Yes, my sister bought a "Forbidden Planet" marquis CD in a decorative tin for one of my birthdays. It included a little Robbie the Robot wind-up toy, a poster and an opportunity to buy the 7' tall Robbie. Thrown in for good measure was "Tobor the Great" starring who less, but Robbie, recast. I could have used the real Robbie when I was a kid! (Couldn't we all?)

I'd also like to get my hands on some of that Krell metal!

Altair is an easy Summer star to spot. It's constellation, Aquila, the Eagle, is one that tends to resemble what it is purported to be. By June it is getting to be just east of zenith around 9 PM, if memory serves me. In fact, there is a whole flock of celestial birds there. Cygnus, the Swan (magnificent), and Corvus, the Crow. Flying in their midst is Sagitta, the Arrow. I guess one of the gods took a shot at one of them but so far it's missed them all!

Altair is a really massive star with a high rate of rotation and is therefore significantly flattened at the polar regions. Recent measurements have shown that it is about 30+% wider than it is tall. Maybe we could get George Lucas to digitally correct the images of Altair in the movie.

Oh, by the way, it lies about 17 ly (light years) from Earth so if it went nova as the story relates, Earth would most likely be irradiated into a lifeless piece of slag (ahem!) in the first day of the arrival of the first shock wave, even if it was just a type II nova.

Yes, I love Dark Star! Another favorite! what a great spoof. A philosophical star buster. I really appreciate that ground control duties were assigned to a one stripe Airman (just one notch above Airman Basic, the lowest grade). Talk about budgetary nightmares, and here these poor guys were out saving the Earth from unstable star systems. Was their President named Obama? oops, almost sorry about the injection of political opinion in a strictly fun thread!