What makes this movie so good it is borrowing the theme of "The Tempest".
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It's only loosely based. Prospero can conjure up illusions and manipulates nature to his own ends. Morbius does the same thing using the Krell device.
KS
For 25 or 30 years after this movie released, no mention was ever made comparing it to Shakespeare.
Then, one episode of "Cheers", the guys had rented a VHS copy of the movie, Frasier Crane makes his I'm-oh-so-very-cultured remark comparing it to The Tempest "with the robot substituting for the sprite Ariel", and that's all everyone has heard since.
"That can only mean one thing ... and I don't know what it is!"
— Sam Diamond — "Murder by Death"
I guess that's something only the movie's writers know for sure. This theory was brought up in the 2000 book "Shakespeare in Hollywood 1929 - 1956." Perhaps Frasier read this book.
KS
Very possible.
For a psychiatrist, Dr. Frasier Crane was a great one for clubbing people over the head with his education, his erudition, his ego, ....
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Have you noticed that in Shakespeare's plays soothsayers said the sooth, the whole sooth, and nothing but the sooth?
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That isn't true that no one mentioned "The Tempest" in all that time. I grew up with the movie. My family saw it in the theater, and it made such an impression on my film buff father and I, who love(d) science fiction.
I can recall mentions of the Shakespeare connection very early in my studies of movies, including a number of film reviews. By my mid-teens, I was buying as many film books as I could afford and checked out library books pertaining to that subject. Even Forrest J. Ackerman mentioned "Forbidden Planet"/"The Tempest" several times in "Famous Monsters of Filmland" aka "Famous Mosters".
It's always been very clear to me once I had access to Shakespeare's works and read that play for the first time. If "Tempest" (1982) could be claimed to resemble the play, "Forbidden Planet" certainly does!
*** The trouble with reality is there is no background music. ***
Thank you for a thoughtful response, MystMoonstruck.
Never having read (nor seen) "The Tempest", I'd thought all these years that it was merely an invention of the writers; something for the pompous Dr. Crane to say.
I remember when Cleopatra went to the Temple of Ra to lead a few cheers.
I think the matchup is quite good:
Morbius = Prospero
Altaira = Miranda
Robby = Ariel (I suppose the Monster from the Id might be an aspect of Ariel.)
the space travlers = the sailors (They're there by design, not accident, but it still is a good connection.)
I have watched this movie far more than 100 times by now, about as many times as I've read the play. That's what happens when one is a sci fi fanatic mixed with an English major. *giggle*
*** The trouble with reality is there is no background music. ***
Sounds interesting. Thanks again. I'll look for a copy -- but, from your earlier comment, not the 1982 production. (I discovered many years ago that if I wish to enjoy both the film and the source novel or play that I need to watch it before I read it. -- Exceptions are very few but notable.)
Sounds a bit like me: science fiction fan mixed with computer expert. I was a computer programmer for 30 years, on several different platforms great and small. When "Independence Day" first came out I'm the one who was railing about a computer virus written on an Apple laptop having any effect on a completely alien computer system with an alien processor and an alien operating system. Even on Earth each computing platform has its own processor with its own machine code and .... [Get off the soapbox, Frumious] [But it's as if the writer thought there is only one possible computer language just as there is only one possible spoken language and one written language...] [Soapbox, Frum, soapbox.] [Oh, all right.]
And, as an Asimov fan, I was the one taking issue with "I, Robot" as a passable Will Smith movie, but a horrible translation of Asimov's anthology to the big screen.
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"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things,"
Of atoms, stars and nebulæ,
Of entropy and genes;
And whether one can bend space;
And why the spaceship shrinks.
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*giggle* That sounds like some of the soap boxes I've climbed on occasionally. I especially get irate when people throw out the old ADHDers love crazy mayhem films and can't focus on anything else! ARRRRRGH! The opposite is nearer the truth. As someone not diagnosed till relatively late in life, I am fully aware of what appeals to me moviewise. So, I rant and rave on behalf of other ADHDers.
I won't even say what I think of "I, Robot"~the movie, that is. I've idolized Asimov since my father introduced me to his works when I was about 6 years old, along with Robert Heinlein, Edgar Rice Burroughs, E.E. "Doc" Smith and others. (They taught me to read when I was 4 years old, and most of the books I could get my hands on were checked out by my cousin from the third-grade library.) (We had to drive about 25 miles to the nearest library, one of the woes of growing up in a teensy town.)
I'm not knowledgeable about computers, but even *I* thought "ID" was dumb! Besides, it ripped off chunks of not only "Earth vs. the Flying Saucers" but also the original "V"! Add to that its brilliant computer science, rivaled only by such movies as "Terminal Error" (2002) and "Fatal Error" (1992). Baaaaad...
As for "The Tempest" (1982), it has a rather sketchy connection to Shakespeare's play. IMDb synopsis: A sobering mid-life crisis fuels dissatisfaction in Philip Dimitrius, to the extent where the successful architect trades his marriage and career in for a spiritual exile on a remote Greek island where he hopes to conjure meaning into his life - trying the patience of his new girlfriend and angst-ridden teenage daughter.
To me, the only reason to watch it is Raul Julia playing music to and dancing with goats to Liza Minnelli's "New York New York". Tadaaaaaa!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlJMnp0gxA4
BTW: I oopsed! I would say that The Monster of the Id might be closer to Caliban. How could I have left that character out?! I AM getting old and muddle-minded.
*** The trouble with reality is there is no background music. ***
A science fiction reader!
Deo gratias! I was beginning to think we were a dying breed.
I agree: Trying to be polite company keeps me from fully expressing my opinion of "I, Robot".
"Inspired by Isaac Asimov."Some time later I read an interview with the screenwriter. The studio bought his story, and then hired someone else to edit in character names and incidents from Asimov's stories -- not necessarily limited to "I, Robot".
Right -- and "Wolf Lake" was "inspired" by "Swan Lake".
For some reason, filmmakers don't usually translate classic sci fi to the screen, and there isn't much representation on TV. They can't take even the simplest story and bring it to life. However, the miniseries of "The Martian Chronicles" does have its moments. I recall not feeling as cheated, especially because they had to try to match not only Ray Bradbury's storytelling but also the poetry of his works. I wouldn't mind having a copy of that miniseries. Most "translations" have to be treated by not expecting to see the original story.
I DO like "John Carter (of Mars)"! Their hearts were in the right place even though they toyed with the story somewhat. They should have titled it "Barsoom!", which might have intrigued the ERB-ignorant public and signalled those of us who love Burrough's works.
But, Asimov and Clarke haven't fared too well on average, let alone Heinlein. When I think of the wealth of sci fi/fantasy material out there, I wonder WHY filmmakers have so much trouble with subject matter! There's a wealth of it out there. Imagine if someone would do C.L. Smith's Northwest Smith stories! I imagine that "Foundation and Empire" would be too much to undertake, even as a miniseries, perhaps even as a TV series. Doc Smith's Lensman series has been touched on though one anime made it more like "Green Lantern". Concepts from Andrew North/Andre Norton's "Beastmaster" novels have been borrowed. What about the Pern series? Oh no! Let's film ripoff "Eragon" instead! ARRRRGH! Personally, I'd be blissful to see The Journeys of McGill Feighan by Kevin O'Donnell, Jr., come to life! CGI could be put to good use there.
As for Branagh... I'm definitely not a fan. I've seen nearly everything he's done, but, most of the time, it's one time only for a project. I get what he's after, but I have yet to want to revisit it. Maybe I'll give them another chance someday. The production values are great, and I can't fault the casts. He feels rather heavy-handed. His worst culprit isn't Shakespearean; it's "Dead Again", which is film noirish but makes me giggle and groan as much as (I know I'll catch flack for this) "Double Indemnity". His work definitely is far beyond Baz Luhrmann's 1996 travesty! Uck! Ack! Blech!
BTW: "Bicentennial Man" would have fared better with a far lesser-known actor. I do like Robin Williams, but sometimes celebrity works against an actor's portrayal. One example would be Michael Rennie and Keanu Reeves as Klaatu; of course, you'd have to throw more into that mix, but just the casting was a good/bad start. Can you imagine if they had gone with Spencer Tracy?! Of course, it doesn't always help to go with a relative unknown (Christopher Reeve/Brandon Routh).
I chatter too much={
*** The trouble with reality is there is no background music. ***
As we get farther and farther afield -- or off the track of "Forbidden Planet", anyway -- I've decided to copy your last remarks into a PM and answer them there.
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The past, the present, and the future walked into a bar.
It was tense.
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There are probably a few more similarities and parallels:
Space = Ocean
Spaceship = Ship
Altair IV = The island
Technology = Magic
Krell = Sycorax
Monster from the ID = Caliban
Morbius = Prospero
Altaira = Miranda
Robby = Ariel
Adams = Ferdinand
Yep! That's how it shapes up=}
*** The trouble with reality is there is no background music. ***
I have also heard for years the reference to The Tempest. You would have thought none of the film critics of the time had ever seen a Shakespeare Play!
Its that man again!!