I, Robot

[poohgirl]

I was wondering who is going this weekend to see I robot? Do you think it will be all that it is cracked up to be?

[Loomis]

I was wondering who is going this weekend to see I robot? Do you think it will be all that it is cracked up to be?

I won tickets to a preview next Wednesday (it starts here on the 22nd), and I am kind of looking forward to it.

The only problem I might have with it is the deviation from Asimov.

The official site says "suggested by" the Asimov books, which I have just finished reading.

The book "I, Robot" is essentially short stories exploring Asimov's 3 Laws of Robotics, and they seem to have been "inspired" by that to make a film set in that world. From the trailer (the film itself comes out here in a few weeks), it seems closer to the actual Robot Novels (Caves of Steel, Naked Sun etc), which deal with a detective named Baley and his robot partner. Will Smith isn't playing this character, but it is more in the spirit of those books than the book "I, Robot".

It will be interesting. The approach they have taken looks very "Animatrix".

One thing I will say is that Will Smith's dialogue makes me cringe. I don't remember Asimov writing "Awww, heeellll no".

Still, it is one of the ones I am looking forward to, simply because science fiction of this type (good or bad) isn't really made much anymore (with the exception of Minority Report and Paycheck, both based on Phillip K Dick).

[deathie mouse]

Loomis did you read or plan on reading the "sequel" series, Foundation and Empire?

I agree with your assesment, it looks to be more in the Robot novels vein.

Would be interesting to watch on a double feature showing with Bicenntenial Man

I'm gonna come out of the deathcave to go watch it in the theater. I hope it's properly focused when I watch it.

It was shot on Super35-2.39. The director would have liked to use Cinemascope but aparently the studio didn't wanna. Ironic, since 20th invented Scope.

_________________
I want 23:9 displays delivered by robots

[AwallaceUNC]

Wow, I didn't even know it had a basis in literature. I was initially attracted to this project a LONG time ago when I read that Shia Lebouf would be in it . That's the first I heard of it. A while later, I found out Will Smith was going to star, and then I saw the trailers. I'm very, very pumped and am definitely going to see it this weekend. It looks like action flick meets AI (if AI were good).

I'm waiting for Netty to come in and harp about event marketing for movies, because this is a prime case for it. Aside from Shrek 2, I haven't seen such hardcore marketing for a movie in a very long time. It's EVERYWHERE. We'll see if it works, but something tells me it will.

-Aaron

[MickeyMousePal]

I will try to watch I Robot.... I was so busy last week I went to a field trip to UCLA!!!!
I plan to watch Catwoman and Bourne Supremacy!!!

[deathie mouse]

Well Aaron, fyi, I once made a list of all short stories and novels by Asimov relating to the Robot/Empire/Foundation saga (cus I wanted to read all of it in chronological order. I'm very big on chronological order ) and tho i'm not sure the exact number but my marmalade brain keeps telling me it was about 200 short stories (I'm including those with the Multivac computer too) plus like 14 or 15? novels, about 4 or 5 of those in the Robot series alone. Loomis might be more up to date on that. After Asimov died other authors kept writing novels set in Asimov's robot world too (I haven't read those) i call the whole saga the Asimov history of the Future.

You must learn the 3 laws of Robotics
Every robot must follow them
But, do they?

Oh and Data's positronic brain comes directly from Asimov's robots

_________________
With Psychohistory you can predict the future mathematically.
I want 23:9 displays so I can study Psychohistory in them. With autospellers

[AwallaceUNC]

Very interesting. I'm big on chronological order as well. I've got my reading line-up full for the next six months or so, but if I like the movie enough, I can see adding them to my list. I'm very big on reading the books that movies are based on (preferably before, but often times- like in this case- that won't happen).

-Aaron

[Loomis]

Loomis did you read or plan on reading the "sequel" series, Foundation and Empire?

I agree with your assesment, it looks to be more in the Robot novels vein.

Yes, I'm reading the Foundation novels now! The library I work in is well and truly sci-fi stocked

It is taking longer to get into Foundation, but more worthwhile ultimately, I think.

Well Aaron, fyi, I once made a list of all short stories and novels by Asimov relating to the Robot/Empire/Foundation saga (cus I wanted to read all of it in chronological order. I'm very big on chronological order ) and tho i'm not sure the exact number but my marmalade brain keeps telling me it was about 200 short stories (I'm including those with the Multivac computer too) plus like 14 or 15? novels, about 4 or 5 of those in the Robot series alone. Loomis might be more up to date on that.

There are HUGE amounts of Robot stories out there. Asimov is quite possibly one America's most prolific writers with over 450 books to his name!!!

Essentially, sci-fi in the 40s and 50s was largely published in magazines, so I, Robot is a collection of these short stories (not all of them mind you). These short stories (linked together in the book by interviews with robot psychologist Susan Calvin) form the basis of Asimov's robot world. After the publication of I, Robot was a success it was suggested that Asimov write a novel set in the world of 3 Laws/Robotics. (There are other compilations including The Rest of the Robots and The Complete Robot, but you may not want to worry about these).

Unsure of whether he could pull off a whole novel, someone suggest it be a detective story. And thus Caves of Steel - the first book partnering earthman Elijah Baley with R. Daneel Olivaw (a robot). An inevitable sequel followed (The Naked Sun).

Although the pressure was on to make it a trilogy, a lack of concrete ideas meant it was almost 30 years before The Robots of Dawn was published in 1983. Finally, in 1985 Robots and Empire was published, reconciling the Foundation and Robot series.

If you need to read in order, I suggest the following:

# I, Robot (short stories)
(OR # The Rest of the Robots (short stories)
* The Complete Robot (combined edition of the above two) )
# The Caves of Steel (novel)
# The Naked Sun (novel)
# The Robots of Dawn (novel)

Then maybe read the Foundation books (which were also started as early as the 40s, but published between 1951 and 1953 as Foundation (1951); Foundation and Empire (1952); Second Foundation (1953). While the Robot books chronicle Earth's first steps into space colonies, the Fuundation books are set 10,000s of years after this, when humans are spread all over the universe in a huge (but crumbling) Empire.

Then read Robots and Empire (novel) - maybe - as it tries to tie the two together. Between the two you get a pretty good idea of future earth history, as has been said here

Later, more Foundation books were written: Foundation's Edge and Foundation and Earth (which also attempts to marry the Robot and Foundation series).

Then, to confuse matters more Prelude to Foundation and Forward the Foundation were published last, but come chronologically before the first Foundation novel. Make sense?

Oh and Data's positronic brain comes directly from Asimov's robots

Yeah! I was watching an episode of Trek the other day (Quality of Life, I think), where Data is arguing for the lives of little mechanical robots. It was very much like one of Asimov's short stories from I, Robot.

And the world constructed in the Doctor Who episode, The Mutants, seems very Foundationy to me.

[deathie mouse]

wow Loomis thanks!
Well I was writing this for Aaron as you posted so instead of paring my gestating post down or editing it i'm gonna send that part as it is:

"Aaron, regretfully, my list (along with the books ) is on my storage otherwise I would send it to you, but i guess you can't go wrong if you start reading the I Robot short story and a couple more before the movie. You might find it in the I Robot compilation book, that puts several of the first short stories with "interstitial" segments kind of linking them, or you can find it in other bigger Robot stories compilations (I don't remember exactly what they were called. The Complete Robot?) Those have more stories than the I Robot comp, but they are presented without the linking framework. I think some of the Multivac ones appear there too. Those are followed with the Robot novels, then the 3 Empire novels and finally the Foundation novels. I had to do the list cus they werent always presented on the compilatoions in order or there might be one or two published isolatedly in another book, etc, and I think there might be some that occurred interspersed between the novels. That list was hard work getting it right! "

And Loomis, now that you have refreshed my marmaledtronic brain with your list,
i think i'll borrow it and add a couple of more things i remembered. So the crono order based on your list goes somewhat like this:

-I, Robot (short stories)
-The Rest of the Robots (more short stories)
-or The Complete Robot (combined edition of the above two)
*(I think some short stories were left out or something, from each of those so i had to get all 3 plus a couple of other collections that came out at the time (Robot Visions and Robot Dreams, the one that had a sleeping robot on the cover emulating a famous painting) plus another Asimov very small assorted-stories paperback book, and one isolated short story "Cal"?(i think his last) that was published as a booklet by the Asimov Blue Leather Collection? (Blue? Ray? ) (Or was it the Science Fiction Book Club?) and i'm not sure i think i photocopied another one from a book that was out of print etc etc, and other assorted odds and ends, you get the idea. To get it all you have to buy *gasp" do the book equivalent of double dipping (so what else is new ) Kind like collecting all the Beatle mixes )*
-The Caves of Steel (novel)
-The Naked Sun (novel)
-The Robots of Dawn (novel)
-Robots and Empire (novel)
*then, not on your list are the Empire novels that take place after the Robot times but before or during the establishment of the Galactic Empire. which are: (altho i dont remember if this is the correct order)*
-The Currents of Space
-The Stars, Like Dust
-Pebble in the Sky
*there were also one or two isolated Empire and Foundation short stories not in the novels which i think i was lucky to get in the Asimov very small assorted-stories paperback book i mentioned above, I think. (can't remebwer its name, it's all very clear on my stored unaccessable list, of course )*
-Prelude to Foundation
-Forward the Foundation
-Foundation (1951)
-Foundation and Empire (1952)
-Second Foundation (1953).
-Foundation's Edge
-Foundation and Earth

I think that was the order, no?

Make sense?

yeah! specially after I read Asimov's own little list in the intro or outro of the paperback of Prelude, I think, which is what started me on doing my complete Extended Edition of the Lor.. err I mean List of the History of the Future

For completition's sake, there was one more novel (The ends of eternity? can't recall) that was very very remotedly related to some concept in the robot to foundatoion series


oh and Loomis, this is only my opinion, but it might make it a better read for you, the Last book of the Foundations (which if i compiled your list right is Foundation and Earth?) which closes the whole history of the future, is in my opinion, well, was a little letdown in quality of style, after the previous ones (I mean if you read them in historicaly chronological order instead of published/written order) cus since it was written somewhat earlier than some of the books that go "before" it, it's style isnt as polished as the latter Foundation ones he wrote last (its kind of more primitive, maybe the years he wrote that one he was in a low middle period.) I think he was gonna write one or two after that part of the story or something but sadly he died. Just telling you so that when you get to it, since you'll know it's not as super duper in style, you wont get the somewhat anticlimatic feeling I got

I'm still waiting for Frank Herbert to finish DUNE too...




_________________
Susan Calvin lives! (And watches her robots on 23:9 displays.) With autospellers, of course.

[2099net]

I believe the film is based on an episode of The Outer Limits (which starred L Nimoy himself, and is available on DVD!) which was based on one of the short stories from an anthology book.

So its the cinimatic equivilent to a "friend of a friend" story. I expect a lot to have been discarded, and a lot more to have been added. But that's par for the course when adapting short stories.

Details here

[MickeyMouseboy]

I plan to watch Catwoman and Bourne Identity!!!

you mean the Bourne Supremacy?

[AwallaceUNC]

Thanks I just got back from seeing Spider-Man 2. I was on vacation when it came out, and all my friends saw it then, so I was unable to get someone to go with me until now. Anyways, I loved it, and it has me even more pumped for I, Robot.

-Aaron

[MickeyMousePal]

MickeyMouseboy Wrote

you mean the Bourne Supremacy?

Oops that what I meant!!!

[MickeyMouseboy]

MickeyMouseboy Wrote

you mean the Bourne Supremacy?

Oops that what I meant!!!

it's ok I forgive you j/k we all make mistakes!

[deathie mouse]

I just came from I Robot.

After brazing the elements (like air) and squirreling among humans to my favorite seat and having to see more ads than 10 dvds worth of Disney coming atractions and having a soft focus projection where they cropped tops of heads, nonetheless i declare the movie

GOOD

It's a mixture of many robot stories, parts of the novels, and i'm not even sure, some concepts that i don't remember if they were from the Robots or some parts of the Foundation. So I hope Loomis likes it too

It deviates somewhat from the literary storyline but hey it's a movie and well i think it keeps true too the Asimovian concepts.


I think this is the last time I'm gonna go to the movies. I'm so sad

there were trailers for The Thunderbirds and saw posters for The Incredibles and something called Captain Kid and the Adventures of something like that or similar. Oh and a poster for finding nemo i mean a shark story.

[Maerj]

I saw I, Robot yesterday and really loved it, I may go see it again. Great story and effects... my only question is:

Where are the robot action figures and or model kits?

There are so many cool machines in this flick, they could make a great toy line or model kit line. People could have a lot of fun putting together an I, Robot model kit and customize it or make one of the robots from the movie. I liked the FedEx robot myself. I hope this film is a big hit so we get some cool figures and a sequel. MORE ROBOTS!!!!

[AwallaceUNC]

I just got back from it and LOVED it. I expected it to be good, maybe even great, and it more than lived up to those expectations. The action was great, and the concept nicely wrapped up several themes explored in other recent movies, along with a nice, emotional tie. It was everything A.I. could have been, but wasn't, and more (I know there are A.I. fans here, but I am far from being one of them- and yes I know that the movies are only barely comparable, but I take my cheap shots where I can ). My only complaint would be that Shia Lebouf didn't have enough screen time, but I suppose that was to be expected- maybe he'll have some deleted scenes on the DVD.

And deathie isn't kidding. The movie was scheduled to start at 4:00pm. Due to my friends' indecisiveness, we didn't leave my house until 4:01pm. The theater is 15 to 20 minutes from my house, and there was a line for tickets when we got there. After all this, we found our seats in the packed theater (3 rows from the front) just in time to see about 5 remaining movies trailers and 3 commercials!

-Aaron

[Just Myself]

This is one of the best films I've seen this summer. The humor, action, and effects were all really great. My list of SDM's Certified 5-Star Films of 2004:

Miracle
50 First Dates
Starsky and Hutch
Home on the Range
Man on Fire
Troy
Shrek 2
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
The Terminal
Spider Man 2
King Arthur
I, Robot*

*new addition