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I almost hesitate to announce this movie recommendation, because I am embarrassed I didn't already know about it. But Friday night an astronomy club friend practically begged me, for the second time, to watch an old movie from 1956 called "Forbidden Planet." OMG!!! Who knew such high quality sci fi special effects were possible in 1956? It is a beautiful movie and looks to be setting all kinds of precedents for both Star Trek and Star Wars. It is like a lost episode of the the Original Series, but prettier. After watching the movie for $2.99 on Amazon.com, I looked at the Wikipedia entry (please don't spoil the surprises by doing this in reverse), and learned that yes, indeed, as is completely obvious, Gene Roddenberry said this movie was a major inspiration for Star Trek. Another friend told me "Forbidden Planet" was his favorite movie of all time. I wouldn't go quite that far, but this is a must see for any Star Trek fan--for historical and pure entertainment purposes.

This movie is supposedly the first with a setting entirely out in space. It features Robbie the Robot (which heats up and will stall out if it faces a contradiction in its programming, lol . . . ) and stars a young Leslie Neilson in a serious dramatic role (the captain of the flying saucer). (You will remember Leslie Neilson from "Airplane!" and the "Naked Gun" movies).

I can't remember if I reviewed this one or not. Probably not, though, because it's fairly well known. It is a fairly good movie for the time, though it wasn't all that hard to figure out the plot twist. It's also pretty easy to see where various later shows have borrowed from it.

I saw that movie with my dad, long time ago. He, with that film, introduced me to science fiction films, of which he was passionate, and that in those days were regarded as stupid entertainments for stupid kids (even that is a sign of the times of which I speak). Fortunately things have changed a little, both for the films of science fiction and for the second part., Although, I must say, lately I am slightly disappointed by science fiction movies: special effects galore and very little content.
Anyway that movie rocked my childhood and my adolescence.
Thanks Dad.

Ah, Forbidden Planet, Shakespeare's The Tempest in space. I saw it many years ago and liked it. I knew it was one of Roddenberry's inspirations. I think some fans even have tried to set it in the same universe, some time before TOS (before ENT was made).

My adult, Trekkie son just asked me "Who is Gene Roddenberry?" ARRGGHHHH!!!!! I have failed as a parent!

Please tell us he doesn't know who Berman and Braga are...!

LOL! Now he's gone. I can't check. He was a big Voyager fan.

At least someone besides me and the Boss are.

justTripn wrote:My adult, Trekkie son just asked me "Who is Gene Roddenberry?" ARRGGHHHH!!!!! I have failed as a parent!

Yes, yes you have.

WarpGirl wrote:At least someone besides me and the Boss are.

I rather liked that show myself.

Really!!!! Just about everyone that I've met here hates it except and marchale. There were one or two others, but they haven't been around.

I liked Voyager. The special effects and general production values were high in Voyager relative to the Next Generation. I find the stories compelling.

I liked the concept of Voyager, much more in the exploration vein than some of the other shows. And they had one big goal for the whole show. And having a Borg on board for the outside viewpoint was a great idea, I thought.

Voyager wasn't my cup of tea. Janeway IMHO was stark raving mad, every other week they got the arse shot off their ship and just repaired it automagically by holographically projecting a new one on it and 7'o9 was just the desginated set of ...erm... arguments, even more blantantly than T'Pol in ENT.

I don't think Voyager was worse than any other Trek series, but by the time it came along I was pretty burnt out on Trek, had a young family to raise, and was really getting tired of the formula the scripts followed, which was very much like TNG's. So despite pretty good professional reasons not to, I transferred my mania to X-Files, which to me had a much more compelling relationship and more style (though it soon fell into its own formula).

Also, although I have no issues with Janeway as a character, I simply can't make myself warm to Kate Mulgrew as an actress. Even in person at the last con I went to (with jT!), I just found her manner really irritating. I couldn't bear to sit through her whole session. It's completely unfair, but so it is.

I watched Voyager in my "newly weds without kids" time. Such sweet memories! We even thought of naming our future child B'Lanna!
I think the doctor was my favorite. There is also one episode with an aged ensign Kim. (where did that drooling emicom go?)