best movie robot?

[Hank Fletcher]

I just saw WALL-E, and I thought it was great! There are some really neat robots in there, and the main robot (WALL-E) is my favourite. I thought we could discuss the best robots in film, and what makes them the best, then maybe take a poll for the top ten?
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[rjvh]

i find the terminator robot pretty impressive (the arnie version)
(don't have picture)

Robert-Jan

 

[Mikebits]

What about Johnny 5, looks like wall-E cousin.

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[blueroomelectronics]

I like the Johnny 5 (SAINT) and for coolness Maximillion
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Don't forget Gort or Robbie...

 

[Krumlink]

https://wewatchmovies.files.wordpress.com/2006/12/short_circuit.jpg

 

[blueroomelectronics]

Johnny 5 good robot design, crappy movie.

 

[Mikebits]

How about a real robot.

 

[Torben]

The first one that popped into my mind was Maximillian as well.

Maximillian (The Black Hole): Menacing.
R2-D2 (duh): Surprisingly emotive and multifunctional.
Huey/Dewey/Louie (Silent Running): Guess I just saw this film at an impressionable age.
Johnny 5 (Short Circuit): I'm also with Bill on this one--good bot, bad movie.
Construction robot (I Robot): Maybe a look at bulldozers of the future. And it just rocked that house.
Replicants (Blade Runner): Do androids played by humans count? These guys kicked ass and most closely approached the ideal of an AI-driven android. Plus, with makeup I can do a pretty good Priss at Hallowe'en.

Gort and Robbie get props for being very early ideas about what we might get from robotics.

As for film bots I didn't like, the administrator/foreman bot in Jabba's palace in Return of the Jedi bugged me. Why on earth would a robot need to flap a piece of metal just to talk? I didn't like the walking lunchboxes either.

I know there are a bunch of other robots I can't think of right now.


Torben

 

[Mikebits]

Anyone notice the uncanny resemblance the Mars orbiter robot has with J-5 or Will-E. The difference is the wheel design.

 

[monkeybiter]

the Discovery 1 with HAL 9000 at the helm.

 

[ericgibbs]

hi,
How about this 1930's she-bot, had a Z80 micro processor.

And she can cook too.!

 

[Hank Fletcher]

I think we need to debate the criteria for a good moving robot a bit further.

As for film bots I didn't like, the administrator/foreman bot in Jabba's palace in Return of the Jedi bugged me. Why on earth would a robot need to flap a piece of metal just to talk? I didn't like the walking lunchboxes either.

First off, if we're talking about the robot that's torturing the other robots, that guy has the coolest voice of all the Star Wars robots! Second, the mechanical moving with respect to his voice reflects what I believe are two essential components to a great movie robot: 1) how the robot works should be within the scope of being believable; 2) some element of the robot should be beyond the scope of being believable, as to provoke the imagination. Getting the mix just right is the key I think, especially with respect to the last point.

the Discovery 1 with HAL 9000 at the helm.

HAL is not a robot!

 

[ericgibbs]

Its interesting to note how the 'eyes' of the robot define the robots character.

The friendly 'goofy' robots have big goggle eyes and the sinister ones have
slits and/or flashing eyes.

I suppose an 'intelligent' robot will be built one day, wearing spectacles.!

I think we need to debate the criteria for a good moving robot a bit further.

Any particular criteria aspect you have in mind.?

 

[Hank Fletcher]

Maybe we're establishing the various families of robots? I don't know what the Latin names ought to be, and this is by no means a comprehensive list:
- AI (like HAL or the Enterprise computer). Still not a robot in my opinion, although in the strict, literal definition of a robot, evil, autonomous machinery is technically a robot).
- Androids. For instance, Data, the Blade Runner replicants (or are they technically genetically-modified clones, and if so, do the Star Wars stormtroopers qualify as androids?), and the hobbit from Alien.
- Droids. Apparently George Lucas is willing to flex his artistic license to extend this term to anything that is not 100% human (or alien. If it uses a toilet, it's not a droid, let's put it that way). R2-D2 is a droid, C3P0 is a droid, and apparently even those automated flying spaceships that attack Ben Kenobi and Annakin at the start of Chapter 3 are droids, too. According to Ben, "Flying is for droids," so apparently "droid" is also a racial slur of some sort.
- Garbage cans with appendages. R2-D2, for instance - personality means a lot for this little droid, because let's face it, he ain't got the body! Because they're too pathetic to even warrant their own family, I'm also throwing shoe-box droids into this category. If you want to know what I mean about that, think Death Star, think remote control car, think putting-a-shoebox-over-the-car. If I can make you in less than 10 seconds, you're not a movie robot!
- The Tin Man. No personality? No "heart"? Sorry, Gort, I'm looking at you, you Oz rip-off! This has got to be the saddest excuse in movie-robot solutions:

"What should it look like?"
"I dunno, how about like a person?"
"Yeah, but a person with a metal body!"
"Okay, but that's gonna make the costume hard to move/animate."
"That's alright, we'll fix it in post-production by giving the robot a monotone voice. That'll make it exciting!"

- Cyborgs. Where does the man end and the machine begin? Who knows? Who cares?! It's either skin-deep and inconsequential, other than the flimsy "only flesh can be time-transported" Terminator concept, or it's, apparently, an epic, interminable stuggle between man and machine, as in the Star Trek borg. Make up your mind, borg: is resistance futile, or isn't it?! Am I meant to simultaneously believe that resistance is futile, and at the same time, suppose that it isn't? Is anyone with me on this - wouldn't it be more fun to just go along with the borg, presume resistance is futile, and watch an entire two-hour film that consists of nothing more than the borg running roughshod over the Federation?

 

[dknguyen]

The transformer robots are pretty impressive with all the whirring gears and doo-hickeys that spin around as they make even the simplest movements. But I tend to prefer insectoid type designs.

 

[Hank Fletcher]

That's what I like about WALL-E, dknguyen. First, he's a transformer: he can go from the Johhny-5 state to the cube state in a second. Second, it's apparent how he works, while not being obvious in its entirety. Third, his friend is a cockroach.

 

[Hank Fletcher]

Incidentally, before I went to see WALL-E last night, the Transformers movie from 1986 was on TV. The last song in the movie (before the credits) is "You've Got the Touch" as sung by Mark Wahlberg in Boogie Nights! When I heard the opening lines in the Tranformers film, I just about lost it due to the connection - I'd never seen the Transformers movie before, and I though that was hilarious!

If you don't know what I'm talking about, rent both movies. Kids, ask your parents for permission first - Transformers is a violent movie.

 

[monkeybiter]

Well if the Discovery 1 [with HAL 9000 at the helm] won't do, how about Ben Affleck, you can pick the film?

 

[colin mac]

ED-209 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
ED-209 from Robocop

 

[blueroomelectronics]

Ah yes, ED-209 is in my top 10, and the new Cylons (not the humanoid ones)
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