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Asimov's "I, Robot" Gets Movie Treatment
sdimbert writes "Isaac Asimov's classic collection of short stories about the role robots play in humankind's future is being made into a movie set to release on July 16, 2004, starring Wil Smith. The most notable part of the release build-up is the fact that the movie's trailer, most often seen before screenings of The Returnn of the King plays more like a product commercial (like Apple's flat-panel iMac ads) than a movie trailer. Suffice it to say that most of the audence that saw it with me had no idea they had just seen a movie trailer; they actually believed that someone was going to start selling a "fully automated domestic assistant" some time next year."
Maybe Apple plans to come out with an iRobot.
Sorry, Dean Kamen.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
and they thought it was what? a hobbit home help?
Geeze - they should have put a link directly to a nice full-quality trailer, perferably in .avi format (no encoding).
Link to trailer?
Please?
Pretty please?
Instant Karma's gonna get you Gonna look you right in the face -- John Lennon
Did you take a poll? The big green screen that stated "THE FOLLOWING PREVIEW..." made it pretty clear to folks in our theater.
It was a good preview, but give RotK fanatics more credit than that.
It's gonna suck! The main character in "I, Robot" was female, Susan Calvin. I bet they aren't even going to use Harlan Ellison's screenplay from a few years back.
We already have ""fully automated domestic assistant". See Real Doll.
Quicktime Link from Movie-List.com
go to the official site.
Something tells me that these people probably aren't the target audience of the film anyway.
-- "Other than that, how was the play Mrs. Lincoln?"
iApple will sue, saying they have an iTrademark on iXXX where XXX = noun.
Please do not mark this as a dupe to the first post.
iThank you.
"If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid." - Epictetus
Wouldn't it be more appropriate if the movie were entitled Caves of Steel?
I thought I, Robot was a series of short stories leading up to Caves...
yours,
kbs
This is going to look like MIB III, isn't it? OK, he did "Ali", but I still associate him with cheesy stuff like MIB, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and that Gettin Jiggy Wit' It video...
When I am king, you will be first against the wall.
The good: Directed by Alex Proyas, who also directed a couple of top-notch films in The Crow and Dark City. Basing on Asimov certainly qualifies as "good" in my book as well.
The bad: Will Smith.
Plot Outline: In the year 2035 a techno-phobic cop investigates a crime that may have been perpetrated by a robot, which leads to a larger threat to humanity.
Why does this remind me of Animatrix's "The Second Renaissance"? The "I, Robot" plot is ripped off from The Matrix !!!1!
A monkey is doing the real work for me.
Just like the frivolous lawsuit where an idiot spilled hot coffee on her own lap and got rich witn McDonald's money as a result.
My friend and I were watching ROTK and saw the ad. We both thought it was a product, and the name idea was swiped from Asimov. iPod, iPaq, iRobot - maybe like an inside joke for those who get it.
The website also makes it look like a commercial and like you can start ordering those robots starting in the summer of next year.
How exactly do they expect people who have never read anything by Asimov to catch on that this is a movie? I've seen people I know linking to the website in their journals and saying something like "I want one of these."
I claim first use of "Error No. 0B" - or "No. 0B error." It'll be the new ID 10T!
http://a772.g.akamai.net/5/772/51/96ec7e42288f68/1 a1a1aaa2198c627970773d80669d84574a8d80d3cb12453c02 589f25382f668c9329e0375e8177dec6493fc5bcd3c9e0d81/ i_robot_fox320.mov
Enjoy yourselves.
The Drowned and the Saved - Primo Levi
First post of the day that made me spray coffee out my nose and all over the monitor. Thank you.
Unfortunately, this looks like it will be as bad as The Bicentennial Man adaptation that was made a few years ago with Robin Williams.
The best movie that will never get made is Harlan Ellison's I, Robot.
Get the book, read the script. It's the greatest movie you'll never see.
www.lucernesys.comHorizon: Calendar-based personal finance
I think Will Smith took on this film because he thought he would get another chance to take on the giant robot spider
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
For what it's worth the website for the movie is here I, Robot Now. Click 'see our commercial' to watch the teaser/trailer.
I recognoized "Three laws safe" when I saw it in the theatres, but I totally glossed over the I, Robot part of the address name when it popped up.
This is a link. AC so I'm not a karma-whore.
Imagine the replacement battery costs on THAT product....
You need a FREE iPod Nano
The country of iTaly, knowing it is a matter of time before Apple's lawyers turn their eye on them, is making moves to official change their name to "Olive Garden" (hoping to still attract tourists wanting to sample the famous cuisine).
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
Still waiting for the Licenced Video Game to be announced. Oh wait...
"Your Plastic Pal Who's Fun To Be With!"
Ehhm...
Sorry, wrong book, wrong movie.
Wenn ist das Nunstueck git und Slotermeyer? Ja! Beiherhund das Oder die Flipperwaldt gersput.
No Robin Williams!!!
This post patent pending.
Is this movie where Will Smith hunts robots with big guns, then the robots win the war and start using humans as energy, then a robot is sent back to the past to kill the mother of Will Smith?
Oh, wait, i'm confused...
ajf
I think the Foundation series of books is much better than I, Robot.
Everyone I know who picked up and read Foundation went on and read the rest of the series in less than a week.
That's the whole point. What better way to get everyone to talk about your movie? The site does not give a single indication that this is a joke, it drops a few hints though... if you read it all, it's far too exaggerated and heavy on technobabble, but I bet people are trying to contact them and call them in order to have demos on their TV shows and all sorts. I wonder how long they can keep it up?
Conversion Rate Optimisation French / English consultant
What's up with that ? The only google link I got was to a gay / s.m. page.
The reason the movie website is 'irobotnow.com' is that iRobot is the folks that make the Roomba vaccuum, and military robots.
So well, if Apple had an issue, they'd have already been bitching.
Build it, and they will come^Hplain.
Time to put in a plug for the exquisite "I Robot" album by the Alan Parsons Project, released in 1977. It's a concept album, but it is not an adapation of the Asimov stories. From the liner notes:
The story of the rise of machine and the decline of man,
which paradoxically coincided with his discovery of the wheel...
And a warning that his brief dominance of this planet will
probably end, because man tried to create robot in his own image.
The songs "I Wouldn't Want to Be Like You" and "The Voice" were the only ones I recall receiving any airplay.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
Oh great, another chance to ruin good sci-fi literature. After the bang-up job done with Bicentennial Man and Contact I can hardly wait for the next steaming load of hot grits to belch from Natalie Portman's undulating undies.
This is obviously *NOT* I, Robot, since there *is* *no* major single male protagonist in the collection. And who plays the middle-aged or older major protagonist, Susan Calvin?
Oh, sorry, that won't play well with the 16-30 age group.
IF THEY WANT TO WRITE THEIR OWN FSCKIN' MOVIE, DO IT, BUT DON'T CLAIM IT'S SOMEONE ELSE'S, nor mangle and mutilate someone else's, better work.
mark "and I keep meaning to send a threat
of physical violence to Peter Jackson"*
* And after the Two Towers, if Faramir were a real person, he would have filed a libel suit against Jackson.
Why does it seem that movies are making trailers look more and more like commercials?
I hate to disillusion you, but . . . movie trailers are commercials!
The real star is Bridget Moynahan of Coyote Ugly fame.
think the Foundation series of books is much better than I, Robot.
George Lucas already ripped Trantor and has shown it to us on the screen as Coruscant.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
Knowing Hollywood muppets, someone will misunderstand and suggest 2, Robot as the sequel...
I'm certain these posts are code for something and they're being used by international terrorists to communicate top-secret information. That's the only logical explanation I can think of...
Apparently IMDB gives the screenwriting credit to Akiva Goldsman who apparently also wrote Lost In Space, A Beautiful Mind, Practical Magic, A Time to Kill and Batman and Robin.
Talk about a hit and miss record.
Really, it's a crime that they aren't using Ellison's screenplay. Asimov himself was quite fond of that adaptation, I can't help but wonder how he'd feel about this new one.
lysergically yours
All your iBase are belong to robot? Their website includes a NS5 "configurator" which basically miscolors renders of their "robot". What if I wanted some actual information on the movie, instead of their silly make believe robot?
Fully functional, programmed in multiple techniques?
I didn't see Tasha complaining at least.
right?
- these are not the droids you are looking for -
I would have loved to have seen him in something new. Star Trek would have you believe all he can do is say, "Yes, sir!" and push buttons, but after reading his site you sort of get to know the guy...
"To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit." -Stephen Hawking
Well... in the site... there are little tech specs tidbits here and there...
10MegaPixel vision?
6 TeraFlop Positronic (reminds me of data) brain?
1 TeraByte of memory?
13 hr battery life?
God... I want one.... forget Asimo/Qrio...
Kernel seems a bit old though... 2.1.2 ? Never heard of a "Teresa" distro either...
I saw this before a ROTK screening, and also thought it was some kind of new robot. After all, Sony or whomever had just been announcing their "jogging" robot and whatnot.
Anyway, I'm sitting there trying my best to ignore the "ad", waiting impatiently for ROTK to start, and then the "3 Laws Safe" tagline comes up. I about shit my pants. Tried to explain it to one of my buddies next to me, but he just kind of looked at me like "Aragorn did what now?" Oh well, here's hoping they don't fuck this movie up too much.
There were a number of robots in I, Robot.
But Susan was not one of them. She is human, and even in a revisionist "well it could be" point of view, it is clear that on occasion she violates the spirit of the 3 laws of robotics, although I'd have to carefully reread the books to see if she ever violated it in letter.
According to the preview material on IMDB ,the plot will have little to do with any of the short stories. It will be interesting to see how true to the 'world' they keep.
*SIGH*
Helllooooo Mr. Freeman! What are you doing?
J.
The self-preservation part of the Laws of Robotics also rules out "Ice Pirates", where the boxy kung-fu robots at one point pulled lynchpins out of their own solar plexii and fell to pieces.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
Didn't Robin Williams do this already in Bicentennial Man? There was even a scene where they talked abou the three laws of robotics.
Free your ecomony and enact the FairTax
I, Robot is largely a series of short stories centering around logic puzzles...Susan Calvin and Powell and Donovan figuring out what's wrong with robots by reasoning from the Three Laws. The only story in the book with a real human element is Robbie, and the robot in that one can't even talk. I think the only relation this movie is going to bear to an Asimov work is the title. That's not necessarily a bad thing. (And then I remember Bicentennial Man. Well, kind of, because it was utterly forgettable.) Anyway, much as I like his books, I don't think any of them would transfer well to the screen. Too much brain, not enough gut.
-Carolyn
Like Daddy always said: if you can't dazzle 'em with brilliance, baffle 'em with bullshit.
Apparently IMDB gives the screenwriting credit to Akiva Goldsman who apparently also wrote Lost In Space, A Beautiful Mind, Practical Magic, A Time to Kill and Batman and Robin.
I've always thought of him as a franchise slayer. His "Batman 4" script put that franchise into a deep slumber. His terrible "Lost in Space" script slew that potential franchise.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
From this page:
Isaac Asimov's "Three Laws of Robotics"
1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
Because the main interesting thing about the Caves of Steel book was that the robot was human enough to look like a normal person, and hence did some stunning maneuvers, like threatening an angry crowd, even though each robot has wired the first law, which is to not hurt humans.
It was also that reason that made the protagonist change and appreciate Daneel, to later develop a long lasting friendship, where both admired each other.
People are actually really confused enough about this AD to talk to others about it in hopes of figuring out what the hell is going on. When they find out it is a movie, about something they had never heard of they are very curious about the source and the result.
Remember how much fevor ID4 generated by just showing clips of landmarks getting the hell blown out of them? Same thing. How do you pitch a smart braintease to a mass audience? By making them think it is something else (please note I am not saying ID4 was a brainteast) or by hoping you get really good word of mouth (Memento).
--- I do not moderate.
and the Sicily add on for evading taxes.
I thought the Vatican module was much more effective for avoidance of paying taxes.
I Robot was filmed outside of vancouver at Central City which was the future location of my old university until a shaddy dealing between an insurance company and the previous government left it open to film crews. Cat woman was filmed there too.
Hrmmm... On one hand, the idea of a movie based on I, Robot worrys me, [insert usual concern over Hollywoodization of classic Sci-Fi and Fantasy reading] but the director does have a couple good movies to his name, (i.e. The Crow (the original one, not the crappy sequals) and Dark City), so it may fare well.
Just as long as he doesnt try to do what the Matrix tried to do, and instead follows in the Peter Jackson style of turning classic books from a particular genre into an amazing series of movies.
But is it just me, or does anyone else see a sudden trend in movies about what "could" go wrong in a far more technologically advanced world?
"Our funds have never taken part in toxic or death spiral convertible financings of any sort" -BayStar's managing partne
Yes. The "Ice Pirates" scene, as I recall, violated this law because the robots just decided to pull themselves apart for no apparent reason. They were not doing it (in an obvious way) to comply with the first two laws. It was funny, however.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
I'm not sure how into the indie rock scene the slashdot crowd is, but Coheed and Cambria has a song called "I, Robot." [plyrics.com] I always thought it was a wierd song, but maybe this is what it's based on.
They're a cool band. I heard they're actually making a comic book to go along with their latest album [amazon.com]. Just thought I'd point that out.
But I think battery life is one of the main reasons we don't see more robotic gizmos for sale. That vacuum cleaner disc that they sell on TV looks like it wouldn't hold more than a cup of dirt, and probably has less power than a dust buster. But if it were equivalent to my 12 amp dirt devil upright, then it would look interesting. Batteries are the stumbling block. Blind people already keep their houses 'just so' so that they can use robot-like algorithms to find stuff. ( i.e. the refrigerator is 10 steps to the left of the bedroom door, follow the wall right 3 1/2 steps turn left open a door, one step ahead is the kitchen table, feel it, the fridge is directly behind the secondof four chairs. Quadraplegics might keep their houses Asimo-friendly so that it would be able to fetch things out of the fridge for them or whatever. You could have a simple 'bot for kids that moves any item with a 'toy' rfid tag from the floor to a toybox.
If there were decent batteries, one might see an Asimo type 'bot around the house or even a segway-style stair climbing vaccum cleaner with decent amps right now.
Eat at Joe's.
FYI: Alan Tudyk aka (Wash) will be playing Sonny.
www.facebook.com/DareDefendOurRights
www.fairtax.org
Will Smith meets a Furby from Men in Black (1 or 2) and deathmatches the creature in ID4.
Conspiracy Theory anyone?? Nahh... I'm sure he will whoppass in the Wild Wild West.
[Fresh Prince]
I kind of like iReland, with its pretty green desktop background.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
Don't trust movie producers with Asimov. Ever.
The last movie I saw that was supposed to be an Asimov movie was "Nightfall."
Nobody who did that movie could have ever read the story.
It was such a stinker that they invented 'direct to video' because of it.
Seems like I saw a trailer for this on MTV in 1999, but it had a better sex angle.
How often do you move your fridge? And your doors?
McDonald's was liable. For one, they should have never served coffee over 83 degrees F. For another, all their coffee cups should have been labeled: "Do not pour coffee on your labia".
Do 3Com still own the USR trademark, or did it go to Palm?
--
E_NOSIG
This:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005256/
could not be Susan Calvin!
Guys at Hollywood, can't you bypass your stereotypes at least for Asimov? Please?
making fresh and relevant...not to mention hip.
As for the claim its not meant to be apple style...come on! You better believe there is going to be an apple tie-in somewhere...and why not? At least in this case it would be APPROPRIATE. Robots and computers go together like peanut butter and jelly.
The stupidity was in McDonald's ignoring the law until
There was no "coffee law".
The coffee was quite safe. 700 incidents out of many billions of cups sold. Also, the customers preferred it nice and hot, as shown by the "cold coffee" complaints after they lowered the temperature. The old woman was stupid, but McDonald's did nothing wrong.
It is an abbreviation of the name "William".
Please correct.
Love,
Wilbur (guy who owns Mr. Ed).
1. Wait for someone that has written a lot of good stuff dies.
2. Buy the rights to dead persons stuff.
3. Churn out something that may or may not even be close to what said dead person would have invisioned but since they are dead you don't have to care!
4. Profit!
I know I know, there is an extra step in there. Well, we are talking about writeing arn't we?
Really, I know what I'm doing...Ohhhh, look at the shiny buttons!
So, how much cash will they get for this from Sony and 3com?
I guess one of the other big movie trailers that intrigued me the most was for Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. It was also attached to LOTR:ROTK. The setting looks awesome. Giant flying robots, WWII era fighter planes, flappy, mechanical bird thingies, Angelina Jolie as One-Eyed Willie and Zepplins. The robots look almost like they're out of the Iron Giant or maybe even Miyazaki's Laputa.
Good God! The man put a killed off "Wild, Wild West" and spit on its grave with that music video. Do you guys really wanna see "The Robot Rap"???
This movie is being directed by Alex Proyas who directed Dark City, one of the best SciFi movies ever.
And what can you say about Asimov that hasn't already been said.
A great combination -- really looking forward to this.
"sorry for the mild flaming, but you really need to see his other work. The Sundance channel ran one of the shorts he played the lead role in that showed more of his abilities than the typecasting that STTNG does."
I've seen those. He gets to go beyond his more limited roles, and actually fire phasers and punch Klingons. He even sleeps with a Deltan at the end of one film. They truly show the range of his talent.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
I got it immediately, but then, I grew up reading Asimov books including I, Robot. However, my wife ( not a big sf fan ) had no idea what it was even after the 3 laws safe part. The trailer isn't going to mean a thing to anyone that has never read Isaac Asimov which is pretty dumb IMHO for a marketing campaign targeted at the general public. Big budget movies based on books reach a broader audience than the books do. Something like 50 million copies of Lord Of the Rings have been sold, but many more than 50 million people have seen the first two movies and will see the third one. I, Robot was a book of short stories. I wonder which one ( if any ) this movie will be actually be based on.. They used to have good books of short stories, I really don't see that format in the bookstore anymore... I wonder what happened?
Eat at Joe's.
Did anyone see the ad for Resident Evil Apocalypse where it looked like some sort of Jergens skin care commercial? The thing had me completely fooled (I guess I should've noticed the "T-cell formula" part).
And then it has the "possible sideeffects" where the woman turns into the zombie. Cool stuff.
Just wonder if it will blow as much ass as the first one (Milla beaver shot excluded).
What is music when you despise all sound?
Neither would I.
I'm not disputing that Harlan Ellison is a good writer or anything, but would you REALLY want to work with the guy on revisions?
The guy gets bitchy about the internet of all bloody things.
I cannot actually imagine trying to collaborate on a project.
I browse at +3, so if someone's mentioned this, sorry. But it's clear from the IMDB entry that this is not an adaptation of Asimov's I, Robot, but rather Asimov's The Caves of Steel. Here's what IMDB says:
That's good, as far as I'm concerned. Lije Bailey was one of Asimov's better characters, and it's the introduciton of a certain R. Daneel. But the imdb credits also list a "Dr. Susan Calvin" as a character -- she's from I, Robot...hm...
Oh, hell, who knows what they doing. I'll wager that the end product bears no resemblence to anything Asimovian.
On the other hand, Bridget Moynahan is in the movie, and there ain't nothing wrong with that.
I knew it was coming, as when waiting in line for RoTK, I saw an 'I, Robot' movie stand-up. I pointed it out to my wife and our friends, and explained a bit about Asimov. It was not easy to miss, either, as it was taller than I was, and standing near the doors.
Thus, when the trailer played, we all looked at each other and had a bit of a laugh. Hopefully, people will/did see the movie stand-up either before or after the movie, and put 2 & 2 together. We'll see...
Will Smith "Robot Rap"? Complete with samples ripped from "Mr Roboto" and Black Sabbath "Iron Man", no doubt.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
Point taken, but I usually have so much clutter and junk on the floor that my house would be a deathtrap were I blind.
Eat at Joe's.
Behold... iRobot Now
leads to complacency which leads to inaction towards really changing things in your country
What is there to change? Are you lamenting that these movie goers are not out engaging in race riots, or joining racist pressure groups like the KKK or NOI? I'd rather have them in the seats in the theatre than going out and messing up the country.
You both are dumber than a crutch. The original poster was laughing because of the whole iPod battery replacement thing. Basically Apple wanted alot of money to replace the battery in this guys ipod, so much it would be more worth it to simply buy a new one.
That was the only part of the trailer I thought was good. I think I was the only one in the theater who laughed out loud when that message came up.
-------- In Soviet Russia, "Soviet Russia" sigs hate Slashdot.
for one, "i, robot" is a collection of short stories. read the robot novels (caves of steel, naked sun, robots of dawn). ironically, in another collection of robot stories (robot visions, i believe) asimov says that he likes his own robot stuff better than the foundation series.
BSD is for people who love UNIX. Linux is for those who hate Microsoft.
This sig has absolutely no significance and serves only to take up screen space and waste the time of the reader.
i'm at the theater feeling warm and fuzzy because my americuh is not racist because hollywood embraces black")
You miss the point. AmericA (spell it correctly) is not "racist", while certain individuals in it are.
What alternatives are there that are NOT racist themselves? What are you referring to?
Those would lend themselves very well to movies. Better yet, they could actually do sequels based on the later robot novels.
Absolute horrible casting. Why not just admit defeat and cast Eddie Murphy?
Will Smith....mostly known for being very taken with his own good looks.
The trailer isn't very helpful in explaining what the movie is about. But this might be.
BTW, I have a lot of misgivings about a movie when they say things like 'This film is not a direct adaptation of any of the nine stories in that book, but is instead a prequel of sorts to them, having its origins in a script by Jeff Vintar that was originally called 'Hardwired' that was adapted to fit into Asimov's stories, but not based on any specific one. ' It sounds like they are capitalizing on the Asimov name without actually using his stories.
Seppuku: Your solution to my problems!
You could tell who the real nerds were in the theater (yes I was one of them) - because we chuckled out loud to the claim that the robots are "3 law safe". Pretty ballsy to put something that obscure into a movie trailer. I think this movie might actually be good. Will Smith was pretty good in ID4.
The real reason Smith was hired had nothing to do with his race. It has everything to do with the fact that he is a personable, competant (if not very talented) actor who is rather popular and has delivered "sci fi blockbusters" in the past (even if he has delivered duds like "Wild Wild West").
You are right. It is not about racial issues, it is a casting call. It is quite racist to think that Smith's skin color had anything to do with this particular role, and insulting to Smith.
So we're getting a movie about a robot that makes racist insults?
Yes, but they're supposed to be comercials for MOVIES and not for PRODUCTS..
When I saw the trailer, I also could have sworn it was an ad for a real robot, and almost pissed myself with excitement when I saw "3 Laws Safe", and proceeded to explain them to everyone around me in the movie theater..
DJ kRYPT's Free MP3s!
I never saw The Majestic, when I found out that its "hero" was a "hero" because of the trouble he got into in the past for being a foreign agent, throwing his lot in with Josef Stalin.
welcome our new fully automated domestic assistants!
my intention is to critizice hollywood's manipulation of the general american public by the use of actors as objects for the sale of their product. "let see, well, we want them black movie goers and hip-hopper wannabes watching this one, so let's put ol' Willy Smith there."
why i think this sucks?
if this does not explain my non-troll intentions, i can't do much else about it. i'll try to read/talk/write to/with people and see if i can speak/write/act in a clearer fashion.
piss.
HAD
Parent does not understand difference between strings "WILL SMITH" and "CHRIS ROCK" (even though they are equal in length.
YOU NEED TO PARSE YOURSELF, SIR.
I love Asimov. I have read hundreds of his books. Everything of his I have seen converted to movie form has been awful. I have heard mention of Bicentennial Man. Bah, that was sheer brilliance compared to the eye gouging horror that was Nightfall. Ahhhh, my brain hurts just remembering.... make it stop!
Sig under construction since 1998.
It's obvious why people would think that nowadays. Quite simply, it's not so much of a science fiction element any more.
Look around you. Many, many of the things Asimov talks about would seem quant in comparision to the technology we have today.
Not only that, but we have robots now that walk. Honda advertised their robot in Time magazine, and for all practical purposes, the ad for the robot (I forget the name) made it come across as a fully autonomous device. The abido (Sony's dog, whatever it's called) has been out for, what, 2, 3 years now? It is not inconceiveable that someone would invent such a device.
While I love Asimov's books, and his Three Laws of Robotics (I think that's what they were called), as well as the positronic brains, were very interesting and creative fictionalizations. However, if you contrast them to today's environment, it's only a little more drastic than someone releasing a car in the next few years that runs on a hydrogen/solar cell combination. We see robotics, AI, and other such breakthroughs in research all the time in the likes of Popular Mechanics.
As unknowledgeable as most people are about their computers, electronics, and science in general (to say nothing of their literary pedigree), why is this surprising? It's not.
~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
Parent does not understand difference between strings "CHRIS ROCK" and "CHRIS TUCKER" (even though they are equal in length.
YOU NEED TO PARSE YOURSELF, SIR.
Since there were so many %^$$@#! TV-ish commercials before our showing of LOTR:ROTK, it was kind of hard to distinguish. :P
I, for one, am sick of seeing commercials before movies. Especially 15 minutes worth.
The Privacy Policy both links off-site (fox us.rsc03.net), and contains language identifying Fox Filmed Entertainment as the holder of that privacy policy.
That should tell everyone everything! I mean, all the consumers out there look after their information vigorously and read every letter of Privacy Policies, don't they? So there you go!
Any spoon would be too big.
One can always hope that this will be the start of an epic number of films following the path to the stars that concludes with the Foundation series
Been there, done that, paid for the T-shirt
and didn't get it
They are actors not "objects", and there is nothing manipulative about choosing good actors to make the film more successful.
i robot is a masterpiece of sci-fi lit This film just uses the name
will smith can't act He most certainly can.
will smith is there to get some asses on those seats So? A movie is made with attention that it will be successful
many *many* people think it's nice of hollywood to put black people on screen, it must be because they love racial diversity, and are lured to ignore *still existing* racial issues In other words, blacks should be barred from all movies until the totally unrelated "racial issues" that you can't even describe are solved
casting a non-acting object such as smith denotes lack of integrity from any director that takes the job No, this just shows your lack of knowledge of Smith's skills which have been proven in such films as Ali and 6 Degrees.
director's/producers which lack integrity *VERY FREQUENTLY* lack artistic skills (who's got time when he/she's chasing dollars?) They tend to get "dollars" if the film succeeds artistically. The system rewards excellence with financial success
I thought the logical choice to play a robot would be Keanu Reeves... just stop him from saying "Whoa" and you're there...
Geez, the original post was just dripping with sarcasm. Get a clue!
just piss me off. And the fact that 99% of the audiences believed they were watching an ad for a company selling a "domestic assistant" is just more proof of the new subliminal pervasive movement in advertising. I can understand me having to deal with commercials on TV; that's how television revenues are generated...the concept of me having to sit through commercials at a theater AND pay to do it is abhorring to me. What happened to the day you could go to the movies and only have to sit through trailers of upcoming movies? Now we have to deal with the same crap commercials we see (or timeshift through) at home. It seems that we're getting bombarded more and more each day and each ad is more subliminally aimed than the last.
Poor Isaac - does this mean they have phased out the white models?
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
give RotK fanatics more credit than that
On what basis?
If you suppose that the movie would be substantially better (all other things being equal) with a white actor, you're deluded.
You're picking up on the most insignificant factor of why this movie might or might not be any damn good, and turning it into a race war.
That's bullshit, dude, no matter how many times you point to your tired, hackneyed, point.
Is race used in marketing? You betcha. So is sex and money. Want a cause to fight for? Fight the marketroids that turn us into nothing more than our demographic statistics. Leave Will Smith alone. He's done some good stuff, he's done some bad stuff. He's made me laugh a few times, and made me think a few times. (He's also made me cringe a few times. Bad Boys 2? Oh man...) I can't ask for much more than that from a performer.
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
http://pwp.netcabo.pt/0256503202/writers_binder.ht mS erv let/showid-1477/epid-21570/
http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/GuidePage
McDonald's decided that making their coffee very, very hot would be good for sales
True. They had had complaints from people who picked up a cup in the morning, and were pissed their coffee was cold by the time the got to work. So they, in response to their customers, raised the temp.
So let's not call this old woman stupid, just because she did a stupid thing.
Heanen forbid we call people who do stupid things 'stupid'.
When I saw this the other night at the movie, I commented to my Dad, "iRobot is the company that makes the roomba". Oops; I wonder if the iRobot company name is also based on the Asimov stories.
[Will the editors please figure out how to use ispell, or any similar tool? Thank you.]
//TODO: Think of witty sig statement
marketroids own willy, and from what I gather, your willy too.
someone please get this one to broadcast depth too.
HAD
... I am the lost brother of Bill Gates.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
robot-like algorithms to find stuff. ( i.e. the refrigerator is 10 steps to the left of the bedroom door, follow the wall right 3 1/2 steps
Ah yes, Markov models. I used to use those to get home from the bars on 6th street... walk 2 blocks to Congress, (stumble) turn right, (stumble) turn right again on 7th, etc...
Actually you have it alll wrong (or at least it would seem from watching the first 20 min) he was accused of being a stalinist because of some meetings he attended in college to impress a girl.
Ironically, I think that was a major plot point of the movie that we shouldn't leap to conclusions. I'm not sure how you got sucked in so easily.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
NOT safe for work
I drive WAY too fast to worry about cholesterol!
...huh?
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
Sorry. I am a movie buff, I would know about either if they were of any significance >:-p
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
If you remembered correctly, it's "Three laws safe." And the Google Link is perfectly informative.
"It's a very tangled subsystem." --Windows kernel guru
Now, I admit I can't view half the I, Robot movie site because flash is broken on my web browser at work and its impossible to fix without a reinstall, but the credits on IMDB show no evidence of Daneel. If there's no Daneel, its not Caves of Steel.
What it does sound like is a munging of several Asimov ideas into an action flick, and Asimov is decidedly NOT action. Del Spooner isn't even the right character name for Caves of Steel.
I don't think you can call it Caves of Steel, but what you can call it is a licensing of the basic idea around Asimov's universe and adapting it so that the general populace can relate to it in an action movie.
I.E. all you are going to get that's asimov-related are the three laws and a couple of character names.
"All great wisdom is contained in .signature files"
one (or two) words... "Sell-Out" Will Smith (although I can't blame him) will bite ay anything... he is, quite factually, a hollywood whore. [Fresh Prince]
with a small modification, this post could fit right in with this story
This movie is obviously just using the title to promote itself, as just looking at the synopsis on IMDB demonstrates that its closer to 'Caves of Steel'.
In the year 2035 a techno-phobic cop investigates a crime that may have been perpetrated by a robot, which leads to a larger threat to humanity.
I will put money down that this will be nothing like either book really as they've already introduced characters from places theyve never been. Honestly, this looks like a scifi script that was too generic-brand, and so they decided to 'brand' it with something, chose Asimov, slapped the title on the movie and changed around some character names. This looks like another Hollywood attempt at a scifi movie that shall run along the lines of Minority Report: too much action, not enough substance. Don't even get me started on poor Mr. Philip K Dick whos stories are being raped even as we speak (Disney doing a philip k dick book?! An abomination!)
"What can a thoughtful man hope for mankind on Earth, given the experience of the past million years? Nothing." -Bokonon
There was no "coffee law".
You're probably limiting your idea of "law" to a "statute" in a state's legal code. There do exist other things with the force of law. For example, don't the prior injunctions against McDonald's count as a "law"? And if the Three Laws of robotics safety were handed down by a judge rather than passed by a legislative body, would they not be "laws"?
I always attended CPUSA and Neo-Nazi meetings to impress girls. It worked so well.
And what stake does the Roomba company have in this?
If the courts create 3 Laws of Robotics, it is called unconstitutional. The legislative branch is supposed to create new laws, not the judicial branch.
I think you've stumbled onto the reason why we're seeing movies like this, Minority Report, and the rest of them. Asimov, Dick, and others of yesteryear wrote about our time. We're catching up to their future every time Intel releases a new processor that ticks along how many billions of times per second, or IBM creates a new mainframe capable of processing how many millions of transactons per minute, or L&H release a speech interpreter capable of handling how many thousands of word, or Sony releases a robot capable of understanding how many hundreds of commands -- you see my point?
We're getting there. It's helpful to take a step back and just look around at the world we're building. What's so intriguing about these concepts is that it no longer takes a huge leap of faith to imagine these things happening... just a little nudge in the right direction...
Michael C. Hollinger
Good point, I did forget the 'Zeroth' - the law created by robots to help deal with their ever-advancing sense of conscience. I've been looking around for some confirmation, but didn't Giskard develop the zeroth and then transfer it to Daneel (along with the ~other~ cool gift he gave him) thus beginning the Giskardian movement?
Come on, people. Are you really this gullible?
Not being a literature geek, even I was able to deduce that this was an trailer for a movie and not an actual robot product.
While there was several mumblings in the audience after the trailer ran; enough for me to shout out to the confused that it was a movie instead of whatever they thought. It didn't have me fooled for a second. It reminded me of Bicentennial Man, and sadly I didn't even get the Asimov correlation until later.
It's understandable. This is probably what happens when most of the movie going public is seeing RotK for Liv Tyler and Orlando Bloom. That's why I tell people that I was there to see Viggo.
Despite the Psychic Friends Hotline, we are no closer (if we ever will be) to having psychics predict the future with precognitive metapsychic abilities. This is the main element of "Minority Report", remember. This is not about "our time", not even close.
As for Asimov's robots, the best we can get is walking dummies. Not even close there either.
Apparently Alan Tudyk, of Firefly fame, will be in it. Hopefully that will make up for casting Will Smith...
But then, maybe there was an ad for robotic assistants, but the Lacuna folks erased it from my mind. Never can tell these days.
...Nothing interesting here. Just move along...
Robots are so hot right now. So hot.
f*ck RotK. i wish i had some crackers for that cheeseball of a movie... oh wait, i was sitting in an entire theatre full of crackers !
This kind of movie ad campaign had already been done by Gattaca in 1997. It advertized in the NY Times, among other places, to have a method of genetically engineering children.
They even had a toll-free number to call, which was pounded heavily. I'm surprised anyone had the gall to copy this strategy... it had some considerably bad backlash, as far as I can remember.
"Don't believe anything you read on the net. Except this. Well, including this, I suppose." --Douglas Adams
Will Smith was very good in the excellent suspense _Enemy of the State_, playing opposite Gene Hackman. _I, Robot_ features James Cromwell, not exactly Hackman's calibre, but possibly pro enough to press Smith into acting. It depends on whether director Alex Proyas brings out their best, or just cashes in on the Asimov brand.
--
make install -not war
How the hell would you know that?
As other people have pointed out, Ellison's screenplay of the real I, Robot is worth reading. There's a free chapter at twbookmark.
For anyone wanting evidence that this is indeed an ad for a movie, the whois info for irobotnow.com has:
Domain Name: IROBOTNOW.COM
Domain Status: Registered
Administrative Contact:
Fox Webmaster wmf@fox.com
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
Intellectual Property Department
P.O. Box 900
Beverly Hills, CA 90213 US
1-3103691000
Record last updated on:..2003-12-02 15:56:14.333
Record expires on:.......2004-12-02 00:00:00.0
Record created on:.......2003-12-02 15:56:13.893
Domain Name Servers:
ns1.foxinc.com 216.205.226.26
ns2.foxinc.com 216.205.228.26
Their site is exellent though, very convincing I'd imagine for most people.
The "robot-like" algorithm of which you speak is called "dead reckoning" and is one of the fundamental types of navigation which as been used for thousands of years. Alot of robotics employ it because it is trivial to implement (assuming you can measure your speed accurately)
Religion is a gateway psychosis. -- Dave Foley
Because they are recursive and all based upon the purpose of robots - to server humanity. Why oh why the Matrix did not go into this one will never understand.
I've played with them a lot, the batteries are a major concern, OTOH, they do work quite well, they just last an hour from charge to charge.
Hollywood never assumes anyone reads any books. In fact, they'd probably prefer that you don't read any books. If they tell you what entertains, perhaps you will unlearn how to entertain yourself and just let Hollywood pour their versions of everything into you. Succumb; it's the easiest way, and you'll be happier with the crap they produce (in the long run).
I, for one, welcome our new.... oh, never mind.
Very good point, I completely agree. Also interesting to consider, therein, is the fact that there doesn't seem to be much visionary writing going on like that today -- at least nothing to speak of... Where is today's Asimov or Verne?
"Ain't I a stinka..." - Bugs
Actually, I think the really cool point you mention is the RFID tags. If these things live up to their expectations and become embedded in everything, a robot could use the RF signal to home in on objects while avoiding other ones. Things wouldn't always have to be in the same place. The robot could find the RFID tag for orange juice in the fridge, etc.
...think of the possibilities!
the above is my personal opinion and does not necessarily reflect that of the little voices in my head
This is, actually, not the first assimov based movie. The bicentenary man is based in assimov's book, and is the story of the very first human'like robot.
I sincerely hope they don't do any more movies based on his books, or at least if they di they should choose a good cast and a good director
The imagery totally reminded me of the Bjork video for "All is Full of Love," directed by Chris Cunningham.
You can download it here. (RealMedia) or look at pictures here.
It's a really amazing piece of work. Let's hope this movie turns out to be as captivating.
Often in Error, Never in Doubt.
Harlan Ellison did a wonderful script.
Hollywood gives us a script written by the guy who gave us two of the criminally bad Batman movies and the Lost in Space camp-fest.
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
You cannot wash away blood with blood
I wish I could buy a bunch of RFID tags myself, and have my PDA have an RFID reader built-in or as a CF card. I'd love to be able to tag my house and have programming on the PDA take action depending on where you are. For instance, when I walk out the door, get a reminder to make sure to bring some book with me, etc. I could have a timed reminder, but there is a little chance that'd hit right when I'm leaving the house to catch the bus. Do a quick scan in the fridge, find out what 's in there and how old it is- so I throw away what I should and add to my list what I should pick up.
That said, I really am not interested in RFID past that too much. A lot of the potential applications- the one the companies are interested in- are kind of creepy.
Working toward a usable PDA environment in the spirit of Newton OS: Dynapad
The point of the ad is to get you to remember it right? Well people who see that and think that there is going to be a robot released into the public as a real product are very likely to remember it. Great word of mouth too:
"hey bob! you hear about that new robot coming out?"
in girum imus nocte et consumimur igni
Thanks to that frivolous lawsuit, this coffee is a nice toasty 73 degrees (F, not C), and as clear as water (lawsuits by the caffeine-intolerant, don't you know). The cup they serve it is is totally unopenable and impervious to all but the most major castastrophe, in order to avoid accidental spillage.
"they actually believed that someone was going to start selling a "fully automated domestic assistant" some time next year"
you need to find smarter people to be around.
Or you just made that up.
Nobody near me, even people who had never heard of the book, thought it was an actual commercial.
Plus there was the whole green screen saying it was a movie trailor at the gegining of the trailer,
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
I saw this trailer friday before Return of the King, and was confused at first because i thought it was another "comercial trailer" for the next resident evil movie until the end when they flashed "three laws" on the screen. This isn't the first trailer of its kind, as i mentioned there was a very similar trailer i saw before Underworld for some product from the Umbrella Corp., so i assume theres a sequel to the first one coming out sometime.
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
the studio bought an original script then realized they owned the rights to a similar book, so they slapped the title on and made a few changes. This is the same thing that happened with Starship Troopers.
Have you ever seen it? I read the book and viewed the film right after: the movie is definitely a fairly close adaptation of the book of the same title.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
Eando Binder actually wrote a tale called "I Robot" in 1939, which predates Asimov's story by 11 years. It was apparently in the "Adam Link" series, and it appeared in Amazing.
Please see this page.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
It really sounds more like caves of steel
OK, I, Robot was a great collection of short stories. Harlan Ellison did a brilliant (and then some) job of tying them into a cohesive screenplay. Then, being Ellison, he pissed off some Hollywood types.
Now they're making a movie that's called "I, Robot" but is actually a new story, 'based on parts of the nine originals.' Good grief!
Seriously, if there was ANY intent on the makers' part to do a faithful rendition of I, Robot, they just would have used Ellison's screenplay and be done with it. Given that they have a new writer and a new story, I'll bet real money that this is going to be a crap movie with crap acting and lots of fight/chase scenes, using Asimov's name to sell more seats.
Crap. Why can't someone get it right?
"People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
I, for one, welcome our new mud-flinging NanoGator overlords. If they need someone to oversee the slaves in their moderation-mines, there's a certain broadcaster who will be happy to help!
I got the impression when I read the books that the three laws were actually implemented in hardware. (using analog computers no less!)
The widespreadness of successful entrepreneurship is a myth
It is a pervasive reality, accounting for the overwhelming majority of businesses.
Class is very much a reality, and it's getting more medieval all the time
No, it is not. It is a myth like "race", and like race, it has been perpatrated with disastrous results. All there is really is just a gradation of wealth.
Oh, i agree. There are a lot of problems. However, you can't deny that the film was an adaptation specifically of this particular book by Heinlein (however imperfect). I was responding to he parent poster, who said something to the effect that the "Starship Troopers" film consisted of the name slapped onto another Heinlein story (non-"Starship").
The film was not an adaptation of "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" or even "Number of the Beast". It was clearly based on the book "Starship Troopers".
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
The end of the trailer states TM and Copyright TCF. Most people familiar with the major film studios will recognize this as Twentieth Century FOX.
You're an idiot.
Rossum's Universal Robots
No kidding. Karel Capek invented the word "Robot" to refer to a class of genetically engineered worker slaves.
Class is very much a reality, and it's getting more medieval all the time; just look at the role of the media in conditioning the masses to accept their servitude, like the medieval Catholic church
Can you provide any such evidence of "media indoctrination"? No, you cannot. The "media" as such as a whirling bees-nest of thousands of conflicting voices. There is no one capable of controlling its agenda, or even embedding such secret commands throughout it.
Work hard and you can become rich" has replaced "Work hard and you will go to heaven."
The interesting fact about this is that most millionaires started out as non-millionaires. They worked hard and became rich. This is actually true of Bill Gates (whatever you think of his "work"): he started out middle-"class" and worked himself into higher income.
And here I thought it was about ever more-intrusive advertising as a backdrop for technological short-cutting of basic civil rights in the name of safety and expedience.
Silly me. Clearly it was about psychics floating in a fishtank.
--grendel drago
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
I don't remember Asimov mentioning the race of the major characters in I, Robot. But he does mention the races of some minor characters in "The Evitable Conflict", such as Lincoln Ngoma.
Ngoma laughed. He was a big, dark man, strong faced and handsome.
> There was no "coffee law".
Who mentioned a "coffee law"? The law was "obeying a court-ordered injunction". Care to field the argument that this isn't a law? If they didn't like it, they should have appealed it in the last cases. Ignoring it was breaking the law.
> The coffee was quite safe.
According to the court decision, it wasn't. Did they have a valid case that it was in fact safe? Then they should have appealed on those grounds (no pun intended). Again, ignoring the ruling because they didn't agree with it is breaking the law.
> The old woman was stupid, but McDonald's did nothing wrong.
Hmm, do I need to mention again that, in fact, ignoring a court order qualifies as "wrong" in a legal sense?
Virg
Yes, it was about psychics predicting crime. Technologically, it is a fantasy, and nothing more. It is not about "us".
Might want to start with Ian M. Banks or Vernor Vinge.
I'm not entirely sure what you'd consider visionary. A major thesis underlying Vinge's work is that there is a point in the medium-range future, beyond which we cannot by definition see. Most of this stories sort of dance around this point.
Again, I'm not entirely sure what you'd consider visionary.
--grendel drago
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
> True. They had had complaints from people who picked up a cup in the morning, and were pissed their coffee was cold by the time the got to work. So they, in response to their customers, raised the temp.
I understand that they did it in response to customer requests, but that's not relevant to the legal decision. The decision stated that they were to lower the temperature because it was hazardously high. If it wasn't really a hazard, the correct response is to file for a stay pending appeal, and then appeal the decision. It is most certainly NOT to ignore the ruling on the idea that the payouts for lawsuits won't eat up the profits. McDonald's got into a pissing contest with the court system, and they paid through the nose for it. This woman is the beneficiary of that payout, but she's not alone in her lawsuit by a long shot. Hundreds of people filed suits; she just happened to be the case at hand when the judge decided to hand a beat-down to the company.
> Heaven forbid we call people who do stupid things 'stupid'.
She got a big pile of money for burning herself with a cup of coffee. How stupid is that? McDonald's invited a multimillion dollar payout by playing jerk with a judicial order or three. How stupid is that? I know where my vote goes.
Virg
... does this mean that, according to you, 'Lord of the Rings' was about wizards, elves, magic and so forth, and not really about the corrupting influence of power?
Does this mean that, according to you, 'X-Men' was about mutant kids who could Shoot Fire From Their Eyes or perhaps Read Your Every Thought, but had nothing whatsoever to do with intolerance and prejudice? (Sheesh, you'd have thought the little intro scene at the concentration camp would have clued you.)
Does this mean that, according to you, 'Planet of the Apes' (the original, not the crapulent-despite-Tim-Roth remake) was about traveling to a planet filled with monkeys and screaming a lot, and had nothing whatsoever to do with man's inhumanity to man?
SF must be about people, else it's cold and sterile. We may ooh and aah over the shiny lights, but we're not really moved by them. It's ridiculous to assert that these stories exist in a vacuum, that they don't draw on our perceptions of ourselves, each other, our surroundings.
Sheesh.
--grendel drago
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
But at the Gateway in Austin, there's a 6 foot tall cutout of I with "robot" running down the I and "staring 'Will Smith'. That clued us in.
3 laws safe....
I can't tell if you're complaining about the casting of Susan Calvin, or bemoaning that she was left out of the movie. I'll get to the former in a moment, but as for the latter---she's definitely in there, played by Bridget Moynihan.
Looking over her iMDB record, I gotta say I'm disappointed. Most folks've probably seen her as Jack Ryan's wife in 'The Sum of All Fears', where she looks medium-young. So, if you're complaining that the bitter, takes-no-shit-off-fools Susan Calvin we know and love from the stories will be nowhere in the movie... I'll bet that you're spot-on.
Has there been a strong female character in an SF or action flick not made into a sex object? The last one I can think of was Ripley, fer cryin' out loud!
Feh. I remember looking forward to the 'League of Extraordinary Gentlemen' movie, having been such a fan of the comics. "Oh, about that, dear chap. Mina's a vampire; we thought it would up sales. And she's not the leader of the team any more. We dropped that nasty opium-addict business from Quatermain and put him in charge. We think it'll sell like hotcakes, pip-pip."
Why is it that movies with strong female characters have to be chick flicks? Are men so easily threatened by a female character not (a) a sex object or (b) an object or ridicule?
I suppose Eowyn in 'Return of the King' was a start. Ironic, given how few women appear in the story.
Maybe 'Resident Evil', too. A little. Sorta. In that all the men get eaten, diced and set on fire.
--grendel drago
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
I suppose the RotK audiance is more likely to have read Asimov than typical movie going crowds, so I would guess that other trailers will be more direct.
It's not so bad! It's not so bad! Close your eyes and think of her as the 'Sum of All Fears' chick! I mean, it could be worse! They could have picked... someone else!... to be Susan Calvin. Who would be a worse pick! I can't think of one now, but there must be one!
[mumbling to myself in the corner, imagining asimov rolling in his grave]
--grendel drago
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
It's even harder than you imagined:
the small (C) 2003 TCF at the end.
Almost all commercials are copyrighted audiovisual works (e.g. (C) PepsiCo), and TCF stands for many things other than 20c Fox.
And the fact that it's playing during the trailer section of the movie and not the ads section.
Not if it's the first trailer after the ads.
If a robopsychologist is not a robot, next thing you will tell me that Robocop is not a robot either!
in hearing Will Smith was chosen, now it's a guaranteed schlock film (think MIB 1 &2 or any Will Smith vehicle) when I think of what "I robot" could be it reminds me of another mistake, letting Steven Spielberg direct AI (which should have been done by, or died with Kubrick)
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
Well, put it this way. If you were blind, your floor wouldn't be messy for long. Either that, or you'd kill yourself. Either way is acceptable to me.
A friend of mine works for Image Engine and he's one of the visual effects leads for this film!
I just *assumed* that this was something people knew was in production for a long time now.
I have high hopes for this movie because my friend is a perfectionist when it comes to his work.
I've seen some photos of the set, there are some really interesting things in this movie!
Wasn't the "cyberpunk" genre supposed to be visionary and prophetic? Sorry about the word "cyberpunk" BTW, I hate that word but it gets the point across. Gibson, especially the earlier stuff, and Neal Stephenson's Diamond Age and Snow Crash were about the "day after tomorrow", maybe 20-100 years out(with Diamond Agebeing at the far end of the spectrum). That genre explored the technology, pop culture and politcal/business climate of the relatively near future.
Then there are enough SF novels to fill a VW bus which cover the future of the earth in the 100-800 year in the future time span.
Then if you are really in the mood for great SF-Fantasy start on Gene Wolfe's Sun series'. They all take place FAR into the future. WARNING: The surgeon general has established a correlation between starting your first Gene Wolfe novel and NSO(Negligence of Significant Other), SUBEFDGW(Searching Used Bookstores Endlessly For Discontinued Gene Wolfe), and SDFR(Sharp Decline in Fluff Reading). Read with CAUTION.
The reason that you can't think of 1 or 2 people out there who exemplify visionary SF today isn't because they aren't out there. It is because we have SO MANY SF writers now. Heck, one of these days soon, the English professors at colleges are actually going to have to start considering it literature!
-Comedian
I have read an original, production copy of the first Matrix movie (gratuitous name-drop: it was Hugo "Agent Smith" Weaving's script - my friend is Hugo's brother-in-law) and it states that "The Machines have discovered a new form of Fusion and required a small amount of energy to start it" (I'm paraphrasing as I don't have the script in front of me). Does this get mentioned in the movie at all? I don't remember hearing it. IIRC, in the script, Morpheus tells Neo this when they are reviewing the known history of the Matrix.
Now, we all know about the Laws of Thermodynamics, but if a small amount of energy was used to trigger and maintain a fusion reaction (a tiny amount of power from each human "battery"), it becomes more believable.
I still think that recycling the dead to feed the living might just bend the Laws, but it is after all a movie, so I choose to suspend my disbelief..
Important info:
http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net
http://dieoff.org/synopsis.htm
http://www.peakoil.net
WOW!!! Greater than LOTR!!!!! I grew up on Isaac Asimov and have probably read every thing (fiction and non-fiction) that he has ever wrote. By the way, the "I,Robot" series does not really end until the end of the "Foundation" series. Read it and weep. Weep for mankind.
No, movies themselves are commercials, at least most coming from Hollywood. They've so much 'product placements' aka ads that there's no difference to normal commercial where you often see the actual product by very end, just some seconds.
Those 'movies' are just many of these, one after another. No story line but some action to disguise the lack of that and lot of special effects.
MPAA has even the nerve to whine when somebody bothers to copy those ads, they should be proud:
more viewers than they got paid for.
It's been a while since I've read Snow Crash, but I'm pretty sure that it takes place, well, basically now. Somewhere between 2000-2010 for sure, and I think it was '05.
I'm fairly sure there are some dates dropped in the book someplace, though.
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
Rent the movie Six Degrees of Separation and then review your judgement on Smith's acting abilities.
Mac OS X and Windows XP working side by side to fight back the night.
In the end, it is revealed that Will Smith's character is a robot.
WTF guys? Everybody and their mother gets modded up for that dumb joke! Why you attacking this guy over it?
He gets bitchy about EVERYTHING!
'Wilhelmina', to be pedantic. Yes, indeed, I'm a medium-rabid fan of the comics. If you get to the second volume, she takes off the scarf at one point as well.
The point, however, is that Mina goes outdoors during the day, never turns into a bat (or flock thereof) and never, ever demonstrates superhuman abilities of any sort. This is what made her so unique in the books, and this is what flew right over the studio execs' heads.
I can imagine it now...
Exec 1: Okay, good script, good script... except...
Exec 2: The chick! She's too... whaddayacall it...
Exec 1: English!
Exec 2: Yeah. We were thinkin', maybe sexy her up a little. And give her vampire powers. 'Girl Power', y'know.
Exec 1: I can totally see the concept. Totally. Pass that crackpipe.
Exec 2: Here. Now, I think Quatermain needs to be made a little stronger. Get rid of that opium addiction crap---he's an action hero, fer fuck's sake!---and make him the leader. Connery won't stand for anything less.
Exec 1: *snrk* Awesome.
Alan Moore: [to self] Think of the paycheck. Think of the paycheck.
As for Aliens, you're right; it is disastrously flawed from that standpoint. But how often will you see a woman singlehandedly down the big bad, with not a single last-minute save, bit of advice or reassuring smile from the man-hero?
Maybe some day that'll all change, but I don't see it in the near future.
--grendel drago
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
The English department at the University of Connecticut occasionally offers English 217, "Studies in Literature and Culture: Science Fiction". Neato, eh? (The link is to the course syllabus.)
--grendel drago
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
Please don't make the mistake of blaming the screenwriter for the final outcome of a movie.
The director has a much larger outcome on the final output, and will often change the tone, and/or dialog from what the screenwriter has produced.
I didn't think the dialog in Lost in Space was too bad, apart from the fact that the movie stopped when the time ran out (I know they were trying to leave it open for a sequel but it felt more like the cut-off for a multipart series). I think the final output was just too tainted by the "lets make everything pretty" mentality.
Batman and Robin tried to be a comic book and failed. And lets face it the actual words the actors said had very little impact on the final outcome, blame the producers trying to deviate from an already established series. (To make it appeal to kids)
For an example of how a writer can be made to look bad by the director, compare the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie with the TV series, as the series is much closer to what the writer had in mind.
> It's a Damded-if-you-do, Damned-if-you-don't situation. Obey your customers by heating the coffee hotter, and lose money (to lawsuits), or obey other customners by keeping coffee cold and lose money (due to lost sales).
This is nothing new in the legal world. Companies have gone out of business due to such things. I know that it sucks.
> Um, NOT. Millions served, less than 700 complaints.
Not for you, or McDonald's, to say. The ruling said that it was, and if the data in your statement is sufficient to overturn the decision, then they should have presented it on appeal, not told the first three judges to go pound sand. If they'd followed proper legal procedure, they wouldn't have had the problem with a multimillion dollar judgement. Again, I don't argue whether the coffee really is dangerously hot, but four judges ruled that it was, and they did nothing in a proper legal forum to try to convince anyone otherwise.
> She burned herself with a cup a coffee that MILLIONS of others had no problems with. How stupid is that?
I've never argued with the idea that putting a hot cup of coffee between your legs is stupid. However, labelling her stupid for that is different from labelling her stupid for initiating a lawsuit, and besides, I'm giving her the benefit of some doubt, since I know a lot of people who are not stupid who do stupid things on occasion, and get burned for it (no pun intended). Frankly, I think the stupidest thing she did was buy a cup of coffee from McDonald's, but that's just me.
Virg
The new Resident Evil: Apocalypse also has a trailer that starts out like a commercial. But then it turns into something you can recognize as a trailer.
i'd hit it so hard, if you pulled me out you'd be the king of britain [bash.org]
>> It's been a while since I've read Snow Crash, but I'm pretty sure that it takes place, well, basically now. Somewhere between 2000-2010 for sure, and I think it was '05.
>> I'm fairly sure there are some dates dropped in the book someplace, though.
The book does say that Hiro's dad joined the army in 1944, when he was 16. So Hiro's dad was born about 1928, and he sired Hiro "in his late middle age," and some time after that the army "kicked him out in the late eighties."
When Hiro walks through the Hacker Quadrant of the Black Sun, he notes all the "twenty-one-year-old faces" that "make a thirty-year-old man feel decrepit."
Putting all that together, I would guess that Hiro was born around 1980, and is about 30 years old. That puts the timeframe of the novel around 2010, which seems about right.
Hoo boy!
If there's one name I dread seeing on a movie more than "Bruckheimer," it's "de Laurentiis!"
I can just imagine the pitch for this movie: "think Rocketeer meets Buck Rogers meets War of the Worlds meets Iron Giant!"
Great for the kiddies, but I think I'll pass...
I think that Hiro would be born around 1970ish, putting the book at 2000, only because Hiro is an Army brat, and went to school with other Army kids all through high school. He wouldn't've been able to do that once his dad left the Army, so he must have been at least 18 sometime in the late '80s.
Probably Stephenson just didn't pay a huge amount of attention to this.
Still, excellent analysis.
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
Thank you!
One thing I forgot-- during Hiro's conversation with Raven at the climax of the book, he says "My father went home and kicked around for a while and finally had a kid during the seventies. So did yours."
So, assuming that Hiro's father was 40 (low guess) when he had Hiro, and that Hiro is as old as 35 (high guess), that puts the year at 2003, which I think is a little early... I mean, that's a lot of changes in politics, society and technology for just 10 years after it was published.
But then, Snow Crash is satire. So a certain amount of exaggeration should be expected! :-)