# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/81 "2011-09-13T21:41:09Z")
> [@Archergal](#): > > I didn’t see it at the theatre (not quite old enough), but I remember seeing in on the “Saturday Night at the Movies” tv show. The spooky theremin music made me think it was LOTS scarier than it actually was. 🙂 That’s where _I_ saw it the first time, too! I haven’t thought about “Saturday Night at the Movies” in YEARS! ---
**Author:** ![Archergal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Archergal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archergal)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/82 "2011-09-13T23:31:00Z")
> [@Labdad](#): > > That’s where _I_ saw it the first time, too! I haven’t thought about “Saturday Night at the Movies” in YEARS! ZOMG, maybe we were watching it at THE SAME TIME!! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/83 "2011-09-16T14:34:07Z")
Michael Rennie (Klaatu) was _believable_ in that film! Cult classic all the way! Q ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/84 "2011-09-16T14:35:57Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > 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!” :D:D:D:D:D:D:D My highest compliment, **Cp** Q ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/85 "2011-09-16T14:42:28Z")
Oh yeah. I wanted to say that if Klaatu came to visit us today, wouldn’t he say something like, “If y’all don’t straighten up, we’ gonna kill yo’ goddam asses!”? In my southern persona, Quasi ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/86 "2011-09-16T15:30:37Z")
Directed by Robert Wise Also directed by Robert Wise The Andromeda Strain The Sound of Music The Haunting West Side Story Run Silent Run Deep Somebody Up There Likes Me And many more… If you want to know why The Day the Earth Stood Still is awesome, a lot of it has to do with Robert Wise. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/87 "2011-09-20T22:15:17Z")
I’m watching the director’s commentary and I missed the fact that there were biblical references in certain scenes (“Mr. Carpenter”, for instance), so I’m going to watch it again. I also noticed that Mr. Klaatu is a bit of a litterbug (throwing the cleaner’s tag to the ground), but this was, after all, the 50’s when we were not as environmentally conscious as we are today. Also interesting was the fact that Wise originally wanted to use the Army for those soldiers, but the script got turned down, so he used the National Guard. Oh, and Aunt Bea with that “operatic voice”! 🙂 I’m still watching the commentary, just stopped long enough to write this before I forgot it. Thanks Q ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/88 "2011-09-21T01:14:12Z")
In the equation on the blackboard in the professors office, what do these symbols represent? 00! 000!! 000!? They were kinda on the far right. Thanks Q ---
**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:** [September 21, 2011, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/89 "2011-09-21T01:43:23Z")
The scientist’s frustration at not being able to get a clear answer. Klaatu “nudged” him in the right direction. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/90 "2011-09-21T01:53:46Z")
I used the following for my email tagline: “I’m impatient with stupidity. My people have learned to live without it.” Klaatu, “The Day The Earth Stood Still” And in another thread, I posted about my utter disappointment with the remake of TDTESS. The ending of the original was so powerful, and it contained such a vicious threat, the new edition damned well should have been Klaatu returning to kick planetary ass. “Forbidden Planet” is one of Hubster’s favorite classic SF movies. I agree that it foreshadowed ST, especially with the good looking babe in skimpy clothing. And I’m sorry, but I cannot handle seeing Leslie Nielson in a dramatic role. Too many “Airplane” movies and “Police Squad” episodes are water under the comedy bridge. The original “War of the Worlds” was awesome. I adored Gene Barry. The remake sucked, mainly because Tom Cruise REALLY sucks. Hubster likes to surf Netflix for 50s SF movies. Most of them are horribly made, with cheezy dialogue and abysmal special effects. Aluminum over cardboard, anybody? ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/91 "2011-09-21T03:06:52Z")
I thought it was kind of cool that I lived just a couple of blocks away from the Harvard Street boarding house address where Klaatu stayed. ---
**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:** [September 21, 2011, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/92 "2011-09-21T17:09:02Z")
I’ve mentioned it before, but in the remake, the equations on the board came from a paper a couple of friends of mine wrote on Big Rip cosmologies. Which put me in the awkward position of _having_ to see it, even though I knew ahead of time that it was going to be bad. I believe, though I’m not certain, that in the original it was a problem in orbital dynamics. From the information in the movie, Klaatu came from either Venus or Mars, so an understanding of orbital dynamics would be consistent with “I find it sufficient for getting from one planet to another”. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/93 "2011-09-21T21:53:03Z")
One of the best films ever! It’s amazing how the inside of the saucer looks futuristic all these years later. I so wanted Patricia Neal and her son to go with Klaatu at the end-- I would have! ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/94 "2011-09-21T22:08:04Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > From the information in the movie, Klaatu came from either Venus or Mars… Huh? What have I been missing? . ---
**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:** [September 21, 2011, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/95 "2011-09-21T22:24:35Z")
Even aas aa kid, I figured Klaatu’s plaanet in thaat sentence waas in orbit aaround aanother staar. ---
**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:** [September 21, 2011, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/96 "2011-09-21T22:33:28Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > One of the best films ever! It’s amazing how the inside of the saucer looks futuristic all these years later. I so wanted Patricia Neal and her son to go with Klaatu at the end-- I would have! Yeah, but I believe he told her that he was only going to live long enough to get the ship home. Yet he told Terrans that Gort and his associates flew around in them doing gendarme stuff. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/97 "2011-09-22T00:12:11Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Yeah, but I believe he told her that he was only going to live long enough to get the ship home. Yet he told Terrans that Gort and his associates flew around in them doing gendarme stuff. He said that knowing how long one would live was “reserved to the Almighty Spirit,” which is generally how it is for everyone. Anyhoo, she could have met another nice Klaatu lookalike on his home planet and ditched that money-grubbing loser of a boyfriend. ---
**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:** [September 22, 2011, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/98 "2011-09-22T02:55:00Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > ditched that money-grubbing loser of a boyfriend. I think she did that for John Wayne. Or was it Paul Newman? No, not Newman. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/99 "2011-09-22T03:27:54Z")
Well, that “loser of a boyfriend”, must have played his part VERY well, because even in the voice-over-film narration neither Wise nor the interviewer had much of anything “nice” to say about the real-life guy. I had never seen him before, but I wonder if the rest of his acting career went the way, that the late sad Larry Linville’s did? “I don’t _care_ about the rest of the world!”, indeed! 🙂 I wonder, though, how they might have cashed in the rest of those diamonds that K gave Bobby, since they were other-wordly and apparently very difficult to appraise? "Hey, Klaatu! Thanks a _lot_, man! We can’t even _fence_ these damn things! Can I have my dollar back? 😉 Q ---
**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:** [September 22, 2011, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709/100 "2011-09-22T03:59:51Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > Even aas aa kid, I figured Klaatu’s plaanet in thaat sentence waas in orbit aaround aanother staar. Don’t recall what the movie implied, but the your idea was in the original story: > [@](#): > > For it was recognized from the very beginning that this was no spaceship from anywhere in the Solar System. It also implies that Mankind has colonized numerous planets in the Solar System, and that’s why we knew it came from “somewhere else.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awesomeness-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951/591709.md?page=6)