The lost saucer of 'Forbidden Planet' reappears

   

After 38 years, a "lost" Hollywood artifact with a truly cosmic history has resurfaced and, no surprise, it's headed straight for the auction block.

This Thursday, Dec. 11, the iconic flying saucer from the 1956 MGM classic "Forbidden Planet" will be auctioned off in Calabasas Hills and is expected to fetch anywhere between $80,000 and $120,000, which would be a nice, tidy payday for its owner, a North Carolina man who had the prop stored in his garage and didn't realize its market value.

The silver saucer is 82 inches in diameter and constructed of wood, steel and fiberglass and, according to the Profiles in History auction house, it is "a marvel of 1950s engineering." That's because "the central landing base extends from the bottom of the craft by internal movement mechanisms with electric motor drive, as does the ladder and two conveyor-loading ramps."

The miniature was the chief prop used to create the memorable screen images of United Planets Cruiser C-57D in the landmark sci-fi film that loosely reworked Shakespeare's "The Tempest" and starred Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen and Jack Kelly. The film made a major sci-fi imprint on mid-century pop culture and was a major inspiration for "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry, and was paid homage by filmmaker George Lucas, who borrowed a line of its dialogue for "Star Wars" 

The saucer ended up in the busy MGM prop department and was used for a half a dozen episodes of "The Twilight Zone," including the memorable "To Serve Man" episode. Then, around 1970, it was sold off at a studio auction, but there was no record of who bought it.

"It just disappeared, essentially," said Joseph Maddalena, owner of Profiles in History. "This is a major piece of film history, an item that collectors all over the world would instantly want to possess, and it was gone."

The saucer ended up hanging in the garage of a North Carolina man who decided recently to find out what the old model might be worth. Even after hearing the that it might fetch six figures on the open market, he had no plans to sell it -- but that changed when he mentioned the dollar amount to his wife. "He called back a few days later," Maddalena said, "and explained that his wife was making him sell it."

There are plenty of other items going on sale at the Thursday auction, which is open to bids online and via phone as well as in person. Get the details here or call (310) 859-3842. The saucer is also up on eBay right now with multiple images, if you want to check them out.

Some of the items that I wouldn't mind as a Christmas gift are the bull whip from "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" (expected to go for up to $60,000); the 9-foot-tall animatronic gorilla from the 1998 Disney version of "Mighty Joe Young" (predicted to peak at $120,000); one of Robin the Boy Wonder's Batarangs from the old "Batman" television series (a mere $3,000); and one of the playing cards brandished by the late Heath Ledger in "The Dark Knight" (predicted to reach $500, which sounds low to me). Maybe you can get your Christmas shopping done in Calabasas Hills this year...

-- Geoff Boucher

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UPDATE: An early version of this post had the wrong day of the week cited for the auction. Robby the Robot would be sorely disappointed.

13 upcoming remakes of Hollywood sci-fi classics

Hollywood, Back to the Future: Top filmmakers have already dipped into the sci-fi vault for 21st century remakes of “The War of the Worlds,” “The Planet of the Apes” and the upcoming “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” so what’s next on the revival list? Plenty. Here’s a list of a dozen remakes and revival projects now at various stages in the studio pipeline.

"When Worlds Collide" Steven Spielberg is one of the producers and Stephen Sommers (“The Mummy,” “Van Helsing”), infamous for his “give me more” attitude toward CGI effects, is directing. Like the original 1951 film produced by George Pal, this “Worlds,” due in theaters next year, is about the mad scramble to build a spaceship to save humanity before Earth is destroyed by a rogue planet entering its orbit. The problem comes when there aren’t enough seats for everybody on Earth.

"The Terminator" It’s not a remake, but filmmaker McG’s plan to revive the killer robot franchise with a new sequel next summer starring Christian Bale as John Connor has been circled by fans after a strong showing this past summer at Comic-Con International. “Terminator Salvation” is set in the future and shows the grim war between humans and Skynet with its murderous metallic armies. The plan is for a full trilogy — which means a certain California politician may well live up to that long-ago promise: “I’ll be back.”

"Robocop" If the Terminator can get tuned up for a revival, why not that other 1980s mechanical hero? After several fits and starts, MGM announced in March that a reboot of “Robocop” would be in theaters in 2010. Darren Aronofsky (“The Wrestler,” “Requiem for a Dream”) is directing the remake of Paul Verhoeven’s bloody movie about a Detroit cop who is gunned down but then put back on patrol as a cyborg with troubled soul.

"Ghostbusters" There’s talk of making a third installment in the hugely successful sci-fi comedy franchise and bringing back the original crew -- Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson -- as well as some new-blood, second-generation busters. Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, writers for “The Office,” are at work on the script for Columbia Pictures and Murray, in the past the most reluctant to return to the franchise, has said publicly that he’s open to the idea. There was talk of Seth Rogen being a likely cast addition but don’t bother calling him: “It sounds,” he said in October, “like the worst idea ever."

"The Creature from the Black Lagoon" Breck Eisner, the director of “Sahara” and son of former Disney chief Michael Eisner, is directing while screenwriter Gary Ross is on board to retell the story of an Amazon River expedition that crosses paths with a prehistoric amphibian humanoid. The presence of Ross gives the 2009 release a link to the original 1954 film — that Universal classic was written by his father, Arthur A. Ross. Bill Paxton's name has come up as one of the rumored cast members.

"Flash Gordon" After the “Black Lagoon” remake, director Eisner is planning to revive Flash Gordon for Columbia, bringing back the brand that hit the silver screen in 1980 with the campy Dino DeLaurentiis production that so memorably featured the music of Queen, not to mention the unexpectedly galactic pair of Topol and Timothy Dalton. Alex Raymond’s classic space hero, originally created as a comic strip rival to Buck Rogers, celebrates his 75th anniversary in pop culture next month but it's not clear that his retro appeal still holds. Earlier this year, Sci Fi canceled its “Flash Gordon” series, which had ratings that proved that Ming isn’t the one who is merciless.    

'Forbidden Planet,' remixed

There's a short announcement story in the Hollywood Reporter that the prolific and increasingly appreciated writer J. Michael Straczynski will be writing a "Forbidden Planet" remake for Warner Bros. and Joel Silver. Straczynski (the creator and executive producer of "Babylon 5" but a guy with a resume in radio, comics and the stage as well) is the latest name to be attached to a remake effort that has bopped around to different corners of Hollywood without much traction (James Cameron was even involved at one point, I believe).  But now that "War of the Worlds" did so well and "The Day the Earth Stood Still" is stirring advance interest, it's not surprising to see another classic gem of sci-fi cinema get a 21st century redux.

The 1956 original took Shakespeare's "The Tempest" into outer space, so there is certainly a core story there that can be retrofitted.  It was directed by Fred Wilcox (who also did "Lassie Come Home"), starred a mysterious Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis and a straight-faced Leslie Nielsen as well as that truly iconic sci-fi persona, Robby the Robot. He would go on to appear in a long list of television shows: "Lost in Space," of course, but also "The Twilight Zone," "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.," ""The Addams Family," "Mork & Mindy," "Wonder Woman," "Columbo" and on and on...

Here's a pretty great YouTube revisitation of the original film's trailer that has been edited and reworked with some music that amps up the drama. Good stuff.

-- Geoff Boucher