THE ROBOT MASTERROBERT KINOSHITA |
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RIP'n FOR THE ROBOT MASTER - ROBERT KINOSHITA
Robert created the Robby the Robot design for FORBIDDEN PLANET and for years after, was the goto guy for robots. Born in Los Angeles, California in 1914, Robert grew up to study Architecture at the University of Southern California (USC). Unfortunately, young Robert was a troubled Asian man, and soon ran afoul of U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066 - a law against being Japanese or even having a Japanese heritage. Just as people in Nazi Germany were sent to government concentration camps for having Jewish ancestry, Robert was found guilty of being of having Japanese ancestors. Robert had all of his possessions confiscated by the U.S. government and was forced into a U.S. government concentration camp with others of his race. After World War II, and the eventual release of Japanese prisoners, Robert and his wife moved to Wisconsin, where Robert worked as an industrial designer. But around 1954 Robert returned to California and went to work for Republic Pictures. There he designed Tobor (Robot spelled backwards) for the hit TV series, Captain Video. Tobor was so popular that the empty suit went on to star in Republic Pictures feature film, TOBOR THE GREAT. This movie, about a boy and his giant outerspace robot, would go on to become the inspiration for THE IRON GIANT. 
In 1955, Robert went to work at MGM and created the scene stealing Robby the Robot for FORBIDDEN PLANET (actor in the Robby suit was Frankie Darrow. Voiced by Marvin Miller [THE INVISIBLE BOY, GREMLINS]). The Robby design so wowed the producers and the studio that they ponied up the $125,000 it took to make it. That's over $1,100,000 in 2014 dollars. While the robot was the centerpiece of the movie's promotion, marketing, and is the main feature of the movie poster, Kinoshita was left uncredited. His Robby the Robot creation, with slight variations, soon appeared in other movies including MGM's THE INVISIBLE BOY and as a toy in INVASION OF THE NEPTUNE MEN. Again, Kinoshita, having been convicted of being Japanese by ancestry, was never credited. Still, because the Robby character was so popular, word got out. Kinoshita's Robby soon appeared in an episode of the original THE TWILIGHT ZONE (two episodes) and the original THE ADDAMS FAMILY. Decades after Robert's original creation, his Robby would appear in TV shows like, ARK II (1976), Space Academy (1977), Project U.F.O. (1978), Wonder Woman (1979), and Mork & Mindy (1979), GREMLINS, EARTH GIRLS ARE EASY, and Looney Tunes: Back In Action.. When producer Irwin Allen prepared his TV series, Lost In Space, he brought Robert on to create a Robby the Robot type. The minor modifications became the show's star, Robot. In fact, there are three episodes where the Lost In Space Robot battles the FORBIDDEN PLANET robot. While the largest body of Kinoshita's work was as Set Designer on TV shitkickers like Tombstone Territory and Bat Masterson, it is his work on Science Fiction Thrillers (including the short run television series, Science Fiction Theater) that endures. One of the most fascinating aspects of Kinoshita's Robby is that the design played other characters. Whenever a creature design like Frankenstein or C-3PO has a cameo or minor part in another TV show or movie, they remain the same character. Kinoshita's Robby design played a wide variety of characters, both hero and villain.
Nearly 50 years after Robert's Robby's original appearance, the 'bot was in an episode of the 2005 TV show, Stacked. When it comes to enduring special effects character creation, Kinoshita's Robby has never been topped. Robert Kinoshita (FORBIDDEN PLANET, THE PHAROAH'S CURSE, MACABRE, THE SAGA OF THE VIKING WOMEN AND THEIR VOYAGE TO THE WATERS OF THE GREAT SEA SERPENT, THE INVISIBLE BOY, HERE COMES TOBOR, THE PHANTOM PLANET) was 100 years old.
More on Robert Kinoshita (UPDATES) Robert Kinoshita, designer of Forbidden Planet's Robby the Robot, dies at 100 Robert Kinoshita dies at 100; designer of famed film robots Robert Kinoshita, Designer of 'Lost in Space' Robot, Dies at 100 More on Robert Kinoshita's Robby the Robot (UPDATES).
Films and Cameos Where You Can Find Robby the Robot
E.C. McMullen Jr. is the creator of Feo Amante's Horror Thriller, with work published by Easy Rider Magazine, Charles Scribner's Sons, Harker Press, Crystal Lake Publishing, and Feo Studios. |
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INTERVIEWS Matt Jarbo's interview with Feo Amante at The Zurvivalist. James Cheetham's Q&A with Feo Amante at Unconventional Interviews *. Megan Scudellari interviews Feo Amante and Kelly Parks (of THE SCIENCE MOMENT) in The Scientist Magazine. Check out our interview at The-Scientist.com. REFERENCES Researcher David Waldron, references my review of UNDERWORLD in the Spring 2005, Journal of Religion and Popular Culture entry, Role-Playing Games and the Christian Right: Community Formation in Response to a Moral Panic (downloadable pdf). E.C. McMullen Jr.
*Linked to archive.org |
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