# 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:** 4
**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 10, 2011, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/61 "2011-08-10T15:32:56Z")
> [@SunSandSuffering](#): > > I get disappointed by the contradiction in the exposition near the end. Eg. Gort was supposedly an all powerful sentient “policeman” but is totally under Klaatu’s power? How does that work? Rather ironic considering the closing line of the original short story: “You misunderstand. _I_ am the master.” ---
**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 10, 2011, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/62 "2011-08-10T16:37:44Z")
Of course, there’s really only the most tenuous of connections between _The Day the Earth Stood Still_ and “Farewell to the Master”. It’s really not so much based on the short story, as inspired by it. ---
**Author:** ![Find\_Friends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@Find\_Friends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Find_Friends)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/63 "2011-08-10T21:08:30Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > A critic somewhere on the web suggested that all they have to do is have a Gort guy monitor Earth and just blow up anything that goes into orbit. If they are so nice and cool and peaceful, why not just do that rather than destroy the whole planet? Well, yeah… There are all kinds of problems with the execution of the general concept in the film, as this thread has shown. It’s just that AFAIK it was the first film to present the idea. I was intersted in looking into the novel, and how it differed, but from Chronos’ latest remark, it’s more than just a matter of variation. ---
**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 10, 2011, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/64 "2011-08-10T22:08:01Z")
Earthlings would probably have made a better impression by not shooting Michael Rennie on sight. 🙂 ---
**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 10, 2011, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/65 "2011-08-10T22:31:05Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Earthlings would probably have made a better impression by not shooting Michael Rennie on sight. 🙂 He was too tall. And kinda funny looking. In a general sort of way. ---
**Author:** ![Satchmo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/satchmo/32/4223_2.png) [@Satchmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satchmo)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/66 "2011-08-10T22:42:21Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > I noticed that too. > > \ > Yet he does just that [ordering restraint]. > > Maybe it’s a magic phrase that means something like “It’s all right, Gort. We’re just playing ‘make believe’. Go back to sentry mode.” 😉 > > \ 🙂 I always figured Klaatu is an ambassador to the Earth and Gort was his bodyguard. Also, the robots wouldn’t destroy any planet until it had been warned. While Gort is in sentry/bodyguard mode, he’s limited to his responses. Certain events can change his mode, like Klaatu being killed instead of only wounded. Klaatu also had to ‘give the word’ that we had been officially warned. ---
**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 11, 2011, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/67 "2011-08-11T00:31:14Z")
> [@Satchmo](#): > > I always figured Klaatu is an ambassador to the Earth and Gort was his bodyguard. Also, the robots wouldn’t destroy any planet until it had been warned. While Gort is in sentry/bodyguard mode, he’s limited to his responses. Certain events can change his mode, like Klaatu being killed instead of only wounded. Klaatu also had to ‘give the word’ that we had been officially warned. I thought it meant, “Don’t kill the woman. She is helping me.” Then she faints, and Gort says, “Ah crap, I always have to carry the broads around!” ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/68 "2011-08-11T07:18:33Z")
Great flic! Two questions: -when the low-tech doctors at Walter Reed Hospital are chewin the fat (and smoking their camels), do they ever offer the alien a smoke? -that ointment that cures everything-do the docs have ita nalyzed? Gort “neutralizes” the electrcity-and Washington shuts down-who needs ABombs when you can do that? Incidentally-that clear plastic that they encase Gort in-was it made of GL-70? ---
**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 11, 2011, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/69 "2011-08-11T15:52:29Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Great flic! > Two questions: > -when the low-tech doctors at Walter Reed Hospital are chewin the fat (and smoking their camels), do they ever offer the alien a smoke? Yes. He looks at them with a look of mild humor and says no. Or am I remembering my own thoughts? Perhaps I need to screen it again! ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/70 "2011-08-11T15:58:05Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > Yes. He looks at them with a look of mild humor and says no. > > Or am I remembering my own thoughts? Perhaps I need to screen it again! You might find the comments at [Michael Rennie - Biography - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0719692/bio) amusing as they pertain to smoking and related issues. ---
**Author:** ![Find\_Friends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@Find\_Friends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Find_Friends)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2011, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/71 "2011-08-16T16:52:09Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Earthlings would probably have made a better impression by not shooting Michael Rennie on sight. 🙂 Yeah, you may never get a chance to fix a bad first impression! > [@NoClueBoy](#): > > … And kinda funny looking. In a general sort of way. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. (Insert “Seinfeld” theme.) _ **- Jack** _ ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2011, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/72 "2011-08-16T17:00:03Z")
Stuart Whitman said that both he and James Dean were among the extras in the movie–but don’t bother looking for them because they can’t be identified. Jonathan Harris also claimed to have been an extra on the set. That I’m a little skeptical of. ---
**Author:** ![Waterman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b2d939/32.png) [@Waterman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waterman)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/73 "2011-08-17T07:39:00Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > Stuart Whitman said that both he and James Dean were among the extras in the movie–but don’t bother looking for them because they can’t be identified. Jonathan Harris also claimed to have been an extra on the set. That I’m a little skeptical of. Do extras get paid when appearing (even if it’s a token payment like a free meal or something) or do they do it simply for the opportunity to be in the movie and be seen? ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/74 "2011-08-17T17:40:45Z")
The only thing that I think would have improved the original would have been to have the movie use the ending in the story: Gort is actually in charge. ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/75 "2011-08-17T20:43:07Z")
> [@Waterman](#): > > Do extras get paid when appearing (even if it’s a token payment like a free meal or something) or do they do it simply for the opportunity to be in the movie and be seen? I knew a guy back in the AOL days that was an extra. He was a retired teacher and just did it for extra cash. He said he made a couple of hundred bucks a day and lunch. He was one of the golfers off in the distance for Caddy Shack. ---
**Author:** ![irritant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@irritant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irritant)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/76 "2011-08-17T21:38:32Z")
> [@Waterman](#): > > While this was not Robert Wise’s directorial debut (not by a long shot) it does seem to be his first significant work as a director. Wise directed several “big” films in his career (West Side Story, Sound of Music, etc) but how is he generally regarded in the directing fraternity? Wise started as an editor. He edited _Citizen Kane_, which looks good on a resume, but he also tends to receive much of the blame (perhaps unfairly) for butchering _The Magnificent Ambersons_, which doesn’t sit well with cineastes. Wise’s best directing work came before _TDTESS_: _Curse of the Cat People, The Body Snatcher, The Set-Up_. Great films. _The Set-Up_ is about as lean and hard and sharply edited as a movie can get. The other two are Val Lewton productions, one fantasy and one horror, and have the same great atmosphere all of Lewton’s films do. _Born to Kill, Odds Against Tomorrow_, and _The Haunting \* are also significant. Aside from_ The Haunting\*, these are all unfortunately obscure now. In the sixties Wise moved on to directing big Hollywood crap like\* The Sound of Music \*and _I Want to Live!_, and this is what lay-audiences know him for. He clashed with co-director/choreographer Jerome Robbins on the set of _West Side Story_ and had Robbins fired; despite this, Robbins tends to get credit for the good parts. Opinions vary on _The Sand Pebbles_, _Audrey Rose_, and _Star Trek: The Motion Picture_. Most of these are epically long, overblown, far away from the tautness of _The Set-Up_. It’s like his feel for editing abandoned him. He was… professional is what you can mostly say about him. Competent. His reputation isn’t stellar. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/77 "2011-08-17T21:50:37Z")
I was an extra in “Six-Pack”, the Kenny Rogers movie. I didn’t get paid shit. 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 17, 2011, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/78 "2011-08-17T22:12:40Z")
> [@irritant](#): > > Opinions vary on _The Sand Pebbles_ A damn fine film. Used twice in Deep Space Nine, by the way. 🙂 “hello, ship.” and the Maquis guy doing a Jake Holman holding off the bad guys while the good guys escape. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/79 "2011-09-13T19:08:30Z")
**WUXTRY! WUXTRY!!** **Chronos** correct! Quasimodem wrong about “Spaceman” explaining why he took human form. Quasi forced to capitulate after having watched the film which arrived today from Britain!!! Klaatu never said that!!! **Wuxtry! Getcher News About this Upthread!!!** However, did any of you find it odd that if Klaatu comes from such a great race which promotes peace, that he would lie to a little boy that the reason he needed his flashlight was because the lights in his own room went out? Anyway, kudos to **Chronos**! Raspberry to me!!!:)🙂 Q ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/80 "2011-09-13T21:02:24Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Me, too. That was in the 1960s. > Michael Rennie showed up on other science fictiony things after that, riding on the popularity of his role in TDTESS. He played John Roxton in the 1960 version of _the Lost World_. And he appeared as “The Keeper” in an episode of _Lost in Space_ in the 1960s. I didn’t understand at the time why they made such a big deal in the TV Guide about his appearing in the part, until I learned years later about his being in TDTESS. Don’t forget _Cyborg_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709.md?page=5)