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 movies and television programs, usually without specific reference to the original film character.

Precursors of the name

The name "Robbie the Robot" (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-foot robot designed by Tom Swift Jr, the boy inventor in the Tom Swift Jr science fiction novel series by Victor Appleton II.

Forbidden Planet

Robby the Robot originated as a character in the 1956 film Forbidden Planet. He is a 7-foot (2.1 m) tall robot whose "mouth" is a monochromatic blue light organ, synchronized to his synthetic voice, its band of curved tubes located directly below his transparent conical "face" dome. He walks on mechanical legs.

The illusion of a real robot was created by a suit operated from inside by an uncredited Frankie Darro; his voice was provided in post-production by actor Marvin Miller. Robby was created by MGM’s prop department; the initial design was sketched by Arnold "Buddy" Gillespie, refined by production illustrator Mentor Huebner, and then turned into reality under the direction of mechanical designer Robert Kinoshita.

Forbidden Planet is about a crew from Earth who land their starship, the C57-D, on the planet Altair IV, ruled by the mysterious Dr. Morbius. Robby is a mechanical servant that Morbius has designed, built, and programmed using knowledge gleaned from his study of the Krell, a long extinct race of highly intelligent beings that once populated Altair IV. The film’s plot has been loosely compared to 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 equatable to Ariel, a spirit enslaved by Prospero.

Robby exhibits artificial intelligence, but has a distinct personality that exhibits a (possibly unintentional) 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 light-weight though 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 as expressed in I, Robot (1950). 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. The robot recognizes that the invisible creature is an alter ego/extension of Dr. Morbius. Hollywood purposely, and misleadingly, depicts Robby in film’s advertising posters as a terrifying adversarial creature carrying a seductively posed unconscious maiden, but no such scene is in the film and doesn't reflect in any way Robby's benevolent and intelligent character. Robby only carries one person during the movie, crewman Dr. Ostro, when he is mortally wounded near the end of the film.

Later appearances

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 My Little Margie, 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, such as the Twilight Zone episode "Uncle Simon" (1962), in which he was given a slightly more human "face." At other times, Robby usually retained the moving parts inside his transparent dome, although the details of his "brain" and chest panel were sometimes altered; in an episode of The Man from U.N.C.L.E., 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 has made few appearances after the 1970s, but he does make a cameo appearance in Gremlins (1984); he can be seen standing in the background and 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.

Fate of the original "Robby" suit

In 1971 the original 1956 Robby the Robot was sold to Jim Brucker and put on display at his Movie World / Cars of the Stars Museum, near Disneyland in Buena Park, California, where he was often vandalized by visitors. Robot historian Fred Barton was commissioned to restore Robby to his original 1956 state while the robot was still on display at the museum. Barton used original duplicate replacement parts made for the Forbidden Planet suit by MGM's prop department. It was, however, in a desperate condition once again several years later. The museum closed its doors in 1980, and Robby, along with his vehicle, original MGM spare parts, and shipping containers were sold to William Malone. Malone noted that Robby had once again fallen into a state of disrepair. Having built the first ever replica of Robby in 1973, Malone was able to carefully restore the robot prop to its original condition using additional spare parts which the original builders had stocked in Robby's stage cases some 25 years earlier. The original Robby the Robot remains in Malone's collection as of 2015.

Replicas

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 manufacturers 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.

Cultural references

The Simpsons episode "Homer's Phobia" (1997) features both a parody of the Forbidden Planet movie poster (entitled Clank, Clank, You're Dead!) and a parody of Robby The Robot that was controlled by a midget. The show parodies Robby the Robot as "Robby the Automaton" in the episode "This Little Wiggy" ("Robby the Automaton" is also unlockable in the Tapped Out mobile game after buying The Knowledgeum) and in the Halloween episode "Treehouse Of Horror VIII", in the segment "Fly vs. Fly", as Floyd the Scrubbing Robot, who unsuccessfully tries to label itself "sold" at Prof. Frink's yard sale.

Thursday of the Disgaea game series (first appearing in 2003's Disgaea: Hour of Darkness) resembles Robby.

The Retro-futuristic video game series Fallout features the Robby-inspired Protectron model of robot ubiquitously throughout the entire series as one of many homages to classic Pulp Magazines and B Movies.

List of appearances

• Forbidden Planet (1956)
• The Invisible Boy (1957)
• The Thin Man (1958) - season 1 episode "Robot Client", first aired 28 February 1958
• The Gale Storm Show (1958) - season 3 episode "Robot from Inner Space", first aired 13 December 1958
• The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (1963) - season 4 episode "Beethoven, Presley, and Me", first aired 13 March 1963
• The Twilight Zone
  • Episode "One for the Angels" (1959; as a tinplate battery operated toy)
  • Episode "The Brain Center at Whipple's" (1963)
  • Episode "Uncle Simon" (1964); a more human-like face is inside the dome for this appearance
• Hazel (1962) - season 2 episode "Rosie's Contract", first aired 27 September 1962
• The Addams Family in the episode "Lurch's Little Helper" aired 18 March 1966
• The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
  • Episode "The Bridge of Lions Affair" (1966)
  • Feature film One of Our Spies Is Missing (1966)
• Lost in Space (1966 and 1967) - in two episodes as two different characters (in "War of the Robots" as a robotoid)
• Ultraseven (1967) - A race of Robots called the 'U-Toms' bear Robby's likeness in one episode.
• The Monkees (1966-1968) - one episode
• The Banana Splits Adventure Hour (1968 and 1970 "The Coronation of Bakaar") - recurring appearance as a maid named "Mildred the Robot"; does not have glass dome
• Columbo: Mind Over Mayhem - as "MM7" (1974)
• Hollywood Boulevard (1976)
• Ark II (1976)
• Holmes & Yo-Yo (1976)
• Music Machine (1977) - a K-tel compilation LP, photographs featured on both the front and back of the cover. In the commercial for the LP, Robby dances to some of the album's songs.
• Project U.F.O. (1978) - season 1 episode "Sighting 4010: The Waterford Incident". Here, the costume has a different, rounder head with a giant eye, and assorted add-ons to the legs.
• Television commercial for Starlog Magazine (1978)
• The New Adventures of Wonder Woman (1979) - season 3 episode "Spaced Out", as the master of ceremonies at a science fiction convention
• Mork & Mindy (1979) - season 2 episode "Dr. Morkenstein", as a robot named Chuck, in a museum, who becomes friends with Mork.
• Space Academy (1979) - episode "My Favorite Marcia". This program used the costume variation seen on Project U.F.O..
• Pink Lady (1980) - Episode 5, a brief cameo.
• Heavy Metal (1981) - cameo as a hot dog vendor during the "Harry Canyon" segment.
• Charmin Television commercial (1981) - as an assistant to Mr. Whipple, named Squeezak, repeating the phrase "Don't squeeze Charmin".
• Night Stalker video game (1982) - featured in the print advertising for the Mattel video game for the IBM and Mac
• The Love Boat - episode "Programmed for Love"
• Gremlins (1984) - in the background during the inventors' convention scenes
• Cherry 2000 (1987)
• Earth Girls Are Easy (1988) - during a dream sequence
• Star Kid (1998) - footage from Lost in Space featuring Robby is shown on a TV
• Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003)
• Stacked (2005) - as the Nightmare NASA Robot
• Television commercial for AT&T (2006) - with WOPR, KITT, and Rosie the Robot Maid
• Television commercial for General Electric (2012) - with KITT and other robots
• Season 8 Episode 2 of The Big Bang Theory (2014) - with other movie props

[ Source: Wikipedia ]