Movie | Forbidden Planet | Pass

A couple of months ago, someone asked me if there were any scifi movies before Star Wars, as if there weren't any. And this person was a full grown adult in his 40s.

Uhh.... somebody needs to rent an old movie once in a while. That statement/mock question so flabbergasted me that my mind went utterly blank, like an empty lead balloon.

While there are plenty of genre films that predate it (Metropolis being a prime example), Forbidden Planet is arguably the first big-budget, recognizably named cast scifi movie and a shining example of what this person has completely missed (sarcastically).

Sure, it's dated. That's because it was made in 1956, not 2010. And, it's rather slow. What?!? A movie can survive if it's not all guts, explosions and actors phoning it in?!? Despite all of that, it's just as cutting edge as Star Wars. How about the first movie to have an entirely electronic soundtrack? It's also loosely based on Shakespeare and Gene Roddenberry was inspired by it to create a little show called Star Trek.

Yes, Bucky, there were scifi movies before that Vader-fest. Lots of them. Lots of them were actually really good, too.

I know...shocking.