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Robby the Robot

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This article is about the science fiction icon. For other uses, see Robbie the Robot.
Robby the Robot in a scene from Forbidden Planet
Robby the Robot in a poster for the original release of Forbidden Planet. (The lurid presentation does not accurately reflect the character in the film.)
Robby the Robot in a poster for the original release of The Invisible Boy.

Robby the Robot is a fictional character and science fiction icon who first appeared in the 1956 film Forbidden Planet. He made a number of subsequent appearances in science fiction movies and television programs, usually without specific reference to the original film character.

Precursors of the name

The name "Robbie" (spelled with an "ie") had appeared in science fiction before Forbidden Planet. In a pulp magazine adventure The Fantastic Island (1935), the name is used for a mechanical likeness of Doc Savage used to confuse foes. The name is also used in Isaac Asimov's short story "Robbie" (1940) about a first-generation robot designed to care for children. In Tom Swift on The Phantom Satellite (1956), it is also the name given to a small four-foot robot designed by Tom Swift Jr., the boy inventor in the Tom Swift Jr. science fiction novel series by Victor Appleton II.[1]

Forbidden Planet

Story background

Robby the Robot originated as a character in the 1956 MGM science fiction film Forbidden Planet. The story centers on a crew of space explorers from Earth who land their starship, the C57-D, on the planet Altair IV, ruled by the mysterious Dr. Morbius. Robby is a mechanical servant that Morbius has designed, built, and programmed using knowledge gleaned from his study of the Krell, a long-extinct race of highly intelligent beings that once populated Altair IV. The film’s plot appears loosely based on William Shakespeare’s play The Tempest (1610), with the planet Altair IV standing in for Shakespeare’s remote island and Dr. Morbius for Prospero. In this context Robby is analogous to Ariel, a spirit enslaved by Prospero.

Robby exhibits artificial intelligence, but has a distinct personality that at times exhibits a dry wit. He is instructed by Morbius to be helpful to the Earthmen and does so by synthesizing and transporting to their landing site 10 tons of "isotope 217", a lightweight though still effective replacement for the requested lead shielding needed to house the C57-D’s main stardrive to power an attempt to contact Earth base for further instructions. Morbius programmed Robby to obey a system of rules similar to Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics as expressed in I, Robot (1950).[2] One of the laws is a rule against harming or killing humans; this becomes an important plot point near the conclusion of the film when Robby refuses to kill the Id monster, recognizing the invisible creature to be an alter ego/extension of Dr. Morbius. Hollywood purposely, and misleadingly, depicts Robby in the film’s advertising posters as a terrifying adversarial creature carrying a seductively posed unconscious maiden (Altaira), but no such scene is in the film and the images do not reflect in any way Robby's benevolent and intelligent character. Robby only carries one person during the film, the Earth starship's Dr. Ostrow, when he is mortally wounded near the end of the film.

Design and construction

Robby was designed by members of the MGM art department and constructed by the studio's prop department;[3] The design was developed from initial ideas and sketches by production designer Arnold "Buddy" Gillespie, art director Arthur Lonergan, and writer Irving Block. These concepts were refined by production illustrator Mentor Huebner and perfected by MGM staff production draughtsman and mechanical designer Robert Kinoshita.[4]

The robot's groundbreaking design and dazzling finish represented a radical advance on the conventional "walking oil-can" depictions of robots in earlier features and film serials, and the only previous film robot of comparable style and quality was the "Menschmaschine" created for Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1927). However, this did not come cheap: As with every aspect of the production of Forbidden Planet, MGM spared no expense on Robby's design and construction. At a reported cost of US$125,000 (equivalent to at least $US1.1 million today) it was, proportional to total budget, one of the most expensive single film props ever created up to that time, which represented nearly 7% of the film's total budget of US$1.9 million. (By way of comparison, Robby cost roughly the same, proportional to total budget, as the massive 27-ton, 12 meter-diameter, rotating centrifuge set built for Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, which cost US$750,000 against a total budget of around US$11 million). But thanks to its imaginative design, intricate detailing, and the very high visual quality of the final product, Robby immediately became the "face" of the film and soon became an enduring popular culture icon.

The Robby suit was constructed using a range of materials including metal, plastic, rubber, glass, and Plexiglas. The plastic parts were a pioneering example of the use of the then novel technology of vacuum-forming heated plastic over wooden molds. These parts were made from an early form of ABS plastic with the brand name "Royalite", a material mainly used at the time for making suitcases. The finished suit stands just over 7-foot (2.1 m) tall and was fabricated in three detachable sections: the legs and lower torso, the barrel-like chest section (which included the arms), and the highly detailed 'head'.

The tall paraboloidal plexiglass dome that covered the head housed the detailed mechanisms representing Robby's electronic brain. These included a "pilot light" at the very top, an intricate apparatus terminating in three white wire-frame spheres that rotate in planetary fashion (representing his gyroscopic stabilizers), a pair of reciprocating arms in the shape of an inverted "V", multiple flashing lights, and an elaborate horizontal array of moving levers resembling saxophone keys. Conical protuberances attached to each side of the head carry two small forward-facing blinking lights (his eyes) and two rotating chromed rings, one mounted vertically and the other horizontally, which represent Robby's audio detectors (his ears). The bottom front section of the head is a curved grille consisting of parallel rows of thin blue neon tubes, which light up in synchronization with Robby's voice. This neon grille also enabled the operator to both see out and to breathe. The joint between the head and chest section was fitted with a custom-made bearing that allowed the head to rotate 45 degrees in either direction.

Robby's bulky barrel-shaped torso (a sly reference to Bob Kinoshita's earlier job as a washing machine designer) featured a front panel fitted with a rectangular flap at the top (into which samples of any substance could be inserted for Robby to analyze and replicate); underneath the slot were two rotating discs fitted with small flashing lights and below that a row of five buttons that moved in and out. Robby's thick, stubby arms were connected to his body with plastic ball-joints that fitted into matching sockets in the torso, allowing the joints a small amount of rotational movement. The arms could also be extended and this section was covered with a concertina-type tubular rubber sheath. Robby's three-fingered hands were also made of rubber, finished with metallic paint. The chest section attached to the leg section with special locking clips. The bottom section of the suit hinged at the top of the legs, allowing Robby to both bend forward and swing each leg backward and forward slightly enabling him to walk with relative ease (albeit with rather small and stiff steps). Robby's legs were made from interlocking globes of vacuum-formed plastic which were connected by internal jointing that permitted the entire leg to bend slightly but cleverly concealed the movement of the hips and knees of the human operator inside.

Robby's design was a major advance on all previous screen robots in many practical and aesthetic respects. By comparison, the robot Gort, the menacing "interstellar policeman" from the film The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) was clearly a man in a robot suit, and its design posed several practical problems for shooting. Because it was made of flexible neoprene overall, similar to a skin diver's wetsuit, the props team had to fabricate two suits that laced up in order to keep the fastenings out of sight while filming Gort moving: One suit opened at the back (for frontal shots), and the second, which opened at the front, was used for the shots in which Gort was seen from behind. The neoprene suit creased at the hips, knees, and elbows when the actor inside moved, giving the impression of being made from a flexible alien metal. The filmmakers diminished the effect by keeping Gort's movements to a minimum or by only shooting his upper body when he walked.

Robby's similar size and its construction from rigid sections that had articulated joints combined to create a convincing viewer experience. To access the suit, the three sections were dismantled and the operator climbed into the legs. The torso was then placed around him, the two sections were secured with internal clips, and the operator was strapped into an internal harness; finally the head was fitted, the internal electronics were connected to external power with hidden cables, and the suit was switched on and ready for filming. This design made it possible to film Robby from any angle and for him to move about and carry out the actions required without either betraying the obvious presence of the operator inside or revealing how they got in and out. Robby was operated (uncredited) by stuntmen Frankie Darro and Frankie Carpenter; both actors were of shorter stature (Darro was 5'3").

One of the suit's few drawbacks was that the many intricate moving parts in the electrified headpiece made a considerable amount of noise when Robby was powered up. During shooting, Robby's voice was performed off camera by an uncredited actor who spoke lines into a microphone that was fed into a voice-actuated circuit connected by a cable run into Robby's foot and then up through a leg and all the way to the neon tubes in Robby's head; this device generated a control voltage that synchronized the flashing of the neon tubes to the dialogue. The Robby voice heard in the finished film was re-recorded in post-production by actor Marvin Miller. Actor Les Tremayne read the film's prologue.

Later appearances

File:Robbie the Robot San Diego Comic Con 2006.jpg
Robby the Robot at 2006 San Diego Comic Con

The robot quickly became a science fiction icon in the decades that followed and was reused or recreated in multiple TV shows. Robby was reused by MGM in The Invisible Boy (1957) and then made several further appearances in other films and TV shows during the next few decades; these include episodes of The Gale Storm Show, The Thin Man, Columbo, The Addams Family, and Lost in Space where he battles The Robot. While Robby's appearance was generally consistent, there were exceptions.

The original Rod Serling incarnation of The Twilight Zone - which was substantially filmed at MGM Studios - made extensive use of props and costumes originally created for Forbidden Planet, including Robby. The Season 5 episode "Uncle Simon" (1963) featured Robby, although his appearance was considerably different, combining the familiar body with an alternative head. According to Robby's current owner, director William Malone, the head used in this episode was a prototype created during Robby's original construction. It featured a highly simplified and rather old-fashioned cylindrical "oil can" robot head with stylised 'eyes' (that were illuminated and movable) and a circular 'mouth'; this was enclosed under the distinctively-shaped conical plexiglass dome, but this head's front grille also did not have the blue neon tubes and lacked the rotating external 'ear' pieces seen in Forbidden Planet. It is not known whether this internal "oil-can'" head was original, but its rather rudimentary design and appearance is clearly not of same exacting MGM standards that are evident in all other Forbidden Planet props, and suggests it may have been custom-made for the filming of this Twilight Zone episode. However this version of the prop survives and is currently also owned by William Malone.

In other appearances, Robby usually retained the moving parts inside his transparent dome, although the details of his "brain" and chest panel were sometimes altered; in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. episode "The Bridge of Lions Affair", only Robby's head dome was used as part of a regeneration machine. Robby also appeared in the Mork & Mindy second-season episode "Dr. Morkenstein", this time representing a character called Chuck (voiced by actor Roddy McDowall) whom Mork befriends while working as a security guard in the science museum where Chuck is on display. Robby was given a major 'makeover' for his appearance in the TV series Project U.F.O. (1978). The original head was removed and replaced with a newly constructed "Cyclops" head that had new internal 'brain' fittings, a much squatter (roughly hemispherical) perspex dome, and a large circular glowing green 'eye' on the front, mounted in a protruding triangular panel. The front panel on Robby's torso was also modified with the addition of a new protruding panel, and additional appliances and cables were added to the front of both legs. This 'Cyclops' version of Robby was also used in the 1977 TV series Space Academy[5] and the 1988 video B-movie Phantom Empire. All appearances of Robby after 1971 are a replica, as the original was retired and on display in a museum (see below).

Robby has made few appearances after the 1970s, but he does make a cameo appearance in Gremlins (1984); he can be seen standing in the background and speaking some of his trademark lines. He was also featured in a 2006 commercial for AT&T.

Robby the Robot was inducted into the Robot Hall of Fame in 2004.

Original "Robby" suit

In 1971, the original 1956 Robby the Robot was sold to Jim Brucker and put on display at his Movie World/Cars of the Stars Museum, near Disneyland in Buena Park, California, where he was often vandalized by visitors. Robot historian Fred Barton was commissioned to restore Robby to his original 1956 state while the robot was still on display at the museum. Barton used original duplicate replacement parts made for the Forbidden Planet suit by MGM's prop department. It was, however, in a desperate condition once again several years later. The museum closed in 1980, and Robby, along with his vehicle, original MGM spare parts, and shipping containers were sold to William Malone. Malone noted that Robby had once again fallen into a state of disrepair. Having built the first ever replica of Robby in 1973, Malone was able to carefully restore the robot prop to its original condition using additional spare parts which the original builders had stocked in Robby's stage cases some 25 years earlier.[6] The original Robby the Robot remained in Malone's collection for many years until finally being sold by Bonhams Auctioneers in New York on November 21, 2017, for US$5,375,000. It became the most expensive hero film prop ever sold at auction.[7]

Replicas

Fred Barton built a second Robby replica which appeared at the 1974 Star Trek Convention in Los Angeles. Barton continues to produce Robby props and other 1:1 robot replicas. His recreations are currently on display at the Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle, Washington, and at the Metreon entertainment complex in San Francisco; other Robby replicas are on display in various venues. Full-sized, remote-controlled Barton robot props are available from Hammacher Schlemmer or ordered directly on-line from Fred Barton Productions; the company manufacturers various 1:1 film and TV robot reproductions under license, aimed at the growing science fiction film collectors' market. Robby has also become a popular subject of collector tin toy and plastic robot reproductions and model kits.[8]

Cultural references

In Manga

  • Battle Angel Alita, by Yukito Kishiro In Fight 004 (page 91 in the Deluxe Edition), when Ido is showing Gon the basement of the cyborg clinic, there can be seen a large pile of old robots and cyborgs against one wall, including Robby.

In games

In television

  • In the Monkees episode "The Monkees Watch Their Feet," drummer Micky Dolenz is kidnapped and replaced by an alien lookalike android. When the other Monkees find out what is going on, they get the android to confess, identifying himself as "Robby the Robot." Despite the joking reference, Robby himself never appears onscreen.[9]
  • Multiple episodes of The Simpsons parody Robby the Robot:
    • "Homer's Phobia" (airdate February 16, 1997) features both a parody of the Forbidden Planet movie poster (titled Clank, Clank, You're Dead!) and a parody of Robby The Robot that was controlled by a midget.
    • The Halloween episode "Treehouse of Horror VIII" (airdate October 26, 1997), in the segment "Fly vs. Fly", parodies Robby the Robot as "Floyd the Scrubbing Robot", which unsuccessfully tries to label itself "sold" at Prof. Frink's yard sale.
    • "This Little Wiggy" (airdate March 22, 1998) parodies Robby the Robot as "Robby the Automaton".

List of appearances

References

Citations

  1. ^ Appleton II 1956, pp. 116–117.
  2. ^ Kreiter, Ted. "Revisiting The Master Of Science Fiction." The Saturday Evening Post, Volume 276, Issue 6, p. 38. ISSN 0048-9239.
  3. ^ "Robby, the Robot." The Robot Hall of Fame, June 29. 2011. Retrieved: January 10, 2015.
  4. ^ Hagerty 2008 [page needed]
  5. ^ Space Academy 1.12 – My Favorite Marcia, November 14, 2016, Fire Breathing Dimetrodon Time
  6. ^ Bohus, Ted. "Interview With Bill Malone." Monsters411.com. Retrieved: April 10, 2015.
  7. ^ The iconic original Robby the Robot suit and Jeep from Forbidden Planet, Bonhams
  8. ^ "The Genuine 7 Foot Robby The Robot." hammacher.com. Retrieved: January 10, 2015.
  9. ^ Episode No. 49:“The Monkees Watch Their Feet” (a.k.a.“Micky And The Outer Space Creatures”), monkeestv3.tripod.com
  10. ^ "Lost in Space: War of the Robots Episode Summary." TV.com. Retrieved: January 10, 2015.
  11. ^ "Night Stalker Ad." tomheroes.com. Retrieved: January 10, 2015.
  12. ^ Robby the Robot at IMDb

Bibliography

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