Futuristic/Alien Hardware Using Old Weapon Technology - Why?

kyoto kid

...the original 1951 version is definitely superior. Directed by Robert Wise, great soundtrack and excellent effects for the day (always liked the composite of the landing with the postworked shadow). Dislike remakes of such classics sucj as the remake of War of the Worlds (and if they ever redo Forbidden Planet ...). 

Seeing it on the big screen again at a rep cinema a number of years ago really took me back.

When I first saw it at 8 years old during a Saturday matinee, that scene of Gort melting the block of super polymer was particularly scary. Even had a nightmare about it. 

Somewhere on backup media I have a 3D model of both the saucer and Gort.

Sevrin

kyoto kid said:

....In the opening of the Day the Earth Stood Still (1951 version) Klaatu holds out an item which is mistaken for a weapon and gets shot in the arm, the item is destroyed.   He mentions afterwards that the item was a gift for the President with which, "he could study life on the other planets".

This kind of thing still happens every day, but people don't get shot in the arm.

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Actually, on the subject of what if they did a remake of Forbidden Planet... maybe 20 years ago, I had had a much more interesting idea that I sorta daydreamed about doing if I ever had the resources for it, or the connections at MGM:  Instead of a remake, do a sequel, set as many decades after the original as the original was made ago, and handle it as a retro-future period piece.  Basically, pretend you're back in the 1950s again, and make sure everything in it is consistent with the look and feel of 1950s classic space-opera stuff, and also try to bring in as many of the original cast as possible to reprise their roles in the movie.  And the premise would be that someone secretly found a Krell scientific outpost somewhere -- say, in an asteroid belt of some other star system -- and the consequences of some of the technical discoveries made there send shockwaves through the galactic culture.  I'd have brought in the Killer Bs, the three authors who were officially chosen to write three sequels set in Asimov's Foundation universe -- Gregory Benford (Foundations Fear), Greg Bear (Foundation and Chaos) and David Brin -- and tell them: Write the best Forbidden Planet sequel idea you can come up with, and put into it the best ideas that people in the 1950s wish they COULD have put into a big, epic, blow-your-mind cerebral-but-wow-factor space-adventure movie in the 1950s, but didn't have the special-effects technology or the budget to pull it off.

nicstt

kyoto kid said:

....In the opening of the Day the Earth Stood Still (1951 version) Klaatu holds out an item which is mistaken for a weapon and gets shot in the arm, the item is destroyed.   He mentions afterwards that the item was a gift for the President with which, "he could study life on the other planets".

I have issues with story premises such as this.

They travel light-years to see us.

They presumably didn't do it on the spur of the moment (even if they did?).

They have studied us at least a little, evident from what they're offering.

They chose a method that is full of trigger-happy, nervous folks, some of which have seen far too damn many monster films!

... They make such a simple mistake - sure mistakes happen, but these always seem weak to me

Torquinox

Cybersox said:

Torquinox said:

I like the Martian ships from War of The Worlds (1953) - They're recognizable and strange all at once. Also, they're still awesome! They don't really let loose 'til 2:36 .

That film is so amazing in every way, and it's even more impressive if you're ever lucky enough to get the chance to see it on a full size movie screen.  That said, the original idea they had for the propulsion system was even cooler.  Since the martians in the original book rode in giant tripod-like vehicles, the original concept for the feature film was to update the idea by making the ships moving on legs made of pure energy.  To acheive this effect, the original text footage used "legs" made of super-thin lengths of wire through which a high current was run while massive fans were used to cause them to throw off arcing sparks as they were puppeteered.  Ultimately, though, it was deemed that the risk of killing someone was far too high with as many people who had to be on the set for the miniature scenes, so they went with the transparent beams added in post instead.    

I agree, amazing! Thanks for that. I did not know about the wire legs.

cclesue

To me equally erksome is the inclusion of what appear to be guns on so many of the futuristic models. Cars, planes, motorcycles, space ships; All have stuff sticking out of them which are obviouly guns of some sort. At the very least it disrupts the streamlining.