Talk:The Invisible Boy

Time travel controversy.

In the article there is this line "Some of this film’s fans contend that the robot is the same character as seen in Forbidden Planet, which is set in the 23rd century, brought back to the film's mid-20th century era by time travel, but this contention is unsupported by studio materials"

If you watch the film it explicity demonstrates that Robby is there via some form of time travel based on the background artifacts and other story elements. It is stated that Robby is future tech that is examined and used to build the supercomputer (or assists in building the supercomputer). I think the statement on the page is false but with no definitive statement from the studio or the artists involved it will probably remain ambiguous to most. I would like to think there is a less confrontational way to convey the conflict short of the dismissive way it is currently phrased. BcRIPster (talk) 18:51, 24 July 2025 (UTC)

I want to add. The conversation about time travel happens at 20 minutes into the movie when the father and son are discussing a deceased researcher (Dr. Greenhill) who was "fooling around with some 'time machine'" and is presumed to have "created" Robby. There is also a photo in the lab with a label "Chicago Spaceport - March 16th 2309AD" which would be in line with a return trip from Altair-4 in the "23rd Century". The boy describes the photo as a robot stepping out of a spaceship surrounded by people in funny uniforms.

So really. I simply don't understand how this is even remotely controversial. I think I'll add a slight revision on this. BcRIPster (talk) 19:16, 24 July 2025 (UTC)

Yes, the film is very clear that Robby is from the future and another planet. No one ever turns to camera and says, "Hey, it's Robby from Forbidden Planet!", but they don't have to. I've added several sources that make the connection clear. Trumpetrep (talk) 02:17, 5 May 2026 (UTC)