Real World Origin:
Film, Forbidden Planet (1956)
In-Universe Description:
Warning! The origin of the Id Monster is kept a secret until the end of the movie. This entry contains spoilers.
When the United Planets Cruiser C-57D investigates the planet Altair IV where a group of colonists disappeared 20 years before, the crew finds only two survivors. One of the survivors, Dr. Morbius, claims that an unknown creature killed all the colonists except for Morbius, his wife, and his daughter. His wife having since died of natural causes, Morbius and his daughter, Altaira, are the lone inhabitants of the planet. Morbius has since been studying the ruins of the highly advanced Krell civilization, which died in a single night 200,000 years before.
Ignoring Morbius' warnings, the crew of the C-57D refuse to leave the planet and attempt to convince Morbius and Altaira to leave their home. Altaira, who has never known anyone but her own parents, is tempted to accompany the starship back to earth. However, the C-57D is soon attacked by an invisible monster that destroys equipment and kills several crewmembers. The creature continues its attacks despite forcefields and weapons fire, which reveal the outline of the creature.
Spoilers!
The monster is revealed to be linked to Dr. Morbius himself when the creature's attack on the forcefield stops the instant the sleeping Morbius is wakened. It's eventually discovered that the doctor had long been experimenting with the Krell's final invention; a device which could materialize any object the user could imagine. It turned out that the device would also materialize things that the subconscious mind or "id" conceived. Twenty years before, Morbius was angered that the other colonists had wanted to return to Earth. His subconscious was given an invisible but physical form by the Krell technology and had killed Morbius' fellow colonists. The creature rematerialized when the doctor found his lifestyle threatened by the crew of the C-57D. In a similar manner, the night that saw the extinction of the Krell 200,000 years ago had also been caused by technologically-spawned "Monsters from the id".
I've been enjoying your 31 Monsters list. Desi teases me that I too often revel in my enjoyment, without sharing a quick comment to let the authors know that I appreciate their efforts. So ...
ReplyDeleteThis monster was one of the older ones I was surprised to remember seeing! Though I wouldn't have been able to recall the name of it ... great one to include on your list!
I decided to include it since it's definitely one of the more unique monsters. Plus, it's one of my favorite '50s movies.
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to get a comment every once it a while. Otherwise I only know that people bother to read the blog from the Live Traffic Feed or the Blogger Stats feature.