#16 - Robots or Ro-Nots

For once I listened to an episode right when it came out! Really liked it. Gotta admit, I'm one of the "50%" who like Data the best. WALL-E is really cute...which means Jakob will hate it and Mandi will like it, from what I can tell. But there are a few inside/adult jokes in there that might satisfy the cynical mind.

I'm straddling the hurdle on this one. I love androids (that one TOS episode with Nurse Chapel is one of my favourites so far), but I just don't get the love of robots. I like them in some situations (R2D2 for example), but I don't get stories just about robots (i.e. Transformers).

You missed out one very very important one, though: Marvin the Paranoid Android. His name itself is a misnomer; he's a robot and he's usually just very depressed. He's probably my favourite character from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series (although Ford Prefect and Slartibartfast offer some great competition). He represents to me that the quest for ultimate knowledge is ultimately pointless. Marvin knows the Ultimate Question, and he even knows what the square root of one is (more impressive, in my opinion), but where has that got him? He was the best thing in the film by far (I do enjoy the film to be honest, although most people seem to hate it). Besides, everything surrounding Marvin emits hilarity.

There was much we missed on this episode. Our minds went blank as soon as the tape started rolling. We made a new rule not to podcast on friday nights being all exhausted from the work week.

I am gonna hurdle one of my hurdles here..... Nerdy Pedantics.

The Daleks are not robots. They are a vehicle with a living being inside. Sort of like a personal tank. The being are mutated Kaleds. Yeah, go on, rearrange those letters.

I hate pedantic nerdism and now I'm joining in. Please forgive me.

I think I like the Daleks less now. They're tanks?!? Minature tanks?!? For serious?

Have I ever mentioned Dr. Who is a huge hurdle for me. Not because of anythign about it, per se, just the sheer amount of it. Seems like a lot to commit to before you even get to the fuzzy headed guy with the Harry Potter scarf.

I can see why it's a hurdle. I have been immersed since a very young age and love the fact there's so much of it.

Have you never been tempted to dip your toe in ate all?

Oh, definitely tempted. It just seems like it'd be so hard to find the first few series on DVD here.

Most of the B&W era is thought to be lost forever. I'm rewatching all the available dvd's in order (but don't tell anyone ).

The Box Set Dr Who:The Beginning is available widely in the US to buy and on Netflix. I'm not sure about Canada. That has the pilot, the first story, the first Daleks story and a mediocre 2-parter. The thing with Dr Who is you may like one 'era' and not another. Hartnell's time in the role is an acquired taste. Troughton was my 2nd favourite but very little of his time survived.

I find with Who it's hard to recommend as it differs so much throughout it's history. I can't think of anything to compare it to either. It's very British, both in it's faults and it's good parts. Definitely a love it or hate it show.

The box set is available here. But I'm not going to purchase it. And renting it also seems like a pricy venture. I suspect it's available through the library. I've seen a lot of the afro and scarf wearing Doctor as a youth and remember losing interest once they'd moved on to the next Doctor. With our TNG box set arriving yesterday, and trying to get the rest of Deadwood from the library, I suspect Who is a far-off hurdle.

GIR is the greatest robot ever disassembled.

I just left a comment on the podcast site, but I'll reiterate a bit here. Some of the robotic folk y'all missed are Huey, Dewey, and Louey from Silent Running; Kryten from Red Dwarf, The Robot from Lost in Space, Ash from Alien; and of course Bender from Futurama. I mentioned that stupid robot from the second season of Buck Rogers, but then regretted it. And I thought I was a curmudgeon, but I loved both E.T. and Short Circuit.

Ditto on Silent Running. I was young when I first saw the film, but the ending brought a tear to my eye. Was I getting emotional about Bruce Dern's character? Not so much as the 3 robots.

Westworld has some robots/cyborgs. Oh, and the fembots in Austin Powers.

I kept trying to think of a way to bring the Silent Running bots into the mix but couldn't. Certainly they were worth a mention.

Don't forget about the movie "The Stepford Wives". I have a "meh" attitude towards the remake, but the original from the 70s is quite good in a ST:TOS sort of way.

Can't get the image to link, but the movie poster is here:
http://www.movieposter.com/poster/A70-7054/Stepford_Wives.html

JOHNNY FIVE IS ALIVE! *cough* That was my catchphrase as a kid before I moved on the one from The Shining. In my book, thy obviously spelt the name wrong, but I let that slide as a kid, I was still easy going back then.

But in all seriousness. I think my main attraction to robots was nothing more than "ooooo shiny!" I think my friends consider me a bit snotty and pretentious, if only they knew I think simple stuff like this, they may stop taking the piss.

I did fall asleep listening to this and ended up having a dream that involved Johnny Five, Jakob and Mandi. For the life of me, I can't remember what happened in it. I think Jakob may have been attempting to kill Johnny Five.

That was no dream.

D'oh! I just realized we've all missed the Yul Brenner droid from Westworld.

Here's the times top 50 movie Robots: http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article2133609.ece

I CAN'T BELIEVE I DIDN'T MENTION MARIA! The first movie robot? Still the best?

Meh.

Being very indifferent to robots, all have to say is:
DATA FTW!
(Predictable I know, but they guy's a legend!)

I think I might actually like R2D2 more than Data.

There's no way the robots aren't going to take over one day. They're already being armed with gatling guns and long range power sources and being programmed to smell fear for fuck's sake, they don't need advanced AI, don't you see?!? Not only that but the advantages of robots moving about on legs are exactly the opposite of the disadvantages you suggest Jakob. Legged robots already can easily process the necessary balance correcting calculations to navigate terrain that a tracked robot couldn't even dream of (insert electric sheep joke here) because they have superior climbing and stepover ability. It's exactly why they're so good. And so terrifying.

Bucho mate! It was a movie. The Terminaters aren't real........are they?

ori-STUDFARM wrote:Bucho mate! It was a movie. The Terminaters aren't real........are they?

If they aren't yet, they very soon will be.

They will be.