Oddaptations – The Tempest → Forbidden Planet

Don't let Leslie Nielson fool you, this isn't a parody.

Some people like to complain about the inevitable changes that occur when a story is adapted from one medium to another. But let's be honest, sometimes, the less faithful an adaptation is, the more memorable it is. So, in this series I'll be taking a look at adaptations where creators took one look at the source material and said, "FUCK THAT NOISE!" to see how that turned out. Today's Oddaptation:

The Tempest (1610-ish) by William Shakespeare into Forbidden Planet (1956) dir. Fred M. Wilcox, screenplay by Cyril Hume, story by Irving Block, and Allen Adler

Shakespeare . . . IN SPAAAAAAAAACE!!!!!!!!!!

The Original: Okay, let's do this! Alonso is the King of Naples, and 12 years ago he helped his best bud, Antonio, usurp Antonio's brother Prospero as the Duke of Milan. But we don't know that yet. All we know is that they're sailing back to Italy from Alonso's daugher's wedding to the King of Tunis when they're beset by a storm that strands every character with a name on a (seemingly) uninhabited island. Don't worry about the characters with occupations instead of names, they'll be tucked safely off-stage until the end of the play. Cut to I.2 where Prospero tells his daughter Miranda why they've been living on a (mostly) uninhabited island for the last 12 years (this is also where we learn about his backstory with Alonso and Antonio (I don't know why I led with that instead of putting it here). Anyway, those 12 years have allowed him to advance his knowledge of the magical arts to the extent that he's been able to enslave Ariel the spirit and Caliban the witch's son who already lived on the (slightly) uninhabited island when Prospero and Miranda showed up. Their relationship with the new landlord is, shall we say, complicated (Prospero keeps threatening to seal Ariel up inside of a tree, and for some reason keeps Caliban around after Caliban tried to rape Miranda). Anyway, Ariel shows up to tell Prospero that the magic storm totally worked and scattered his enemies all over the (kinda) uninhabited island. The first survivor, Alonso's son Ferdinand shows up at Prospero's hut and he and Miranda (meeting a man who isn't her father or her attempted rapist for the first time) immediately falls in love, much to Prospero's chagrin. Meanwhile, Alonso is stranded with Antonio, who starts scheming with Alonso's brother Sebastian to overthrow Alonso as King of Naples (reap what we sow, etc). Meanwhile, Caliban stumbles across Alonso's butler Stephano and jester Trinculo who ply him with liquor to convince him of their divinity and to help them overthrow Prospero (umm, so if we're looking at this play as being influenced by European exploration of the Americas and interactions with indigenous Americans: YIKES! Then again, Caliban is only a second-generation (semi-)uninhabited islander. Then again, Ariel and the other spirits would be the actual original inhabitants and the play is largely about colonial rulers like Prospero and Sycorax exploiting them for their magical power. So maybe slightly less YIKES! I don't know.) Anyway, these plotlines alternately suggest that The Tempest is a comedy that will end with Miranda and Ferdinand getting married or a tragedy that will end with Prospero getting everyone (including himself) killed in his quest for vengeance. Fortunately, spying on Miranda and Ferdinand convinces him that he should forgive Alonso and Antonio in the name of young love and to have his spirits scare the bejesus out of Caliban, Stephano, and Trinculo. Oh, and also put on a little play where they pretend to be Ceres and Juno to give those two crazy kids their blessing to get married. Turns out that Alonso is so grateful that he agrees to let Prospero return to Milan. And Antonio is so grateful he decides not to help Sebastian overthrow Alonso. And Prospero is so grateful that he agrees to free Ariel from his servitude and throw away his wands and magic books. And Trinculo and Stephano and Caliban have all learned their lesson, that plotting murder is wrong, unless you change your mind by Act V. Now everyone clap or the cast might die in a storm on the way back to Naples.

The Remake: So, it's the 23rd Century and humanity has expanded beyond Earth to colonize the rest of the solar system and beyond. It's that beyond part that gets a little tricky. The United Planets has dispatched the C-57D to the fourth planet of the star Altair (the creatively named Altair IV) to follow up on the Bellerophon expedition which left Earth 20 years ago. As they approach the planet, Commander J.J. Adams (Leslie Nielsen) receives a transmission from the Bellerophon's philologist, Dr. Morbius (Walter Pidgeon), warning him to turn back and return to Earth because of some malevolent force on the planet surface. Adams ignores the warning and, upon landing, is greeted by Morbius's robot, Robby (Robby, the Robot (but really an uncredited stuntman named Frank Darro)) who has a flair for deadpan comedy. Robby takes Adams, Doc Ostrow (Warren Stevens), and Lt. Farman (Jack Kelly) back to Morbius's totally mod pad where he lives alone with his daughter, Altaira or Alta for short (Anne Francis), who upon meeting men who are not her father or a robot for the first time is instantly smitten with all three. Meanwhile, Morbius explains how everyone aboard the Bellerophon (with the exception of himself and Alta's mother) was killed by some unknown planetary force (not to be confused with "The Force") as for why the Morbius family was immune, he attributes it to their love of the new planet.  In any case, Adams decides that the crew needs to hang out on the planet and try to contact Earth before they decide what to do about Morbius's in no way suspicious account of the Bellerophon massacre. Meanwhile, the ship's cook, Cook (Earl Holliman) asks if Robby can synthesize some booze "for cooking" and is delighted when the Robot asks if 60 gallons will be enough. I mean, probably, right? Meanwhile, there are two separate instances of an invisible creature sneaking onto the ship, first it sabotages their communications equipment, then it murders a crewman. Adams knows he has only one choice, to put the moves on Alta, I mean to confront Morbius and get more answers. Turns out that 200 centuries ago, Altair IV was home to a super-advanced race known as the Krell who accidentally wiped themselves out, but conveniently left behind all of their advanced (but ultimately self-destructive) technology. As a philologist, Dr. Morbius has been slowly decoding their science and technology (and from the the looks of his chalkboard, he's pretty close to cracking the Pythagorean Theorem), and it turns out that they developed a device that can manifest your thoughts and desires into a holographic projection which can interact with the physical world. I don't have to spell this out, do I? I mean, even a lunkhead like Cmdr Adams gets it (though it takes Dr. Morbius the remainder of the film to catch on). Okay, I'll say it. It was Morbius the whole time. His desire to remain on the planet with his wife manifested as a malevolent energy that killed the crew of the Bellerophon when they voted to leave, and attacked the crew of the C-57D when they threatened to intrude on his solitude and introduce humanity to technology it wasn't ready for. Realizing the danger he himself had put everyone in, he decides to blow up the Krell reactor. So Adams, Alta, Robby, et al fly off while staring into the view-plate displaying the destruction of the only home Alta has ever known. How romantic.

Fidelity to Source Material: I mean, I can definitely see The Tempest in Forbidden Planet but I'm not so sure I would make the connection if I hadn't already known it was an adaptation.

Things that Survived Intact: Well, I mean, both stories are about men wielding secret knowledge to command invisible servants to attack newcomers on a (not quite) uninhabited island/planet. Oh, and the whole, daughter falls in love thing. Even the wacky subplot with a side character giving the weird lackey character alcohol stuck around.

Smart Changes: So, I'd say that the biggest departure from the original is that the Prospero analog is the villain. I mean, kinda. Morbius doesn't consciously wish ill upon his crew or on Adams and his crew, but he's also meddling with powers that he doesn't really understand. This is something Shakespeare touches on in the original as well. It was Prospero's dedication to his magical studies that distracted him from Antonio's machinations before the play began. However, Forbidden Planet takes this a step further by making Morbius an unwitting agent of others' death. This is mirrored in another shift, the reversal of roles for Ariel and Caliban. The Krell technology (more specifically the invisible monster called up by Morbius's subconsious) stands in for Ariel, but lack's the spirit's independence and yearning for freedom. Meanwhile Robby, the Robot, gets to be involved in Caliban's shenanigan's but lacks his treachery and predatory sexuality. The other big change is that Adams and his crew have only a tangential relationship with Morbius. Instead of seeking vengeance on people who have legitimately wronged him, he's trying (again, subconsiously) to murder men who have been sent to rescue him.

Why it Works: So, I didn't really like it. Don't get me wrong, Robby, the Robot, is a national treasure, and there are other parts of the movie that work, but on the whole the slack pacing, unconventional scoring (it appears to be scored entirely in Krell music), and dated vision of the future just haven't aged all that well. That said, it is an interesting update of The Tempest for the space age. And it is kinda like a dry run for a some of the ideas that would show up a decade later on Star Trek. Well, if the crew of the Enterprise was all white guys. So maybe not all that much like Star Trek.

Links:

So, according to Rotten Tomatoes, my indifference to the film is a minority opinion. Critics both then and now are apparently gaga over this one. Fair enough.

Robby has had an active life on TV and in the movies since his breakout performance in Forbidden Planet.