Z_KinoMittwoch. Fred McLeod Wilcox: Alarm im Weltall [Forbidden Planet]

Setting its current film series apart from the mainstream through selected cultural and scientifc themes, ZKM has been showing weekly cinematic projects whose focus is the interface between art and science. In October, the series continues with its previous cycle »Wissenschaft« [Science], appropriate in a time where issues of scientific instrumentalization and misuse has come to the fore.

Shakespeare has influenced uncountable modern tales, and the genre of science fiction is no exception. The script for the 1956 thriller »Forbidden Planet« [Fred McLeod Wilcox, 98 Min.] was said to be inspired by the Bard's »Tempest«. But instead of a shipwrecked wooden vessel, we have the 2200 A.D. Earth ship C-57-D and an American astronaut trying to contact Professor Morbius Walter [who, of course, happens to have a beautiful daughter] on planet Altair II. Add aliens, robots, and a subterranean city and you get a Sci-Fi classic well worth the viewing.