March 15, 1956: “Forbidden Planet” Premieres

March 15, 1956: Forbidden Planet premieres, directed by Fred M. Wilcox. This is the first science fiction film in which humans are depicted traveling in a starship of their own creation, rather than aliens coming to Earth. It is also the first science fiction film set entirely on another world in interstellar space, far away from the planet Earth.

By calling that planet "Altair IV," meaning the 4th planet revolving around the star that Earth astronomers have named Altair, it established the sci-fi concept of doing that for planets, most often used in the Star Trek mythos.

The film marked the debut of Robby the Robot, who would become a science fiction icon, mainly because it was cheaper to put an unknown actor in an already-built robot suit than to design and operate a working robot, or even to make a new robot suit.

Forbidden Planet owes much to William Shakespeare's last great play, The Tempest, with Walter Pidgeon's Dr. Edward Morbius standing in for the wizard Prospero, Anne Francis' Altaira for Miranda, and Robby for Caliban.

It also owes much the writings of psychologist Carl Jung, then still alive. Jung had written of a "collective unconscious." In the film, Dr. Morbius swears he is not the villain, but he proves to be an unwilling one, as his unconscious mind was the main threat. Science fiction had already, in print, tried to challenge the ideas of good and evil, showing that what appears to be the hero might not be, and what appears to be the villain might not be.

And the film reminds us all that Leslie Nielsen, here playing Commander John Adams, was once a great dramatic actor. I am serious, and don't call me "Shirley."

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March 15, 1956 was a Thursday. This was also the day the musical My Fair Lady premiered on Broadway. I have a separate entry for that event.

Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. Only one game was played in the NBA that night: The New York Knicks lost to the Syracuse Nationals, 82-77 at the Onondaga County War Memorial in Syracuse.

There were 2 games played in the NHL. The New York Rangers and the Detroit Red Wings played to a 2-2 tie at the old Madison Square Garden. And the Montreal Canadiens beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 5-2 at the Montreal Forum. The Boston Bruins and the Toronto Maple Leafs were not scheduled.