Nostalgia and wonderment: revisiting “forbidden planet”

Science fiction has always appealed to my imagination, for as far back as I can remember, and my favorite sub-genre remains the space opera.

Both in film and book forms, it allowed me to escape and hope the future would be better and more exciting than the present.

“Forbidden planet” is still the single most vibrant example of pure sci-fi for me, as Leslie Nielsen’s passing reminded me this week. This post isn’t intended as a review of the movie, rather it’s a look back on how it influenced me personally.

When someone like Leslie Nielsen passes on, it is difficult not to feel a pang of loss, so familiar was he to so many of us. Not just from films but from countless TV appearances over the years. It wasn’t uncommon to see him in an episode of some show before he’d appear again later the same evening on another.

He was one of those faces we grew up with, and he was never tabloid material. As young as I was when I first saw “forbidden planet” I knew Walter Pidgeon (another Canadian, like Nielsen) from various films and Earl Holliman from TV appearances, but I didn’t recognize Nielsen until years later, when I had an “aha!” moment.

I also believe my taste for electronic music (Orbital and such) stems from the fascinating soundtrack of the film, as does my love of open spaces which ultimately drove me westward.

Everything about the film, from the foreboding skies, ambient sounds and design of the underground city raised the bar for future movies, and for me there aren’t many space operas worth the time. I’ve never been a fan of the “Star Wars” series, so it’s slim pickings out there. I imagine younger viewers might find it hokey by now, but on the other hand, there are some undeniable qualities to this old pre-CGI favorite, after all theater also remains a popular art form. It still takes me back.