The Day the Earth Stood Still
Blu-ray Edition (1951)
Directed by Robert Wise
Starring Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Lock Martin, Hugh Marlowe, Sam Jaffe, Billy Gray
Fox Home Entertainment
Release date: December 2, 2008

While it may not have the walloping humor of Dr. Strangelove or the technicality of 2001, The Day the Earth Stood Still is every bit as interested about atomic bombs, violence, and our galaxies infinite amount of possibilities. The movie is one of science fiction’s only films, certainly one of its great ones, that conceals a Biblical meaning of such heightened velocity. 2001 dealt with every nuance that life itself had to offer to the universe, where as The Day The Earth Stood Still deals with the coming of a life form from a distant planet and what he has to offer us. Here is an almost accurate testimony that mirrors what the Biblical book of the future — the book of Revelation — has in store for the entire world.

Robert Wise directed the movie and had guts to go after every single nation on planet Earth as he did it. Making the movie during the height of the Cold War in 1951 and with all the paranoia surrounding McCarthyism, Wise goes the cold route by not siding with any country. He makes planet Earth look like the extraterrestrials, and singles the planet out as being deaf, dumb, and blind. It’s one of the rare science fiction films that sympathizes with the visitors from the other planet rather than with the humans.

Fox Home Entertainment has released the 1951 science fiction classic The Day The Earth Stood Still as a Two-Disc Special Edition DVD and Special Edition Blu-ray, on sale today.

Both editions are packed with bonus materials, like feature commentary by director Robert Wise as well as content new to this re-release, like commentary by film and music historians, along with an isolated score track.

The big sell for me on this re-release, aside from the commentaries (love commentaries) is the “Making Of The Day The Earth Stood Still“ featurette and “Decoding Klaatu Barada Nikto: Science Fiction As A Metaphor,” which is an audio presentation of the original short story.

The blu-ray edition also includes two new, exclusive-to-blu-ray extras “Gort Command!,” an arcade-style shooting gallery game and “Interactive Theremin: Create Your Own Score,” where viewers can re-score the film’s opening sequence.

Both editions contain an exclusive look at the upcoming remake starring Starring Keanu Reeves And Jennifer Connelly, out in theaters on December 12, 2008.

See below for a full list of features for the 2-disc DVD and Blu-ray editions.