I was ruminating the other day on rumours and innuendo of a possible re-make of Forbidden Planet. (Most such rumors posit a sequel, not a re-make.)
Then I got to thinking about how someone might take a fresh approach to Forbidden Planet. A nearby figurine of Captain Kirk must have influenced me because my next thought was
- Forbidden Planet was Star Trek
- Trek had the mirror universe
- How about a mirror universe Forbidden Planet?
Yeah. Why not?
I’ll tell you why not. Because it has already been done.
Let’s briefly review what happens during Forbidden Planet.
The “United Planets”, an Earth Federation, sends a mission to a distant colony it has lost touch with.
A handful of survivors have discovered an alien technology.
The alien technology almost destroys the colony and the mission sent to investigate.
The alien technology is destroyed.
And lets review Trek’s Mirror, Mirror universe:
A technological breakdown sends some of the crew into an alternate universe
Instead of a Federation, there is an Empire
Instead of logic and reason, fear, intimidation and manipulation
Technology serves evil ends, but is nevertheless used to set things right
What would a mirror universe version of the United Planets do upon discovering Dr. Morbius and his Krell revelations?
Seek to control the Krell technology, that’s what. If Morbius refused to pass along the info, evil Captain Leslie Nielsen (!) would threaten to put Altaira into the Agonizer Booth, right? Kirk’s stand-in would “reason” with Robbie until the poor thing had a meltdown! (Season 2, Episode 8)
Now lets look at what happens in Aliens:
The “Colonial Marines” (Marines are, more often than not, representative of less than democratic forms of interstellar government) are sent to investigate a distant colony they’ve lost touch with. *
A handful of survivors harbor aliens**
The corporation behind the colony and the marines wants the aliens because of the possible technological advances they might offer***
The aliens almost destroy the mission
The aliens (technology) are destroyed
As previously mentioned, a mirror universe version of Forbidden Planet has already been made.
Maybe its high time that Weyland-Yutani actually managed to get one of this aliens back to Earth.
For those who want to quibble:
*While it appears that the future retains some form of democracy, it is also pretty clear that megacorps have a very high degree of autonomy as well.
** Well…the aliens are actually harboring colonists but….
***Carter Burke sure is a dick, huh?
So, as you can see, we’re already pretty much had the “Mirror Universe Forbidden Planet” story up on screen (and very successful to boot).
Where else could they go with this (that would not make lots and lots of people like me very, very angry)?
***
Reports on the net had Straczynski’s re-write (since scrapped) starting with an alien message received on Earth (Alien – an Earth ship, not Earth), building the Belleraphon, visiting Altair IV, meeting a robot named RBI (why would aliens use the English language for an acronym?) and….
generally undermining the entire idea that the Krell have been gone for millions of years.
Which to me is a central and all important aspect of the story. Change that and give the damned thing a different title, please, because the above is NOT the story of Forbidden Planet.
Where else do you go?
How about this? Altair IV was not the Krell homeworld…. (and a Krell mission to their long-lost colony on Altair IV mistakenly believes that Morbius (and therefore all humans) are responsible for the loss of the colony.
BTW. Krell space warships are 20 miles square and 7,800 levels high.
Borg, anyone? 
