I like a good sci-fi movie as much as the next person, and Forbidden Planet is more than good sci-fi movie. It is one of the best of that genre, and perhaps one of the most influential and unique too. I still think it has held up very well, the effects are wonderful and the production values are imaginative and one of the things that makes Forbidden Planet stand out among the rest of the film in the genre. The music just enhances the atmosphere, the story is still fresh and the telling of it superb, the suspense that is in the movie is quite nail-biting and the dialogue and direction are on the money too. The acting is very good, one or two of the support stars are a little stiff at first, but Anne Francis, Leslie Nielson and especially Walter Pidgeon are excellent. In conclusion, a great film and one of the best of the genre. 9.5/10 Bethany Cox

There's a good reason that Walter Pidgeon is warning off Leslie Nielson and his crew from the relief ship, stuff he dare not dream about.

As Doctor Edward Morbius, Pidgeon is the last survivor of an expedition that came to this planet 20 years earlier. Since that time he married another member of the expedition and had a daughter, Anne Francis. They are the only humans left on this planet which was once the home world of an ancient civilization known as the Krell.

The records as deciphered by Pidgeon indicate the Krell came to a cataclysmic ending of unknown origin. The machinery they left behind is still functioning.

Maybe functioning too well as members of the relief party start dying and in a particular gruesome fashion.

I see all kinds of speculation about a remake and this is one film not to remake because it's as fresh as it was in 1956. The terms would change, we would now say warp speed instead of hyper drive, courtesy of the enduring popularity of Star Trek.

We might not see the men in the relief expedition in a flying saucer like space ship. It might look a lot more like the Starship Enterprise or the Ship from 2001 A Space Odyssey. It's interesting to look at science fiction films from different generations and see how are conceptions of the future do change.

The story behind Forbidden Planet is a timeless one, about mortal beings trying to play God.

You can't write about Forbidden Planet without commenting on Robby the Robot. This mechanical marvel, put together by Pidgeon with the knowledge he gained from studying the Krell was quite the hit back in the day. He got a new lease on life in the sixties with the character of the Robot from Lost In Space. His scenes with Earl Holliman who plays the cook on the space ship and his complying with Earl's request for some home spirits are very funny.

Robby and the other special effects were nominated for an Oscar, but lost to The Ten Commandments and the parting of the Red Sea. Forbidden Planet's bad luck to run up against a Hollywood founder like Cecil B. DeMille.

Classicists among you will recognize Forbidden Planet as a futuristic reworking of The Tempest which when you think about it could have been Shakespeare's one venture into science fiction.

My favorite among the cast is Warren Stevens who's sacrifice enables Leslie Nielsen to learn exactly what he's dealing with.

Never miss this one whenever it's broadcast.

FORBIDDEN PLANET is certainly a dated film today, with its plaintive romantic sub-plot complete with a meek, submissive woman (straight out of the 1950s, that one),spectacular-but-unrealistic special effects and macho plotting. The pacing is fairly off, especially by modern standards, and it seems to take an awfully long time for something to actually happen.

And yet, and yet, something about this movie charms. It has a real dated appeal to it, and it appears to me to be something of a trendsetter, helping to inspire plenty more visit-an-alien-planet plot lines even to this day. The idea behind the creation of the monster is a brilliant one, and it's brought to life via some innovative special effects that really work. There's much fun to be had along the way from seeing an uncannily straight-laced Leslie Nielsen and of course Robbie the Robot in his first screen appearance.

But really, I keep coming back to that screen monster, which is so much more than the typical monster-of-the-week type thing that most sci-fi movies are keen to trot out. The idea behind it is just astounding, one of the best back stories I can think of. The scenes of the astronauts exploring millennia-old construction works beneath the planet's surface is also awe-inspiring in its own way. Even if half of so of this film is padding, the other half makes it well worth checking out.