ROBOTS BEFORE THE ROBOT

Solo

Much like Terminator; a machine built purely for destruction for use in war zones. But, Solo is not just a mean machine as the makers soon find out. Lost in the jungles, the robot begins to see, learn and feel new things, finds new people and develops an opinion on war, learning to take sides, not just blindly following orders. And, when this comes to be known, an even more advanced mean machine is sent to terminate the one that has violated command. Who wins, advanced technology or technology that has learnt to judge for itself.

Inspector Gadget

Almost all movies revolving around robots have dealt with violence, complex instruction, or at best, emotions. But, Inspector Gadget was on a lighter vein, choosing to take the funnier side of machines. Here, the robot is part-human and part-machine and as a result is not flawless. The basic premise is about how funny and goofy a robot can get when it has a rather ‘over the top’ idea about its abilities. The robot is actually in serious pursuit of a stereotypical villain and sees nothing funny in his adventures. But he is not close to being as powerful, effective or fast as he thinks he is, giving rise to many a funny moment. For once, this is one robot movie which does not necessitate debates about whether or not Asimov’s laws were violated and how.

Robocop

When crime gets too rough and gruesome, it is beyond the men in uniform to bring the perpetrators to the law. Where lives can be lost, it is best to send in a machine which is invincible. Thus, Robocop was made. The movie had the interesting premise of a robot being constructed using the dead body of a police officer as a framework. The result proves to be the ideal law enforcer. The interesting part, however, is that the Robocop is not as ruthless or violent as other machines invented for the same purpose. Robocop follows all directives and is not just a killing mean machine. The reason for that, as hinted towards the end of the film, is the part-human nature that it possesses because of being constructed on a human framework.

I Robot

What happens when robots read too much into the instructions that they are given? What happens when the interpretation of commands is not simple, but involves judging of the relevance of the command and ensuing action in context with the larger picture of the wellbeing of humanity? What happens when robots start to outthink humans and overdo their own duty in such a way that mankind is endangered? That is what I Robot explored. The robots in this movie have not turned against mankind, nor do they have evil intentions. They have just become a little more intelligent than necessary, overlooking simple directives in favor of keeping the larger goal in tact. It gives rise to big trouble as robots begin to realize that the biggest enemy of mankind is man himself and thus decide to take over the world and run it in a way that mankind stops its self-destructive activities. A very interesting paradox wherein a machine built to serve man begins to lord over him in order to serve him better! A perfect elucidation of the saying, ‘science is a good servant, but a bad master!’

Bicentennial Man

If there was one film that did not choose to explore the destructive physical powers of a robot, it has to be bicentennial man. Robot films over decades have focused on one main aspect, ‘What happens when they go out of control?’ And, always the outcomes have been depicted as violent and horrific for man, with the robot going on the path of destruction. In Bicentennial Man too we have a robot which start showing more abilities and traits than it was supposed to possess. But, here, he is not violent or destructive; instead he is creative, compassionate and conscientious. The film is about his evolution from being just a machine to being a personality with emotional needs like love, freedom and knowing the purpose of his existence. The emotional growth of a robot peaks when he feels the desire to be accepted as a human being and is willing to give up his immortality if that is what it takes for the society to accept him as one among them. One of the most unique takes on robots and their unexpected developments!

A great concept which failed to materialize into a great movie!

Terminator Series

This was perhaps the first franchise which made us think of robots as good themes for movies. Till then, robots existed mostly in comic books and novels, to be experienced only by science fiction fans. But, Terminator, merging the sci-fi ‘android from the future’ concept with the raw mainstream commercial power of Arnold Schwarzenegger made robots an interesting and in-demand premise of the industry. The most wanted film of the franchise, which now consists of four films including Terminator Salvation, is definitely the second installment Judgment Day, which are a cult sci-fi as well as action classic that took Arnold to global popularity. No one needs much introduction to the theme of the Terminator franchise. It is all about the war between machines and mankind for supremacy on earth. The machines send an advanced cyborg into the past to destroy the leader of the human resistance while he is still young and mankind in turn sends in a much inferior but strong willed android (Arnold) to protect the leader. Does mankind survive? By the end of the third movie of the franchise, it is all but clear that the machines, led by the Skynet program, have taken over earth leaving only a glimmer of hope for humans to reclaim their land.

The main features of the android (Arnie) in this franchise were lack of emotion, single word answers, complete subordination to human orders and most importantly, not causing any human casualty, just the way Asimov wanted robots to be. While, it is no surprise that the evil cyborg was just the opposite.