Forbidden Planet (1956)

Forbidden Planet is a 1956 science fiction film directed by Fred M. Wilcox, with a screenplay by Cyril Hume. It stars Leslie Nielsen, Walter Pidgeon, and Anne Francis. The characters and its setting have been compared to those in William Shakespeare's The Tempest, and its plot contains certain story analogs. Forbidden Planet was the first science fiction film that was set entirely on another planet in deep space, away from the planet Earth. It is considered one of the great science fiction films of the 1950s, a precursor of what was to come for the science fiction film genre in the decades that followed.

Plot: Early in the 23rd century, the United Planets Cruiser C57-D has been sent to the planet Altair IV, 16 light-years from the Earth. Its mission is to discover the fate of an expedition sent 20 years earlier to establish a colony on the planet. Soon after achieving orbit, the cruiser receives a radio transmission from the surface: Dr. Edward Morbius of the Earth expedition says he needs no assistance and warns them not to land. The starship's captain, Commander John J. Adams, dismisses the warning, following his specific orders, and insists Morbius provide landing coordinates; Morbius reluctantly complies. The C57-D is met by Robby the Robot, who takes Adams, Lieutenant Jerry Farman, and Lieutenant "Doc" Ostrow to meet Dr. Morbius. At his elegant home, Morbius explains that an unknown planetary force killed nearly all of the other members of his expedition and vaporized their starship, the Bellerophon, as it tried to leave the planet. Only Morbius, his wife (who later died of natural causes), and their daughter Altaira survived, having chosen to stay behind on this new world they loved and adopted. Morbius fears the crew of the C57-D will also meet the same fate. Teenaged Altaira cannot recall any man but her father; after meeting the attractive officers of the Earth ship, she becomes interested in learning about personal human relationships.

In a subsequent visit to the residence, Adams and Ostrow learn from Morbius that he has been studying the "Krell," the ancient civilization of Altair IV who, despite being far more advanced than humanity, had all died mysteriously during a single night, some 200,000 years before – just as they had achieved their greatest triumph. Inside a still functioning Krell laboratory, Morbius shows Adams and Ostrow a device he calls a "plastic educator," capable of measuring and enhancing intellectual capacity, although its main purpose is to enable three-dimensional projection of any thought in the user's mind. Morbius explains that the captain of the Bellerophon had tried using it and had been killed instantly. When Morbius used the machine the first time he barely survived; as a result, he found his intellectual capacity had been permanently doubled. This along with information he obtained from a Krell "library" enabled him to build Robby and other technological marvels in his house. "Childsplay," he observes. Morbius then takes them on a tour of a vast cube-shaped underground Krell machine, 20 miles [30 km] on a side and powered by 9,200 thermonuclear reactors in tandem. This amazing complex had been operating and maintaining itself since the extinction of the Krell, some 2000 centuries before. When asked about its purpose, Morbius only hints at some minor functions, but says it is capable of generating and functioning at practically limitless power: "the number 10 raised almost literally to the power of infinity." Later the next night, a valuable piece of equipment in Adams's starship is sabotaged, though the posted sentries never detect any intruder.

–from wikipedia