.
HARD CUT TO
CLOSE ON KIRK
his expression of--yes, possibly--fear and bewilderment and then dawning realization that he has, indeed, wandered helpless into a world he never made.
HOLD ON THAT thought as we FADE OUT.
END ACT ONE
ACT TWO
We fade in as we left, with Kirk, Spock and Rand on the transporter platform of the Condor, facing the evil Renegade Captain and his motley crew of thugs. Thinking quickly, Kirk whispers to Rand, orders her to use her backpack unit to send a feedback overload into the transporter console. She cranks a knob, and the console explodes in a shower of smoke and sparks. Kirk and crew engage in a furious fistfight with the Renegades which resolves itself in the Renegades all being forced into the corridor, leaving them holed up in the transporter room with the hatch sealed.
The transporter is nearly destroyed but they are able to jerry-rig it so that perhaps two, but no more, people can use it. Kirk decides that he and Spock will beam back down, and attempt to travel back through time to stop Beckwith from changing history. Janice and the six guards will stay here, hold off the Renegades as long as possible.
On the Plateau of The Guardians, the ancient Guardians of Time are reluctant to let Kirk and Spock go back.
1ST GUARDIAN
The rope of the time stream knots, and
knots again. It is far more dangerous
attempting to unsnarl the past than it is
to let Time flow on. Let it go.
KIRK
(anguished)
Not that easy for us! Everything we
knew, everyone we care about...
they're gone... or changed...
1ST GUARDIAN
You are children, believing you can put
smoke back in its bottle.
But finally the Guardians relent. They will send Kirk and Spock back, but cannot send them to the exact moment Beckwith arrived. Kirk asks that they be sent to a time before he arrived so that they can settle in and wait for him.
The Guardians explain that in each time period there is a focal point, an object, a person that is indispensable, a catalyst. Obviously Beckwith has tampered with this focal point, because even if he doesn't know what it is, the
stresses of the time flow will draw him to it.
1ST GUARDIAN
Bring him back. He will seek that which
must die, and give it life. Stop him.
When Kirk asks for more information on who or what the catalyst is, the enigmatic guardians will not answer directly.
1ST GUARDIAN
Blue it will be. Blue as the sky of Old
Earth and clear as truth. And the sun
will burn on it, and there is the key.
And that is all they will say. Kirk and Spock step into the Vortex as the Guardians watch.
1ST GUARDIAN
As night falls, they run like hunters, and
for all our wisdom, we are helpless.
New York, 1930. A CCC Camp Soup Line is serving homeless people. An Orator is delivering a rabid hate-filled speech about how all the damn foreigners are the cause of the country's problems.
Kirk and Spock suddenly materialize at the rear of the crowd listening to the Orator. Spock asks Kirk if this heritage, this sickness, is the one Earthmen brag of. Kirk is equally disgusted, tells him this is what it has taken his planet five hundred years to crawl up from.
The Orator spots Spock, yells that there is one of the foreign trouble-makers. After a bit more baiting, the crowd turns en masse and chase after Kirk and Spock. A wild run for their lives through the streets and back alleys of New York ensues. As in the aired version, they hide in a basement, this one of a tenement apartment building. Kirk mentions that they will have to disguise Spock, says he saw a line of clothes hung out to dry a little ways back. Spock sarcastically asks that Kirk also find a ring for his nose.
A bit later, they are back in the basement, dressed in ill-fitting clothes of the period. A kind Janitor finds them, takes pity and offers them work sweeping up, keeping the alleys around the building cleaned. He can't pay much
but will allow them to bunk out down in the basement. Kirk and Spock agree, and the janitor departs. When Spock further teases Kirk about the heritage of Earth, Kirk retorts that at least Earth made it into space two hundred years before Vulcan!
A few days pass. They use the tricorder to attempt to correlate data and determine who or what might be the focal point. Kirk picks up slang ("Twenty-three skidoo, kiddo," he says to Spock at one point). The preliminary readings from the tricorder indicate there are six hundred and sixteen thousand five hundred and ninety possible focal points. When Kirk tries to eliminate all but those within a ten kilometer radius, the tricorder is unable to comply as it has damage to some of its seventh level circuits. When Kirk integrates some more data into the tricorder, it sputters and dies. With the transistor not even invented yet, Spock will have his work cut out for him trying to repair the tricorder.
The kindly Janitor arranges for Spock to get a second, better-paying job as a dish-washer. Spock works evenings there for a few days, has a run in with the owner who calls him "Chinee," and attempts to shortchange him on pay. As Spock wearily walks back home one night, he hears the voice of a female orator, a powerful uplifting voice. Spock, who does not yet see her, stops to listen, nods in agreement with some of her points, starts to continue on his way, suddenly stops as he comes face-to-face with her on her small platform. Edith is a "young woman, possibly middle-twenties, but with a voice that is instantly arresting.... quite lovely. Not beautiful, but fresh and vibrant, truly alive."
And she wears a blue cape, fastened with a sunburst scatter pin. Spock remembers what the Guardian said:
VOICE OF GUARDIAN
(echo filter)
Blue it will be. Blue as the
sky of Old Earth...
Edith's VOICE UNDER runs concurrently with this phantom sound.
EDITH
Love is only the absence of hate.
CAMERA MOVES UP to her FACE as she says the preceding line while VOICE of GUARDIAN OVER continues.
VOICE OF GUARDIAN
(echo filter)
... and clear as truth. And the sun will
burn on it...
as CAMERA MOVES DOWN OVER CAPE to the sunburst scatter pin.
CLOSE ON SPOCK
as his eyes widen with recognition of the focus point in this time era. And as we HOLD on Spock, he MOVES TOWARD HER in FRAME and we see revealed a placard that was obscured before, while the VOICE of the GUARDIAN ends its phantom reminder.
VOICE OF GUARDIAN
(echo filter)
... and there is the key.
And we HOLD on the edge of the crowd with SPOCK prominent and the placard whose message is simply:
Hear SISTER EDITH KEELER Speak.
SLOW FADE TO
SOFT-FOCUS IRIS ON WORD "KEELER"
and
FADE OUT.
END ACT TWO.
ACT THREE
Spock takes Kirk to the apartment building where Edith lives. Both are convinced she is the focal point. Kirk decides to rent a room in the building. Spock is wary about living in such a place openly, but Kirk tells him to keep out of sight, work on the tricorder.
They take turns watching Edith, usually spying on her apartment and movements from the roof of a nearby building. Kirk mentions that she is quite lovely.
From the script:
There's that EXPRESSION of concern again. SPOCK in b. g. of FRAME with KIRK
in f. g. watching that lit window.
SPOCK
This is not an easy pursuit to begin
with, Captain. Complications could
make it impossible.
KIRK
(as if hearing him
for the first time)
What?
SPOCK
I have a theory, Captain, that the easiest
world for a spaceman to "go native"
on--is his own world.
KIRK
Don't be ridiculous.
The stakes are too high here.
SPOCK
(with meaning)
That was precisely my point.
In a stairwell of their building, Kirk finally gets up the nerve to say hello to Edith. They hit it off marvelously, she says she has seen him around, wondered when he would get around to saying hello.
The next few scenes show Kirk and Edith talking, smiling, laughing. They are getting to know each other, and both are smitten. As in the aired version, she knows Kirk is not what he says he is. She describes him as like one "in from the country." Right, Kirk, says, I am from Iowa. But this does not totally satisfy Edith, but she lets it go.
Spock sees what is happening and has a long talk with Kirk, during which we learn that Kirk has indeed fallen for her, and Spock is concerned that Kirk will hamper their efforts to put time straight. Kirk says that he has been on
the move ever since he was old enough to ship on as a wiper in the old chemical fuel rockets, only had time for loose women in the space ports. This time it is real. It is true love. In the end, Spock is blunt. "She is going die!"
KIRK
I don't want to think about it.
Leave me alone.
SPOCK
I will leave you alone, Captain --
(beat)
but time will not.
One day as Kirk and Edith descend stairs to a below-street level music store, Edith falls. Kirk reaches to grab her, suddenly remembers the reason he is there, draws his hand back, closes it on empty air, allows Edith to tumble down the steps. She knows he let her fall, but cannot fathom why. She stares up at him, hurt and confused by his inaction.
Spock gets the tricorder to work and pinpoints where he thinks Beckwith will appear. Kirk hardly seems concerned anymore.
Spock continues in his "fish out of water" role. When Kirk points out a truck hauling bootleg beer, and mentions "Prohibition," Spock says trucks are surely not prohibited as he has seen trucks every day.
At the appointed time specified by the repaired tricorder, Kirk and Spock, concealed in an alley, watch the street where Beckwith will arrive (it is the same spot where Kirk and Spock first materialized). Beckwith appears, Kirk and Spock start toward him, but Beckwith sees them, eludes them. Kirk rushes back to Edith's apartment, tells her to stay inside. When she wants to know what is going on, Kirk tells her to get inside and stay inside! She is confused by his sudden short-tempered demeanor, but reluctantly does as he says.
Later that day, Kirk spots Spock hurriedly walking down the street, carrying a burlap package. When he stops Spock to see what he is carrying, he discovers that Spock is concealing the phaser rifle. Kirk warns Spock that they must take Beckwith alive. When Spock answers that he is well aware of this, Kirk suddenly realizes that Spock intends, if necessary, to use the weapon to kill Edith Keeler. Spock then pulls away from Kirk, walks on down the street.
Night. A darkened alley. Spock has cornered Beckwith here, stalks him. But the wily Beckwith gets the jump on Spock, knocks him down, steals the phaser rifle and gets away.
Spock knows that time is getting short.
ACT FOUR
Kirk makes contact with Trooper, a homeless, legless World War I veteran who makes his way about on a little board with wheels. Trooper is a fount of information about the goings-on in the streets. Kirk shows him his uniform shirt, asks Trooper if there is any talk of a man about dressed in clothes like that. Trooper promises to get back with him.
Edith is beginning to lose her hope, lose her optimism, beginning to think she is going to lose Jim Kirk.
From the script:
EDITH
All my life I've belonged to other
people. I know things will be cleaner,
happier, I try to tell them, so they'll
wait, so they'll hope. But now I don't
belong to anyone. And I'm losing my
own hope... Jim...
He holds her away for a moment, speaks earnestly.
KIRK
You're right. There are a million
tomorrows. The one you believe in is
the best one. I know.
EDITH
How do you know, Jim?
KIRK
(helplessly)
Because I love you... and I know.
Spock comes to Edith's apartment to tell Kirk that Trooper has told him he may know where Beckwith is. They go to Trooper who indicates Beckwith is hiding in an alley. Beckwith sees he is being followed, fires the phaser rifle at Kirk. Trooper rolls himself into the line of fire, is vaporized. Beckwith gets away.
Spock and Kirk realize that time has not been affected by the death of Trooper. Sadly, like so many of us, he simply did not matter.
Night. Edith speaks to a crowd on the street, tells them to keep up their hope, that better times are waiting if they can just hold on. Kirk waits for her across the street. Spock moves over to speak with Kirk, then Edith is finished speaking and waves to Kirk. Kirk waves back, ignores Spock, walks to the sidewalk to wait for her to cross.
SEQUENCE - SELECT BEST ANGLES
(NOTE: this sequence is the heart of the climax. It is imperative that the order of action, and the angles on close-ups, be tight and specific. No camerawork has been indicated here purposely, so the pace and layout of shots can be best developed by on-set choices.)
Spock moves away so Edith will not see him.
Edith comes to the curb with a smile, waving across to Kirk.
Kirk sees Beckwith emerging from a building. Beckwith does not see Kirk. The building is between Kirk and Spock where he has now moved.
A huge beer truck... lumbers around the corner and into the street as Edith steps off the curb. She doesn't see it. Kirk and Beckwith and Spock see the truck as it bears down on Edith.
ANOTHER SEQUENCE - SLOW MOTION - NO SOUND
as though time -- which is our primary subject here -- were being silently stretched to the point of unbearability.
Beckwith starts toward the woman.
Kirk's face twists in anguish as he starts toward Beckwith to stop him from saving Edith's life. He stops, his hand closes on empty air as it did when she fell down the stairs. He cannot stop Beckwith! He will sacrifice everything for her.
Spock sees what is happening. He moves toward Beckwith.
The truck slips slowly, silently toward Edith.
Spock reaches Beckwith and grabs him in a body-lock that immobilizes him.
Kirk's mouth opens to scream. His empty hand reaches.
Edith laughs a word at Kirk
XTREME CLOSEUP KIRK
XTREME CLOSEUP SPOCK
XTREME CLOSEUP EDITH
XTREME CLOSEUP THE TRUCK
CUT TO:
CLOSE ON KIRK - NORMAL SPEED
and HOLD HOLD HOLD on his face as we HEAR the SOUND of the TRUCK SCREECHING TO A HALT. As Kirk's face crumbles, we know what has happened.
The scene then fades out, and we cut to an angle on the Enterprise orbiting the planet of the guardians to show that time has returned to normal.
On the Plateau of The Guardians, Kirk and Spock drag Beckwith back through the portal. Time has been restored, it is now as it was before.
Suddenly Beckwith twists free, jumps into the Vortex, but the Guardians cause him to appear in the heart of a sun a split second before it goes nova.
Beckwith screams in agony as the sun novas.
Time loops back a few seconds, Beckwith appears in the nova.
Beckwith screams in agony as the sun novas.
Time loops back.
Beckwith screams in agony as the sun novas.
Time loops back...
The Guardians tell Kirk and Spock that Beckwith will live his final moment of agony over and over throughout all of eternity.
EPILOGUE
In his cabin on the Enterprise Kirk forlornly sits, stares out a port at the stars. Spock comes to visit. Kirk tries to fathom all the tomorrows in the universe, but none for Edith. They talk of how some people are negligible.
Trooper was negligible. But Edith was not negligible.
KIRK
(simply; groping for
understanding)
But... I loved her...
SPOCK
No woman was ever loved as much,
Jim. Because no woman was ever
offered the universe for love.
EXT. SPACE - U. S. S. ENTERPRISE (STOCK)
as the ship speeds off into the darkness and we HOLD on the stars once more.
The stars, like Kirk's love -- eternal.
FADE TO BLACK:
and
FADE OUT.
THE END
city.gif (3196 bytes)
written by Harlan Ellison
SECOND REVISED FINAL DRAFT, dated December 1, 1966
We open in sickbay where Dr. McCoy is taking blood samples from a small alien dog-like creature. McCoy speaks to a nurse, informs him that the radiation has caused the creature's blood and saliva to be turned to poisonous venom.
Kirk's Captain's Log informs us that they have arrived at the planet source of the time radiation which is causing all lifeforms on the Enterprise to slowly age in reverse.
As they orbit the planet, the disturbances toss the ship about. In Sickbay, McCoy attempts to safely hold the small creature as they are tossed to and fro, but it panics, sinks its fangs into McCoy's hand. He screams, mutters, "The poison..."
The poison acts quickly, McCoy screams, rages, then rushes from the sickbay in a wild fugue. He dashes down a corridor, runs into the transporter room, followed quickly by Kirk and Spock.
When Kirk and Spock enter, they find the Transporter Chief knocked unconscious, and the transporter controls set for the planet's surface.
KIRK
He's beamed down...
(scared)
... there.
SPOCK
He'll be dead in two hours.
END TEASER
ACT ONE
Kirk, Spock, Yeoman Rand, and two security guards beam down, track Doctor McCoy. They see the sparkling city on the mountaintop, and climb up it, following McCoy's footprints.
On the Plateau of The Guardian, they discover the Guardian of Forever....
The GUARDIAN OF FOREVER is pure thought. Resting in a shallow bowl on a pedestal, he looks like a globe of flickering light... like a shimmering handful of fog... like something totally alien and omnipotent.
Much of the dialogue between Kirk, Spock and the Guardian is the same as in Ellison's first draft. McCoy is in hiding, sees the Guardian show them scenes from old Earth on the fiery Vortex, dashes in, dodges past everyone, dives into the Vortex and with a LOUD WHOOSH is gone.
END ACT ONE
Much ink, blood, sweat, and vituperation has been spilled over this script, and that's just in the opening paragraph of Ellison's foreword to his published version of the script.
I ain't gonna get into that.
I like this script a whole hell of a lot!
I like the aired version a whole hell of a lot!
Each has elements that rise above the other. Each has elements worse than the other.
Ellison's masterful prose-style narrative and stage directions are many times better than Fontana's aired version (though she does lift a line or two of his narrative here and there).
His Guardians are truly alien, his worlds are barren and bone-dry, as windswept and torn as the souls of his characters.
He has claimed he wrote the "Space Pirate" stuff under duress. I'll take him at his word, for those sequences are horrible, grating on the ears, and a waste, and do nothing but slow the drama down.
Still, it takes a full act and a half before they ever get back in time. It is well into the third act before Kirk even meets Edith. Early in Act Two is just about right for getting there, and for meeting her. That said, once they do meet, Ellison's is the superior version of the Kirk/Edith romance. His dialogue between the two sparkles, is witty, sad, lonely. Just right.
I feel sorry for the Edith Keeler who died in the aired version.
I ache to the core of my soul for the Edith Keeler who died in Harlan Ellison's typewriter, and know that Kirk will never be the same.
But, as with most others, if Kirk had frozen and had allowed Edith to live, I would have felt sympathy, but no respect. I would have been human and selfish, I would have let Edith live, probably you would have done so, too, but our heroes need to be better than us.
They are... aren't they?
I hope.
But I don't know.
HARLAN ELLISON (1934- ): American writer, best known for his speculative fiction, but has written award-winning fiction in nearly every genre from science fiction to horror to mysteries to westerns. Multiple Hugo, Nebula and Edgar Award winner, he has also appeared in the prestigious Best American Short Stories yearly collections. He has written for television and films since 1963, and won an unprecedented four outstanding teleplay awards from the Writers Guild of America. Series for which he has written include Burke's Law, Voyage To The Bottom of The Sea, The Outer Limits, The Man From U. N. C. L. E., The Flying Nun, The Twilight Zone ('85 version), and Babylon 5 (for which he also served as "Conceptual Consultant"). He created the 1973 television series The Starlost, but substituted his dismissive pseudonym Cordwainer Bird (as in giving it "The Bird") on the credits after his pilot script was eviscerated and "dumbed down." Ellison wanted to give "The City on the Edge of Forever" the "bird" as well, but Gene Roddenberry refused to allow it. In 2006, the Science Fiction/Fantasy Writers of America honored Ellison with their coveted Grandmaster award.
44. Joseph Thompson - September 10, 2009
“The City on the Edge of Forever” as film-either version is ten billion times better than any crap Harlin Ellison wrote originally.That crummy script got an award.only because sci fi nerd boys voted for their hero or the filmed script.The real genius is all the Trek people,that contributed to the episode,not some blowhard with an axe to grind.
.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Forbidden Planet
Forbidden Planet
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This article is about the 1956 film. For the bookstore chain, see Forbidden Planet (bookstore).
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Forbidden Planet
Film poster
Directed by Fred M. Wilcox
Produced by Nicholas Nayfack
Written by Cyril Hume (screenplay)
from a story by
Irving Block
Allen Adler
Starring Walter Pidgeon
Anne Francis
Leslie Nielsen
Jack Kelly
Richard Anderson
Music by Louis and Bebe Barron
Cinematography George J. Folsey
Editing by Ferris Webster
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Warner Bros. (DVD)
Release date(s) March 15, 1956 (sneak preview)
Running time 98 min.[1]
Country United States
Language English
Budget $4,900,000 (estimated; source: Kirk Kerkorian)
Forbidden Planet is a 1956 science fiction film in CinemaScope and Metrocolor directed by Fred M. Wilcox and starring Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis and Leslie Nielsen. The characters and setting were inspired by Shakespeare's The Tempest,[1] and the plots are very similar.
The film features a number of Oscar-nominated special effects, groundbreaking use of an all-electronic music score, and the first screen appearance of both Robby the Robot[2] and the C-57D flying saucer starship.
Contents [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Production
4 Releases
4.1 Theaters
4.2 VHS and DVD
4.3 HD DVD
5 Novelization
6 Soundtrack
6.1 Track list
7 Influence
8 References in other media
9 Remake
10 See also
11 Notes
12 External links
[edit] Plot
United Planets Cruiser C-57D lands on Altair's 4th planet.In the early 23rd century, the United Planets Cruiser C-57D is sent to the planet Altair IV, 16 light-years from Earth, to investigate the disappearance of a colony expedition sent 20 years earlier. Before landing, the ship is contacted by Dr. Edward Morbius (Pidgeon), who warns them to stay away.
Upon landing, the ship is met by Robby the Robot, who takes Commander John J. Adams (Nielsen), Lieutenant Jerry Farman (Jack Kelly), and Lieutenant "Doc" Ostrow (Warren Stevens) to Morbius' home. Morbius explains to them that an unknown force killed all of the other members of his crew and destroyed their starship, the Bellerophon. Only Morbius, his wife (who died later of natural causes), and his daughter Altaira (Francis), now 19 years old, survived. He fears that the crew of the C-57D will suffer the same fate. Altaira has never met a man besides her father, and is interested in getting to know the new arrivals and learn about human relations.
Near the ship, First Officer Lt. Jerry Farman converses with Dr Morbius' daughter, Altaira.Morbius explains that he has been studying the Krell, the natives of Altair IV who, despite being far more advanced than humanity, had all mysteriously died in a single night 200,000 years before. He shows them a device that he calls a "plastic educator". Morbius notes that the captain of the Bellerophon tried it, and was killed instantly. When Morbius used it though, he barely survived, and doubled his intellect in the process. He claims that that enabled him to build Robby and the other technological marvels in his home. Morbius then takes them on a tour of a vast cube-shaped underground Krell installation, 20 miles on a side and powered by 9,200 thermonuclear reactors,with huge ventallation shafts,with computing power,that house titantic power relays,that zap lightning bolts up and down other similar devices and self repairing travel cars zip up and down these shafts,20 mile long Krell maintaince tunnels,where pneumatic like travel cars zoom along, which has been operating and self-repairing itself since the extinction of the Krell. When asked its purpose, Morbius admits he does not know.
The Great Machine, dwarfing the three men walking on the platform.One night, a valuable piece of equipment in the ship is damaged, though the sentries report they saw no intruders. In response, a force-field fence is set up to protect the ship. The protection proves to be useless; the unseen thing returns, shorts out the fence, and kills Chief Engineer Quinn (Richard Anderson). Dr Ostrow examines footprints left after the attack and is confused, saying that the creature appears to violate all known evolutionary laws.
The intruder returns the following night, and is discovered to be invisible - its appearance only revealed by its outline in the force-field beams. Several crew members are killed in a massive firefight with the monster. At his home, Morbius is in the Krell lab and subconciously knows that the attack is underway but cannot stop it. His trance is broken by Altaira's scream. At that moment, the creature vanishes.
Later while Adams confronts Morbius at the house, Ostrow sneaks away to use the educator, with fatal results. Just before he dies though, he manages to tell Adams that the underground installation was created to materialize anything the Krell thought of, but they had forgotten "Monsters from the id!" Morbius objects, pointing out that there are no Krell left. Adams replies that Morbius' mind - expanded by the plastic educator and thus able to interface with the great Krell machine - subconsciously created the monster that killed his shipmates 20 years earlier, after they had voted to return to Earth. Morbius refuses to believe Adams' theory.
When Altaira declares her love for Adams in defiance of her father, the monster comes for them. Morbius commands Robby to kill it, but the robot freezes, recognizing that the monster is an extension of Morbius. The creature breaks into the house and melts through the nearly-indestructible door of the Krell vault where Adams, Altaira and Morbius have taken refuge. Morbius finally accepts the awful truth and tries to renounce his creation. When he is mortally injured, the monster disappears. As Morbius lies dying, he directs Adams to press a lever which sets the Krell machine to self-destruct. Adams, Altaira, Robby, and the surviving crew take off and witness the destruction of the planet from a safe distance in space.
[edit] Cast
The crew works on jury-rigged communications circuits. Ostrow is in the middle, with Adams on his right.Walter Pidgeon as Dr. Edward Morbius
Anne Francis as Altaira "Alta" Morbius
Leslie Nielsen as Commander John J. Adams
Jack Kelly as Lt. Jerry Farman (the ship's pilot)
Warren Stevens as Lt. "Doc" Ostrow
Richard Anderson as Lt. Quinn (the ship's engineer)
Earl Holliman as "Cookie" (the ship's cook)
George Wallace as the Bosun, Steve
Bob Dix as Grey
Jimmy Thompson as Youngerford
James Drury as Strong
Harry Harvey, Jr. as Randall
Roger McGee as Lindstrom
Peter Miller as Moran
Morgan Jones as Nichols
Richard Grant as Silvers
Frankie Darro, stunt performer inside Robby the Robot (uncredited)
Marvin Miller, voice of Robby the Robot (uncredited)
Les Tremayne as Narrator (uncredited)
James Best as C-57D crewman (uncredited)
William Boyett as C-57D crewman (uncredited)
[edit] Production
Id Monster - plaster cast of footprint, and outlined in electric field and blaster raysThe original 1952 screen treatment by Irving Block and Allen Adler was titled Fatal Planet; the screenplay by Cyril Hume was renamed Forbidden Planet because it was thought to have more box-office appeal.[3] Block and Adler's treatment took place in the year 1976 on the planet Mercury. An expedition headed by John Grant is sent to the planet to retrieve Dr. Adams and his daughter Dorianne, who have been stranded there for twenty years. The plot is roughly the same as the final film, though Grant is able to rescue both Adams and his daughter and escape the invisible monster stalking them.
The film sets were constructed at an MGM sound stage on the Culver City lot and were designed by Cedric Gibbons and Arthur Longeran. The entire film was interior studio-bound, without any outdoor photography. All outdoor scenes were simulated with sets and visual effects.
A full-size mock up of three quarters of the C-57D was built to suggest its full width of 170 ft (51 m). This was surrounded by a huge painted diorama of the desert landscape of Altair IV. This set took up all the space in a Culver City sound stage. This was the first film in which humans are depicted traveling in flying saucers of their own construction.[4] The ship was reused in several episodes of the original Twilight Zone, which was also filmed at the MGM studios.
At about $125,000, Robby the Robot was a very expensive film prop for the time.[5] The electrically-controlled landcar or "dune buggy" driven by Robby and the tractor-tow truck offloaded from the spaceship were also built for the film. Robby was later featured in the film The Invisible Boy and appeared in numerous television series and movies. Like the C-57D, Robby (and his vehicle) appeared in episodes of The Twilight Zone.
The animated sequences, especially the attack of the id monster, were created by veteran animator Joshua Meador, who was lent to MGM by Walt Disney Pictures. Curiously, shots showing the shape of the invisible monster outlined in the blaster beams were evidently removed from some prints shown on television — presumably because its appearance was considered too terrifying for younger viewers — and it was many years before these shots were restored. According to a "Behind the Scenes" feature on the DVD release, a close look at the creature shows it to have a small goatee beard, suggesting that it is connected to Dr. Morbius, the only character with this feature. (See frame-capture of the id monster, at the top of this section.)
[edit] Releases
[edit] Theaters
Forbidden Planet was first released on April 1, 1956 across America in CinemaScope and Metrocolor, and stereophonic sound in some venues (either magnetic or Perspecta). Its Hollywood premiere was at Grauman's Chinese Theatre and featured Robby the Robot on display in the lobby. It ran continuously at Grauman's until the following September. The film was subsequently re-released in movie theaters in 1972 as one of MGM's "Kiddie Matinee" features, with six minutes of film footage cut to ensure a G-Rating from the Motion Picture Association of America.[citation needed]
[edit] VHS and DVD
The film was first released on MGM VHS and Beta Video in 1982. It was reissued by MGM/UA in widescreen VHS for its 40th anniversary in 1996. The movie was also released on laserdisc by the The Criterion Collection. Warner Bros. then released it on DVD in 1999 after MGM's back catalog was sold to AOL-TW by Turner Entertainment and MGM/UA in 1998. The 1999 release came with both standard and widescreen formats.
The Ultimate Collector's Edition is packaged in a metal box with the original poster as a cover. Inside on two DVDs are the films Forbidden Planet and The Invisible Boy, The Thin Man episode "Robot Client" and a documentary "Watch the Skies!: Science Fiction, The 1950s and Us". Also included were miniature lobby cards and a 3-inch toy replica of Robby the Robot.[6]
[edit] HD DVD
The DVD edition was followed by a release of the 50th Anniversary HD DVD and the Ultimate Collector's Edition DVD on November 28, 2006.[4] The 50th anniversary version was restored by the Warner Bros.-MGM reconstruction crew.[7]
[edit] Novelization
After the movie was released, there followed a novelization by W.J. Stuart, which chapters the story into separate POV narrations by Dr. Ostrow, Cmdr Adams and Dr. Morbius. The book delves further into the mystery of the vanished Krell and Morbius's relationship to them. In the novel, Morbius repeatedly exposes himself to the Krell manifestation machine, which (as suggested in the film) increases his brain power far beyond human intelligence. Unfortunately, Morbius retains enough of his imperfect human nature to be afflicted with hubris and contempt for humanity. Not recognizing his own limitations is Morbius' downfall, as it had been for the Krell. While not stated explicitly in the film (although the basis of a deleted scene found on the film's fiftieth-anniversary DVD), the novelization compared Altaira's ability to tame the tiger (until her sexual awakening) to the medieval myth of a unicorn being tamable only by a virgin woman.
[edit] Soundtrack
The movie's innovative electronic music score (credited as "electronic tonalities", partly to avoid having to pay movie industry music guild fees) was composed by Louis and Bebe Barron. MGM producer Dore Schary discovered the couple quite by chance at a beatnik nightclub in Greenwich Village while on a family Christmas visit to New York City. Schary hired them on the spot to compose the film music score. The theremin had been used as early as 1945, in Spellbound, but their score is widely credited with being the first completely electronic film score. The soundtrack preceded the Moog synthesizer of 1964 by almost a decade.
Using equations from the 1948 book, Cybernetics: Or, Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine by mathematician Norbert Wiener, Louis Barron constructed the electronic circuits which he used to generate the "bleeps, blurps, whirs, whines, throbs, hums and screeches".[5] Most of the tonalities were generated using a circuit called a ring modulator. After recording the base sounds, the Barrons further manipulated the material by adding effects, such as reverberation and delay, and reversing or changing the speed of certain sounds.[8]
As Louis and Bebe Barron did not belong to the Musicians' Union, their work was not considered for an Academy Award, in either the soundtrack or special effects category. Curiously, MGM avoided producing a soundtrack album when the film was first released. However, film composer-conductor David Rose released a 45-rpm single of his original main title theme, which he had recorded at MGM Studios in Culver City, California in March 1956. This theme had been discarded when Rose, who had originally been contracted to compose the film’s music score in 1955, was discharged between Christmas 1955 and New Year’s by Dore Schary.
The innovative soundtrack was finally released on a vinyl LP album by the Barrons for the film's 20th anniversary in 1976, on their own PLANET Records label (later changed to SMALL PLANET Records and distributed by GNP Crescendo Records) and, later, on a music CD in 1986 for its 30th Anniversary: with a six-page colour booklet containing images from Forbidden Planet plus liner notes from the composers, Louis and Bebe Barron, and Bill Malone.[8]
[edit] Track list
The following is a list of compositions on the CD:[8]
Main Titles (Overture)
Deceleration
Once Around Altair
The Landing
Flurry Of Dust - A Robot Approaches
A Shangri-La In The Desert / Garden With Cuddly Tiger
Graveyard - A Night With Two Moons
"Robby, Make Me A Gown"
An Invisible Monster Approaches
Robby Arranges Flowers, Zaps Monkey
Love At The Swimming Hole
Morbius' Study
Ancient Krell Music
The Mind Booster - Creation Of Matter
Krell Shuttle Ride And Power Station
Giant Footprints In The Sand
"Nothing Like This Claw Found In Nature!"
Robby, The Cook, And 60 Gallons Of Booze
Battle With The Invisible Monster
"Come Back To Earth With Me"
The Monster Pursues - Morbius Is Overcome
The Homecoming
Overture (Reprise) [this track recorded at Royce Hall, UCLA, 1964]
[edit] Influence
The biography of Gene Roddenberry Star Trek Creator notes that Forbidden Planet was one of the inspirations for Star Trek.[9]
The Doctor Who serial, Planet of Evil, was consciously based partly on Forbidden Planet.[10]
Both tv series Lost in Space and The Time Tunnel clear influenced producer and creator Irwin Allen,to make much of the series star ships,like the Jupiter 2,the Robinson Robot (B9),and Project Tic Toc resemble,what was seen in the movie Forbidden Planet.Both robots are similar and designed by the same man.The Tunnel Tunnel and surround instellation,looks alot like Krell mechines and planetary power core.
The author Colin Wilson has likened Forbidden Planet's "monsters from the id" to claimed occult phenomena involving monsters from the subconscious[11], and in his novel The Philosopher's Stone, the destruction of Mu is caused similarly by subconscious monsters from the sleeping minds of the Old Ones.[12]
[edit] References in other media
Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (January 2009)
In Babylon 5, one particular shot of the Great Machine of Epsilon 3 (as seen in the episode "A Voice in the Wilderness") bears a strong resemblance to the bridge through the Great Machine of the Krell in Forbidden Planet. (Babylon 5's producer has stated that this similarity was clear at the time of production but the form the shot took was due to production requirements, and was not a deliberate reference to the film.)[13]
In The Blob, a poster of Forbidden Planet can be seen during the movie theater scene.
The title of the Melvins song "The Fool, the Meddling Idiot" comes from a line of dialogue in the film.[citation needed]
In the film Halloween, Lindsey and Tommy can be seen watching Forbidden Planet while Laurie is babysitting them.
In Jim Jarmusch's 1984 film Stranger Than Paradise the characters Willie and Éva are watching Forbidden Planet on television.
In the stage musical The Rocky Horror Show (1973), and later the film The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), the opening song entitled Science Fiction/Double Feature contains a reference to Forbidden Planet: "Anne Francis stars in Forbidden Planet".
In the film Serenity, the crew of Serenity explore the wreckage of a ship identified as the C-57D (same ship designation) on the planet Miranda (a reference to The Tempest).
[edit] Remake
New Line Cinema had developed a remake with James Cameron, Nelson Gidding and Stirling Silliphant involved at different points. In 2007, DreamWorks set up the project with David Twohy set to direct. Warner Bros. reacquired the rights the following year and on October 31, 2008, J. Michael Straczynski was announced as writing a remake. Joel Silver will produce.[14] Straczynski explained the original was his favorite science fiction film, and gave Silver an idea for the new film which makes it "not a remake", "not a reimagining", and "not exactly a prequel". His vision for the film will not be retro, because when the original was made it was meant to be futuristic. Straczynski met with people working in astrophysics, planetary geology and artificial intelligence to reinterpret the Krell back-story.[15]
[edit] See also
Return to the Forbidden Planet, a musical based on the film
[edit] Notes
^ a b "Forbidden Planet (1956)". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049223/. Retrieved 2006-08-14.
^ "The Robot Hall of Fame : Robby, the Robot". The Robot Hall of Fame (Carnegie Mellon University). http://www.robothalloffame.org/04inductees/robby.html. Retrieved 2006-08-14.
^ "tkm fav the forbidden planet". klangmuseum.de. http://www.klangmuseum.de/tkm_favourites/favourites_text/forbidden_planet.html. Retrieved 2006-08-16.
^ a b Forbidden Planet: Ultimate Collector's Edition from Warner Home Video on DVD - Special Edition
^ a b "Forbidden Planet". MovieDiva. http://www.moviediva.com/MD_root/reviewpages/MDForbiddenPlanet.htm. Retrieved 2006-08-16.
^ Ultimate Collector's Edition at Turner Classic Movies
^ HD DVD review of Forbidden Planet (Warner Brothers,50th Anniversary Edition) - DVDTOWN.com
^ a b c Notes about film soundtrack and CD, MovieGrooves-FP
^ Alexander, David (1996-08-26). "Star Trek" Creator: Authorized Biography of Gene Roddenberry. Boxtree. ISBN 0-7522-0368-1.
^ A Darker Side, documentary on Planet of Evil DVD (BBC DVD1814)
^ The Occult: A History, Colin Wilson, Random House, 1971, ISBN 0394465555
^ The Novels of Colin Wilson, Nicolas Tredell, Rowman & Littlefield, 1982, ISBN 0389202800 ("They had overlooked one absurd point. As the conscious mind learnt to project its visions of reason and order, the vast energies of the subconscious writhed in their prison, and projected visions of chaos"
^ Straczsynski, J Michael (1995-10-29). "JMSNews". Synthetic Worlds. http://www.jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?ID=1-13561. Retrieved 2006-10-23. "My second thought was, "Shit, somebody's going to gig us on the Forbidden Planet thing." Nonetheless, it was the right shot, for the right reasons, and we chose to go with it."
^ Borys Kit and Jay A. Fernandez (2008-10-31). "Changeling scribe on Forbidden Planet". The Hollywood Reporter. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3ib356467890c70c66f5453b8ea7d5fc00. Retrieved 2008-10-31.
^ Casey Seijas (2008-12-01). "J. Michael Straczynski Promises His Take On ‘Forbidden Planet’ Will Be Something ‘No One Has Thought Of’". MTV Movies Blog. http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2008/12/01/j-michael-straczynski-promises-his-take-on-forbidden-planet-will-be-something-no-one-has-thought-of/. Retrieved 2008-12-02.
[edit] External links
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Forbidden Planet
Forbidden Planet at the Internet Movie Database
Forbidden Planet at Allmovie
Forbidden Planet at Rotten Tomatoes
DVD Journal review
Film review: Parallax Reviews: 'Forbidden Planet', Forbidden Fruit, Ingrid Richter, 23-November-1999, space.com
NPR: Barron Score
Cinematographic analysis of Forbidden Planet
"Geological Time Termination in a SciFi Biosphere: An Alternative View of THE FORBIDDEN PLANET"
[hide]v • d • eFred M. Wilcox
1940s Lassie Come Home • Courage of Lassie • Three Darling Daughters • Hills of Home • The Secret Garden
1950s Shadow in the Sky • Code Two • Tennessee Champ • Forbidden Planet
1960s I Passed for White
Short films Joaquin Murrieta
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"Time Tunnel" Critique
The Time Machine
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| The Time Machine | |
 First edition cover | |
| Author | H. G. Wells |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Ben Hardy |
| Country | England |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction novel/Allegory |
| Publisher | William Heinemann |
| Publication date | 1895 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback and Paperback) |
| ISBN | NA |
Contents[hide] |
[edit] History
Wells had considered the notion of time travel before, in an earlier (but less well-known) work entitled The Chronic Argonauts. He had thought of using some of this material in a series of articles in the Pall Mall Gazette, until the publisher asked him if he could instead write a serial novel on the same theme; Wells readily agreed, and was paid £100 on its publication by Heinemann in 1895. The story was first published in serial form in the New Review through 1894 and 1895. The book is based on the Block Theory of the Universe, which is a notion that time is a fourth space dimension.The story reflects Wells' own socialist political views and the contemporary angst about industrial relations. Other science fiction works of the period, including Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward and Thea von Harbou's Metropolis dealt with similar themes.
The Time Machine is in the public domain in the United States, Canada, and Australia, but does not enter the public domain in the European Union until January 1, 2017 (1946 death of author + 70 years + end of calendar year).
[edit] Plot summary
The book's protagonist is an amateur inventor or scientist living in London who is never named; he is identified simply as The Time Traveller. Having demonstrated to friends using a miniature model that time is a fourth dimension, and that a suitable apparatus can move back and forth in this fourth dimension, he completes the building of a larger machine capable of carrying himself. He then immediately sets off on a journey into the future.The Time Traveller details the experience of time travel and the evolution of his surroundings as he moves through time. While travelling through time, his machine allows him to observe the changes of the outside world in fast motion. He observes the sun and moon traversing the sky and the changes to the buildings and landscape around him as he travels through time. His machine produces a sense of disorientation to its occupant, and a blurring or faintness of the surroundings outside the machine.
His journey takes him to the year A.D. 802,701, where he finds an apparently peaceful, pastoral, communist,[1] future filled with happy, simple humans who call themselves the Eloi. The Eloi are about four feet tall (~122 cm), pink-skinned and frail-looking, with curly hair, small ears and mouths and large eyes. Males and females seem to be quite similar in build and appearance. They have high-pitched, soft voices and speak an unknown language. They appear to be quite unintelligent and child-like and live without quarrels or conflict.
Soon after his arrival he rescues Weena, a female Eloi he finds drowning in a river. Much to his surprise she is grateful to him and insists on following him.
The Eloi live in small communities within large and futuristic yet dilapidated buildings, doing no work and eating a frugivorous diet. The land around London has become a sort of untended garden filled with unusual fruiting and flowering plants, with futuristic, albeit broken down buildings and other structures dotted around, seemingly of no purpose and disused. There is no evidence of the implementation of agriculture or technology, of which the Eloi seem incapable.
The Time Traveller is greeted with curiosity and without fear by the Eloi, who seem only vaguely surprised and curious by his appearance and lose interest rapidly. He disables the time machine and follows them to their commune and consumes a meal of fruit while trying to communicate with them. This proves somewhat ineffectual, as their unknown language and low intelligence hinders the Time Traveller from gaining any useful information. With a slight sense of disdain for his hosts' lack of curiosity and attention to him, the Time Traveller decides to explore the local area.
As he explores this landscape, the Time Traveller comments on the factors that have resulted in the Eloi's physical condition and society. He supposes that the lack of intelligence and vitality of the Eloi are the logical result of humankind's past struggle to transform and subjugate nature through technology, politics, art and creativity. With the realisation of this goal, the Eloi had devolved.
With no further need for technology and agriculture and innovations to improve life, they became unimaginative and incurious about the world. With no work to do, they became physically weak and small in stature. Males, generally being breadwinners and workers in former times, have particularly degenerated in physique, explaining the lack of dimorphism between the sexes. The Time Traveller supposes that preventive medicine has been achieved, as he saw no sign of disease amongst his hosts. With no work to do and no hardships to overcome, society became non-hierarchical and non-cooperative, with no defined leaders or social classes.
The fact that there was no hardship or inequalities in societies meant there was no war and crime. Art and sophisticated culture, often driven by problems and aspirations or a catalyst for solutions and new developments, had waned, as no problems existed and there were no conceivable improvements for humanity. He accounted for their relatively small numbers as being due to the implementation of some form of birth control to eliminate the problems of overpopulation. The abandoned structures around him would suggest that prior to these achievements, the population had been larger and more productive, toiling to find the solution that would make the new utopia a reality.
As the sun sets, the Time Traveller muses on where he will sleep. Retracing his steps back to the building where he had eaten with the Eloi, he suddenly realizes that the time machine is missing. He panics and desperately searches for the vehicle. At first, he suspects that the Eloi have moved it to their shelter. He doubts the Eloi would be capable or inclined to do this, but nonetheless rushes back to the shelter and demands to know where his machine is. The Eloi are confused and a little frightened by this. Realising the Eloi don't understand him and he is damaging his position with them, he continues his search in desperation during the night before relenting and falling into an uneasy sleep.
The Utopian existence of the Eloi turns out to be deceptive. The Traveller soon discovers that the class structure of his own time has in fact persisted, and the human race has diverged into two branches. The wealthy, leisure classes appear to have devolved into the ineffectual, not very bright Eloi he has already seen; but the downtrodden working classes have evolved into the bestial Morlocks, cannibal hominids resembling human spiders, who toil underground maintaining the machinery that keep the Eloi — their flocks — docile and plentiful. Both species, having adapted to their routines, are of distinctly sub-human intelligence.
After further adventures the Traveller manages to get to his machine, reactivate it as the Morlocks battle him for it, and escape them. He then travels into the far future, roughly 30 million years from his own time.
There he sees the last few living things on a dying Earth, the rotation of which has ceased with the site of London viewing a baleful, red sun stuck at the setting position. In his trip forward, he had seen the red sun flare up brightly twice, as if Mercury and then Venus had fallen into it. Menacing reddish crab-like creatures slowly wander the blood-red beaches, and the world is covered in "intensely green vegetation." He continues to make short jumps through time, seeing the red giant of a sun grow redder and dimmer. Finally, the world begins to go dark as snowflakes begin to fall, and all silence falls upon Earth. In the very end of the Earth, all life has ceased, other than the lichens that still grow on rocks, and a kraken-like creature, roughly the size of a football, that slowly moves onto shore.
Feeling giddy and nauseated about the return journey before him, he nevertheless boards his machine and puts it into reverse, arriving back in his laboratory just three hours after he originally left. Entering the dining room, he begins recounting what has just happened to his disbelieving friends and associates, bringing the story back full circle to his entrance in chapter 2. The following day, the unnamed narrator returns to the Time Traveller's house. There, he finds the Time Traveller ready to leave again, this time taking a small knapsack and a camera. Although he promises the narrator he will return in half an hour, three years pass and the Time Traveller still remains missing. What happened to him, and where he ultimately ventured, remains a mystery.
[edit] Deleted text
The Great Illustrated Classics version of The Time Machine includes a whole chapter not found in the original novel, in which the Time Traveller blunders into a highly advanced future society where time travel is illegal. The time machine is confiscated and the Traveller is arrested, but he eventually escapes after one of the future men attempts to steal the time machine.An extract from the 11th chapter of the serial published in New Review (May, 1895) was censored from the book, as it was thought too disturbing. This portion of the story was published elsewhere as The Grey Man.
The censored text begins with the Traveller waking up in his Time Machine after escaping the Morlocks. He finds himself in the distant future of an Earth that is unrecognizable, seeing rabbit-like hopping herbivores near him. He stuns or kills one with a rock, and upon closer examination realizes they are probably the descendants of the Eloi. A gigantic, centipede-like arthropod approaches and the traveller advances ahead in time a day to flee, finding the creature to have apparently eaten the tiny humanoid. This dark ending of humanity was thought too shocking to be published.
[edit] Film, TV, or theatrical adaptations
The first visual adaptation of the book was a live teleplay broadcast on 25 January 1949 by the BBC, which starred Russell Napier as the Time Traveller and Mary Donn as Weena. Sadly, no recording of this live broadcast was made; the only record of the production is the script and a few black and white still photographs. A reading of the script, however, suggests that this teleplay remained fairly faithful to the book.[citation needed]-
Main article: The Time Machine (1960 film)
The film is noted for its then-novel use of time lapse photographic effects to show the world around the Time Traveller changing at breakneck speed as he travels through time. (Pal's earliest films had been works of stop-motion animation.)
Thirty-three years later, a combination sequel/documentary short, Time Machine: The Journey Back (1993 film), directed by Clyde Lucas, was produced. In the first part, Michael J. Fox (who had himself portrayed a time traveller in the Back to the Future trilogy) went behind the scenes of the movie and time travelling in general. In the second half, written by original screenwriter David Duncan, the movie's original actors Rod Taylor, Alan Young and Whit Bissell reprised their roles. The Time Traveller returns to his laboratory in 1916, finding Filby there, and encourages his friend to join him in the far future — but Filby has doubts. (Time Machine: The Journey Back is featured as an extra on the DVD release of the 1960 film).
A low-quality TV version was made in 1978, with very unconvincing time-lapse images of building walls being de-constructed, and inexplicable geographic shifting from Los Angeles to Plymouth, Mass., and inland California. John Beck starred as Neil Perry, with Whit Bissell (from the original 1960 movie and also one of the stars of the 1966 television series The Time Tunnel) appearing as one of Perry's superiors. However, the race names Eloi and Morlocks, and the character Weena (played by Priscilla Barnes of Three's Company fame), were reused, though set only a few thousand years in the future.
-
Main article: The Time Machine (2002 film)
In 1994 an audio drama was published on CD by Alien Voices, starring Leonard Nimoy as the Time Traveller (named John) and John de Lancie as David Philby. John de Lancie's children, Owen de Lancie and Keegan de Lancie, played the parts of the Eloi. The drama is approximately two hours long. Interestingly, this version of the story is more faithful to Wells's novella than either the 1960 movie or the 2002 movie.
[edit] Sequels by other authors
Wells' novella has become one of the cornerstones of science-fiction literature. As a result, it has spawned many offspring. Works expanding on Wells' story include:- The Return of the Time Machine by Egon Friedell, printed in 1972, from the 1946 German version. The author portrays himself as a character searching for the Time Traveller in different eras.
- The Hertford Manuscript by Richard Cowper, first published in 1976. It features a "manuscript" which reports the Time Traveller's activities after the end of the original story. According to this manuscript, the Time Traveller disappeared because his Time Machine had been damaged by the Morlocks without him knowing it. He only found out when it stopped operating during his next attempted time travel. He found himself on August 27, 1665, in London during the outbreak of the Great Plague of London. The rest of the novel is devoted to his efforts to repair the Time Machine and leave this time period before getting infected with the disease. He also has an encounter with Robert Hooke. He eventually dies of the disease on September 20, 1665. The story gives a list of subsequent owners of the manuscript until 1976. It also gives the name of the Time Traveller as Robert James Pensley, born to James and Martha Pensley in 1850 and disappearing without trace on June 18, 1894.
- Morlock Night by K.W. Jeter, first published in 1979. A steampunk novel in which the Morlocks, having studied the Traveller's machine, duplicate it and invade Victorian London.
- The Space Machine by Christopher Priest, first published in 1976. Because of the movement of planets, stars and galaxies, for a time machine to stay in one spot on Earth as it travels through time, it must also follow the Earth's trajectory through space. In Priest's book, the hero damages the Time Machine, and arrives on Mars, just before the start of the invasion described in The War of the Worlds. H.G. Wells himself appears as a minor character.
- Time Machine II by George Pal and Joe Morhaim, published in 1981. The Time Traveller, named George, and the pregnant Weena try to return to his time, but instead land in the London Blitz, dying during a bombing raid. Their newborn son is rescued by an American ambulance driver, and grows up in the United States under the name Christopher Jones. Sought out by the lookalike son of James Filby, Jones goes to England to collect his inheritance, leading ultimately to George's journals, and the Time Machine's original plans. He builds his own machine with 1970s upgrades, and seeks his parents in the future.
- The Time Ships, by Stephen Baxter, first published in 1995. This sequel was officially authorized by the Wells estate to mark the centenary of the original's publication. In its wide-ranging narrative, the Traveller's desire to return and rescue Weena is thwarted by the fact that he has changed history (by telling his tale to his friends, one of whom published the account). With a Morlock (in the new history, the Morlocks are intelligent and cultured) he travels through the multiverse as increasingly complicated timelines unravel around him, eventually meeting mankind's far future descendants, whose ambition is to travel into the multiverse of multiverses. Like much of Baxter's work, this is definitely hard science fiction; it also includes many nods to the prehistory of Wells's story in the names of characters and chapters.
- The 2003 short story "On the Surface" by Robert J. Sawyer begins with this quote from the Wells original: "I have suspected since that the Morlocks had even partially taken it [the time machine] to pieces while trying in their dim way to grasp its purpose." In the Sawyer story, the Morlocks develop a fleet of time machines and use them to conquer the same far future Wells depicted at the end of the original, by which time, because the sun has grown red and dim and thus no longer blinds them, they can reclaim the surface of the world.
- The Man Who Loved Morlocks and The Trouble With Weena (The Truth about Weena) are two different sequels, the former a novel and the latter a short story, by David J. Lake. Each of them concerns the Time Traveller's return to the future. In the former, he discovers that he cannot enter any period in time he has already visited, forcing him to travel in to the further future, where he finds love with a woman whose race evolved from Morlock stock. In the latter, he is accompanied by Wells, and succeeds in rescuing Weena and bringing her back to the 1890s, where her political ideas cause a peaceful revolution.
- In Michael Moorcock's Dancers at the End of Time series, the Time Traveller is a very minor character, his role consists of being shocked by the decadence of the inhabitants of the End of Time. H.G. Wells also appears briefly in this series when the characters visit Bromley in 1896.
- The Time Traveller makes a brief appearance in Allan and the Sundered Veil, a back-up story appearing in the first volume of Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, where he saves Allan Quatermain, John Carter and Randolph Carter from a horde of Morlocks.
- The time-traveling hero known as "The Rook" (who appeared in various comics from Warren Publishing) is the grandson of the original Time Traveller. In one story, he met the Time Traveller, and helps him stop the Morlocks from wiping out the Eloi.
- Philip José Farmer speculated that the Time Traveller was a member of the Wold Newton family. He is said to have been the great-uncle of Doc Savage.
- In the movie Gremlins, the Time Traveller's machine (the one from the 1960 movie) is briefly glimpsed at an inventor's convention. While a character has a phone conversation in the foreground, the time machine disappears in the background.
- Burt Libe wrote two sequels: Beyond the Time Machine and Tangles in Time, telling of the Time Traveller finally settling down with Weena in the 33rd century. They have a few children, the youngest of whom is the main character in the second book.
- In 2006, Monsterwax Trading Cards combined The Time Machine with two of Wells' other stories, The Island of Dr. Moreau and The War of the Worlds. The resulting 102 card trilogy, by Ricardo Garijo , was entitled The Art of H. G. Wells. [1] The continuing narrative links all three stories by way of an unnamed writer mentioned in Wells' first story, to the nephew of Ed Prendick (the narrator of Dr. Moreau), and another unnamed writer (narrator) in The War of the Worlds.
Doctor Being one of the tv series who was influenced by the movie-The Time Mechine.Infact,Doctor Who can be said be the further adventures of the Time Traveller or Time Mechine-the series.
The Time Machine (1960 film)
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| The Time Machine | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | George Pál |
| Produced by | George Pál |
| Written by | H. G. Wells (novel) David Duncan |
| Starring | Rod Taylor Alan Young Yvette Mimieux Sebastian Cabot Whit Bissell |
| Music by | Russell Garcia |
| Editing by | George Tomasini |
| Release date(s) | 17 August 1960 |
| Running time | 103 min |
| Country |  United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | approx $850,000 |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The film received a 1961 Oscar for its then-novel use of time lapse photographic effects to show the world around the Time Traveller changing at breakneck speed.
Pal always wanted to make a sequel to the 1960 film. But it was only remade in 2002 with the same title directed by Wells' great-grandson Simon Wells.
Contents[hide] |
[edit] Plot summary
In 1899 London, George (Rod Taylor) discusses the subject of time as the fourth dimension with some of his friends, among them David Filby (Alan Young) and Dr. Philip Hillyer (Sebastian Cabot). He then shows them a tiny machine that he claims can travel in time. When activated, the device first blurs, then disappears. The others are incredulous, but dismiss what they have witnessed as a parlour trick and leave. Before he departs, Filby warns George that it is not for them "to tempt the laws of providence." They agree to meet again next Friday.
Eventually, he stops the machine at September 13, 1917 to see what has become of the world. He meets a man in uniform whom he mistakes for his old friend, David Filby; it turns out to be his son James. He informs George that his father had died recently in the "Great War". George returns to the machine and travels to June 19, 1940. There are barrage balloons in the sky and sounds of bombing, leading him to believe, "It must be the new war." His next stop is August 18, 1966. He is puzzled to see several people hurrying past him into a fallout shelter amidst the blare of air raid sirens. An older, grey-haired James Filby tries to get him to enter the shelter as "the mushrooms will be sprouting" before fleeing. There is an explosion, the sky turns red, and hot lava begins to ooze down the street. George restarts the machine, just in time to avoid being incinerated. The lava covers the machine, cools and hardens, forcing George to travel far into the future before it erodes away.
He stops the machine abruptly on October 12, in the year 802,701, next to a low building with a large, grotesque sphinx on top of it. George explores the idyllic pastoral paradise. He spots some young adults by a river. A young woman is drowning, but the others are strangely indifferent to her plight. George rescues her himself. She calls herself Weena (Yvette Mimieux) and her people the Eloi. She is very interested in him.
George is outraged to find out that the Eloi have no government, no laws, and little curiosity. Their books lay mouldering on a few shelves. He shouts, "A million years of sensitive men dying for their dreams, for what? So you can... dance and play." He decides to return to his own time, but tracks indicate that the time machine has been dragged into the building, behind a pair of locked metal doors.
At night,Weena insists that George and her go back inside, for fear of the Morlocks. While they stay outside, he shows her a fire, and tells her a little about the past. As George tries to recover his machine, one of the Morlocks grabs Weena, but George saves her again. The next day, Weena shows George openings in the ground which look like air-shafts. George starts climbing down one of them, but then a siren sounds and he climbs back up. Weena and rest of the Eloi start walking towards the front of the building as if in a trance, seeking refuge from a non-existent attack. Before George can find her, the sirens stop and the doors close, trapping Weena and several others inside.
Finding the metal doors now open, George goes in to get his machine, but the doors close behind him. A Morlock attacks, but George activates his machine and travels into the future, watching the Morlock die and turn to dust. Then George travels back to January 5th, 1900. He tells his story to his friends, but only Filby believes him. After George's friends leave, Filby returns, but by the time he reaches the laboratory, it is too late: George has left again. The housekeeper, Mrs. Watchett (Doris Lloyd) notes that he took three books with him. Filby asks her which three she would take with her to restart a civilization. She asks Filby if they will ever see George again; Filby replies, "One cannot choose but wonder, You see, he has all the time in the world."
[edit] Cast
- Rod Taylor .... H.George Wells (as said on his time machine)
- Alan Young .... David Filby/James Filby
- Yvette Mimieux .... Weena
- Sebastian Cabot .... Dr. Philip Hillyer
- Tom Helmore .... Anthony Bridewell
- Whit Bissell .... Walter Kemp
- Doris Lloyd .... Mrs. Watchett
- Paul Frees* .... Voice of the Rings
[edit] Production
Pál was already famous for his pioneering work with animation. He was nominated for an Oscar almost yearly during the 1940s. Unable to sell Hollywood on the screenplay, he found the British MGM studio (where he had filmed Tom Thumb) much friendlier.MGM art director Bill Ferrari invented the Machine, combining a sled-like design with a big, radarlike wheel. The original Machine prop would later reappear in animator Mike Jittlov's short Time Tripper, and thus in his feature film version of The Wizard of Speed and Time which incorporated it. It is also seen in the film Gremlins along with Robby the Robot at the inventor's convention.
[edit] 1993 sequel/documentary
In 1993, a combination sequel/documentary short, Time Machine: The Journey Back, directed by Clyde Lucas, was produced. In the third part, Michael J. Fox talks about his experience with Time Machines from Back to The Future. In the last part, written by original screenwriter David Duncan, the film's original actors Rod Taylor, Alan Young and Whit Bissell reprised their roles. With Bissell's opening narration, the Time Traveler returns to his laboratory in 1916 and finds David Filby (dressed in a World War I army uniform) there. Knowing that Filby is destined to die during the Great War, George tries to prevent this by encouraging his friend to join him in the far future – but Filby has doubts. Eventually, George departs in the time machine alone – no doubt having learned that he cannot change the course of history... but will give it one more try. Filby dies May 16, 1916, so he'll go back to May 15... (Time Machine: The Journey Back is featured as an extra on the DVD release of the 1960 film.)[edit] Awards and nominations
- Academy Award for Best Effects, Special Effects winner (1961) - Gene Warren and Tim Baar
- Hugo Award nomination (1961)
[edit] External links
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
- The Time Machine at the Internet Movie Database
- The Time Machine at Allmovie
- "Time Machine The Journey Back Official Website"
- Colemanzone.com: A tribute to the classic 1960 MGM movie The Time Machine
- The Time Machine - synopsis of film scenes
- Turner Classic Movies description
- Script (scifimoviepage.com)
- Cinematographic analysis of The Time Machine
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Time_Machine_%281960_film%29"
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- This page was last modified on 25 March 2008, at 05:50.
- All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details.)
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[edit] See also
- Posthuman (human evolution)
- Human extinction
- The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two, an anthology of the greatest science fiction novellas prior to 1965, as judged by the Science Fiction Writers of America
[edit] Footnotes
[edit] External links
H. G. Wells: The Time Machine on Wikisource
- H. G. Wells: The Grey Man on Wikisource
Quotations at The Time Machine on Wikiquote.
- Alan Young reads H.G. Wells "The Time Machine"
- Full text of The Time Machine with annotation by Xah Lee
- Time Machine - Full text with audio.
- audiobook of the Time Machine
- Time Machine The Journey Back Official Site
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Time_Machine"
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