In the final decade
of the 21st century...
...men and women in rocket ships
landed on the moon.
By 2200 A.D., they had reached
the other planets of our solar system.
Almost at once there followed
the discovery of hyperdrive...
...through which the speed of light
was first attained...
...and later greatly surpassed.
And so at last mankind
began the conquest...
...and colonization of deep space.
United Planets Cruiser C-57D...
...now more than a year out
from Earth base...
...on a special mission
to the planetary system...
...of the great
main-sequence star Altair.
- When do we get a D.C. Fix, Jerry?
- Half a minute, skipper.
Ship on course, sir.
We'll reach D.C. Point at 17:01.
That's less than three minutes now.
- All right. Take it away.
- Aye, aye, sir.
Chief, we'll drop below light speed
in about three minutes.
- Got your breakable gear stowed?
- Aye, sir.
All right. Good.
D.C. Set and punched on, skipper.
All right, attention.
Captain to crew.
All hands squared away to decelerate.
Ship's beeper will as usual
sound 10 times after lights dim.
- Come on, Doc. D.C., Bosun.
- Aye, aye, sir.
D.C. Stations.
On the double.
Wanna bounce through this one?
All right. We're down
to 0.3896 of light speed.
Warm in here, skipper.
Yeah.
Jerry, you...
There's Altair right on the nose, skipper.
Meanwhile this ship arranges
its own eclipses.
Okay, Jerry,
punch out an orbit on the fourth planet.
Aye, aye, skipper.
Ship in approach, skipper.
Helical vector oriented.
Attention.
Captain to crew, attention.
Our destination, Altair-4,
is now visible on the main view plate.
As you recollect from your briefing
lectures, this is an Earth-type planet.
Twenty years ago
the spacecraft Belerephon landed here...
...with a prospecting party of scientists.
Our mission is to search for survivors.
That is all.
The Lord sure makes
some beautiful worlds.
How do these continents
check with the old charts?
Itll tell you better in a little while,
skipper. Time for brakes.
Okay, take it away.
Astrogator to crew.
Stand by to change flux.
Another one of them new worlds.
No beer, no women, no pool parlors.
Nothing.
Nothing to do but throw rocks at cans,
and we gotta bring our own tin cans.
Attention. Captain to crew.
Now, hear this.
We are now entering
the atmosphere of Altair-4.
No survival suits
will be required upon landing.
Oxygen content: 4.7 richer
than Earth standard.
Gravity only 0.897.
Adjust your equipment accordingly.
That is all.
All hands, check equipment.
Not even any
short-range radio signals yet?
Not so far, sir.
Jerry, can you make out
anything down there?
I may be missing
some individual structures...
...but there are no cities, ports,
roads, bridges, dams.
There's just no sign
of civilization at all.
Sir, we're being radar-scanned.
- Can you zero on it?
- No, sir...
...but it seems to emanate
from an area of about 20 miles square.
- Twenty miles square?
- Yes, sir.
- Bosun, flash the alert.
- Aye, aye, sir.
Combat stations,
blaster men, activate your scopes.
Radio contact, sir.
There's a voice here.
- Human?
- Yes, sir. Sounds like it.
Boost it.
Spaceship, identify yourself.
You're being tracked.
Cut me in, Quinn.
United Planets Cruiser C-57D,
J.J. Adams commanding.
- Who are you?
- Morbius of the Belerephon.
- Who?
- Edward Morbius.
Yeah, here it is.
Morbius, E. Ph.D., Lit. D...
...expedition philologist.
- Philologist?
What do you wish here, cruiser?
Well, you don't understand, sir.
We're your relief.
- We're very glad to find you alive.
- I, of course, appreciate your concern.
But absolutely no assistance
of any sort is required.
Oh, the red-carpet treatment, huh?
Dr. Morbius, my orders are to survey
the situation on Altair-4.
Let me repeat.
I'm in no sort of difficulty here.
Your best procedure will be
to turn back at once without landing.
- Sorry, sir?
- Lf you set down on this planet...
...I warn you that I cannot be answerable
for the safety of your ship or your crew.
If you'll just supply me
with landing coordinates.
Dr. Morbius,
I require landing coordinates.
Very well, but I wash my hands
of all responsibility.
- You have standard charts?
- Yes, sir.
You may come in at 83- 17-4 North...
...148-21 West.
Thank you.
It's right back there in the desert.
Commander,
I strongly urge you to reconsider.
Please permit me to recommend...
Something funny down there, skipper.
- Okay, Jerry, I'll take her in.
- Aye, sir.
Attention. Captain to crew,
stand by to reverse polarity.
Standard class-A security
will be maintained upon landing.
And until further notice,
all hands will wear side arms.
That is all.
- Artificial gravity off.
- Grav off.
- Half flux.
- Half flux.
- Cut primary coils.
- Primaries cut, sir.
All clear, sir.
Look at the color of that sky.
- Yeah, but I'll still take blue.
- I don't know.
I think a man could get used to this
and grow to love it.
- Bosun.
- Aye, sir.
- You can assemble a tractor.
- Aye, sir.
Better check
the command mike, skipper.
- The command mike, sir.
- Oh, yeah. Good idea. Chief.
- Sir?
- You're in command now, Quinn.
- You keep right at those instruments.
- Aye, aye, sir.
Hey, what's this dust coming?
Looks like we're being met.
- Bosun.
- Aye, aye, sir.
- Hold the tractor.
- Aye, aye, sir.
- Quite a vehicle, huh?
- That driver must be a madman.
What driver?
Welcome to Altair-4, gentlemen.
I am to transport you
to the residence.
If you do not speak English...
...I am at your disposal
with 187 other languages...
...along with their various dialects
and sub-tongues.
Colloquial English will do fine,
thank you.
This is no offense,
but you are a robot, aren't you?
That is correct, sir.
For your convenience, I am monitored
to respond to the name "Robby."
Nice climate you have here.
High oxygen content.
I rarely use it myself, sir.
It promotes rust.
Hey, Doc, is it a...?
Is it a male or a female?
In my case, sir, the question
is totally without meaning.
Will you get in, gentlemen.
Quinn.
Track this if I blink red.
- I'll bring the tractor in a hurry, sir.
- Right.
Passengers will please
fasten their seat belts.
Looks after us like a mother.
If you gentlemen will go in,
you're expected.
- I am Morbius.
- I'm Commander Adams.
This is Lieutenant Farman,
my executive...
...and Lieutenant Ostrow,
our ship's doctor.
How ironic that a simple scholar
with no ambition...
...beyond a modest measure
of seclusion should, out of a clear sky...
...find himself besieged by an army
of fellow creatures...
...all grimly determined
to be of service to him.
I'm sorry, sir, if we're not welcome,
but we do have our orders.
You must stay for lunch,
gentlemen.
And do forgive the ill manners
of an old recluse. Won't you come in.
Whatever that lunch was,
it was certainly delicious.
Simply some of Robby's synthetics.
- He's your cook too?
- Even manufactures the raw materials.
Come round here, Robby.
I'll show you how this works.
One introduces a sample of human food
through this aperture.
Down here there's a small built-in
chemical laboratory where he analyzes it.
Later he can reproduce identical
molecules in... In any shape or quantity.
Why, it's a housewife's dream.
Plus absolute, selfless obedience.
Activate the disposal unit.
A household disintegrator beam.
Put your arm in there.
Order canceled.
Don't attribute feelings to him,
gentlemen.
Robby is simply a tool.
Tremendously strong, of course.
He could quite easily topple
this house off its foundation.
Well, in the wrong hands, mightn't
such a tool become a deadly weapon?
No, doctor, not even though I were
the mad scientist of the tape thrillers...
...because, you see, there happens
to be a built-in safety factor.
Commander, may I borrow that
formidable-looking side arm of yours?
Thank you.
Robby, point this thing at that
Althaea frutex out there on the terrace.
Fire.
- Do you understand the mechanism?
- Yes, Morbius.
A simple blaster.
All right.
Now, turn around here.
Point it at the commander.
Aim right between the eyes.
Fire.
You see, he's helpless.
Locked in a sub-electronic dilemma
between my direct orders...
...and his basic inhibitions
against harming rational beings.
Cancel.
If I were to allow that to continue...
...he would blow every circuit
in his body.
Doctor, how did you come by
such a mechanism?
I didn't come by him, doctor,
I tinkered him together...
...during my first months up here.
- Coffee is ready, sir.
Gentlemen.
- Doctor, do you mean that you made this...?
- Gentlemen.
A useful enough toy, lieutenant...
...but nowadays, I have no time
for such things.
Dr. Morbius...
...you're a philologist...
...an expert in words and languages,
their origins and meanings.
Yet this robot of yours
is beyond the combined resources...
...of all Earth's physical science.
My dear commander, maybe you
overestimate both Robby and myself.
Gentlemen, let me show you
another bit of parlor magic.
Forgive me, I didn't mean
to alarm you, gentlemen.
I had Robby install
the steel shutters before I realized...
...how altogether safe I am here.
Well, gentlemen,
this has been very pleasant.
You've seen how comfortable
I am here, no hardships...
...no special difficulties...
...and no need
at all for military assistance.
Now, I dare say you're impatient
to get back to base.
Yes, sir, the moment we've interviewed
the other members...
...of the Belerephon party.
Others?
But there are no others, commander.
Before the first year was out,
they had all, every man and woman...
...succumbed to a...
To a sort of a planetary force here.
Some dark, terrible,
incomprehensible force.
Only my wife and I were immune.
And just how do you account
for your immunity, Dr. Morbius?
My wife and I differed from the others
only in our love for this new world.
In our boundless longing
to make a home here...
...far from the scurry and strife
of humankind.
I remember how when the vote
was taken to return to Earth...
...she and I were utterly heartbroken.
How could we have foreseen
the extinction...
...of so many coworkers and friends.
Skipper, there is no record of any wife
in the Belerephon rolls.
Oh, lieutenant,
look under biochemistry.
Julia Marsin. She and I were married
by the skipper on the voyage here.
I have the certificate.
I thought Robby had managed
some very charming feminine touches.
I take it Mrs. Morbius
isn't at home today?
My dear wife died a few months
after the others.
Only in her case
it was of natural causes.
I'm very sorry.
Dr. Morbius, just what were
the symptoms of all those other deaths?
- The unnatural ones, I mean.
- The symptoms were striking.
One by one, in spite of every safeguard,
my coworkers were torn...
...literally limb from limb.
- By what?
By some devilish thing
that never showed itself.
- And the Belerephon?
- Vaporized...
...as the three remaining survivors
tried to take her off.
And yet in all these 19 years...
...you personally have never again
been bothered by this planetary force?
Only in nightmares of those times.
And yet, always in my mind,
I seem to feel the creature...
...is lurking somewhere close at hand.
Sly and irresistible.
And only waiting
to be reinvoked for murder.
Father.
Alta.
Alta, I specifically asked you
not to join us for lunch.
But, Father, lunch is over.
I'm sure you never said a word
about not coming in for coffee.
Well, did you or did you?
This is Commander Adams,
Dr. Ostrow and Lieutenant Farman.
- My daughter.
- How do you do?
I've always so terribly wanted to meet
a young man and now three at once.
- That's very kind of you.
- You're lovely, doctor.
Of course, the two end ones
are unbelievable.
Could this end one
get you some coffee?
Oh, I'm quite able to get it.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Of course, you must make allowances
for my daughter, gentlemen.
She's never known
any human being except her father.
I hope you'll make allowances too, sir.
We young men have been shut up
in hyperspace for well over a year now...
...and right from here,
the view looks just like heaven.
Sugar?
But you keep helping me.
After all, you're not Robby.
I wouldn't mind being Robby
in certain ways.
That's only in certain ways, of course.
I can see that was probably very clever,
but I don't seem to understand it.
Well, there's...
There's no rush.
Yes, I suppose one day I shall be obliged
to make the trip to Earth with her...
...for the sake
of her natural development.
I should say fairly soon too.
Your father wasn't too happy
at first about your meeting us, was he?
Well, naturally not.
You're from Earth.
- Well, what's wrong with Earth?
- How lucky I am, though.
All three of you
are such very fine exceptions.
- Well, you are exceptions, aren't you?
- Oh, sure, sure.
Well, that is, I am anyway.
Old dependable Jerry.
Of course the doc
can be trusted too, in the daytime.
What about the commander?
Well, I hate to tell you this, Alta...
...but that man is notorious
throughout seven planetary systems.
Oh, dear.
What does he do?
Well, l... I don't feel free to discuss
the shortcomings of a fellow officer...
...but any girl or woman
who lets him get her alone, anywhere...
Yes.
Yes, I can see it now.
There.
Just then when he looked at me.
Why, his eyes almost had fire in them.
I'm so glad you don't have
any fire in your eyes, lieutenant.
Well, I'm not that harmless.
- Alta.
- Yes, Father.
These gentlemen have expressed
a very kindly concern...
...over the amount of liberty you have.
- Liberty?
I've explained that you have permission
to visit Earth whenever you choose.
Earth? I?
Then my little girl
never feels lonely or confined?
Why, I don't know.
I have you and Robby and all my friends.
Friends?
Yes.
- Perhaps you better call them, my dear.
- All right.
Come, gentlemen.
Felt something go right
through my head.
Alta's whistle is above the pitch
of human hearing.
I often feel it myself.
- What's up?
- Look.
No, no.
No, no, watch.
He's as tame as a kitten.
Outside of the range of my daughter's
influence, it's still a deadly wild beast.
Just a routine checkup from the ship.
- What, chief?
- Everything okay, commander?
- No problem.
- Would you mind activating the viewer?
Okay.
As you can see, we're under
no restraint whatsoever.
Knock that off, Quinn.
If I can be of any help to you in your
preparations for the homeward voyage...
Thank you, sir,
but unfortunately...
...circumstances may keep us here
for a while.
- Circumstances?
- You see, my orders don't quite seem...
...to cover the Belerephon fatalities. I...
I'm forced now to contact base
for new instructions.
But, commander,
suppose these new instructions...
...require my return to Earth
for questioning.
Two years or more
away from my work here.
Tell me, just what is involved
in your making contact with Earth base?
Well, fundamentally, it's a question
of crude power.
How to short-circuit the continuum
on a five- or six-parsec level.
Of course, a transmitter of that sort
isn't exactly standard equipment.
To build one, we'd have
to cannibalize about two-thirds...
...of a ship's electronic gear, and then
unship the main drive to juice it.
Just to construct a bunker to house
a core would take about 10 days.
Disabled here for 10 days and nights?
Tell me, would 2-inch
lead shielding do as well?
It'd be better if we were carrying
I'll have Robby run it off for you...
...and you'll get it
not later than tomorrow noon.
That's very obliging of you, sir.
Obliging?
Look out there, commander.
The Belerephon party.
Nineteen years ago I dug those graves
with my own hands.
And I have, believe me, no wish
to repeat that experience.
Well, we'll see you again soon,
Alta, I hope.
- Thank you, doctor.
- Bye.
Excellent lunch, doctor.
To tell the truth,
I sometimes still miss...
...the conversation of such gentlemen
as yourself, doctor.
Well, thank you for your courtesy
and concern, sir.
Fasten your seat belts, gentlemen.
Easy with this core. Our M.G. Coils
won't take us home without it.
Come on, Cookie, get out of the way.
You wanna get run over?
Handle it gently.
It has to get us home.
Hey, you think it's far enough away
from the ship?
Sure, no interference there.
- Well, what about the magnetic puller?
- Bosun...
...just drop the thing down over there.
- Aye, aye, sir.
Where do you wish
the shielding stacked, sir?
Well, you can just put it right over there
by the core, thank you.
Wait a minute.
That's solid lead he's carrying.
Common lead would have crushed
the vehicle, sir.
This is my morning's run
of isotope 217.
The whole thing hardly comes
to 10 tons.
- Hello, Alta.
- Hi.
Does your father know you're here?
He did tell me
not to go near the ship.
After all, this isn't very near.
- All right, Cookie, out of here.
- Aye, aye, sir. Yes... Yes, sir.
Commander! Put me down, sir!
- Commander. Commander.
- What is it, chief?
If you'd like to check my assembly...
...for the monitor unit
of the klystron transmitter...
- What, already?
- Yes, sir.
Excellent.
Aren't...? Aren't these condensers
out of my accelerator circuits?
Yes, sir. And I borrowed some solenoids
from your gyrostabilizers too.
But here's the big deal, sir. I'll bet
any quantum mechanic in the service...
...would give his life for a chance
to fool around with this.
Better get this in by dark.
Won't do any good...
...to have some fool fall over it
before we transmit tomorrow.
- Good work, Quinn.
- Thank you, sir.
Come here.
Over here.
Can I be of service, sir?
Look, never mind the "sir," mister,
but I'm a stranger on this planet.
I was wondering if...
If you could tell me where I could...
A guy could get a hold
of some of the real stuff.
- Real stuff?
- For cooking purposes, you understand.
I take a big pride in my duties.
Pardon me, sir. Stuff?
Just about one jolt left.
Oh, genuine ancient rocket bourbon.
See here. Hey. Gi...
Why, you low-living contraption.
I ought to take a can opener to you.
Quiet, please.
I am analyzing.
Yes, relatively simple alcohol molecules
with traces of fusel oil.
Would 60 gallons be sufficient?
Gallons?
I've been from here to there
in this galaxy, and I want you to know...
...you're the most understanding soul
I ever met up with.
It's nothing really personal.
It's just a kiss.
But why should people
wanna kiss each other?
Oh, it's an old custom.
All of the really high civilizations
go in for it.
- But it's so silly.
- But it's good for you, though.
It stimulates the whole system.
As a matter of fact, you can't be
in tiptop health without it.
Really?
I didn't know that.
I'd be only too happy to show you.
Well, thank you very much, lieutenant.
No trouble at all.
Is that all there is to it?
Well, you... You've sort of
got to stick with it.
- Just once more. Do you mind?
- Oh, not at all.
There must be something seriously
the matter with me...
...because, honestly, I haven't noticed
the least bit of stimulation.
Honey, let's do this thing right.
Now, here.
Are you giving me the treatment?
Are you?
- Lieutenant Farman.
- Don't say a word, sir. L...
I know there are a lot of pressing duties
waiting for me back at the ship.
And rank does have
its little privileges, sir.
And you can depend on it that...
...those privileges won't be stretched
into taking your kind of advantages.
- Oh, but l...
- Dismissed.
What's the matter with him?
Why did he leave?
- Why did you both act so funny?
- Well, what do you expect?
Well, don't you understand, Alta?
No? Well, look at yourself.
You can't run around like that
in front of men.
Particularly not a space wolf
like Farman.
So for Pete's sake go home
and put on something that'll...
Anything.
What's wrong with my clothes?
I designed them myself.
Stop looking at me that way.
I don't think I like it.
What do you mean?
We were just trying to get
a little healthy stimulation...
...from hugging and kissing,
that's all.
Oh, that's all.
It's so easy for you, isn't it?
There's no feelings, no emotions, you...
Nothing human
would ever enter your mind.
Well, it so happens that I'm in command
of 18 competitively selected...
...super-perfect physical specimens
with an average age of 24.6...
...who have been locked up
in hyperspace for 378 days.
It would have served you right
if I hadn't of... And... And he...
Get out of here before I have
you run out of the area under guard.
And then I'll put more guards
on the guards.
"And then I'll put more guards
on the guards."
I don't like him.
I just don't like him.
The way he kept looking at me.
Then he shouted.
- What about?
- I don't know. I don't know, really.
It... It was awful.
I was only trying to be nice
about kissing the lieutenant.
- How did the commander react to that?
- Well, he was furious.
He thinks all that about biology
had something to do with me.
Personally, I mean.
Never been so nervous in all my life.
And I hope I don't see him again
if I live to be 400 million.
Well, I dare say you won't have to.
I think the best thing you can do
is go to bed.
I still have some work to do
in my study.
- Good night, my dear.
- Good night.
Where have you been?
I've beamed and beamed.
Sorry, miss,
I was giving myself an oil job.
And what is it you require
this time, Miss Alta?
Robby, I must have a new dress.
Right away.
- Again?
- Oh, but this one must be different.
Absolutely nothing must show,
below, above or through.
- Radiation-proof?
- No, just eye-proof will do.
- Thick and heavy?
- Oh, no. No, Robby.
It must be the loveliest, softest thing
you've ever made for me.
And fit in all the right places
with lots and lots of star sapphires.
Star sapphires take a week
to crystallize properly.
- Would diamonds or emeralds do?
- Well, if they're large enough.
Five, 10, and 15 carats,
and on hand.
I will run the dress up for you
in time for breakfast.
- Sleep well, miss.
- Thank you, Robby.
I don't really care now
whether I do or not.
Funny to see two moons
in the sky, isn't it?
- Funny how quick a guy gets used to it.
- Yeah.
- Joe.
- What?
- Do you hear something?
- Like what?
Like a sort of big breathing.
No.
That's funny, I did.
Strong and Grey, last night,
during your watch...
...this ship was entered and valuable
government property was sabotaged.
Now, the two of you claim
to have been at your posts and awake.
Yet the ship was entered, the heavy-duty
hatch was raised and latched back.
And neither of you
saw or heard anything.
Except you, Grey.
You heard breathing.
And Youngerford, let me see,
you were asleep in your bunk...
...and you think you had a dream.
A dream.
Pending evidence, you're deprived
of space pay and privileges.
Oh, me too, sir?
No, "me too, sir," will stand
I'll have less dreaming aboard this ship.
Dismissed.
- Skipper.
- Come on. Well, Quinn?
Half of this gear
we can replace out of stores.
The rest we can patch up
one way or another.
Except this special klystron
frequency modulator.
Now, with every facility of the ship,
I think I might be able to rebuild it.
But frankly, the book says no.
It came packed in liquid boron
in a suspended gravity.
All right, so it's impossible.
How long will it take?
Well, if I don't stop for breakfast...
- All right, get on it, Quinn.
- Thank you, sir.
- Tractor's ready.
- Thank you.
- A minute, skipper, I'll change uniform.
- Stay as you are.
- I'm leaving you in command here.
- Oh, I see.
Establish a perimeter.
Set up a class-A alert.
- I want them in force by sundown.
- Aye, aye, sir.
Good morning, gentlemen.
We'd like to see Dr. Morbius.
Morbius is in his study, sir.
Never to be disturbed
while that door is closed.
All right, we'll wait.
Is there any other way
out of there?
This is the only door.
In case you require anything,
gentlemen, use the beamer.
How could he have slipped
past two sentries?
Nothing important, skipper.
Doc, you stay right there where you are
and keep your eye on that door.
Okay, skipper, and if Morbius comes out,
we'll call you from right here.
- Good morning.
- Good morning.
Come on in.
Didn't bring my bathing suit.
What's a bathing suit?
Oh, murder.
Never mind. I'm coming out.
Now, Alta, listen, you mustn't...
You just wait right there.
It'll only take me a second to get dry.
Yes. Well, I'll...
I'll just turn my back here.
Well, if that's the way
you feel about it.
Well, don't worry, you're not gonna have
to look at me anymore from now on.
You'll see.
- See what?
- You'll see what.
Now, wait... Now, wait a minute, Alta.
Now, if you're planning on...
I didn't expect to see you today after
the way you spoke to me yesterday.
I'm... I'm very sorry about the way
I spoke to you yesterday, Alta.
L... I was sort of bothered.
All right, you can look now.
Nothing shows through, does it?
I had it made especially for you.
Oh, I thought
you weren't expecting me today.
I wasn't.
I don't know, I guess there's something
about me personally you don't like.
Alta...
...you will always look just beautiful.
Then why don't you kiss me
like everybody else does?
Everybody?
Hasn't your father taught you
anything at all?
Well, he says I'm terribly ignorant,
but I have had poetry...
...mathematics,
logic, physics, geology and bi...
- ology?
Of course, that's... That's mostly
on the theoretical side?
Well, so far.
Well, what's wrong with theory?
This.
- Alta.
- It's all right, he's my friend.
I'm...
I'm sorry, Alta.
L... I had to do that.
But he didn't recognize me.
He would have killed me. Why?
You really don't know, do you?
No, I don't.
Is he still in there?
Hasn't come out.
Now, wait a minute, skipper.
After all, it is his house.
What's the matter?
Doc, something new has been added.
That's gonna
complicate things a bit.
Yeah.
Not even a window.
The robot lied.
Morbius hasn't been in here.
Doc, he's up to something.
Look at this, skipper.
- Hieroglyphics?
- Maybe.
But it doesn't look like Egyptian,
cuneiform or Chinese.
You'll find the silver
in the dining room...
...and my daughter's jewelry
on her table.
Dr. Morbius, last night our klystron monitor
was sabotaged.
And you suspect me?
Then the time has come
for clarification.
Sit down.
In times long past...
...this planet was the home
of a mighty and noble race of beings...
...which called themselves the Krell.
Ethically, as well as
technologically...
...they were a million years ahead
of humankind...
...for in unlocking the mysteries
of nature...
...they had conquered even
their baser selves.
And when, in the course of eons,
they had abolished sickness...
...and insanity and crime
and all injustice...
...they turned, still with high
benevolence, outward toward space.
Long before the dawn of man's history,
they had walked our Earth...
...and brought back
many biological specimens.
I see, that explains
the tiger and the deer.
The heights they had reached.
But then, seemingly on the threshold
of some supreme accomplishment...
...which was to have crowned
their entire history...
...this all but divine race
perished in a single night.
In the 2000 centuries
since that unexplained catastrophe...
...even their cloud-piercing towers
of... Of glass...
...and porcelain and adamantine steel...
...have crumbled back
into the soil of Altair-4, and nothing...
...absolutely nothing,
remains above ground.
What were they like?
No record of their physical nature
has survived.
Except, perhaps, in the form
of this characteristic arch.
I suggest you consider it
in comparison...
...to one of our
functionally-designed human doorways.
That recording was made
by Krell musicians...
...a half a million years ago.
Now, if you will follow me...
...I will show you some of their
other remaining artifacts.
Krell metal.
Try your blaster there, commander.
This spot should be molten.
It's not even warm, huh?
And no trace of radioactivity.
The molecules are many times more
densely interlocked than in earthly steel.
Yet it drinks up energy
like a sponge.
This is just one
of their laboratories.
You will notice that
much of the equipment is familiar...
...though designed
for non-human technicians.
What's this?
On this screen may be projected the total
scientific knowledge of the Krell...
...from its primitive beginning
to the day of its annihilation.
A sheer bulk surpassing
many million earthly libraries.
- You're able to read this?
- A little. It's my profession.
Twenty years ago I began here
with this page of geometrical theorems.
Eventually, I was able to deduce
most of their huge logical alphabet.
I began to learn.
The first practical result
was that robot of mine...
...which you gentlemen appear
to find so remarkable.
Child's play.
I've come here every day now
for two decades...
...painfully picking up a few of the least
difficult fragments of their knowledge.
A thing like this, it's...
It's too big to evaluate.
- Think what a discovery of this kind...
- Dr. Morbius...
...what is this device over here?
I call it their plastic educator.
As far as I can make out, they used it
to condition and test their young...
...in much the same way as we employed
finger-painting among our children.
I often play with it myself
for relaxation.
Although working here,
I sometimes wish I'd been blessed...
...with multiple arms and legs.
Now, you can see that
this headset was designed...
...for something much bulkier
than my human cranium.
Now, over here you see
the electromagnetic waves of my brain...
...sending that indicator up
about halfway.
I gather that
one of their own young...
...comparable to a seven-year-old child,
was normally expected...
...to send that all the way
to the top...
...which by Krell standards
classifies me as a low-grade moron.
Yet I have
an officially recorded IQ of 183.
Now then,
for the primary function.
Actually, to operate...
Well, I'll choose a familiar subject
to start with to save time.
There now, gentlemen.
What's that?
What's happening there?
A statue.
That's Altaira.
Simply a three-dimensional image,
commander.
But it's alive.
Because my daughter is alive in my brain
from microsecond to microsecond...
...while I manipulate.
There.
Something of a strain.
Aladdin's lamp
in a physics laboratory.
Would you care to take the Krell test
of your intelligence?
- Yes, very much.
- You may be disappointed, commander.
Suppose we start
with the good doctor.
- What do I do?
- Just sit down there, and I'll...
Move a little forward. That's it.
There now.
Now, doctor, you can read it here.
Well, there's something wrong here.
I have an IQ of 161...
...yet I don't register a third
what you did.
Now the commander.
It's all right, sir. A commanding officer
doesn't need brains.
- Just a good loud voice, huh?
- How do I make an image?
- Do I just pull this switch?
- Don't. Stop.
You'd never survive.
Our Belerephon skipper tried it...
...and it was instantly fatal to him.
Oh, I see.
So you're immune to this too?
In my first attempt
at creating an image here...
...my brain pattern there
was scarcely any larger than yours.
Afterwards, I lay unconscious
for a day and a night.
And yet you came back
for a second go at it.
It was a question
of science, doctor.
But you can imagine my joy
when I discovered that the shock...
...had permanently... Permanently
doubled my intellectual capacity.
Otherwise, my researches here
would've come to nothing...
...poor as they have been.
Recently, I have turned up
some rather puzzling indications...
...that in those final days
before their annihilation...
...the Krell had been applying their
entire racial energies to a new project.
One which they
actually seemed to hope...
...might somehow free them
once and for all...
...from any dependence
on physical instrumentalities.
- A civilization without instrumentalities?
- Incredible.
Dr. Morbius, everything here is new.
Not a sign of age or wear
on any of it.
Young man, these devices,
self-serviced, self-maintained...
...have stood exactly as you see them
for 2000 centuries.
Two thousand centuries.
And during all this time,
what was the power source?
That's a very good question.
May I draw your attention to these
gauges all around here, gentlemen.
Their calibrations appear to indicate
that they are set in decimal series.
Each division recording
exactly 10 times...
...as many amperes
as the one preceding it.
Ten times 10, times 10,
times 10, times 10, times 10...
...on and on and on, row after row,
gauge after gauge.
But there is no direct wiring
that I can discover.
However, when I activate this machine,
it registers infinitesimally...
...you see, down there
in the lower left-hand corner.
And then...
...when I activate the educator here...
...it registers a little more.
But this much is negligible.
Why, the total potential here
must be nothing less than astronomical.
Nothing less.
The number 10...
...raised almost literally
to the power of infinity.
Gentlemen, would you care to see
some more of the Krell wonders?
- Indeed, yes.
- Yes.
If you will step in this shuttle-car.
How often the Krell technicians
have ridden in this little vehicle.
What now, Dr. Morbius?
Prepare your minds
for a new scale...
...of physical scientific values,
gentlemen.
Twenty miles.
Twenty miles.
Listen.
- Circuits opening and closing.
- And they never rest.
This is one of their ventilator shafts.
You can feel the warm air rising.
Look down here.
Look down, gentlemen.
Are you afraid?
Seventy-eight hundred levels...
...and 400 other shafts
like this one.
Yes, a single machine.
A cube 20 miles on each side.
For 2000 centuries
it has waited patiently here...
...tuning and lubricating itself,
replacing worn parts.
I have reason to believe
that 16 years ago...
...a minor alteration was performed...
...throughout the entire
But what's it all for?
Sometimes the gauges register a little...
...when the buck deer fight in autumn
or when the birds fly over in the spring.
Nearly a whole dial became active...
...when your ship first approached
from deep space.
I'll show you a section
of one of the power units.
These units are sunk in
the body of the planet...
...50 miles right below our feet.
Now, be sure and look
only in the mirror.
Man does not behold the face
of the Gorgon and live.
Ninety-two hundred
thermonuclear reactors in tandem.
The harnessed power
of an exploding planetary system.
All hands, stand clear of fence area.
All right, Quinn, turn it up.
- Have you tested it yet, Bosun?
- Right away, sir.
- There you are, sir.
- Very good.
Lieutenant, having completed
my washing-up duties after chow...
...I request the lieutenant's permission
to take a walk outside the perimeter, sir.
- There's nothing out there.
- But there is, sir. I mean...
...I thought it might brighten
the boys' mess a bit...
...you know, if l... If I could find
a few wild radishes or something.
I don't know what
you're lying about, but get back...
...before the skipper checks in
or we'll be skinned.
- Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Thank you.
- Quinn, this is Farman.
Kill the power on the fence.
All right, put it back on.
Four hundred and eighty pints.
As you requested.
Total, 60 gallons.
Genuine Kansas City bourbon.
It's smooth too.
Robby, I ain't never gonna forget this.
Anytime you're hard up for a couple of
gallons of lube oil, you just let me know.
What's up?
Somebody coming this way?
No, sir, nothing coming this way.
Lieutenant, the fence is shorting.
- Shall I shut down the current, sir?
- No. No, it's stopped now.
Check the system
first thing in the morning.
Aye, sir.
It's strange how that fence
just shorted out.
Yeah.
You're too arbitrary, commander.
Perhaps I do not choose
to be dictated to in my own world.
Dr. Morbius, a scientific find
of this magnitude...
...has got to be under
United Planet supervision.
- No one man should monopolize it.
- For the past two hours...
...Ive been expecting you to make
exactly that asinine statement.
Just one moment, commander.
For close on 20 years now
I've been constantly...
...and I hope dispassionately,
considering this very problem.
And I have come to the unalterable
conclusion that man is unfit, as yet...
...to receive such knowledge,
such almost limitless power.
Whereas Morbius,
with his artificially expanded intellect...
...is now ideally suited to administer
this power for the whole human race.
Precisely, doctor.
Such portions of the Krell science,
as I may from time to time...
...deem suitable and safe,
I shall dispense to Earth.
Other portions I shall withhold.
And in this I shall be answerable
exclusively...
...to my own conscience
and judgment.
Dr. Morbius, in the absence
of special instructions...
...you leave me
in a very awkward position. L...
- Commander? Commander Adams.
- Speaking, lieutenant.
Skipper, the chief's been murdered.
Quinn, murdered?
He was alone,
working on the monitor.
The rest of us were all outside
on guard duty. L...
- How was it done?
- Done?
Skipper, his body is plastered
all over the communications room.
All right, leave everything as it is.
We're on our way.
It's started again.
Is that it?
I tried to make this plaster model
from the footprints we found.
Thirty-seven inches by 19.
Why, it's fantastic.
Doc, I don't understand.
Whatever walks on this would be
an opponent for a man with a club...
...but with our weapons,
Quinn could've...
No, skipper. This thing runs counter to
every known law of adaptive evolution.
What do you mean?
Well, notice this structure here.
Characteristic of a four-footed animal.
Yet our visitor last night
left the tracks of a biped.
Primarily a ground animal too.
Yet this claw could only belong
to an arboreal creature...
...like some impossible tree sloth.
It just doesn't fit into normal nature
anywhere in the galaxy. It's a nightmare.
Is that what you made
out of that footprint?
I think it's fairly close.
Pardon me, commander, are you ready
to hold discipline on the cook, sir?
Yeah, let's...
Let's have him.
I'm obliged to remind you, sir, that I
gave him permission to go out last night.
Did you give him permission
to get drunk?
Drunk, sir? Me, sir?
Well, ask Dr. Ostrow, sir.
Four pints of 120-proof bourbon
without a trace of hangover.
Now, that ain't natural, sir.
Besides, why did that robot
argue me into drinking...
...all that whiskey
in the first place?
- You were with the robot last night?
- Yes, sir.
Him and me, we kind of got to
toasting each other's good health.
Just for cordial
interplanetary relations, you understand.
And that's all the time?
Even while the chief was being killed?
Well, certainly, sir.
I hope you don't think I could
have got that stiff in five minutes.
All right, dismissed.
- Well, I guess that washes the robot up.
- Where does that leave us for suspects?
Maybe it leaves us
with the same one.
Maybe we ought to drop over
to that lab...
...and get our IQ's boosted
a couple 100 percent.
Sir, the burial detail is ready.
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
- All right, dismissed.
- Company dismissed.
Fine technician.
A good shipmate.
And that's a good epitaph
for any man.
Good day, Dr. Morbius.
I dare say neither of us
slept any last night.
That's a pretty close guess.
I warned you
while your ship was still in space.
I begged you not to land
on this planet.
Believe me, commander,
that is only a foretaste.
The Belerephon pattern
is being woven again.
Remain here, and the next attack
on your party...
...will be more deadly and general.
How do you know that?
Know? I...
I seem to visualize it.
I...
If you wish, call it a...
A premonition.
What do you make of that, skipper?
I'd say it sounded like an ultimatum.
- Bosun.
- Aye, sir.
- Bosun.
- Aye, aye, sir.
- I want a clear field of fire.
- Aye, aye, sir.
- Randall.
- Sir?
How soon will radar
be operational?
Operating right now, sir.
- Good. You keep right on it yourself.
- Aye, aye, sir.
- The M.A. Alert is completed?
- Aye, aye, sir.
Fine.
Activate main batteries.
Alarm for test.
Fire.
Check, good.
Oh, lieutenant, you got
your trouble squad in hand?
Yes, sir, they're in hand,
but they're trigger-happy.
They're sort of edgy to see
whatever's out there.
Oh, Jerry.
Look, this may be a big deal
coming up.
I'm sorry if I've leaned on you.
- You've got to understand...
- Stop knocking yourself out, skipper.
She picked the right man.
- What is it?
- Sir, radar just picked up something.
- Where?
- At the head of the arroyo.
- Moving?
- This way, sir. Slowly.
Automatic control.
Batteries, fire.
Batteries, hold fire.
- Can you see anything out there, Doc?
- Nothing.
Batteries, fire.
Batteries, cease fire.
- Randall.
- Dead on target, sir.
- Good. Give me audio-com.
- Aye, aye, sir.
Your attention.
This may be a ruse to divert us...
...from some other part of the perimeter.
You men will continue watching on
your own immediate fronts. That is all.
- What?
- It just stopped at the foot of the pass.
- You sure you got a real blip there?
- Big as a house, sir.
We were dead on target
with both bursts.
It's coming on again.
- Straight across?
- It shows here.
It's still coming.
Grey, Strong, set up a crossfire
on those rocks.
Fire!
Skipper, the blasted thing's invisible.
Jerry!
Fire!
- Father!
- Alta.
- Father!
- Altaira.
- Alta. Alta, where are you?
- Father.
- What is it? What's the matter?
- I just had a terrible dream.
There was blood and fire
and thunder...
...and something awful was moving
in the middle of it.
I could hear the roar and bellow.
Now, now, now, you know
a dream can't hurt you.
Not me. Not us.
The thing I saw was trying to break
into camp. It was gonna kill...
You'll take care of him for me,
won't you, Father? You'll protect him.
My darling,
I'm completely helpless...
...as long as he remains here
so willfully.
Come now. Come.
- Bosun.
- Yes, sir.
- Get those graves dug. Keep busy.
- Right. The busier the better.
Randall, give me audio-com.
Well, men, whatever it was,
our main battery stopped it.
You believe that?
No, it just went away
for some reason. It'll be back.
Doc, an invisible being that cannot
be disintegrated by atomic fission.
No, skipper,
that is a scientific impossibility.
Hypnotic illusions
don't tear people apart.
That's true enough,
but any organism...
...dense enough to survive
three billion electron volts...
...would have to be made
of solid nuclear material.
It would sink
to the center of this planet.
Well, you saw it yourself,
standing in those neutron beams.
And there's your answer.
It must've been renewing
its molecular structure...
...from one microsecond to the next.
- Bosun.
- Aye, sir.
- I want the tractor.
- Ready, sir.
We pick up the girl and her father
whether they like it or not?
Section 86A, evacuate all civilians
from disaster area.
You left out
two very important words:
"Where feasible."
Now, if you'll remember
the Belerephon expedition...
...their ship was vaporized
trying to lift off.
Which makes it a gilt-edged priority
that one of us...
...gets into that Krell lab
and takes that brain boost.
- Bosun.
- Aye, sir.
I'm leaving you in command.
Get the ship operational.
Do your best to wait it out
for me and the doctor.
But the second
that fence shorts again, you lift off...
...and report back to Earth base
on conditions in this sector.
Right, skipper.
All right, get everything
aboard ship.
We're pulling out.
No lights showing.
Yeah.
Look, Doc, in case we make it
into that lab...
...Ill take the first go
at the IQ booster.
- You hear me?
- I hear you.
I am monitored to admit no one
at this hour.
Well, that sounded final.
Maybe if we reasoned with him.
My beams are focused
on your blasters, gentlemen.
Hasn't he got a built-in rule against
wringing our little necks for us?
That is true, sir.
Yet I am monitored
to admit no one.
Robby, let them in.
Alta, this is your father's order.
- Now, get out of the way.
- Quiet.
Robby, emergency cancellation
Archimedes.
Why are you here?
We were attacked. Three more
men dead, including Jerry Farman.
I don't know...
...it was just some kind of
big outline in the disintegrator beams.
- And you can't explain it?
- No.
Well, anyway, we fought it,
and we lost.
- I figure it'll be back.
- Then you must leave now.
I'm not going without you.
But I can't possibly leave him alone,
I just can't.
- Then we'll take him.
- By force? I can't agree to that either.
Can't you? You don't realize
what's loose on this planet.
But I'm immune,
like both my parents.
I don't believe it.
Nothing could be immune to that.
Oh, darling, darling, please go.
- Please, please, if you love me, go.
- Alta.
Doc, will you talk some sense
to this girl?
I'm in over my head.
Doc?
Doc.
Doc.
On the sofa, Robby.
So you took the brain boost, huh?
You ought to see my new mind...
...up there in lights.
Bigger than his now.
Now, easy, Doc.
Morbius was too close to the problem.
The Krell had completed their project.
The big machine...
...no instrumentalities...
...true creation.
Come on, Doc, let's have it.
- But the Krell forgot one thing.
- Yes, what?
Monsters, John.
Monsters from the id.
The id? What's that?
Talk, Doc.
Doc.
Oh, Doc.
Doc.
How romantic.
The fool.
The meddling idiot.
As though his ape's brain
could contain the secrets of the Krell.
Father, he's dead.
He was warned,
and now he's paid.
Let him be buried with the other
victims of human greed and folly.
Morbius...
...you wanted me
to make a choice.
Now you've chosen for me.
- Alta.
- I'm ready to go with you, darling.
Altaira. No.
- I will place him in the tractor, sir.
- Thank you.
She mustn't do this.
She must be prevented.
Morbius, what is the id?
Young man, my daughter is planning
a foolish action, and she'll be punished.
- What is the id?
- Id, id, id.
It's a...
It's an obsolete term...
...Im afraid, once used to describe...
...the elementary basis
of the subconscious mind.
Monsters from the id.
Monsters from the subconscious.
Of course, that's what Doc meant.
Morbius, the big machine,
Enough power for a whole
population of creative geniuses.
Operated by remote control.
Morbius, operated by
the electromagnetic impulses...
...of individual Krell brains.
- To what purpose?
In return, that machine would
instantaneously project solid matter...
...to any point on the planet. In any
shape or color they might imagine.
For any purpose, Morbius.
Creation by mere thought.
Why haven't I seen this all along?
But like you, the Krell
forgot one deadly danger...
...their own subconscious hate
and lust for destruction.
The beast.
The mindless primitive.
Even the Krell must have evolved
from that beginning.
And so those mindless beasts
of the subconscious had access...
...to a machine that could
never be shut down.
The secret devil
of every soul on the planet...
...all set free at once
to loot and maim...
...and take revenge, Morbius, and kill.
My poor Krell.
After a million years
of shining sanity...
...they could hardly have understood
what power was destroying them.
Yes, young man...
...all very convincing,
but for one obvious fallacy.
The last Krell died
...but today, as we all know...
...there is still at large
on this planet, a living monster.
Your mind refuses
to face the conclusion.
What do you mean?
Morbius.
- Morbius.
- What?
Something is approaching
from the southwest.
It is now quite close.
- Could Robby be wrong?
- No, never.
There it comes.
I feel sorry for you, young man.
Feel sorry for your daughter, Morbius.
It's listening.
Alta, go into my study.
- You still refuse to face the truth.
- What truth?
Morbius, that thing out there...
...it's you.
- You're insane.
How else would you have led it here
where Alta must see you torn to pieces?
Still think she's immune?
She's joined herself to me.
- Yes, and whatever comes, forever.
- Say it's a lie.
Let it hear you.
Tell it you don't love this man.
Not even if I could.
Stop it, Robby. Don't let it in.
Kill it, Robby.
It's no use.
He knows it's your other self.
We're safe.
Why did you jumble
that combination?
Whatever you know in here, your twin
self out in the tunnel knows too.
I'm not a monster, you...
We're all part monsters
in our subconscious...
...so we have laws and religion.
- Let me go.
You've got to listen.
We don't have much time.
Here. Here's where your mind
was artificially enlarged.
Consciously it lacked the power
to operate the great machine...
...but your subconscious had been
made strong enough.
- I won't hear you.
- You've got to listen.
Twenty years ago when your
comrades voted to return to Earth...
...you sent your secret id out
to murder them.
Not quite realizing it, of course...
...except maybe in your dreams.
What man can remember
his own dreams?
At least when our ship was approaching,
you remembered enough to warn us off.
But then when you thought we were
threatening your egomaniac empire...
...your subconscious sent
its id monster out again.
More deaths, Morbius.
More murder.
And now this too.
Harm my own daughter?
But now she's defying you, Morbius...
...and even in you, the loving father,
there still exists the mindless primitive...
...more enraged and more inflamed
with each new frustration.
So now you're whistling up
your monster again...
...to punish her for her disloyalty
and disobedience.
And if you don't do something
about it soon, Morbius...
...it's going to be coming
right through that door.
Solid Krell metal,
Look at your gauges. Look.
That machine is going
to supply your monster...
...with whatever amount of power
it requires to reach us.
Look now.
Red-hot.
Soon it'll be white-hot...
...then it'll soften and melt.
Alta, say you don't believe this of me.
Tell me you don't.
Then it must be true.
Yes, I must be guilty.
Then help us, darling.
I've known you. I've known you
great and noble like the Krell.
Guilty. Guilty.
My evil self is at that door,
and I have no power to stop it.
Stop. No further.
I deny you, I give you up.
Father. Oh, Father.
Son...
...turn that disc.
The switch, throw it.
In 24 hours...
...you must be
The Krell furnaces, chain reaction...
...they cannot be reversed.
Alta...
Oh, no.
Ninety-eight million point six.
We're clear now.
What an astrogator.
A genuine privilege, commander.
Activate main view plate.
Aye, aye, skipper.
That's Altair-4, the bright speck
below the star.
Fifteen seconds.
Yes, Alta, your father,
my shipmates...
...all the stored knowledge
of the Krell.
Five seconds, four, three...
...two, one.
Alta, about a million years from now...
...the human race
will have crawled up to where...
...the Krell stood in their
great moment of triumph and tragedy...
...and your father's name
will shine again...
...like a beacon in the galaxy.
It's true...
...it will remind us
that we are, after all, not God.