Forbidden Planet, THX 1138 and Lost in Space released on blu-ray
- 19 September 2010
- John Howell
One of the best reasons to revisit classic science fiction films is a blu-ray release. Typically studios provide the ultimate film edit and a truck load of extra features. Aside from a theatrical re-release there's no better way to watch your favourites one more time. Gerard just covered Warner Home Video's release of Matrix Reloaded (2003), A Scanner Darkly (2006) and Mars Attacks! (1996) and I was given the opportunity to check out the new improved versions of George Lucas' THX1138 (1971), Forbidden Planet (1954) - featuring the iconic Robby the Robot - and Lost In Space (1998) starring Gary Oldman and William Hurt.
Of the three, I was looking forward to Forbidden Planet the most. Starring Leslie Nielsen as a starship Commander (well before his comic days in the Naked Gun film and TV series) it's a great mix of space opera, Freudian psychoanalytic theory and William Shakespeare's The Tempest. An Earth ship visits Altair IV after an expedition went missing there years earlier. All they find is a doctor (Dr. Morbius played by Walter Pidgeon), his daughter Altaira, and their loyal mechanical servant, the classic sci-fi icon, Robby the Robot. 
Morbius has doubled his intellect using a device left by the Krell, a civilisation far in advance of Earth's, which died off 200,000 years ago in a night of inexplicable destruction.
Forbidden Planet was the Avatar of its day, with Oscar nominated special effects and groundbreaking use of an all-electronic music score and was the first film in which humans are depicted travelling in flying saucers of their own construction. A 50th anniversary version of the film was restored by the Warner Bros./ MGM reconstruction crew before its HD DVD release in 2006. Intriguingly, inside the case I found a flyer to buy a life sized replica of Robby the Robot from a company in the US (a fully animatronic remote-controlled version standing seven feet tall!). I think my wife would have something to say if I decided to order one online. While the special effects are dated and the acting at times average, the story still resonates and it's great to see Robbie the Robot in action once more.
George Lucas' directorial debut, THX 1138, is a completely different type of film, a futuristic sci-fi thriller about a dystopian, computerised subterranean world where sex is forbidden and emotions have been eradicated - more an independant film than an attempt at a fully fledged studio blockbuster. When one computer-matched couple discovers love, this perfectly controlled world is turned upside down. George Lucas is of course most famous for the Star Wars and Indiana Jones films, and while THX 1138 does not have anything like the special effects excess of his later work, there's a great story to enjoy and a stand out performance from the lead Robert Duvall as THX. The THX 1138 screenplay is by Lucas and Walter Murch. Extras include a commentary with George Lucas and Walter Murch, the documentaries A Legacy of Filmmakers: The Early Years of American Zoetrope, Artifact from the Future: The Making of THX 1138, trailers and sound effects. This was a film I watched on fuzzy rented VHS video many moons ago. In contrast, as you would expect from a man who created his own special effects studio, the blu-ray conversion is excellent.
The third blu-ray release is Lost in Space, the film remake of the science fiction TV series of the same name that was broadcast from 1965 to 1968. The film tells the story of the Robinson family helping to construct a hypergate on a planet in a new star system. The Earth is becoming slowly uninhabitable and this is where the human race must move to survive. A terrorist attack causes their ship to go off course, and the family becomes lost in space.
Lost in Space stars William Hurt as Professor John Robinson and Gary Oldman as Dr. Smith, along with numerous cameos by actors from the original TV series. The plot is pretty silly (I won't go into it in too much detail, but let's just say it involves Doctor Smith sabotaging the ship, time travel, and an alien spider bite causing mutations). The film was directed by Stephen Hopkins. Lost in Space may not have the best plot, but it's a slick and entertaining production with some great actors in the lead roles.
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