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Most Twilight Zone fans know that Robby the Robot, the beloved 1950s sci-fi icon who first appeared in the feature film Forbidden Planet, popped up on the show several times throughout its run. Robby’s three appearances on the series were thanks to two factors: The Twilight Zone‘s frequent use of the Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) lot, and Robby’s ongoing use as a prop on which the studio was determined to get its money’s worth.
But Robby’s not the only Forbidden Planet leftover to appear in The Twilight Zone (which airs regularly on SYFY). One Season 4 episode in particular got a hefty dose of help from MGM, giving the series one of its most memorable sci-fi landscapes.
How Forbidden Planet helped shape The Twilight Zone episode “Death Ship”
Written by Richard Matheson and based on his short story of the same name, “Death Ship” aired in February of 1963, and stands today as one of the most chilling full-on space age sci-fi episodes of the show. It concerns the crew of a spaceship (Jack Klugman, Ross Martin, and Fred Beir) who are flying through space on the hunt for a habitable planet to save the residents of an overpopulated Earth.
When they touch down on their latest planet, in a flying saucer-style ship, the explorers find what looks like their own crashed ship, filled with their own dead bodies. The more they try to unravel the mystery, the more they come to realize that they might actually be ghosts, reliving key moments in their lives and unable to prevent their fate.
Matheson’s take on this ghost story on a spaceship is haunting, and it’s made all the more believable by the visual effects, which include the crew’s ship touching down on a desolate planetary landscape. To pull it off, producer Herbert Hirschman turned to the effects wizards on the MGM lot at the time, who put together both matte paintings and a miniature set for the wide shots of the ship.
“I supervised the construction and told them what I wanted,” Hirschman said in Marc Scott Zicree’s The Twilight Zone Companion. “We built a miniature to show the ship landing and taking off. It was on a table with sand and little plants. The ship was suspended from invisible wires. And as the ship was slowing in the descent, I wanted to see the sand billowing up. It was very expensive, but I felt it was essential to the credibility of the show.”
So, MGM created the paintings and the miniature set, but where’d the ship come from? You guessed it: The prop was a leftover from Forbidden Planet still on the MGM lot, giving The Twilight Zone the “Death Ship” it needed.
The Twilight Zone airs regularly on SYFY. Check the Schedule for listings.
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