Cool
Movie Robots, Part 2
There are tons more robots found in films. I've already
introduced you to some in Part
1 of Cool Movie Robots. Here are some more examples!
This is a classic cult film about 4 androids called replicants. These replicants were created with limited life spans of 4 years, a mechanism in case they became "too human".
These robots searched outer planets, looking for their creator in order to prolong their short lives. They wanted to find immortality because they felt they were capable of developing feelings just like (or even better than) humans. Here are the main android characters in the film:
Leon Kowalski: dim-witted, muscular, ox-like, a combat model
Zhora: brunette, beautiful, dangerous
Pris: a basic pleasure model, a standard item for military clubs in the outer colonies
Roy Batty: another combat model with a handsome face, with optimum self-sufficiency
The actual blade runner of the movie is Rick Deckard, who is possibly a replicant fugitive himself. He's commissioned to kill illegal replicants and tries to identify these replicants through responses to questions using a polygraph-like machine called the Voigt-Kampff Test.
Edward Scissorhands
Edward Scissorhands is one of my favourite characters. He's a Frankenstein-like creation of an inventor. This artificial man had huge scissors for hands because his inventor died before he could install real hands on him. Just like the old Frankenstein story, many thought him to be evil even though he was a harmless, gentle guy. He was shy, creative and naive. He even wins over the town for a short period of time by clipping hedges, creating ice sculptures and cutting hair using his talented hands. Unfortunately, people were out to get him and his popularity doesn't last too long.
Transformers
Although a lot of movie critics and original fans of the
Transformers hated this movie, it's worth mentioning
simply because of its mainstay in popular culture. The two rival
clans from outerspace at the heroic Autobots and
the evil Decepticons. Optimus Prime is the most
popular Transformer character, as the leader of the Autobots.
Optimus kind of looks like a truck that was dissembled and put
back together in very poor form. He also has a really small head
considering the size of the body - I would suggest for him to lay
off the leg-presses at the gym.
Robocop
Robocop was originally a police officer who was brutally
murdered. He was re-created as a superhuman cyborg. Robocop
fulfills his missions in a futuristic, crime-ridden Detroit.
What's better than "Part man, part machine, all cop", especially
if he doesn't waste any time eating donuts?
Sentinels
in The Matrix: those squid-looking
things
I'm not even sure how to describe this movie, even though you've
probably already seen it. The robots in this movie were
sentinels, who were killing machines with the
basic purpose to search and destroy. They looked like squids,
with their metallic claws, equipped with sensory devices, bombs
and lasers. All I can say is, "There is no spoon." Whatever that
means.
Ostracized robots no longer useful to their human companions, in A.I. (Artificial Intelligence)
This movie was based on a sci-fi short story by Brian Aldiss. It's basically a sci-fi fairy tale where a robot android child, called a "mecha" (a robot of the future) longs to be real. He wants to find real love. Through imprinting, David, the robot, thinks he is capable of love because of his mother. When his mother finds her real son, though, David is abandoned.
"They made us too smart, too quick, and too many. We are suffering for the mistakes they made because when the end comes, all that will be left is us."
The
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Marvin the Paranoid
Android!!
Marvin the Paranoid Android is one of my favourite robots. He's
one incredibly sarcastic genius. Part of the reason why he's so
severely depressed and bored with his life is because he has a
brain the size of a planet, which he never has the chance to put
to good use. His miserable attitude is part of his GPP Programming - "Genuine People Personality".
Here are some hilarious quotes by Marvin:
- Pardon me for breathing, which I never do any way so I don't know why I bother to say it, oh God, I'm so depressed.
- Do you want me to sit in the corner and rust, or just fall apart where I'm standing?
- Would you like me to go and stick my head in a bucket of water?
- Why stop now just when I'm hating it?
- Well I wish you'd just tell me rather than try to engage my enthusiasm.
- Wearily on I go, pain and misery my only companions. And vast intelligence, of course. And infinite sorrow.
A
nation of robots turned against their creators in I,
Robot
This movie comes from a series of stories written by Isaac Asimov
in the 1940s. A humanoid robot named Sonny is created by the U.S.
Robotics Corporation in 2035. He's suspected of murdering his own
creator. Will Smith, who plays a homicide detective, tries to
find out the truth. It turns out he has some robotic traits as
well - he's a cyborg! This story is basically about robots who
turn against their creators. Here's hoping that never happens to
my MacBook.
A
cute little garbage compactor named WALL-E
If only all garbage compactors were made this adorable.
WALLE-E is a "Waste Allocation Load
Lifter Earth-Class" who is supposed to clean up the Earth's
trash. He falls in love with EVE, short
for "Extra-terristrial Vegetation Evaluator", a sleek probe
droid-robot who is supposed to check up on his progress in the
clean up, and to check for any plant/vegetation life. Seriously,
can I buy a Wall-E at my local Canadian Tire store?
The
robot is going to lose. Not by much. But when the final score is
tallied, flesh and blood is going to beat the damn
monster.
-
Adam Smith
Images: Wikipedia, Dark Faery, ACB
References: Filmsite
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