The Day the Earth Stood Still DVD Review

“Remake” — it’s the ugliest word in the film buff’s vocabulary, especially when it comes to remaking a truly great film like The Day the Earth Stood Still. But as much as you may despise remakes, there is one good thing about them. They’re usually accompanied by an upgraded release of the original on DVD as is the case with this Sci-Fi classic.

The newly released, The Day the Earth Stood Still 2-Disc Special Edition is actually a double dip of a release from only a few years ago. The picture quality is the same but the special features have been pumped up to give you a more detailed look at the making of this Robert Wise Sci-Fi gem.

Before we get there, let’s talk movie.

Like most Sci-Fi films of the early 1950’s, The Day the Earth Stood Still was a thinly masked metaphor for our fear of a coming nuclear war with Russia. It was a time of family bomb shelters and duck and cover drills at school. We were told to keep watching the skies, for aliens said the movie-makers, but in reality we were watching for Russian airplanes.

Unlike most Sci-Fi films of the era, The Day the Earth Stood Still was a sophisticated, intelligent piece of storytelling without a bug-eyed monster anywhere in sight.

In the film, Klaatu (Michael Rennie) comes to earth on a mission of peace. He lands his spaceship (a craft that has obtained cult status in its own right) then says howdy with the help of his 10-foot robot, Gort. Seems his people have gotten wind of the fact that we’re playing around with atomic powered rockets and the galaxy isn’t happy about it.  He’s come to ask that everyone on earth lay down their arms and make peace, or he’ll blow the earth to bits to avoid contaminating the rest of the cosmos.

So, basically — play nice or I’ll hurt you. A rather familiar concept, I’d say.

Through a series of twists and turns, Klaatu befriends a widowed woman (Patricia Neal) and her son (Billy Gray). The boy takes Klaatu (aka Mr. Carpenter) on a tour of Washington DC for plenty of flag waving and moralizing (the one part of the movie that bores me) and finally to the doorstep of a brilliant professor (Sam Jaffe). Klaatu realizes that the only way he’ll get people to listen to him is with a demonstration of his power. So he shuts down all the power in the world – thus making it The Day the Earth Stood Still. As smart as he is though, he’s not smart enough to stay out of an elevator at the time of the power drain. Stuck for a half hour with Patricia Neal, he lets her in on a little secret — a code phrase that will keep Gort from destroying the planet should anything happen to Klaatu himself.

Come on, you know it. Say it with me, “Klaatu Barada Nikto!” Which loosely translates to, I’m in charge now, go get me a cheeseburger, or something like that.

The truth is, no one knows what it really means and you won’t find the answer on this DVD. What you will find is interesting featurette about the lack of meaning behind those oft quoted words.

Giving credit where it is due, there are two authors’ profiles, one called “The Astounding Harry Bates,” a look at the author of the original short story on which the movie is based. Also included is an audio track of Jamieson K. Price reading the short story, which isn’t that short at all. The story is nearly as long as the movie and I didn’t have the patience to sit through it all.

The second profile is “Edmund North: The Man Who Made the Earth Stand Still” This short piece takes a look at the man who wrote the screenplay. Along with that is a documentary written and produced by North called “Race to Oblivion.” If Klaatu made a PSA for nuclear disarmament, this would be it.

The most perplexing featurette on this new DVD is the “Making of” documentary which is a 23 minute version of the more than 80 minute featurette from the original DVD release. Why they chose to cut this down is beyond me, except perhaps to compel fans to keep both the old and new version in order to have a complete set. (The old box art is better anyway, so if you have it, keep it.)

Next up is “The Mysterious, Melodious Theremin” which looks at the fabulous squelchy soundtrack which became synonymous with Sci-Fi of the time. You can watch musician Peter Pringle demonstrate the Theremin on the very short “Main Title Live Performance.”

Keeping with the musical theme, there’s an option to isolate the score but I’ve never understood why anyone would want to do this. Rather than play like a soundtrack CD, it plays the entire movie with all sound except the music removed. Bizarre.

And there’s more! Audio commentary by Robert Wise and Nicholas Meyer (from the original DVD release) plus a new commentary by film and music historians, a documentary on flying saucers, loads of galleries, Movietone news reels, pressbooks, script pages and more!

In short, there are a lot of extras packed on this 2 DVD set and if you’re a classic Sci-Fi fan, then it’s worth the double dip. If you’ve got a Blu-Ray player you can play along with two interactive features, one that lets you make your own Theremin music and the other let’s you tell Gort what to do. I say, that’s worth the extra coin.

Now, before you run out and buy the original The Day the Earth Stood Still 2-Disc Special Edition, pay a visit to Snow City Arts. This is a program that involves more than 40,000 hospitalized kids in creative arts projects. This year, they got together and made their own remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still. The kids wrote it, acted in it, directed it, they even wrote the musical score. It’s a hoot. Visit the webpage to watch a five minute trailer for their movie, then do something nice for a sick kid this holiday season, buy a copy of their movie. It’s only $15.00.

Klaatu Barada Pay Pal.

Box art from Fox Home Video