Робби-робот: История культового персонажа научной фантастики

Fictional film and television character

Robby the Robot is a fictional character and science fiction icon who first appeared in the 1956 film Forbidden Planet. He made a number of subsequent appearances in science fiction films and television programs, which has given him the distinction as "the hardest working robot in Hollywood".

The name "Robbie" (spelled with an "ie") had appeared in science fiction before Forbidden Planet. In a pulp magazine adventure The Fantastic Island (1935), the name is used for a mechanical likeness of Doc Savage used to confuse foes. The name is also used in Isaac Asimov's short story "Robbie" (1940) about a first generation robot designed to care for children. In Tom Swift on The Phantom Satellite (1956), it is also the name given to a small four footed robot designed by Tom Swift Jr., the boy inventor in the Tom Swift Jr. science fiction novel series by Victor Appleton II.

Robby the Robot originated as a supporting character in the 1956 MGM science fiction film Forbidden Planet. The film's storyline centers on a crew of Earth explorers who land their starship, the C57 D, on the planet Altair IV, inhabited by the mysterious human Dr. Morbius and his daughter Altaira who was born there. Robby is a mechanical servant that Morbius has designed, built, and programmed using knowledge gleaned from his study of the ancient Krell, a long extinct race of highly intelligent beings that once populated Altair IV. The film’s plot is loosely based on William Shakespeare’s play The Tempest (1610), with the planet Altair IV standing in for Shakespeare’s remote island and Dr. Morbius for Prospero. In this context Robby is analogous to Ariel, a spirit enslaved by Prospero. Robby exhibits artificial intelligence, but has a distinct personality that at times exhibits a dry wit. He is instructed by Morbius to be helpful to the Earthmen and does so by synthesizing and transporting to their landing site 10 tons of "isotope 217", a lightweight though still effective replacement for the requested lead shielding needed to house the C57 D’s main stardrive to power an attempt to contact Earth base for further instructions. Morbius programmed Robby to obey a system of rules similar to Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics One of the laws is a rule against harming or killing humans. This becomes an important plot point near the conclusion of the film when Robby refuses to kill the Id monster; he recognizes the invisible creature to be an alter ego/avatar of Dr. Morbius. Hollywood purposely, and misleadingly, depicts Robby in the film’s advertising posters as a terrifying adversarial creature carrying a seductively posed unconscious maiden (Altaira), but no such scene is in the film and the images do not reflect in any way Robby's benevolent and intelligent character. Robby only carries one person during the film, the Earth starship's Dr. Ostrow, when he is mortally wounded near the end of the film.

The robot quickly became a science fiction icon in the decades that followed and was reused or recreated in multiple TV shows. Robby was reused by MGM in The Invisible Boy (1957) and then made several further appearances in other films and TV shows during the next few decades; these include episodes of The Gale Storm Show, The Thin Man, Columbo, The Addams Family, and Lost in Space where he battles The Robot. While Robby's appearance was generally consistent, there were exceptions. The original Rod Serling incarnation of The Twilight Zone, which was substantially filmed at MGM Studios, made extensive use of props and costumes originally created for Forbidden Planet, including Robby, who appeared in three episodes over the series' original run: "One for the Angels" (s01e02, 1959), "Uncle Simon" (s05e08, 1963) and "The Brain Center at Whipple's" (s05e33, 1964). In "Uncle Simon" (1963), Robby's appearance was considerably altered, combining the familiar body with an alternative head piece. According to Robby's past owner, director William Malone, the head used in this episode was a prototype created during Robby's original construction at MGM. It featured a highly simplified and rather old fashioned cylindrical "oil can" robot head with stylized "eyes" (that were illuminated and movable) and a circular "mouth"; this was enclosed under the distinctively shaped conical plexiglass dome, but this head's front grille also did not have the blue neon tubes and lacked the rotating external "ear" pieces seen in Forbidden Planet. It is not known whether this internal "oil can" head was original, but its rather rudimentary design and appearance is clearly not of the same exacting MGM standards that are evident in all other Forbidden Planet props, and suggests it may have been custom made for the filming of this Twilight Zone episode. However, this version of the prop survives and was also owned until recently by William Malone. In other appearances, Robby usually retained the moving parts inside his transparent dome, although the details of his "brain" and chest panel were sometimes altered; in The Man from U. N. C. L. E. episode "The Bridge of Lions Affair", only Robby's head dome was used as part of a regeneration machine. Robby also appeared in the Mork & Mindy second season episode "Dr. Morkenstein", this time representing a character called Chuck (voiced by actor Roddy McDowall) whom Mork befriends while working as a security guard in the science museum where Chuck is on display. Robby was given a major makeover for his appearance in the TV series Project U. F. O. (1978). The original head was removed and replaced with a newly constructed "cyclops" head that had new internal "brain" fittings, a much squatter (roughly hemispherical) perspex dome, and a large circular glowing green "eye" on the front, mounted in a protruding triangular panel. The front panel on Robby's torso was also modified with the addition of a new protruding panel, and additional appliances and cables were added to the front of both legs. This "cyclops" version of Robby was also used in the 1977 TV series Space Academy and the 1988 B movie Phantom Empire. All appearances of Robby after 1971 used a replica, as the original was retired and put on display in a southern California car museum (see below). Robby made few appearances after the 1970s, but he does have a cameo in the film Gremlins (1984); he can be seen standing in the background speaking some of his trademark lines. He was also featured in a 2006 commercial for AT&T. Robby the Robot was inducted into the Robot Hall of Fame in 2004. The original Robby the Robot remained in Malone's original Forbidden Planet props collection for many years, until finally being sold by Bonhams Auctioneers in New York on November 21, 2017, for $5375000. Robby became the most expensive film prop ever sold at auction.

Fred Barton built a second Robby replica which appeared at the 1974 Star Trek Convention in Los Angeles. Barton continues to produce Robby props and other 1:1 robot replicas. His recreations are currently on display at the Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle, Washington, and at the Metreon entertainment complex in San Francisco; other Robby replicas are on display in various venues. Full sized, remote controlled Barton robot props are available from Hammacher Schlemmer or ordered directly on line from Fred Barton Productions; the company manufactures various 1:1 film and TV robot reproductions under license, aimed at the growing science fiction film collectors' market. Robby has also become a popular subject of collector tin toy and plastic robot reproductions and model kits. A replica or variant of Robby is on display at the National Atomic Testing Museum in Las Vegas as a sci fi pop culture artifact from the 1950s.