"The Invisible Boy" isn't so much a sequel to "Forbidden Planet" (though the script makes it clear that Robby is the same robot, stolen by a time-traveling mathematician) as it is a sequel to Robby's appearance in "Forbidden Planet".
Everyone loves Robby. When I reviewed the Heath HERO 2000 robot for a magazine 20 years ago (has it been that long?), I wanted to use the photo of Robby holding the dead Warren Stevens, with the caption "I love you, Robby." But MGM's licensing fees were too high.
One can criticize many points of plot and characterization, * but the film's main problem is that Robby is no longer Robby. Though Marvin Miller still provides the voice, Robby's lines are (mostly) flat and his demeanor deferential. The droll sarcasm of Dr. Morbius's creation is gone. Robby is now a victim of the supercomputer's evil plot, his personality so drastically altered that he considers killing Dr. Merinoe (but stops, presumably because Merinoe is the only source of the unlocking code). Robby is no longer the independent automaton so appealing in the earlier film, but unsympathetic and even boring.
There is one surprising moment (which ought to have gotten the film a PG rating) when the supercomputer threatens to command Robby to torture Timmy unless Dr. Merinoe supplies the unlocking code -- and he refuses! I've been watching films for over 50 years (and I saw "The Invisible Boy" in first run), but I can't think of ANY film (or TV show) I've seen with such a scene. The hero ALWAYS acquiesces, protecting one or two individuals to the possible detriment of millions.
"The Invisible Boy" isn't a bad film, but it's more "cute" than disturbing, and hardly the film Robby's fans wanted.
* Example: If the story is supposed to be contemporary, then the supercomputer would have had to have been built in the '30s! Given the film's obviously tight budget, there was no way to create a plausible late-20th-century environment, so this point was simply ignored.
Everyone loves Robby. When I reviewed the Heath HERO 2000 robot for a magazine 20 years ago (has it been that long?), I wanted to use the photo of Robby holding the dead Warren Stevens, with the caption "I love you, Robby." But MGM's licensing fees were too high.
One can criticize many points of plot and characterization, * but the film's main problem is that Robby is no longer Robby. Though Marvin Miller still provides the voice, Robby's lines are (mostly) flat and his demeanor deferential. The droll sarcasm of Dr. Morbius's creation is gone. Robby is now a victim of the supercomputer's evil plot, his personality so drastically altered that he considers killing Dr. Merinoe (but stops, presumably because Merinoe is the only source of the unlocking code). Robby is no longer the independent automaton so appealing in the earlier film, but unsympathetic and even boring.
There is one surprising moment (which ought to have gotten the film a PG rating) when the supercomputer threatens to command Robby to torture Timmy unless Dr. Merinoe supplies the unlocking code -- and he refuses! I've been watching films for over 50 years (and I saw "The Invisible Boy" in first run), but I can't think of ANY film (or TV show) I've seen with such a scene. The hero ALWAYS acquiesces, protecting one or two individuals to the possible detriment of millions.
"The Invisible Boy" isn't a bad film, but it's more "cute" than disturbing, and hardly the film Robby's fans wanted.
* Example: If the story is supposed to be contemporary, then the supercomputer would have had to have been built in the '30s! Given the film's obviously tight budget, there was no way to create a plausible late-20th-century environment, so this point was simply ignored.