What It's About:

In the 23rd century, Commander J.J. Adams (Nielsen) travels with his crew to the distant world of Altair-4, searching for a long-lost expedition. Once there, they find survivor Dr. Mobius (Walter Pidgeon), who has created an idyllic world for himself and his comely daughter Altaira (Anne Francis) on the planet, equipped with scientific technology—like android helpmate Robby the Robot—that far exceeds anything to be found on Earth. But what happened to the rest of the original crew remains a mystery ...

Why I Love It:

Famed as much for its original electronic-music score as for its highly imaginative, dystopian vision of the future, Wilcox’s stunningly re-mastered sci-fi adventure might be most fondly remembered (at least by the pre-Internet TV generation) for introducing us to Robby, the giant robot featured on those indelible, now-iconic movie posters. Modeled in part on Shakespeare’s Tempest, “Planet” explores techno hubris and the aspiration for divinity in the context of atomic-age anxiety. MGM’s first big-budget outer-space fantasy also laid the groundwork for Star Trek. Here we also get an early glimpse of Leslie Nielsen, long before he’d made a career of cracking wise.