Robots in Movies Robots, most of us love them. I am no exception and to prove that I watch Battle Bots when ever it is on television. The only thing I find wrong with them is there was only one time with the battle bot had the vague shape of a human. Most of the robots look more like the bottom end of a snow blower, but there are exceptions of course. One of them is a robot named Huge. It looks more like the rear axel of a car with a large flexible wagon wheel on each end. In the center of the axel is a heavy, spinning flat metal bar which is its main weapon. In Battle Bots it is a fight to the death many times, but worry not, no human has ever been hurt. The show has gained some bit of popularity and has a very vocal audience cheering on their favorites. Robots have appeared in many movies going back many generations. Some of the movies were absurd, but there was something about having a robot in them that made them watchable. In this time of Covid I have been watching a lot more movies and some of them are really pretty bad but, like I said if they have a robot in them, I seem to be drawn to them. The last one I saw with a robot in it was a bad black and white movie from 1957 entitled, “The Robot vs. the Aztec Mummy.” I really do not recommend it to anyone, and to my disappointment the robot turned out in the plot to be a human in a metal suit so the title was misleading. Some movies and shows had incredible robots in them. One of the best was “Forbidden Planet.” Not only did it have one of the best looking robots in it, it was the movie that was the basis for Star Trek. We tend to think of Leslie Nielsen today as a comic. We older people remember him as being the villain in many an older movie and no one in those days would have ever thought he would turn to comedy. The robot was named Robby the Robot. It became famous. When you consider the movie was made in 1956 it has held up very well in its plot and effects. Everyone loved Robby and he had subsequent appearances over the years in television shows and movies such as, The Gale Storm Show, The Thin Man, Columbo, The Addams Family and Lost in Space. He also appeared in The Twilight Zone. His appearances were so numerous I have only listed a few. Another robot appeared in the television series “Lost in Space.” Compared to Robby it looked like a much older model. The show became very popular and was on for years. The robot had quite a name which almost no one knew. It was named Series 1A-1998 Class YM-3 Model B-9 General Utility Non-Theorizing Environmental Control Robotic Bion, also known as simply 1A1998YM3B-9 G.U.N.T.E.R. , Class M-3 Robot or Class YM Robot according to Wikipedia. The movie of Lost in Space featured a completely different robot which seemed to be light years ahead of the one in the show. When I talk about movies with robots in them, I don’t want to forget one of the greatest of them all and that is the Terminator movies. We tend to forget they were all supposed to be robots even though they looked human. Those movies were responsible more than any other series for some people today thinking robots might turn on us or more specifically artificial intelligence. For those of us which follow science, we see robotics advancing faster all the time. There was even an announcement a year ago about an artificial skin which is very human like being developed. Some human type robots are looking so real they could almost fool us, but because of their current jerky movements their status is a giveaway, but they are getting better. We also don’t want to forget the Transformers, after all they were robots also, just much bigger ones in some cases, which could turn from a rough human shape into vehicles. The movie series was very popular but some people complained as more of the movies came out, they didn’t have enough of a story and overdid the violence. I have to agree with that. The effects however were incredible. I can’t leave out Star Wars which had two very famous robots among others. Who could forget R2-D2 or C-3PO? I guess we can add to that BB-8 the rolling robot. In the Star Wars movies there are many robots to see. We see little one scampering all around and more evil versions of R2-D2 and C-3PO. At times the robots command the scenes. R2-D2 even serves as the back set navigator in the X-wing fighter which upsets C3POs because that is his friend and he worries something might happen to him. I Robot came out in 2004. The premise was a cop (Will Smith)is sent out to investigate a murder which could have been caused by a robot. It turns out a company working on robots and artificial intelligence has a problem, the evil AI is taking over the robots. These robots are hard to get away from and are fast and agile. The movie features hundreds of robots if not thousands. They have a slim human form. Remember the original “Battle Star Galactica?” Humans are fleeing from an attack on their planet by a robotic race. The aim of the robots is to destroy everything human. The attack happens so fast the ship which is one of the stars of the show was pulled out of a museum and put back into service and is known as a Battle Star. The humans are on a search for the mythical planet earth to colonize. The robots are trying to stop them and they are being helped by a traitor who they are promising things to. These robots look a little chubby and vaguely human shaped. Robot and Frank is an interesting movie. Frank is an old jewel thief who is now out of the business. He leads a boring life so his son wants to give him something to make it more interesting, so he gives him a robot to be used as a sort of caretaker and companion. It doesn’t take long for Frank to realize he could train the robot to become the greatest jewel thief ever and begins the training. The robot looks like a little bigger version of the dancing Honda robots. There are probably hundreds more robot movies.
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