ALL SCI-FI

[Krel]

[orzel-w]

[Krel]

[Bud Brewster]

Gentlemen, this is one delicious puzzle we have here. Let's consider what we're determined through our observations and the our combined knowledge. These are the characteristics of The Gizmo that I think we all agree on.

* It appears to made of metal, not plastic.

* The main body is dark gray and seems to be finished in baked-on enamel paint.

* The short, shiny tube below the "barrel" seems to have a lens, like a telescope.

* Several components appear to be machined aluminum or steel, such as the silver ends of the "barrel" and the "telescope" extension.

* A Volt meter is positioned at the rear, similar to this one shown below.

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* Four sets of conduits or tubes are visible -- two sets on top, two sets on each side.

* Two toggle switches are visible on the back to the left of the power cord, and possibly two more on the right (one might be barely visible in the Earth vs the Flying Saucer picture). Perhaps the switches were wired to turn on the lights in sections, since there are (on both sides) (1) four round lights in front, (2) four along the top,(3) three near the back, and (4) three neon tubes on the sides.

* No labels are visible on any of the lights or switches.

* Four "plate-fin heat sinks" are positioned on each side, and 3 neon tubes are partially housed in these.

* A large round plug is positioned below the meter on the back, possibly above the power cord (its hard to tell if the cord is there for sure). In the Earth vs the Flying Saucers picture, the plug is empty, so it can't be a detachable power cord because the lights on The Gizmo are illuminated!

* A thick cord is attached to the back (best viewed in the FP pictures) hanging down behind The Gizmo. This might be the cord that goes into the empty plug in the back, as shown in the Earth vs the Flying Saucers picture.

Have I left anything out, guys?
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[orzel-w]

[Krel]

The meter may have been to monitor power to the gizmo itself, while the cord socket below it could have had the cord to send the data to a second unit with the readouts.

To further muddy the water, what if the heat sinks were in the vertical position when it was actually used. As orzel-w pointed out, heat sinks are usually mounted in a vertical position, so the heat can rise. There are exceptions, but considering the size of the heat sinks, it is not likely in this case.

Is it really made of metal? Look at the mount in the MFU photos Bud posted. The mount looks to be about level with the first neon tube. That doesn't look very substantial for a hunk of metal that large. The old studio prop departments were wizards at making materials look like different materials. On the other hand there could be a real heavy-duty mount on the other side of the wall to hold the gizmo.

Not really much help with the last paragraph.

David.

[Bud Brewster]

I confess the evidence is overwhelmingly in favor of The Gizmo being a wildly imaginative movie prop. Ya got me there, David.

But that leaves us with the question of who made such an elaborate and complex prop with all those features. And as I stated earlier, I think The Gizmo was originally designed to be the way we see it in Forbidden Planet -- complete with the tripod and the parabolic reflector and the fat cable connected to the round plug in the back.

That being the case, if it was created for some movie prior to Forbidden Planet, what movie was it and why haven't we ever seen it?

But if it was first created by the MGM prop department for Forbidden Planet, how did a disassembled version of it end up in Science Fiction Theatre at another studio a few months after the movie was filmed, and few months after that in Earth vs the Flying Saucers at yet another studioi?

I guess they weren't as impressed with it as I am.
_________________
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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Here's something with a flawless design and no extraneous parts.





The photographer certainly caught Jack Kelly in a dramatic pose for this publicity still I stumbled across today.





It's weird to see such a familiar moment from the movie . . . with the sound stage showing above the set.





But this is even more weird! We see 110% of the set and 40% of Robby!





A first I thought this was just a nice detailed shot of the house interior, sufficiently detailed for me to zoom in and study the plants in the garden —





— until I zoomed in and realized I could also study the two gardeners over on the right!





So, Leslie Nielsen goes over to director Fred Wilcox and says, "Fred, can we do that scene one more time? I think my laughter seemed phony . . . and heck, I'm sure Earl won't mind."





And finally, this rare BTS still from Forbidden Planet.

"I'm sorry, sir, the role of the Id Monster has already been filled — but we have your number and maybe something else will come up."



_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

________________________________

Hey, have you ever noticed how the ramp on the right looks odd in this scene?





It should look more like this.





* Yes, I know, Wayne. You did the first corrected version of this on the old board, but I couldn't resist taking a crack it it, too.

I found these CGI renderings based on Syd Mead's designs. If a remake has this kind of stunning look, I might just love it!







_________________
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

Love Syd's designs & have a few of his books.

When there was word that a new Green Hornet movie was being produced I thought of Mead.

He did a series of futuristic looking sedans that would have been perfect for a brand new Black Beauty.

The film went with a sedan that was like the one used in the 1966 TV show.That was also fine with me because that remains one of the coolest looking vehicles ever created.

Big fan of the TV show;hated the movie & its comedic approach.

[Bud Brewster]

I tried to watch the movie and couldn't even get through it.

The car was nice though. Wikipedia says this about it.
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The production modified 29 Imperial Crown sedans from model years 1964 to 1966 to portray the Green Hornet's luxurious supercar, the Black Beauty. Twenty-six of those cars were wrecked during production and three survived in pristine condition.
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The picture below is in the Wikipedia article, and I'm confused by it. Is this one of the cars that "survived in pristine condition?" or one that was "wrecked".

I'm guessing "wrecked", although "badly damaged" might be a better description.


_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Krel]

I had been waiting since 1986, when the GH movie was announced. When I saw who was involved, I knew it was going to be a disaster. After watching it on the FX channel, I can see that I underestimated the carnage.

Before the GH movie started filming, the production tried desperately to get a car company, any car company to sponsor the Black Beauty. Everyone of them turned them down. That is when they decided to make it look like the tv show. But they had to mess up that too.

You would have thought that the makers of the Lone Ranger movie would have learned from this one. Having your hero be a fool, who only succeeds because of the sidekick was doomed. The tv show did it much better, where they had Kato be the partner to the GH.

Syd Mead's design for C-57-D didn't look like that, it looked more conventional, kind of arrowhead shaped.

David.

[Bud Brewster]

[Bud Brewster]

When the original All Sci-Fi ceased to exist almost two years ago, one of the most elaborate posts I lost was a virtual tour of the Morbius home and a close look at the many decorations that were created by an artist named Sasha Brastoff.

His beautiful works of art are positioned all throughout the Morbius home -- hanging on walls, resting on tables, and positioned in areas such as the atrium and entrances.

What inspired my careful study was a post by Butch concerning a specific decoration by Brastoff that was -- according to an article he'd read -- supposed to be visible in this scene, during Morbius' description of the Bellerophon tragedy.





Butch wondered if this piece shown below was the one referred to in the article, perhaps hanging on the wall just above the edge of the frame. The words "Forbidden Planet" in the lower right corner seemed to suggest that it was used in the film.





I started hunting for a moment in the movie when this wall decor was visible. While doing so I discovered many impressive pieces of artwork in Morbius' house, pieces I'd never looked at closely in all the years I'd been watching Forbidden Planet -- clear back to 1956.

The artist himself is shown here with Anne Francis, examining one of the pieces Brastoff created.





A bit of research on line revealed that this fish sculpture at the front entrance was also one of Brastoff's creations. It's prominently displayed when Adams and his crewmen first arrive.





Moving into the house, I found more works by Brastoff (and other artists whose names I wasn't able to learn). Near the stairway that leads up to the bedrooms I spotted a statue, best seen when Altaira says goodnight to Robby after ordering her new dress.

I thought at first it was the one shown in the photo of Brastoff and Anne Francis, but when I compared that picture to these two below I realized it was not the same one.


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After lunch the four men retire to the living room for the conversation that revealed the fate of Bellerophon and her crew. I started noticing many beautiful decorations placed all around the room that I'd never looked closely at until now.

The table behind Ostrow and Farman contained the piece shown below -- a brass sculpture that resembles flowers, and an abstract piece with a twisted shape.





Behind Adams is a table with more pieces made of brass.





Oddly enough, the camera never manages to catch a glimpse of the wall behind Adams above the frame in that scene. So, I kept looking for the alleged wall decor by Brastoff that Butch read about.

After Altaira comes into the room we get a good look at these two pieces, which are shown lit up in a later scene that takes place at night.





Just before Adams and his crewmen leave the house, a second fish sculpture is visible behind him and Morbius in the scene where they look out at the graveyard.





The next day, when Adams and Ostrow come back to the house, we see Robby placing a group of artificial flowers into a pot of sand, which has replaced the twisted piece of abstract sculpture that was on the table the day before.







Moments later, we get a better look at the brass flowers that were behind Ostrow and Farman the day before.





This picture below shows Anne Francis admiring a complex piece that I learned was also fashioned by Brastoff, and it took me a while to locate it in the house.





It's visible on the right as Adams enters Morbius' study for the first time. I call the piece of furniture in the picture below Morbius' "wet bar", because . . . well, that's what it looks like, complete with two bottles that might contain a few libations.

It also holds a second twisted abstract piece on the far right, behind which is a round wall decoration made of brass.





It has a companion piece on the opposite wall.





After Morbius joins the two men in the study, we get another look at that ornate object on the wet bar, along with one of the star-shaped wall decorations in the background.





The star-shaped decorations light up after dark, as seen here, on the wall near Altaira.









Towards the end of the movie, when Doc is laid on the couch by Robby, I noticed that the artificial flowers in the bowl of sand had been replaced again by the twisted abstract piece (on the far right) seen during the first visit to the house.





And yet despite the fact that I had searched all through the house, I hadn't found the round wall decoration I'd thought might be on the wall behind Adams during the earlier scene in the living room.





It wasn't until I was about to give up that noticed the dark pedestal against the wall to Adam's right. Although I couldn't tell what was atop the pedestal, the shadow on the wall made me realize that it was the statue of the slender human figure that Anne Francis and Sasha Brastoff are looking at in the picture below this one.




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The figure stands on one foot, with the other one raised and the knee bent. The shadow of the bent leg is visible on the wall in the picture above.

So, the mystery was solved. Sasha Brastoff's decoration was indeed visible behind Adams.

But if the round wall decoration that Butch found isn't in the movie, why does it have the film's name on the lower right corner?





I discovered that the piece was actually the work of an artist name Charles Bronson (no relation to the actor). He has a website that displays his work.





Using the contact info at Bronson's website, I sent the artist an email to ask him about the piece. He replied to say that he was a fan of the film, and he had named the piece "Forbidden Planet" because he was inspired by Brastoff's artwork, as well as the magnificent production design of the entire movie.

What a sweet piece of irony.

Even though the wall decoration was not by Brastoff and had not been in the movie, Charles Bronson had created it as a tribute to Forbidden Planet!

It was the perfect conclusion to my search for the missing Brastoff piece and my virtual tour of Morbius's home.
_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Krel]