Forbidden Planet: Colonising the ‘Other’ in Deep Space

For better or worse colonisation has formed a large part of the Western World’s historical narrative. We seem to be constantly fascinated by voyage and discovery of new worlds and peoples. And these themes are very much present within the science-fiction/fantasy genre even today; the latest example of this being the current highest grossing movie of all time, Avatar. With its “tendency to (dis)place otherness to a (de)familiarized universe out there”, the sci-fi/fantasy industry “continues to promulgate through its use of the all-too-familiar colonial narrative, a narrative that both sanctions and justifies violence against ‘others’, regardless of their planet of origin”(Gerwell, 2001).

It is evident from the opening lines of 1956 sci-fi masterpiece Forbidden Planet, that colonisation is a major theme within the film.

“In the final decade of the 21st century, men and women in rocket ships landed on the moon. By 2200 A.D., they had reached the other planets of our solar system ... And so at last, mankind began the conquest and colonisation of deep space.”

Forbidden Planet is very much fabricated on the explorative and domesticative colonial narratives; the explorative narrative being simply about discovery and exploration, and the domesticative about making a new world one’s home. Bellerophon, the original starship that Morbius was on, travelled to Planet Altair IV to both discover and domesticate this new planet.

The character of Morbius, who is a philologist - dealing with the study of literary texts and written records in order to determine their meaning - claims that he wishes to remain on Planet Altair IV because he has the opportunity to learn so much from the remains of the ancient native alien race called the Krell. He also has no desire to return to Earth, explaining how he and his wife were “heartbroken” when the original crew wished to return. Yet what he has effectively done is domesticate the foreign terrain to replicate “a Southern California-style high modernist household”(Lerer, 2001), complete with swimming pool. Instead of adapting his lifestyle to respectfully occupy the planet he travelled to, he has adapted the planet to better suit him. This exemplifies the very essence of colonisation; where the colonial leaves their native land to form a new one that is connected to their parent nation.

When the crew of the United Planets Cruiser C-57D lands on planet Altair IV, the first physical contact they have is with Robby the Robot. In many ways Robby is different from his human counterpart, but there is also a lot that is very familiar about him. Robby is a humanoid robot; he has a pair of arms, a pair of legs, a head, a mouth. Furthermore he has human features such as language and humour. All this allows Robby to appear less threatening despite his ‘otherness’. If the C-57D crew were greeted by robots more akin to the Sentinels from The Matrix series, their initial reaction would have probably differed greatly.

On the one hand, Robby is meant to represent a positive side to colonialism, where through voyage and discovery of new worlds and peoples, man is able to learn new information which enables him to create better tools for a better life. But as the film goes on it becomes more and more apparent that all that Robby really is, is a legitimate form of slavery. This is colonial regime in a different reality. Of course there are no moral or ethical issues now because Robby is a robot, mere metal and wire. Morbius is quick to point this out, stating;

“Don’t attribute feeling to him gentlemen. Robby is simply a tool.”

Morbius may describe Robby as a “tool” , but Robby functions just as if he were a slave; he cooks, cleans, tailors Alta’s dresses, and has to do anything else he is told to do. In actual fact he is much better than a human slave because he is more efficient and performs his duties with “absolute selfless obedience”. Robby is even configured in such a way that makes it impossible for him to be harmful to humans. Here a parallel can be drawn to William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, which forms Forbidden Planet’s skeleton narrative: “Where Shakespeare's Caliban verbally and violently counters Prospero's treatment of him, Forbidden Planet ... waters down the enslavement theme, adopts the plot but removes the subjugation of one human by another”(Gerwell, 2001).

Obviously these are not bad things in themselves. Who wouldn’t want a robot to deal with all the mundane chores in such an efficient manner? It is the history of past colonies that reveals darker undertones to an otherwise amusing and very useful machine. Human nature hasn’t changed, man still feels an inclination to govern another being, in this case it is a robot. The fact that this robot is a humanoid one demonstrates how eerily similar this future reality is to its past. The colonised entity is still present here.

Robby the Robot raises another important issue regarding human nature. Robby has the ability to “reproduce identical molecules in any shape or quantity”. Therefore he becomes the ultimate get-out-of-jail-free card. If we are running out of natural resources, this no longer remains a problem. We now have Robby the Robot who can synthesize any material, and reproduce it in infinite quantities. Again this shows mankind's inability to adapt themselves to live in a more resourceful way. Instead we have to find ways to alter the world for us.

Considering Forbidden Planet is a science-fiction movie that foretold the Americans moon landing, and introduces a robot with infinite powers, it seems strange that the whole crew of the C-57D starship is made up of only men, as if a future where women hold equal roles in the work force is just inconceivable.

Being the only female character in the film, Morbius’ daughter Altaira is immediately perceived as an ‘other’. But she is also an ‘other’ because she was born on Planet Altair IV, and can therefore be considered as a naturalised Altarian. Hence she has had a very different upbringing than if she were to have been brought up on earth. Her reality and values are different; she dresses in a way that is deemed provocative by the Earth men, she has no inhibitions about her body feeling perfectly comfortable being naked in front of Commander Adams, and she has a quasi-magical affinity with wild animals. And despite Planet Altair being her world, she is the one who is forced to change now that Earth’s visitors have arrived. After catching Lieutenant Farman and Altaira kissing, Commander Adams’ confronts her;

“Don't you understand, Alta? No? Well, look at yourself. You can't dress like that around men, especially not a space wolf like Farman. So for Pete's sake, go home and put on something that'll ... anything.”

This statement makes it clear that in Adams’ eyes, Farman not being able to control his sexual urges is Altaira’s fault. The fact that Adams takes a moral high ground with Altaira indicates that he feels superior to her. Indeed it becomes evident that Adams hardly sees Altaira as human;

“There’s no feelings, no emotions ... Nothing human would ever enter your mind.”

Placing all the blame on Altaira, and making her feel as if she is inferior to him seems to intimidate her. She decides to conform to his ways, asking Robby to make her an “eye-proof” dress that will not excite Adams and his “super-perfect physical specimens” . But in doing this she automatically gives up her ‘otherness’. This is symbolically demonstrated through the incident where a tiger that was previously affectionate towards Altaira, attempts to attack her. Altaira does not understand, exclaiming; “He didn’t recognise me. He would’ve killed me. Why?” Because of these events Altaira becomes a homogenised 1950’s American housewife calling “darling, darling” after her man. She is the one who has to change to suit the colonials. Her ‘otherness’ is completely colonised.



The ancient race of the Krell could possibly offer two slightly differing critiques on colonisation. The first critique would be to look upon the Krell as a symbolic warning for the human race. Throughout the film Morbius speaks and describes the Krell and their culture as being very similar to ours, i.e. human; the Krell were the governing race of their planet, they had literary texts, music, and technology. Morbius even describes the Krell as being an “all but divine race”. Again there is an evident parallel to man’s status on Earth, being the children of God. Morbius' study explains that by taking their science too far, the Krell ended up destroying themselves by unleashing the “monsters from the id”. Their greatest achievement was what finally ended them. Morbius’ decision to blow up the planet in the film's climax could therefore be seen as an act of saving the human race. A warning that we should stop taking science and progress too far because it will be the end of us, just as it was for the Krell.

The second interpretaion would be to see the Krell and their planet as the ‘other’ that could not be colonised by humans. In this light the Krell are far from being symbolical of man, in fact they become complete seperate entities. Morbius calling them a “race” would emphasise this ‘otherness’. Consequntly, Morbius’ decision to blow up all that remains of the Krell (all their great scientific achievements, their unique history and culture) becomes a very disquieting decision. Again the human race becomes the centre of the universe. Because we are unable to keep away from the powerful discoveries of the Krell (which are destructive to us), the only alternative we can conceive is to destroy them. Therefore a repeated pattern once again emerges. Man refuses to adapt himself to a situation, instead the situation must be adapted for man.

However the implications of this scenario, are extremely concerning as Forbidden Planet gives evidence of other intelligent species within its fantastic narrative. Planet Altair IV being destroyed by a human being insinuates a conceited belief that because humans were unsuccesful in colonising the ‘other’, no other species in the universe can have their chance. As Greg Gerwell excellently puts it in his article Colonising the Universe; “If earthlings cannot colonize the planet, the film's message seems to be, then call it sour grapes - no one will”(Gerwell, 2001).

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