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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.
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.
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
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.
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!
Caves of Steel was a novel, I, Robot was a series of short stories. They are both based on Positronic Robots, with the 3 laws of robotics, but they are different stories. Caves of Steel is set much futher in the future, for a start (in fact some of I, Robot is set in the past now, because Asimiov was too optimistic)
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.
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At any rate, I can't get past Will Smith... I tend to associate him with MIB and stuff like that. He's never impressed me as an actor.
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
No, my mind is very good at erasing traumatic memories - you insensitive clod!
When I am king, you will be first against the wall.
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.
"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.
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?
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For the href challenged Quicktime here
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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!
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.
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.
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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
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.
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.
"No Encoding." Yeah, you've got this whole video thing down pat.
http://en2.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Laws_Of_Roboti cs
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.
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.
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?
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E_NOSIG
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.
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.
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...
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