J Michael Straczynski, To Write Forbidden Planet Remake
Robby the Robot Gets the Girl
J MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI, creator of Babylon 5, and writer of the Clint Eastwood directed Changeling, has been tapped to write the new Forbidden Planet film. Joel Silver (Warner Bros), will produce the long awaited remake of the classic 1956 science fiction film. So far there are no cast details.
The original Forbidden planet told the story of an Earth space expedition sent to check a colony of scientists on a far off planet. When they arrive they find two survivors Dr Morbius, and his daughter. Morbius has found alien technology that he uses to expand his mental powers. As the crew settles in they detect an invisible monster that wants to destroy them.
The original film was directed by Fred Wilcox. Starred: Walter Pidgeon, Anne Frances, Leslie Nelson, and Robbie the Robot.
This is the best news I’ve read in a long time concerning remakes. JMS is a great Sci-Fi writer and I’m really looking forward to his take on the classic film.
I cant wait to see Robby back on the big screen! He is quite possibly one of the most well known robots.
Yeah I have no probs with Hollywood remaking this film.
I hope they stick to the classic Robbie design,,,
Just think how cool the Id.Monster will look…
I’m not going to lie, I don’t know much about Straczynski, but I did see this film several times as a kid. It was my dad’s favorite movie, and we enjoyed it together more times than I can remember. I have had mixed feelings about all the Hollywood remakes lately. There are some that I am excited about, but there are so many that have just been total garbage. However I feel like this film is old enough to deserve a fresh take. Just think what they can do with effects nowadays! I just hope they really take their time with this one. If they rush it, they could screw it up pretty bad. This film is so near to my heart that I would be extremely disappointed if this remake turned out to be bad.
Everytime I think about Robby the robot and how cool he could look on screen, I remember Lost in Space. A classic show with a great robot. Then I remember how terrible that movie was (Damn you Matt LeBlanc!) I really hope this doesn’t happen to Forbidden Planet.
Oh getting JMS to write this is pretty lucky for WB.
Straczynski, was the creator of “Babylon 5″, one of the best Sci-fi shows ever.
He wrote 59 episodes in a row during season three and four… He’s also a big admirer of Rod Serling, and wrote for the New Twilight Zone tv show.
He even wrote some of the Amazing Spider-Man comics,,,
If anyone can capture the essence of Forbidden planet, I’d put my money on JMS… He gets it, and would bet he dosnt augment Robbie like they did in “Lost In Space”. (A horrible remake).
@790, The New Twighlight Zone???? I didnt know there was such a thing! I love the Twighlight zone!
Lol,,, yeah they came out with a new Twilight Zone a few years back.
It wasn’t as iconic as the original, but it had some great acting cameos, and some decent stories.
They also created a new Outer Limits show. They both ran for a couple of years…
Both series are on dvd…
I have the DVD of both series. And every year, I watch the Sci-fi channel twilight zone marathon. The original series had such great twists. Guess thats why I like Twilight Zone so much more than outer limits. I can vividly remember almost every episode of the original Twilight Zone. My personal favorite was the one with the man who loved reading, and survived the apocalypse. All the time in the world to read as many books as he pleased, and then his glasses broke. That is classic.
I love me a good sci-fi story. Aliens, monsters, robots, I love it all.
Yeah I remember that one,,, ironically he would have died within a month from starvation, and fallout. Lol.
^
Hey Deadpool have you ever seen the British sci-fi show “Red Dwarf”,,, I bet you would like that one.
Nope, Never seen it. I’m just now discovering the greatness that is British television (I just got a bunch of new channels) Would you happen to know if they run the show on BBC:America? One sci-fi show on that channel that I’m really digging is Primeval. It’s about these rips in the fabric of time that open up portals to places in Earths distant past or far into the future. And of course creatures wander into these portals and terrorize our present. It’s awesome!
Yeah I think so… Prob in reruns.
You would really like Red Dwarf, Deadpool,,, Its the best sci-fi comedy ever made…
(Brief rundown)
The main character “Dave Lister”, is placed into a suspended animation chamber as punishment for bringing a cat on board Red Dwarf,,, during his time in the chamber the ship has a radiation leak, and everyones killed.
The ships on board computer waits till its safe to wake Dave. When Dave awakes he finds that everyones dead, his cat has evolved into a human, and its 2.650.000 million years in the future… (Radiation takes along time to return to safe levels). Lol
He’s not alone as the ship provides him with a Holographic version of his dead bunk mate “Arnold Rimmer”… (He’s the funniest btw)
Lister is the last human alive as we begin our journey. The show is very well written,,,
Try to watch all if the episodes in order, or at least the first one, first…
Its also available on dvd, the sets are awesome with crap loads of bonus features and extended episodes…
@790, Ah, Red Dwarf….I have many fond memories of that show…and don’t forget that Rimmer and Lister don’t even like each other…which makes the fact that they are stuck together even funnier.
Could JMS’s “Forbidden Planet” be scarier than “Alien” was back in 1979? What if the story he’s going to tell is the HMS Bellerophon story. Wouldn’t that be a kick? This idea, I like!
Actually, some pretty cool news has come out since 790 filed this report. Here is a quote from JMS himself, in response to a report that his movie wouldn’t be so much a remake as it is a complimentary piece.
“That report is totally incorrect. It’s not going to be retro, and it’s not going to be a continuation. When Altair 4 blows up, it blows up. I have, however, found a way to honor the original movie without in any way besmirching it in order to do this iteration. Once folks find out what we’re actually going to do, I think they’ll be most pleased. ‘Forbidden Planet’ remains one of my favorite films of all time, and I wouldn’t even think about doing this project if I didn’t think there was a way to do it that would not in any way diminish the original…which is why this is the the first development in years to actually get to the script stage. Everybody involved is very excited by the approach.”
I know I’m psyched!
Yeah Jon, I’m very confident that JMS is going to blow people away with this one!!!