Straczynski to Script Updated Forbidden Planet

It's one of those sci-fi films that are so classic, with just a shade of camp, you wonder whether remaking them is really a good idea. They already did it with War of the Worlds. They did it with Planet of the Apes. A new version of The Day the Earth Stood Still, which definitely should have been left alone, comes out Dec. 12 with Keanu Reeves at Klaatu.

And now Forbidden Planet's 21st-century make-over just became that much more likely with the announcement that J. Michael Straczynski will write the script, according to press reports.

The original 1956 film, which starred Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen (playing it straight and very young – in fact it's almost his first credit), and Robbie the Robot ("as himself"), involves an investigation into why a scientific outpost on a nearby planet has gone silent – leading in turn to the discovery of what really happened to an ancient alien civilization that seems to have died overnight. The plot covers some of the same ground at the Shakespeare play The Tempest, it's said, though with rather different dialog and scenery.

The new film, which does not yet have a scheduled release date, currently has David Twohy attached to direct. Twohy is best known as the writer-director of the Pitch Black franchise. Joel Silver, best known for the big explosions but whose recent credits also include the canceled cult favorite series Moonlight, is slated to be one of the producers.

It's a no-brainer that coverage of the Planet redux will focus on what exactly Twohy, Straczynski, and the art directors will do to Robbie the Robot, who looms large, literally (7 foot 2) and figuratively, in 1950s sci-fi nostalgia. Robbie appeared in a number of other productions after Planet, and his younger brother by the same designer was one of the stars of the television version of Lost in Space.

Straczynski's latest credit is the currently playing Clint Eastwood drama The Changeling. But he will always be known to sci-fi fans as the creator-producer of the seminal series Babylon 5 and the rather less seminal Crusade, and as one of the recent heroes of the Marvel writing stable, bringing fresh life to titles like The Amazing Spider-Man and (currently) Thor.

Meanwhile Straczynski has co-written James McTeigue's upcoming actioner Ninja Assassin, with Silver producing. He has also been attached to future film projects featuring Silver Surfer and the Lensman.