Editing The Day the Earth Stood Still (section)

==Legacy==
''The Day the Earth Stood Still'' was selected for preservation in the United States [[Library of Congress|Library of Congress']]s National Film Registry. In 2001, it was ranked number 82 on the [[American Film Institute]]'s [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills]], a list of America's most heart-pounding films.<ref>[http://www.afi.com/Docs/tvevents/pdf/thrills100.pdf "AFI's 100 Years{{spaces}}... 100 Thrills"]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160629221917/http://www.afi.com/Docs/tvevents/pdf/thrills100.pdf |date=June 29, 2016 }} [[American Film Institute|AFI.com]]. Retrieved: February 1, 2015.</ref> It placed number 67 on [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers]], a list of America's most inspiring films.<ref>[http://connect.afi.com/site/DocServer/cheers100.pdf?docID=202 "AFI's 100 Years{{spaces}}... 100 Cheers."] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091122102933/http://connect.afi.com/site/DocServer/cheers100.pdf?docID=202 |date=November 22, 2009 }} AFI.com. Retrieved: February 1, 2015.</ref> In June 2008, the American Film Institute revealed its [[AFI's 10 Top 10]]{{snd}}the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres{{snd}}after polling more than 1,500 people from the creative community. ''The Day the Earth Stood Still'' was acknowledged as the fifth best film in the science fiction genre.<ref>[http://www.afi.com/10top10/scifi.html "AFI's 10 Top 10."] ''[[American Film Institute|AFI.com]]'' Retrieved: February 1, 2015.</ref> In 2004, the film was selected by ''The New York Times'' as one of "The Best 1000 Movies Ever Made".<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/ref/movies/1000best.html "The Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made."] ''The New York Times'', April 29, 2003.</ref>

[[Ringo Starr]] brought the imagery of the film back into popular culture by using a modified scene of the ship and Klaatu for the cover of his 1974 album ''[[Goodnight Vienna]]''.  [[Lou Cannon]] and [[Colin Powell]] believed the film inspired [[Ronald Reagan]] to discuss uniting against an alien invasion when meeting [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] in 1985. Two years later, Reagan told the United Nations, "I occasionally think how quickly our differences worldwide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world."<ref name=hoberman/> The film is playing in the opening scene of the first episode of ''[[Star Trek: Strange New Worlds]]'' when [[Christopher Pike (Star Trek)|Captain Pike]] refers to it as a "classic".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Ettenhofer |first1=Valerie |title=The Sci-Fi Classic Featured In Star Trek: Strange New World Has A Cool Trek Connection |url=https://www.slashfilm.com/842251/the-sci-fi-classic-featured-in-star-trek-strange-new-world-has-a-classic-trek-connection-may-5/ |work=[[Slash Film]]}}</ref> American rock musician [[Willie Nile]] released an album entitled ''The Day The Earth Stood Still'' in 2021. The album's title track was inspired by the deserted streets of New York City during the Covid-19 pandemic, and contains the "Klaatu Barada Nikto" phrase in its chorus.

''The Day the Earth Stood Still'' is now considered one of the best films released in 1951.<ref>[http://www.filmsite.org/1951.html "The Greatest Films of 1951."] ''[[AMC (TV channel)|AMC Filmsite.org]]''. Retrieved: May 23, 2010.</ref><ref>[http://www.films101.com/y1951r.htm "The Best Movies of 1951 by rank."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100610085509/http://www.films101.com/y1951r.htm |date=June 10, 2010 }} ''Films101.com'', May 23, 2010.</ref> ''The Day the Earth Stood Still'' is in [[Arthur C. Clarke]]'s list of the 12 best science fiction films of all time.<ref name=syfy-20151211>{{cite web |url=http://www.syfy.com/syfywire/childhoods-end-author-arthur-c-clarkes-top-12-sci-fi-movies |title=Childhood's End author Arthur C. Clarke's Top 12 sci-fi movies |last=Spry |first=Jeff |publisher=SYFY |date=11 December 2015 |access-date=29 December 2017 |archive-date=October 26, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171026112151/http://www.syfy.com/syfywire/childhoods-end-author-arthur-c-clarkes-top-12-sci-fi-movies |url-status=dead }}</ref> The film holds a 97% rating at the [[review aggregator]] website Rotten Tomatoes based on 57 reviews, with an average rating of 8.10/10. The consensus states, "Socially minded yet entertaining, ''The Day the Earth Stood Still'' imparts its moral of peace and understanding without didacticism."<ref>[http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1005371-day_the_earth_stood_still/ {{" '}}The Day the Earth Stood Still' Movie Reviews, Pictures."] ''[[Rotten Tomatoes]].'' Retrieved: June 28, 2021.</ref> [[Tony Magistrale]] describes the film as one of the best examples of early [[techno-horror]].<ref name=tony>[[Tony Magistrale]], ''Abject Terrors: Surveying the Modern and Postmodern Horror Film'', 2005 [https://books.google.com/books?id=yEbP7M_EOeAC&pg=PA82 p. 82]</ref>

===Adaptations===
The film was dramatized as a [[radio play]] on January 4, 1954, for the ''[[Lux Radio Theatre]]''; Michael Rennie reprised his lead role as Klaatu with actress [[Jean Peters]] as Helen Benson.<ref name=Brooklyn>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/53934778/?terms=%22Day+the+Earth+Stood+Still%22 |author=<!--staff writer(s); no by-line--> |title=Radio Highlights |newspaper=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle (New York) |page=11 |date=1954-01-04 |access-date=2018-12-17 }}</ref> This production was later re-broadcast on the ''Hollywood Radio Theater'', the re-titled ''Lux Radio Theatre'', which aired on the [[American Forces Network|Armed Forces Radio Service]].<ref name="Notes">[https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/72439/the-day-the-earth-stood-still#notes "Notes: 'The Day the Earth Stood Still'."] ''[[Turner Classic Movies]]''. Retrieved: February 1, 2015.</ref>

The 2008 remake [[The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008 film)|''The Day the Earth Stood Still'']] was directed by [[Scott Derrickson]] and stars [[Keanu Reeves]] as [[Klaatu (The Day the Earth Stood Still)|Klaatu]]. Rather than leaving to humans the chance to collaborate, the remake rests on Klaatu's decision whether to let humanity be destroyed or saved.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Scott|first=A. O.|date=2008-12-12|title=It's All Over, Earthlings (Don't Flee to New Jersey) (Published 2008)|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/12/movies/12stil.html|access-date=2021-03-14|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

===Klaatu barada nikto===
Since the release of the film, the phrase "[[Klaatu barada nikto]]" has appeared repeatedly in fiction and in popular culture. The [[Robot Hall of Fame]] described it as "one of the most famous commands in science fiction",<ref>[http://www.robothalloffame.org/06inductees/gort.html "2006 Inductees: Gort."] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080412123007/http://www.robothalloffame.org/06inductees/gort.html |date=April 12, 2008 }} ''The Robot Hall of Fame'' ([[Carnegie Mellon University]]), 2006. ''The Day the Earth Stood Still''</ref> and Frederick S. Clarke of ''[[Cinefantastique]]'' called it in 1970 "the most famous phrase ever spoken by an extraterrestrial".<ref>Clarke, Frederick S. ''[[Cinefantastique]]'', 1970, p. 2.</ref>

Patricia Neal had a problem speaking the phrase, though she was proud of the film overall. "I do think it's the best science fiction film ever made, although I admit that I sometimes had a difficult time keeping a straight face. Michael would patiently watch me bite my lips to avoid giggling and ask, with true British reserve, 'Is that the way you intend to play it?'"<ref>Neal, Patricia. ''As I Am: An Autobiography''. {{ISBN|9781451626001}}</ref>

[[Edmund H. North]], who wrote ''The Day the Earth Stood Still'', also created the [[alien language]] used in the film, including the iconic phrase "Klaatu barada nikto." The official spelling for the phrase comes directly from the script and provides insight as to its proper pronunciation. No translation was given in the film. Philosophy professor Aeon J. Skoble speculates the famous phrase is a "safe-word" which is part of a [[fail-safe]] feature used during diplomatic missions such as the one Klaatu and Gort make to Earth. With the use of the safe-word, Gort's deadly force can be deactivated in the event the robot is mistakenly triggered into a defensive posture. Skoble observes that the theme has evolved into a "staple of science fiction that the machines charged with protecting us from ourselves will misuse or abuse their power."<ref>Skoble 2007, p. 91.</ref>

''[[Fantastic Films]]'' explored the meaning of "Klaatu barada nikto" in a 1978 article titled "The Language of Klaatu". The article, written by Tauna Le Marbe, who is listed as its "alien linguistics editor", attempts to translate all the alien words Klaatu used throughout the film.<ref name="fantastic-films">Le Marbe, Tauna. [https://web.archive.org/web/20040628163125/http://www.dreamerwww.com/fanfilm/fanfilm2.htm "The Language of Klaatu."] ''Fantastic Films'', Issue 1, April 1978.</ref> In the article, the literal translation for Klaatu barada nikto was "Stop Barbarism (I have) death, bind" and the free translation was "I die, repair me, do not retaliate."<ref name="fantastic-films" />

The documentary ''Decoding "Klaatu Barada Nikto": Science Fiction as Metaphor'' examined the phrase "Klaatu barada nikto" with some of the people involved in the production of ''The Day the Earth Stood Still''. [[Robert Wise]], the director of the film, conveyed an account of Edmund North telling him, "Well, it's just something I kind of cooked up. I thought it sounded good."<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1346880/ "DVD: Decoding "Klaatu Barada Nikto": Science Fiction as Metaphor|time = 0:14:05."] ''Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment'', December 2, 2008.</ref> [[Billy Gray (actor)|Billy Gray]], who played Bobby Benson in the film, said he believed the message was coming from Klaatu and that "Barada Nikto must mean{{spaces}}... save Earth."<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1346880/ "DVD: Decoding "Klaatu Barada Nikto": Science Fiction as Metaphor|time = 0:14:20."] ''Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment'', December 2, 2008.</ref>

Florence Blaustein, widow of the producer Julian Blaustein, said North had to pass a street called ''Baroda'' every day going to work and indicated "I think that's how that was born."<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1346880/ "DVD: Decoding "Klaatu Barada Nikto": Science Fiction as Metaphor| time = 0:14:47."] ''Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment'', December 2, 2008.</ref> The film historian Steven Jay Rubin recalled an interview he had with North when he asked the question, "What is the direct translation of Klaatu Barada Nikto, and Edmund North said to me 'There's hope for Earth, if the scientists can be reached'."<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1346880/ "DVD: Decoding "Klaatu Barada Nikto": Science Fiction as Metaphor|time = 0:14:55."] ''Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment'', December 2, 2008.</ref> When director Robert Wise was awarded the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997, he ended his acceptance speech with it, which in that circumstance meant "Thank you from the bottom of my heart."{{cn|date=May 2025}}