'No beer, no women, no pool parlors . . . ' - Forbidden Planet (1958) Discussion

[–] sonofagun 12 years ago

He's the cook - actually a former special forces commander who got the assignment due to punching out his CO for getting his special ops team killed on a secret mission.

His name escapes me at the moment...something like Zwiback

or something...

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[–] curlew-2 12 years ago

Nice one.

"I'm not reckless . . . I'm skillful!"

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[–] sonofagun 12 years ago

Flyback?

Yeah, on the way back to Earth , the crew decided to throw a surprise birthday party for Adams. They had Altaira hidden inside a big cake (made by what's his name) to jump out and surprise him. Unfortunately some of the crew were actually plotting to take over the ship (and sell some of its blasters to a third world planet). The cook had to use all his special forces training to overcome and stop them.

Really!

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[–] Jfk78 12 years ago

Thats my favourite line in the film actually.

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[–] curlew-2 12 years ago

I always wanted to travel in the little elevator car up the Arch in St. Louis so I could use the line: "Prepare your minds for a new scale of scientific values, gentlemen".

"I'm not reckless . . . I'm skillful!"

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[–] Jfk78 12 years ago

I just love when a character in a completely surreal setting comes out with something completely down to Earth like the tin can lines. Although I do love film quotes like your one used out of context but in an appropriate way in real life too curlew-2. Its good for a laugh.

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[–] graham-167 11 years ago

We don't know a lot about the society, but it's entirely possible that there are developed colonies on inhabited worlds. Maybe he joined up for the same reasons people join the Navy now - hoping to travel to exotic places and visit space ports on the colony worlds. Only instead he found himself stuck going to unexplored planets that were boring to him.

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[–] curlew-2 11 years ago

Now that's a very interesting idea. Puts me in mind of the Star Trek episode "The Corbomite Manuever", which opens with a bridge crewman complaining to Spock about the tedium of surveying an unexplored area of space.

"I'm not reckless . . . I'm skillful!"

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[–] brtndr 11 years ago

So explain to me why you're working on a starship?

The cook naively trusted the Starship Federations military recruiter, who guaranteed him that after basic training he would be the head chef at some base on Planet "Daddy Feel Good". Hey, someone has to prepare the Buffalo Wings and Nachos at the Starship Federations "Shore Leave" Planets.

Unfortunately, after basic training, he was immediately assigned to a space ship that was saucer-jacked months earlier - from a small band of alien greys I presume - by an elite commando squad of Federation Soldiers, lead by Leslie Nielsen.

Sadly, I feel, that the ships cook spent his entire Federation military career peeling onions and potato's (when he wasn't making onion potato soup) aboard a stolen space ship filled with guys that hadn't seen a beer, a woman or a pool hall for millions of light years.

And, if by some miracle, the crew happened to come across a baron lifeless planet that has only one beautiful Starlet living with her father? Well, you can be certain that Leslie Nelson got first dibs on that. So the cookS sorry, "Hey, you put too many onions in the soup again!! self is S%*T out of luck for sure.

It's really a sad and tragic story for the ships cook when I think about it.

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[–] arbilab 11 years ago

Not only do we never see him cook, but other than Morbius' lunch we never see anyone eat.

"I thought it would brighten the boys' mess if I could find some wild radishes. Or something."

_______________________
Guacamole in my choos

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[–] curlew-2 11 years ago

Needed that. Thanks.

"I'm not reckless . . . I'm skillful!"

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[–] Askur 11 years ago

Especially the lack of pool parlors would be very hard. Besides, there is no point in women unless they are interested in you.

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[–] curlew-2 11 years ago

For some reason I'm reminded of that line from "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" where the crew comments on how "unnatural" it is that the Galapagos Islands have no women.

"I'm not reckless . . . I'm skillful!"

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[–] proword 11 years ago

Even if there WERE pool parlours on the planet it wouldn't be any good because the planet only has (from memory) about .87 Earth gravity, so all the fancy shots they boys in grey had learned wouldn't work on Altair IV. And they were given orders to adjust equipment accordingly before disembarking. I didn't see any of them adjusting their balls or pool cues.

I think the invisible monster may have been a planetary pool shark who wanted to con the boys out of their pensions so they had to stay on the planet and build a pool parlour to seduce more passing passing space ships to "come on down and stay awhile, shoot some pool. Yeah. Cool." The Id monster was probably going to contract running the pool parlour to Jabba the Hutt, until JTH got it wrong and starting ejecting people because they couldn't show him their Id, instead of their ID. "No Id, no entry". In some ways the Id monster even LOOKS like Jabba. Two arms, no legs, big mouth. Yeah.

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[–] porfle 11 years ago

"Not only do we never see him cook, but other than Morbius' lunch we never see anyone eat."

That was one of my major disappointments as well. Thank goodness Ridley Scott would correct this oversight years later in ALIEN and BLADE RUNNER.

"And they were given orders to adjust equipment accordingly before disembarking. I didn't see any of them adjusting their balls or pool cues."

I don't know--I'm pretty sure I saw James Best adjusting his balls right after the deceleration scene.

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[–] magolding 10 years ago

Possibly the cook was on a starship and didn't like it because he was - Drafted!

The movie was made during the period when the USA had a peacetime draft and most American men had some chance of being drafted when at draft age..

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[–] hankpac 10 years ago

There are apparently other space ports, however when on a long cruise: 50 men enter hyperspace, 25 couples emerge...

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