Robby the Robot robot designed to care for children. In "Tom Swift on The Phantom Satellite" (1956), it is also the name given to a small four-foot robot designed by Tom Swift Jr., the boy inventor in the "Tom Swift Jr." science fiction novel series by Victor Appleton II. Robby the Robot originated as a character in the 1956 MGM science fiction film "Forbidden Planet". The story centers on a crew of space explorers from Earth who land their starship, the C57-D, on the planet Altair IV, ruled by the mysterious Dr. Morbius. Robby is a mechanical servant that Morbius has designed, built,
Forbidden Planet (bookstore) business in 1981. Forbidden Planet had grown out of the Titan Distributors business of Mike Lake, Nick Landau, and Mike Luckman; Titan itself having grown out of Comic Media Distributors. The first Forbidden Planet began life in 1978 as a small store in Denmark Street. As the scope of the store expanded beyond comics to embrace film and television, a second store was opened just around the corner on St Giles High Street. The store's success led to overcrowding, necessitating a move to much larger premises on New Oxford Street. The original partners, in addition to improving their London store,