Like THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, this film helped make sci-fi respectable instead of the stuff for silly B-movies with cheap costumes and obviously faked sets. To help strengthen the thought-level of the story, the scriptwriters included elements of Shakespeare's THE TEMPEST, the Biblical story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and Freudian psychology to make an enlightening tale of other-worldly mystery. Leslie Nielsen is in his serious mode here long before he became the comic madman of the NAKED GUN movies and POLICE SQUAD television series. It is easy to see the prototypes of much of STAR TREK in this movie. The electronic soundtrack becomes a bit repetitious, but it works well as it is used in the scenes. The short skirt on the heroine is a bit much but of course "cheesecake" was one of the things the cigar-chomping studio suits always liked in the 1950s and still do. Robbie the Robot is thrown in for some comic-relief and appeared in many other movies and television shows including LOST IN SPACE. The most interesting aspect of the story for me was Monsters from the Id. The point being made is that the serpent is still in the Garden of Eden because we carry evil around with us wherever we go. This is an excellent entertainment.

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