# The Awesomeness of the "Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 6, 2011, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709 "2011-08-06T07:43:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/21 "2011-08-07T15:24:42Z")
In the remake, when the scientists first encounter Klaatu, he’s completely encased in something that supposedly resembles placental tissue, forming a sort of living spacesuit. And the body he’s wearing is stated to be brand-new, formed just for the purpose of interacting with humans. But I don’t remember a scene in the original like you’re describing. He’s 90-something years old, so his body clearly wasn’t made just for this mission, and him looking so much younger than that is explained by better medical technology, not fundamental differences in physiology. It seems to me that in the original, he was meant to be actually human, despite being from another planet. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/22 "2011-08-07T15:41:46Z")
I think I’m going to have to respectfully disagree with you, **Chronos** (that’s unusual, huh?:)). I’ve seen the original many times and am 99% sure he explains the body the people are seeing as one he adapted so they could relate to him easier. Thanks Q ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/23 "2011-08-07T15:43:45Z")
In that clip I linked upthread the doctors talk about how he’s 70 but looks younger. The movie just assumes that an alien race would look like and essentially be human - it’s just that their high tech medicine makes them age at a slower rate. That’s the sort of thing I meant when I said this movie is really stupid but gets a pass because it’s evaluated with nostalgia. A modern movie in which aliens were just high tech humans, where that wasn’t a plot point (like if they were a different colony of humans, or time travelers, or something) but just by sheer absurdly improbable random chance, would seem monumentally stupid. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/24 "2011-08-07T18:06:29Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > In that clip I linked upthread the doctors talk about how he’s 70 but looks younger. The movie just assumes that an alien race would look like and essentially be human - it’s just that their high tech medicine makes them age at a slower rate. That’s the sort of thing I meant when I said this movie is really stupid but gets a pass because it’s evaluated with nostalgia. A modern movie in which aliens were just high tech humans, where that wasn’t a plot point (like if they were a different colony of humans, or time travelers, or something) but just by sheer absurdly improbable random chance, would seem monumentally stupid. I always viewed him kind of like Gary Seven. No cites, just how my 9 yr old self looked at things. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/25 "2011-08-07T19:26:05Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > I think people are viewing the past through nostalgia if you’re holding it up as some great intellectual sci-fi work. There’s not really anything special about it. You’re essentially giving it extra credit because it’s old - movies with more interesting plots with less stupid stuff get panned here all the time because we’ve grown to expect better. > > It does give us this [unintentionally awesome scene](http://www.metacafe.com/watch/hl-6128915/the_day_the_earth_stood_still_witchdoctor/), though. No – it’s the intelligent writing and the generally adult way that it’s handled. When I’ve watched the film again recently, I was simply blown away by how damned good it was. It’s not nostalgia at all – it’s the sense of quality. ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2011, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/26 "2011-08-08T14:32:27Z")
I love the film, but I always chuckle when the mom wants to get her groove on with her boyfriend and lets the stranger at the boarding house watch her little boy. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2011, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/27 "2011-08-08T14:47:07Z")
> [@lost4life](#): > > I love the film, but I always chuckle when the mom wants to get her groove on with her boyfriend and lets the stranger at the boarding house watch her little boy. Lots of things in the film look weird to the present-day eye, but probably didn’t at the time. Can you imagine the saucer not beimng gauarded 24/7? For that matter, can you imagine that it wouldn’t be ringed by curious civilians 24/7? ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2011, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/28 "2011-08-08T15:08:20Z")
> [@Waterman](#): > > I watched the 1951 original last night and marvelled at the fact that, during the height of McCarthyism and the Cold War, that this movie carried such a blatant anti-war and anti-nuclear message. There were some “monster” movies that had an anti-nuclear testing message, because of the dangerous effects of radiation. (“Them!”, “Godzilla”, and so on.) The message in DTESS was merely more in-your-face about it (an outright ultimatum by Klaatu). ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2011, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/29 "2011-08-08T15:56:20Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > It wasn’t Brad Pitt in the remake of DTEST. It was Keanu. I didn’t see the remake yet. According to everything I’ve heard, you don’t want to bother. > [@SenorBeef](#): > > In that clip I linked upthread the doctors talk about how he’s 70 but looks younger. I remember the scene where the doctors are talking about how Klaatu’s people must know all sorts of advanced medical secrets for long life, and then they start smoking. (Secret #1: Don’t Do That! :smack:) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2011, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/30 "2011-08-08T15:59:32Z")
The ultimatum is also more specific. Godzilla et al were awakened by nuclear _explosions_, not nuclear _weapons_ necessarily. Presumably, Klaatu’s homeboys would have no problem with us developing nuclear power for mining, canal-digging, or spacecraft propulsion (the UFO was far more advanced than an Orion drive, but one imagines that that’s one step towards its development). It’s just their use as weapons which is objectionable. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2011, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/31 "2011-08-08T16:10:49Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The ultimatum is also more specific. Godzilla et al were awakened by nuclear _explosions_, not nuclear _weapons_ necessarily. Presumably, Klaatu’s homeboys would have no problem with us developing nuclear power for mining, canal-digging, or spacecraft propulsion (the UFO was far more advanced than an Orion drive, but one imagines that that’s one step towards its development). It’s just their use as weapons which is objectionable. Right. Klaatu (1951) only warned us that we would be prevented from taking our warlike ways to the stars. Not a warning about any specific technology. But the movies like “Them!” were more about nuclear weapon testing, and the harm we could be doing to the enviornment. ---
**Author:** ![Scubaqueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@Scubaqueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scubaqueen)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2011, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/32 "2011-08-08T18:36:45Z")
them!, DTESS, the thing, beast from 20k, and let’s not forget the quatermass xperiment - my all-time fav. those classics are in my dvd tower and get re-watched over and over and over. ---
**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:** [August 8, 2011, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/33 "2011-08-08T19:30:41Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > Right. Klaatu (1951) only warned us that we would be prevented from taking our warlike ways to the stars. I thought he mentioned any kind of space travel. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2011, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/34 "2011-08-08T19:55:37Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I thought he mentioned any kind of space travel. Quoted from IMDB ( [The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) - Quotes - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043456/quotes) ) > [@](#): > > It is no concern of ours how you run your own planet, but if you threaten to extend your violence, this Earth of yours will be reduced to a burned-out cinder. Your choice is simple: join us and live in peace, or pursue your present course and face obliteration. We shall be waiting for your answer. The decision rests with you. So I read it as the aggressive culture, not the tech. ---
**Author:** ![Waterman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b2d939/32.png) [@Waterman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waterman)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2011, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/35 "2011-08-08T20:15:33Z")
I recall that Klaatu, in his message to either the Professor or Helen, stated that Earthlings could pretty much do whatever they wanted among themselves, but if we started putting nuclear weapons on rockets then we had crossed the line. In other words, go ahead and kill each other but don’t extend your death and destruction beyond your own planet. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2011, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/36 "2011-08-08T20:45:38Z")
Come to think of it, I don’t think nuclear weapons themselves were the problem. Nukes were just a sign that our technology was advancing far enough that soon, we would be able to travel to other planets. They didn’t want us taking our warlike ways, using _any_ weapons, to other worlds. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2011, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/37 "2011-08-08T20:51:06Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Come to think of it, I don’t think nuclear weapons themselves were the problem. Nukes were just a sign that our technology was advancing far enough that soon, we would be able to travel to other planets. They didn’t want us taking our warlike ways, using _any_ weapons, to other worlds. That’s what I’ve been trying to say. If the only weapons we carried into space (to attack our interstellar neighbors) were viking battleaxes, we would still be spanked by the GORT brigade, and the Earth cleansed. ---
**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:** [August 8, 2011, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/38 "2011-08-08T20:58:34Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > spanked by the GORT brigade, That should read, “turned into schmaltz.” ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2011, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/39 "2011-08-08T21:00:52Z")
All these WTESS aficionados and no one wants to agree with me or prove me wrong?🙂 (see upthread) Q ---
**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:** [August 8, 2011, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/40 "2011-08-08T21:11:08Z")
> [@Quasimodem](#): > > All these WTESS aficionados and no one wants to agree with me or prove me wrong?🙂 > > (see upthread) > > Q I don’t remember any reference to his body. I vaguely remember that that Gort and company were built to resemble Klatu and his pals so that they could run the ships. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709.md?page=3)