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6 unusual facts about The Day the Earth Stood Still


Boston Science Fiction Film Festival

"The Day the Earth Stood Still," "The War of the Worlds," "Things to Come," "The Thing from Another World," "Them!," and "Zardoz."

Christ figure

Klaatu from The Day the Earth Stood Still comes down from the "heavens" in a flying saucer, takes the name "Carpenter" to walk incognito among the people, and is persecuted and killed.

Fantastic Films

In addition, the magazine featured a Fantastic Films Archive Series, a retrospective section that highlighted classic sci-fi films of the past ranging from popular titles like The Day the Earth Stood Still to more obscure fare like Just Imagine.

House of the Temple

In the 1951 science fiction film The Day the Earth Stood Still, the House of the Temple is in the background as a Washington, D.C., motorcycle cop vainly tries to start his engine.

Nordic aliens

David J. Skal says that early stories of Nordic-type aliens may have been partially inspired by the 1951 film The Day the Earth Stood Still, in which extraterrestrials arrive on Earth to warn humanity about the dangers of atomic power.

Thomas Little

His credits include The Keys of the Kingdom, The Fan, Belles on Their Toes, What Price Glory?, The Snows of Kilimanjaro, The Pride of St. Louis, and The Day the Earth Stood Still.


The Creation of the Humanoids

The musical score consists of electronically generated sounds and wordless female vocalizing that suggests the Theremin music often used in science fiction films of the 1950s (e.g., The Day the Earth Stood Still and It Came from Outer Space).


see also

Andy Kirshner

An Evening with Tony Amore for jazz voice and orchestra based on the persona of Frank Sinatra; Who It Is, a one-man musical about race and nationalism; the opera-oratorio The Watchtower inspired by apocalyptic TV newscasts and the Book of Isaiah; Dr. Nathan Feelgood In Person, an operetta for 10-piece blues band and a singing psychiatrist; and a cold-war musical for children with Dan Hurlin The Day the Earth Stood Still.