Now look, there’s no way around this, and I say it with great affection: The 1956 sci-fi film Forbidden Planet is extremely silly… but it’s also very important. Featuring an unrecognizably young and hot Leslie Neilsen, it’s a pre-Star Trek precursor to many of the science fiction tropes we take for granted today. By today’s standards, it looks like pure camp with its bright colors, waddling robot, and keep-a-straight-face techno-nonsense. But it also, at times, aspires to Shakespearean tragedy, it popularized such ideas as faster-than-light travel, and it features the first-of-its-kind electronic score. Fully enjoying the film requires a little contextualization, and fortunately, Scarecrow has arranged for sci-fi movie experts Mark Daniels and Eric Cohen to explain just what the hell is going on here. Daniels and Cohen will host an online discussion about the movie, unspooling the cinematic history that led to this retrofuturistic gem. Attendees are encouraged to watch the film first; should you settle in for a screening before the lecture, a little chemical alteration might make the experience all the more pleasurable. (This is a virtual event, 2 pm, free, RVSP here)