Robby the Robot. He’s probably the only robot who has his own “Actor” page in the Internet Movie Database. In the history of robots he is probably the most significant and the most game-changing robot of all time. In the world of science fiction, few came before who achieved such fame, but many would follow. Most who created the robots that came after–call them droids, androids and variants like fembots or even cyborgs, like the Terminator T-800, Cylons, and Cybermen, R2-D2 and C-3PO, and K-2So and BB-8–all can point back to Robby as inspiration and a critical step in the evolution of robots in cinema. Robby would become a household name as a co-star and the focus of publicity for Forbidden Planet in 1956 (the classic sci-fi take on William Shakespeare’s The Tempest), and would go on to have guest appearances along with B-9 in Lost in Space, two episodes of The Twilight Zone, and all sorts of classic TV appearances (The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Hazel, Dobie Gillis, The Addams Family, Columbo, Wonder Woman, The Love Boat, Mork & Mindy), and later he can even be spotted in the movies Gremlins and Clueless.
As pop culture is concerned, there is likely no single, intact, tangible piece of entertainment memorabilia in science fiction that compares to the robot prop itself, which doubled as a costume worn by Frankie Darrow and voiced by Marvin Miller. The word “iconic” was created for the likes of Robby the Robot. So no wonder our heads began to spin when it became public this month that the actual robot from the groundbreaking science fiction film Forbidden Planet was going to hit the auction block this year. And unlike most auctions of original, screen-used, Hollywood memorabilia, Robby the Robot is being sold with a host of original materials used with the Robot throughout his incredible run, and from the auction photos it appears his light-up electronics are still functional.
Bonhams is the lucky auction house that will sell off Robby later this year, presented by Turner Classic Movies. The auction house posted preview images from its catalog (expected to be available sometime in October) and it’s clear each accompanying production item in the photos could have been auctioned off separately in its own right. All we know so far is the listing itself and photos, with no idea of the auction estimate or any other details that may be released, including its provenance: “Robby the Robot from Forbidden Planet, together with Robby’s car, his alternative head, his control panel, and original MGM packing cases. Also 2 rings for his head, 2 additional arms with pinschers, a stand, a harness, another part for the stand.”
. And although the Syfy Channel continues to look outside the boundaries of Syfy for new TV dramas and reality series, this 256-page, full-color, coffee table hardcover is out to remind everyone why we like the Syfy Channel in the first place. And better yet, when you’ve run out of the obvious to watch on TV or stream on Netflix, you can use the book as a guide to catch up on the obscure and the overlooked.
should be required reading. Not only is it a comprehensive work about the history and craft of special effects, it is a detailed account of the history and progress of film, and could serve as a college textbook to a master class in film technique. And it is also a history of science and technology in its own right.
and via Netflix on DVD and two episodes per day are airing Mondays through Thursdays on the FamilyNet HD cable channel. The series has never before been seen in such clarity and color and the HD channel appears to be showing the episodes in their original uncut versions.
, a classic adventure novel (and one of the better Walt Disney adaptations, called 
). It also was a good Gold Key comic book–the first incarnation of the idea. Take the same story and drop it in the future and an entertaining series was born. Lost in Space consists of 82 episodes and aired from 1965 to 1968, with season one in black and white. The science looks good because it reflected some forward thinking by NASA at the time, including great spacesuits and realistic spacewalks made well before the C-131 Samaritan zero G jet was used to mimic weightlessness by Hollywood as used in Ron Howard’s Apollo 13.
