Forbidden Planets (41 page)
Ray is currently being fêted by a number of independent specialist presses—the editor’s own PS Publishing included—all of them hell-bent on reissuing those classic Bradbury story collections and novels from days gone by. Meanwhile, despite having clocked up eighty-six years, Ray is still working feverishly on a dizzying number of projects.
Peter Crowther
drives his wife, Nicky, to distraction by tuning into any TV channel that’s showing
Forbidden Planet
, no matter how long the movie has been running. “It’s one of those films,” he says, wistfully and without apology, “that I could watch over and over again. It’s the whole mythos of the Krell . . . those colossal tunnels—both vertical and horizontal—of equipment and the incredible poignancy of that wonderfully superior race doomed to extinction because of its own progress. Highly relevant today, me-thinks. But relevance aside, it’s just a marvellous movie . . . and when I realized that this year was its fiftieth anniversary, I just knew we had to commemorate that in some way. And, with this book, I think we’ve done exactly that . . . in spades! My thanks go to all the contributors as well as to Marty Greenberg and the gang at Tekno Books and, of course, our friends at DAW Books.”
drives his wife, Nicky, to distraction by tuning into any TV channel that’s showing
Forbidden Planet
, no matter how long the movie has been running. “It’s one of those films,” he says, wistfully and without apology, “that I could watch over and over again. It’s the whole mythos of the Krell . . . those colossal tunnels—both vertical and horizontal—of equipment and the incredible poignancy of that wonderfully superior race doomed to extinction because of its own progress. Highly relevant today, me-thinks. But relevance aside, it’s just a marvellous movie . . . and when I realized that this year was its fiftieth anniversary, I just knew we had to commemorate that in some way. And, with this book, I think we’ve done exactly that . . . in spades! My thanks go to all the contributors as well as to Marty Greenberg and the gang at Tekno Books and, of course, our friends at DAW Books.”
This year (2006) saw the appearance of
Dark Times
, Pete’s fifth collection, with another at the planning stages. The long-awaited second part of his
Forever Twilight
cycle and a separate short SF novel,
Kings of Infinite Space
are scheduled for a spring 2007 publication, to tie in with Pete’s appearance as a Guest of Honor at the World Horror Convention in Toronto.
Dark Times
, Pete’s fifth collection, with another at the planning stages. The long-awaited second part of his
Forever Twilight
cycle and a separate short SF novel,
Kings of Infinite Space
are scheduled for a spring 2007 publication, to tie in with Pete’s appearance as a Guest of Honor at the World Horror Convention in Toronto.
Paul Di Filippo
wanted to play with the archetypical structure of the kind of tale in which the hero dashes off on a rescue mission to a mysterious world and succeeds in toppling the hidden empire or conspiracy or potentate thereon. But the author sounds a cautionary note. “In my story, the hero is misguided, and the nexus of mystery triumphs, as it should, since it has access to a higher level of understanding than the limited protagonist.”
wanted to play with the archetypical structure of the kind of tale in which the hero dashes off on a rescue mission to a mysterious world and succeeds in toppling the hidden empire or conspiracy or potentate thereon. But the author sounds a cautionary note. “In my story, the hero is misguided, and the nexus of mystery triumphs, as it should, since it has access to a higher level of understanding than the limited protagonist.”
This year sees the publication of Paul’s new collection,
Shuteye for the Timebroker
and his Creature from the Black Lagoon novel,
Time’s Black Lagoon
. He lives in Providence, RI, where he and his long-time partner, Deborah, occasionally take pity on visiting British writer/editors, driving them out to see Lovecraft’s final resting place and taking them for burgers in aluminium diners straight out of Will Eisner’s
Spirit
comic-strips.
Shuteye for the Timebroker
and his Creature from the Black Lagoon novel,
Time’s Black Lagoon
. He lives in Providence, RI, where he and his long-time partner, Deborah, occasionally take pity on visiting British writer/editors, driving them out to see Lovecraft’s final resting place and taking them for burgers in aluminium diners straight out of Will Eisner’s
Spirit
comic-strips.
You will easily be able to deduce the oldest possible age
Scott Edelman
could have been when he first saw
Forbidden Planet
by his admission that, at least at that initial viewing, he was far more interested in the shiny surface of Robby the Robot than in the somewhat softer surface of Anne Francis.
Scott Edelman
could have been when he first saw
Forbidden Planet
by his admission that, at least at that initial viewing, he was far more interested in the shiny surface of Robby the Robot than in the somewhat softer surface of Anne Francis.
Being born in 1955 makes Scott one year older than
Forbidden Planet
, and he didn’t actually get to see it until ten years later . . . and then the next day, and the next one, and the one after that; it was in constant rotation on something called
The Million Dollar Movie
, aired multiple times weekly by WPIX in New York. “For them, it was a money-saving operation,” Scott says, “but for me, it was indoctrination. I’m sure that
Forbidden Planet
, with its robot, rocket ship, and creature from the Id was one of the reasons I fell in love with science fiction.”
Forbidden Planet
, and he didn’t actually get to see it until ten years later . . . and then the next day, and the next one, and the one after that; it was in constant rotation on something called
The Million Dollar Movie
, aired multiple times weekly by WPIX in New York. “For them, it was a money-saving operation,” Scott says, “but for me, it was indoctrination. I’m sure that
Forbidden Planet
, with its robot, rocket ship, and creature from the Id was one of the reasons I fell in love with science fiction.”
The novelization of the film was also meaningful to young Edelman. “I remember being in the Boy Scouts not too long after having overdosed on the film,” Scott recalls, “and discovering the book as my troop paused at a newsstand just as we were about to go on a field trip. We walked across the George Washington Bridge, and as we hiked for six miles across New Jersey, and my fellow scouts learned to tie knots, reproduce bird calls, and properly identify trees, I ignored the real world for outer space, reading as I walked, constantly tripping over my feet, but never losing my place. Which I guess says as much about me as does my preference for Robby the Robot over Anne Francis.”
Scott Edelman the editor currently edits both
Science Fiction Weekly
, the Internet magazine of news, reviews, and interviews, and
SCI FI
, the official print magazine of the SCI FI Channel. He was the founding editor of
Science Fiction Age
, which he edited during its entire eight-year run, and he has also edited
Sci-Fi Entertainment
for almost four years, as well as two other SF media magazines,
Sci-Fi Universe
and
Sci-Fi Flix
. He has been a four-time Hugo Award finalist for Best Editor.
Science Fiction Weekly
, the Internet magazine of news, reviews, and interviews, and
SCI FI
, the official print magazine of the SCI FI Channel. He was the founding editor of
Science Fiction Age
, which he edited during its entire eight-year run, and he has also edited
Sci-Fi Entertainment
for almost four years, as well as two other SF media magazines,
Sci-Fi Universe
and
Sci-Fi Flix
. He has been a four-time Hugo Award finalist for Best Editor.
Scott the writer has published more than fifty short stories in magazines such as
The Twilight Zone
,
Absolute Magnitude
, and
Science Fiction Review
, and in anthologies such as
Crossroads: Southern Tales of the Fantastic
,
Men Writing SF as Women,
and
MetaHorror
, as well as in two of
Forbidden Planets’
predecessors,
Moon Shots
and
Mars Probes
. He has twice been a Stoker Award finalist in the category of Short Story.
The Twilight Zone
,
Absolute Magnitude
, and
Science Fiction Review
, and in anthologies such as
Crossroads: Southern Tales of the Fantastic
,
Men Writing SF as Women,
and
MetaHorror
, as well as in two of
Forbidden Planets’
predecessors,
Moon Shots
and
Mars Probes
. He has twice been a Stoker Award finalist in the category of Short Story.
Matthew Hughes
thinks he first saw
Forbidden Planet
on a black-and-white TV in the late fifties before he was even into double digits. “So the film might well have been my introduction to the idea that the psyche contains different levels, components, rooms to visit and maybe get stuck in,” he says, “and thus has had an effect on my work that I haven’t even begun to gauge.”
thinks he first saw
Forbidden Planet
on a black-and-white TV in the late fifties before he was even into double digits. “So the film might well have been my introduction to the idea that the psyche contains different levels, components, rooms to visit and maybe get stuck in,” he says, “and thus has had an effect on my work that I haven’t even begun to gauge.”
Matt has produced four novels and a short-story collection and is currently partway through a series of novels following the career of Henghis Hapthorn, foremost freelance discriminator of the Archonate on a far-future Old Earth.
“From the initial conceit of
Forbidden Planet
to the motivating idea behind my story is a short distance,”
Forbidden Planet
to the motivating idea behind my story is a short distance,”
Alex Irvine
writes. “In the movie, remnant technology brings the psychodrama to a head, while in this story the planet itself is the technology. This was interesting to me because it adds an interesting subtext to the question of the psychological effects of space exploration, which I’ve written about in other stories, i.e., to what extent does the pure experience of another world become its own psychological minefield? Perhaps that’s enough to destabilize anyone, without the added complications of winsome refugees or arcane technologies.
writes. “In the movie, remnant technology brings the psychodrama to a head, while in this story the planet itself is the technology. This was interesting to me because it adds an interesting subtext to the question of the psychological effects of space exploration, which I’ve written about in other stories, i.e., to what extent does the pure experience of another world become its own psychological minefield? Perhaps that’s enough to destabilize anyone, without the added complications of winsome refugees or arcane technologies.
“The inner space of the human mind is more interesting than the scenery of outer space for its own sake, as the makers of the film surely knew. In the film, though, the turmoil of this inner space is manifested by the device of the energy monster that assaults Dr. Morbius’s compound. I wanted to see what kind of effect it was possible to achieve with a subtler, more introspective take on the same dynamic. What if the manifestation of the character’s emotional imbalance were not a placeholder like the energy monster but a subtle rebellion of the planet itself against the laws of reality the other characters need to understand their phenomenal world?”
Alex also skipped the romantic interaction, which, he says, “although it was apparently inspiring to Gene Roddenberry, doesn’t move me. The Shakespearean roots of the story were impossible to ignore, and although Robby the Robot is usually pegged as Ariel whenever someone bothers to draw up a schema comparing
Forbidden Planet
to
The Tempest
, I always wanted Robby to be more of a Caliban figure . . . thus my own title, and the nod to Caliban’s dream soliloquy in the story.”
Forbidden Planet
to
The Tempest
, I always wanted Robby to be more of a Caliban figure . . . thus my own title, and the nod to Caliban’s dream soliloquy in the story.”
Alex is the author of the novels
A Scattering of Jades
,
One King, One Soldier
, and
The Narrows
. Much of his published short fiction is collected in
Unintended Consequences
and the forthcoming
Pictures from an Expedition
. In addition to the Locus, Crawford, and International Horror Guild awards for his fiction, he has won a New England Press Association award for investigative journalism. He is assistant professor of English at the University of Maine, where he teaches fiction writing.
A Scattering of Jades
,
One King, One Soldier
, and
The Narrows
. Much of his published short fiction is collected in
Unintended Consequences
and the forthcoming
Pictures from an Expedition
. In addition to the Locus, Crawford, and International Horror Guild awards for his fiction, he has won a New England Press Association award for investigative journalism. He is assistant professor of English at the University of Maine, where he teaches fiction writing.
Jay Lake
grew up without television or movies, living in the Third World in the era before satellite television or VCRs. So at an age when most protowriters are staring at late night horror movies (or whatever the equivalent for their generation), he always had his nose in books. Jay’s first exposure to
Forbidden Planet
was actually in the theme song to
Rocky Horror Picture Show
, to which he lost many, many evenings in college. For years Lake confused Robby the Robot with Will Robinson’s robot from
Lost in Space
. So though he grew up reading science fiction, he reluctantly confesses that he’d never seen
Forbidden Planet
until he was preparing for this project. Jay knew from researching the movie that it was an adaptation of Shakespeare’s
The Tempest
. He knew from hanging around art directors’ offices what Robby looked like and talked like. And he certainly knew about Anne Francis.
grew up without television or movies, living in the Third World in the era before satellite television or VCRs. So at an age when most protowriters are staring at late night horror movies (or whatever the equivalent for their generation), he always had his nose in books. Jay’s first exposure to
Forbidden Planet
was actually in the theme song to
Rocky Horror Picture Show
, to which he lost many, many evenings in college. For years Lake confused Robby the Robot with Will Robinson’s robot from
Lost in Space
. So though he grew up reading science fiction, he reluctantly confesses that he’d never seen
Forbidden Planet
until he was preparing for this project. Jay knew from researching the movie that it was an adaptation of Shakespeare’s
The Tempest
. He knew from hanging around art directors’ offices what Robby looked like and talked like. And he certainly knew about Anne Francis.
Watching the movie, Jay realized how profound its influence was on everything from the original
Star Trek
to New British Space Opera. While this is a truism that was surely obvious to everyone else in the genre, Jay must own his naïvete with some pride. It brought him fresh at the age of forty-one to this film, which is among the great wellsprings of our fictional culture. Jay watched the movie, brushed up his Shakespeare, and decided that
King Lear
was more interesting for his purposes. The result, of course, is left to the judgment of the reader.
Star Trek
to New British Space Opera. While this is a truism that was surely obvious to everyone else in the genre, Jay must own his naïvete with some pride. It brought him fresh at the age of forty-one to this film, which is among the great wellsprings of our fictional culture. Jay watched the movie, brushed up his Shakespeare, and decided that
King Lear
was more interesting for his purposes. The result, of course, is left to the judgment of the reader.
Jay lives in Portland, Oregon, with his books and two inept cats, where he works on numerous writing and editing projects, including the World Fantasy Award-nominated
Polyphony
anthology series from Wheatland Press. His next novel,
Trial of Flowers
, will be available in the fall of 2006.
Polyphony
anthology series from Wheatland Press. His next novel,
Trial of Flowers
, will be available in the fall of 2006.
The creators of
Forbidden Planet
made no secret of the fact that they’d borrowed and updated the plot of Shakespeare’s
The Tempest
. “In the same spirit,” says
Paul McAuley
, “I hope that no one minds that my little homage to this marvelous film borrows and updates its robots, monsters, and supertechnology hidden in an underground alien city.”
Forbidden Planet
made no secret of the fact that they’d borrowed and updated the plot of Shakespeare’s
The Tempest
. “In the same spirit,” says
Paul McAuley
, “I hope that no one minds that my little homage to this marvelous film borrows and updates its robots, monsters, and supertechnology hidden in an underground alien city.”
Paul has worked as a researcher in biology in various universities, including Oxford and UCLA, and for six years was a lecturer in botany at St. Andrews University before becoming a full-time writer. His first novel,
Four Hundred Billion Stars
, won the Philip K. Dick Memorial Award, and his sixth,
Fairyland
, won the Arthur C. Clarke and John W. Campbell Awards. His latest novel is
Mind’s Eye
. He lives in North London.
Four Hundred Billion Stars
, won the Philip K. Dick Memorial Award, and his sixth,
Fairyland
, won the Arthur C. Clarke and John W. Campbell Awards. His latest novel is
Mind’s Eye
. He lives in North London.
“ ‘Kyle Meets the River’ was a tricky write,” says
Ian McDonald
. “The
Forbidden Planets
theme was a rich compost, and I wanted to try to plant a seed from my future India concept, but it didn’t really take until I remembered J.G. Ballard’s comment about Earth being an alien planet. Then the very same day, I read a newspaper article about the high-security gated enclaves for reconstruction workers in Iraq. There are forbidden worlds all around us, at every footstep, it seems.
Ian McDonald
. “The
Forbidden Planets
theme was a rich compost, and I wanted to try to plant a seed from my future India concept, but it didn’t really take until I remembered J.G. Ballard’s comment about Earth being an alien planet. Then the very same day, I read a newspaper article about the high-security gated enclaves for reconstruction workers in Iraq. There are forbidden worlds all around us, at every footstep, it seems.
“Looking back on the original movie now, what strikes me—apart from Leslie Nielson—is that, unusually for a fifties American film, there isn’t a villain. There’s no ridiculous, infantile Darth Vader . . . just monsters from the Id all the way down. And you don’t beat those with a fluorescent tube and Joseph Campbell cod-mythologizing.”
Ian lives just outside Belfast in Northern Ireland and has day jobs in television program development. His most recent novel was
River of Gods
, BSFA award winner and Hugo and Clarke Award nominee. “It’s set in India on the centenary of its independence,” Ian explains, “and ‘Kyle Meets the River’ draws on the same background.” Continuing this trend of trying to get the tax department to pay for his foreign holidays, Ian’s latest project is
Brasyl
, unsurprisingly set in present, mid-21st- and 18th-century Brazil.
River of Gods
, BSFA award winner and Hugo and Clarke Award nominee. “It’s set in India on the centenary of its independence,” Ian explains, “and ‘Kyle Meets the River’ draws on the same background.” Continuing this trend of trying to get the tax department to pay for his foreign holidays, Ian’s latest project is
Brasyl
, unsurprisingly set in present, mid-21st- and 18th-century Brazil.
Michael Moorcock
last saw
Forbidden Planet
in French. “It rather improved on the somewhat wooden acting of the majority of the cast,” he says, while accepting that the movie remains an elegant piece of science fiction.
last saw
Forbidden Planet
in French. “It rather improved on the somewhat wooden acting of the majority of the cast,” he says, while accepting that the movie remains an elegant piece of science fiction.
“The moral, applied to the obsessions of the day, remains a perfectly good one in the liberal humanist tradition,” Mike adds. “In fact, I’m surprised there hasn’t been a remake, perhaps with a better cast and less hokey comic relief. But no doubt, if there were, it would be twice the length, contain unnecessarily gruesome special effects and a far more lugubrious message. So perhaps the only improvement is to watch it in the French version.”
Mike’s most recently published novel,
The Vengeance of Rome
, concluded the Pyat quartet, a sequence of novels also comprising
Byzantium Endures
,
The Laughter of Carthage
, and
Jerusalem Endures
, about international events that came to permit the Nazi Holocaust.
The Vengeance of Rome
, concluded the Pyat quartet, a sequence of novels also comprising
Byzantium Endures
,
The Laughter of Carthage
, and
Jerusalem Endures
, about international events that came to permit the Nazi Holocaust.
Mike lives in France and Texas and is currently working on a memoir of Mervyn and Maeve Peake and a text accompanying Peake’s
Sunday Book
illustrations, which will be first published in Paris.
Sunday Book
illustrations, which will be first published in Paris.
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