The United Planets Cruiser C-57D is a fictional starship featured in MGM's 1956 science fiction movie Forbidden Planet. The design of the C-57D is a flying saucer, inspired by of the spate of UFO sightings at that time, and which itself inspired the interior design of another iconic starship, Star Trek's USS Enterprise.^[1]

Forbidden Planet production

In the movie, the ship has no name, only the designation "United Planets Cruiser C-57D" (or "C-57-D", as in the May 14, 1955 screenplay draft).

The C-57D has a lenticular profile. Above there is a flattened dome, approximately a third of the lens diameter. Below there is a very shallow cylinder of about the same diameter, and a somewhat smaller dome that ostensibly houses the ship's engine and the central landing pedestal. The precise contours and proportions differ between the models, sets and matte paintings used in the movie. On landing, a stairway and two conveyor-loading ramps swing out from the base of the lens.

The original movie blueprints for the ship's command deck^[2] show it to have a central circular "navigation center", reminiscent of the console in Doctor Who's TARDIS, with a transparent globe centered on a small model of the C-57D. Around this central space are a number of wedge-shaped rooms, including:

• A room with a curved table, chairs and a space for books (presumably a galley and rec room).
• A room with the "communications center", a chart table and the "main viewscope".
• A room with 16 bunk beds, with a pit and crane between it and the central area.
• A room with 9 "decelerator tubes". The movie shows the crew standing within these transparent booths while the ship decelerates from hyperdrive, but does not reveal whether the tubes must also be used during acceleration.

On a mezzanine level there is an instrument station and other rooms that aren't seen in the movie.

The movie studio created a stage set of the ship's interior command and mezzanine decks and a 60-foot (18 m) semicircular mockup of the landed ship's lower half (with the landing pedestal and ramps). The sets suggest that the ship is between 100 feet (30 m) and 175 feet (53 m) feet in diameter.

Three miniatures were used, of 22 inches (56 cm), 44 inches (110 cm), and 82 inches (210 cm) or 88 inches (220 cm) in diameter, and costing an estimated $20,000. The largest miniature, constructed of wood, steel and fiberglass, and with the internal movement mechanisms and red neon engine light, weighed 300 pounds (140 kg).

Around 1970, MGM sold off the large miniature at a studio auction, but there was no record of who bought it. However, in 2008, a North Carolina man who had had the prop stored in his garage and hadn't realized its market value, put it up for auction. It was sold for $78,000.^[3][4]

Appearances in The Twilight Zone

The C-57D props were later used in several episodes of the 1959 Twilight Zone TV series, sometimes altered, and never using the original C-57D designation.

• 1960 "Third from the Sun" — Here the original navigation center is seen, as well as the ship.
• 1960 "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" — Here the movie model was shown flying upside down.
• 1961 "The Invaders" — A facsimile of an original movie model, used for USAF Space Probe No 1, was crushed by a giant woman.
• 1962 "To Serve Man"
• 1962 "Hocus-Pocus and Frisby"
• 1963 "Death Ship" — This episode makes the greatest use of stock and new footage of the saucer; herein, it is identified as the Space Cruiser E-89, patrolling the 51st star system in the year 1997. Here the ship is shown using downward-directed rocket thrust propulsion. The crashed ship on the ground is a separate prop.
• 1963 "On Thursday We Leave for Home"

Model kit

The C-57D was recreated in 2001 by Polar Lights as a 1:72 scale plastic model kit which is 28 inches (71 cm) - a scale 168 feet (51 m) - in diameter. Some fans and modellers have noticed inconsistencies in the scale, the size of the Robbie the Robot model indicating a scale of 1:56, giving a scale size of about 130 feet (40 m).^[5]

Polar Lights re-issued the kit in 2009, adding figures of the C-57D's crew, Altaira and the monster from the id.^[6][7]

Tribute

The search and rescue ship found on the planet Miranda in the Joss Whedon film Serenity has the codename C57D in tribute.

References

1. ^ Mania.com, "Forbidden Plastic: Part 1" (retrieved 2010-02-22)
2. ^ [1] (provenance unknown; retrieved 2010-02-23)
3. ^ Los Angeles Times, "The lost saucer of 'Forbidden Planet' reappears" (retrieved 2010-02-22)
4. ^ NJ.com, "Amazing the things that are for sale!" (retrieved 2010-02-22)
5. ^ CultTVman's Fantastic Modeling Forum, "Forbidden Planet C-57D" (retrieved 2010-02-23)
6. ^ Model Kit Central, "Model Kits: Drama on Altair 4 (in Glorious 1/72-Scale") (retrieved 2010-02-22)
7. ^ Round 2 Models, "Forbidden Planet: C-57D Spacecruiser" (retrieved 2010-02-22)

• The movie images and subtitles from 1999 and 2006 Forbidden Planet movie DVD releases.
• 1979 CINEFANTASTIQUE Magazine Double-Issue (Volume 8, Number 2 and Volume 8, Number 3) — Article: "MAKING FORBIDDEN PLANET" by Frederick S. Clarke and Steve Rubin.
• Forbidden Planet Screenplay Draft — May 14, 1955.

External links

• Forbidden Planet at the Internet Movie Database