I saw a great article the other day about how Silicon Valley is turning to robots and other three dimensional concepts, quite a departure for an area that is synonymous with the virtual. As I read it, I began to think about robots and how they have been such a big part of our culture for over a century. They show up in toys, movies, books and more and we love them. So, here is my Top 10 List of history’s greatest fictional robots (in random order):
Robby is notable for having appeared in a number of movies and television shows. He debuted in the classic Sci-Fi feature, Forbidden Planet. He also appeared in episodes of The Man from U.N.C.L.E., the Twilight Zone and the Addams Family. In fact, due to my research, I found out that he is in Robot Hall of Fame. (Did you know there was a Robot Hall of Fame)? Another version of Robby was a regular member of the Lost in Space family, dubbed Robot B9 (“Danger Will Robinson, Danger!”)
Possibly the stupidest (and funniest) Robot of all time is AWESOM-O.
AWESOM-O is actually the obnoxious character Cartman of South Park, dressed up in a cardboard
box to fool another character, the innocent Butters. Shockingly, AWESOM-O has not made it into
the Robot Hall of Fame.
Terminator
The Terminator was the relentless Android in the movie of the same name. The character will always be associated with Arnold Schwarzenegger who may have made for a mediocre governor and horrible husband but played a mean Terminator. If the robots ever do try to take over the world, we all better hope that it’s not the Arnold Schwarzenegger version that leads the revolution.
Maria
No, not Maria Shriver. It’s
the hot looking robot from Metropolis, Fritz Lang’s great sci-fi silent movie. Set in a dystopian future, it’s a lot of fun
and you may want to own your own Maria.
The movie, 2001 Space Odyssey, featured Hal, the laconic robot (actually he was more of an entire spaceship) that rebelled against the humans on the ship. He was moderately scary but listen to him long enough and you will go to sleep.
In my next positing, the rest of the top 5.
"Danger, Will Robinson!" I'm partial to the Lost in Space Robot. 1st one that came to mind-great rainy Saturday memories enjoying that show with my younger brother. Let's see if it makes your next top 5!
Posted by: Sarah Dugo | September 5, 2012 at 06:58 AM