# How did props from "Forbidden Planet" end up on Twilight Zone episodes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [October 1, 2026, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-props-from-forbidden-planet-end-up-on-twilight-zone-episodes/1033496 "2026-10-01T02:46:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2026, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-props-from-forbidden-planet-end-up-on-twilight-zone-episodes/1033496/21 "2026-10-01T14:57:14Z")
It shows up in a _lot_ of westerns. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2026, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-props-from-forbidden-planet-end-up-on-twilight-zone-episodes/1033496/22 "2026-10-01T14:58:05Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > I mean [32 credits is impressive](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1119475/#credits), including a major role in the forgotten 1957 movie _The Invisible Boy_. Well then, I hope Robbie got paid more than union scale, and gets a cut of any syndication royalties. He’s the Wilhelm Scream of robot props. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2026, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-props-from-forbidden-planet-end-up-on-twilight-zone-episodes/1033496/23 "2026-10-01T15:01:45Z")
> [@solost](#): > > He’s the Wilhelm Scream of robot props. I love the fact that the scream was from [Sheb Wooley](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheb_Wooley), best known for the novelty song: [The Purple People Eater](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Purple_People_Eater) ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2026, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-props-from-forbidden-planet-end-up-on-twilight-zone-episodes/1033496/24 "2026-10-01T15:05:17Z")
Huh, did not know that. Cool. That fact and the word ‘anchorite’ are two new things I learned here today. And it’s not even noon yet! Gotta love the SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2026, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-props-from-forbidden-planet-end-up-on-twilight-zone-episodes/1033496/25 "2026-10-01T15:29:06Z")
CBS and Fox have New York Street sets. The old sets are seen in many 60’s and 70’s tv shows and movies. It’s amazing how easily sets can be redressed with different props to meet the needs of a film scene. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2026, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-props-from-forbidden-planet-end-up-on-twilight-zone-episodes/1033496/26 "2026-10-01T15:32:44Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > I may have made this up in my mind, but I could have sworn that one of the space pods from _2001: A Space Odyssey_ (well, there probably only was one, really), also appeared in a late 1940s film, this time as a gunnery turret on a large bomber. The characters were touring an airplane factory. I’ve never been able to confirm this, though, or identify the movie. I’ve only seen it once and it was a very long time ago. I bet that’s a false memory. At least assuming the 1940s film was about a real bomber of real size, not a fictional bomber of enormous size. It’s also unclear to me whether you mean a film made in the 1940s or one set in the 1940s but made much later, say the early 1960s. The _2001_ film was released in 1968 and was in design and production since about 1965. The _2001_ pods bear do some superficial resemblance to actual WW-II gun turrets, especially the belly / “ball” turrets. Big difference is only small men with their knees folded up close to their chest could fit inside a WW-II ball turret. > **[Ball turret](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_turret)** > > A ball turret is a spherical-shaped, altazimuth mount gun turret, fitted to some American-built aircraft during World War II. The name arose from the turret's spherical housing. It was a manned turret, as distinct from remote-controlled turrets also in use. The turret held the gunner, two heavy machine guns, ammunition, and sights. The Sperry Corporation designed ventral versions that became the most common version; thus, the term "ball turret" generally indicates these versions. Sperry and Emers... Whereas one full sized person could comfortably walk, stand, and sit inside the _2001_ pods wearing a spacesuit, and two could squeeze inside wearing ordinary shipboard clothes for a failed private chat: **[2001 a space odyssey EVA pods - Google Image Search](https://www.google.com/search?q=2001+a+space+odyssey+EVA+pods&hl=en&source=hp&uact=5&oq=2001+a+space+odyssey+EVA+pods&sclient=img&udm=2)**. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2026, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-props-from-forbidden-planet-end-up-on-twilight-zone-episodes/1033496/27 "2026-10-02T06:35:11Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > I may have made this up in my mind, but I could have sworn that one of the space pods from _2001: A Space Odyssey_ (well, there probably only was one, really), also appeared in a late 1940s film, this time as a gunnery turret on a large bomber. That’s very unlikely. Kubrick destroyed almost all of the props from _2001_, and surviving ones are extremely rare and valuable. > **[Why Stanley Kubrick destroyed all the props from '2001'](https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/why-stanley-kubrick-destroyed-all-the-2001-a-space-odyssey-props/)** > > American auteur Stanley Kubrick is undoubtedly one of the most influential figures in 20th century cinema and the creator of 2001: A Space Odyssey. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2026, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-props-from-forbidden-planet-end-up-on-twilight-zone-episodes/1033496/28 "2026-10-02T12:38:07Z")
> [@scabpicker](#): > > That’s very unlikely. Kubrick destroyed almost all of the props from _2001_, and surviving ones are extremely rare and valuable. I also think it is very unlikely to be a 1940s prop, but less unlikely than Kubrik being able to retroactively destroy a prop in the past. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2026, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-props-from-forbidden-planet-end-up-on-twilight-zone-episodes/1033496/29 "2026-10-02T13:28:23Z")
I was about to say the same thing, but @Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus’ post has very slippery tense and they could have meant almost anything. Like asserting that a _2001_ prop was used 10 years later for a movie made in 1975 but set in 1940. Unambiguous writing is hard. ---
**Author:** ![JacobSwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2026, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-props-from-forbidden-planet-end-up-on-twilight-zone-episodes/1033496/30 "2026-10-02T13:28:53Z")
An early version of the monolith is still out there. > **[Silver Jubilee Crystal Crown](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Jubilee_Crystal_Crown)** > > The Silver Jubilee Crystal Crown is a perspex sculpture by Arthur Fleischmann which has been displayed at the St Katharine Docks in London since the Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II in 1977. A plaque nearby claims that it is the largest solid block of acrylic in the world. The Crystal Crown is made from a large block of transparent perspex measuring approximately 10 feet 9 inches (328 cm) by 5 feet 9 inches (175 cm) by 8 inches (20 cm) and weighting about 2 tons. The block was cast by Stanley Plas... ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2026, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-props-from-forbidden-planet-end-up-on-twilight-zone-episodes/1033496/31 "2026-10-02T14:58:15Z")
Aren’t they in a parking lot now? ---
**Author:** ![De\_La\_Rue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@De\_La\_Rue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/De_La_Rue)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2026, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-props-from-forbidden-planet-end-up-on-twilight-zone-episodes/1033496/32 "2026-10-02T18:36:38Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > I could have sworn that one of the space pods from _2001: A Space Odyssey_ (well, there probably only was one, really), also appeared in a late 1940s film, this time as a gunnery turret on a large bomber […] I’ve never been able to confirm this, though, or identify the movie. You started a [prior thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-prop-appearing-in-films-decades-apart-an-american-romance-and-2001/624437) (which appeared linked below for me in the “Related” section) about a prop from the 1944 film _An American Romance_ possibly being re-used 24 years later as the EVA pod in _2001_. Here’s the turret from the very end of _An American Romance_: [![](https://i.ibb.co/TXY0g0w/Turret.png) ](https://i.ibb.co/TXY0g0w/Turret.png) Here’s the EVA pod from _2001_: [![](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRJweV0m9zRaafLX0SxZbTBqYo7wnuhAmhUv2DZg_4W3ynZR11f9aGahh4&s=10) ](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRJweV0m9zRaafLX0SxZbTBqYo7wnuhAmhUv2DZg_4W3ynZR11f9aGahh4&s=10) They’re both pods with a circular window and two horizontal things on the front (folded on the EVA), but other than that pretty different. Plus, according to the [Wikipedia article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_American_Romance) on the film, the turret wasn’t a prop–_An American Romance_ ends with footage from of an actual B-17 airplane being assembled. You can see the turret in the end assembly line scene [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPW1L9jUGSw) (starting at 2:30). That being said, it’s possible Kubrick or production designer Harry Lange were thinking of a ball turret when creating the EVA pod, or maybe they just arrived at a similar design organically. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2026, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-props-from-forbidden-planet-end-up-on-twilight-zone-episodes/1033496/33 "2026-10-03T05:09:04Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I was about to say the same thing, but @Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus’ post has very slippery tense and they could have meant almost anything. Like asserting that a _2001_ prop was used 10 years later for a movie made in 1975 but set in 1940. > > Unambiguous writing is hard. Okay okay. The movie was definitely made in the late '40s; it was black and white ferchrissakes. IIRC it was set a few years earlier, during the war. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2026, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-props-from-forbidden-planet-end-up-on-twilight-zone-episodes/1033496/34 "2026-10-03T06:38:40Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I bet that’s a false memory. At least assuming the 1940s film was about a real bomber of real size, not a fictional bomber of enormous size. The bomber in the film may have been fictitious, but it needn’t have been enormous. The heavily used B-17 Flying Fortress featured a top-mounted gunnery turret, so the notion of a bottom-mounted turret as I believe was shown in the film certainly wouldn’t have been pure fantasy. Still, I can’t say that you’re absolutely wrong about it being a false memory. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2026, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-props-from-forbidden-planet-end-up-on-twilight-zone-episodes/1033496/35 "2026-10-03T08:03:14Z")
Every model of the B-17 after the E variant had a ventral ball turret with a gunner inside. Early samples of the E had a remote-controlled ventral turret with a different shape. Both turrets were manufactured by Sperry. If I’m not mistaken, the B-17 C and D had bath-tub type ventral gun positions like the one on some German He-111 bombers. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2026, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-props-from-forbidden-planet-end-up-on-twilight-zone-episodes/1033496/36 "2026-10-03T21:12:18Z")
Oh, no doubt the B-17 later models had belly turrets. Which oh so vaguely resembled the _2001_ pods. But were a very different size compared toa human standing nearby. B-17s, at least the middle and later models, also had a top turret aways behind the cockpit. Which looked nothing like the _2001_ pod. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-props-from-forbidden-planet-end-up-on-twilight-zone-episodes/1033496.md?page=1)