Krell
Encyclopedia
In the classic 1956 science fiction film, "Forbidden Planet
", the extinct race of advanced beings of the planet Altair IV are known as the "Krell". The Krell had reached a stage of technological and scientific development so advanced that they were able to construct a machine with virtually unlimited power, a machine that turned their thoughts into reality.
Another Krell device that played a prominent role in the movie was their educator, a device that operated directly on the brain to measure intelligence and impart knowledge. It was used by Dr. Morbius to enhance his intelligence and begin learning the knowledge of the Krell. When Lt. "Doc" Ostrow tried it, it imparted the knowledge of what happened to the Krell, but also caused fatal injury to his brain.
At the opening of the film, the lone researcher studying the extinct Krell, Dr. Morbius, does not know exactly what happened to the Krell; nor does he know what they looked like. No record of their physical nature has survived. Except in the form of their characteristic arch, the doorway they used to move between rooms. The doorway, much wider at the middle than at the top and bottom, suggests a being of enormous girth.
Dr. Morbius has discovered that in a single day and night, this entire race disappeared with no trace remaining above ground (likely a nod to Plato
's tale of Atlantis
). Later in the film we learn that the Krell's 8000 cubic miles (33,345.5 km³) machine was so advanced that it gave physical form and life to their Id
. For the advanced Krell, this Freudian personality characteristic was long forgotten, yet not eliminated; combined with the power of their machine, the unbridled emotions of their Ids were able to eradicate the entire Krell race. Thus two thousand centuries before the film is set, the Krell had become extinct.
(Gnu Krell Monitors) computer-monitoring package commemorates the image of Krell technology as portrayed in Forbidden Planet.
Forbidden Planet
Forbidden Planet is a 1956 science fiction film directed by Fred M. Wilcox, with a screenplay by Cyril Hume. It stars Leslie Nielsen, Walter Pidgeon, and Anne Francis. The characters and its setting have been compared to those in William Shakespeare's The Tempest, and its plot contains certain...
", the extinct race of advanced beings of the planet Altair IV are known as the "Krell". The Krell had reached a stage of technological and scientific development so advanced that they were able to construct a machine with virtually unlimited power, a machine that turned their thoughts into reality.
Another Krell device that played a prominent role in the movie was their educator, a device that operated directly on the brain to measure intelligence and impart knowledge. It was used by Dr. Morbius to enhance his intelligence and begin learning the knowledge of the Krell. When Lt. "Doc" Ostrow tried it, it imparted the knowledge of what happened to the Krell, but also caused fatal injury to his brain.
At the opening of the film, the lone researcher studying the extinct Krell, Dr. Morbius, does not know exactly what happened to the Krell; nor does he know what they looked like. No record of their physical nature has survived. Except in the form of their characteristic arch, the doorway they used to move between rooms. The doorway, much wider at the middle than at the top and bottom, suggests a being of enormous girth.
Dr. Morbius has discovered that in a single day and night, this entire race disappeared with no trace remaining above ground (likely a nod to Plato
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
's tale of Atlantis
Atlantis
Atlantis is a legendary island first mentioned in Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias, written about 360 BC....
). Later in the film we learn that the Krell's 8000 cubic miles (33,345.5 km³) machine was so advanced that it gave physical form and life to their Id
Id, ego, and super-ego
Id, ego and super-ego are the three parts of the psychic apparatus defined in Sigmund Freud's structural model of the psyche; they are the three theoretical constructs in terms of whose activity and interaction mental life is described...
. For the advanced Krell, this Freudian personality characteristic was long forgotten, yet not eliminated; combined with the power of their machine, the unbridled emotions of their Ids were able to eradicate the entire Krell race. Thus two thousand centuries before the film is set, the Krell had become extinct.
In popular culture
The GKrellMGKrellM
GKrellM is a computer program based on the GTK+ toolkit that creates a single process stack of system monitors. It can be used to monitor the status of CPUs, main memory, hard disks, network interfaces, local and remote mailboxes, and many other things. Plugins are available for a multitude of...
(Gnu Krell Monitors) computer-monitoring package commemorates the image of Krell technology as portrayed in Forbidden Planet.