Top 10 Movie Robots of All Time

Posted 23 Nov 2005 at 13:08 UTC by The Swirling Brain

If you love robot movies, this article is for you. Christianity Today has a list of the Top Ten Movie Robots of All Time. The article has actually been around a while, but it hasn't been on Robots.net yet and it's quite entertaining and a little interesting. Spoiler list follows, so go to the article now if you don't want the quick list. Ok, here's the quick list of the top 10 robots of all time from the article: 10. MechaGodzilla, 9. Robot Gunslinger from Westworld, 8. Data from Star Trek, 7. Johnny-5 from Short Circuit, 6. Gort from The Day the Earth Stood Still, 5. Robby from The Forbidden Planet (my personal favorite), 4. The Iron Giant, 3. The Terminator(s), 2. Der Maschinian-Mensch lady robot from Metropolis, 1. R2-D2 and C-3P0 from Star Wars (hey, wait that's two robots for the number one spot!). What's your favorite movie robot of all time?

Here are some more that I liked., posted 23 Nov 2005 at 14:32 UTC by jeffkoenig » (Master)

Huey, Dewey, and Louie, from "Silent Running". (Never saw the movie, only stills of the robots).

The non-human cast of "*Batteries Not Included".

The agri-'bots from "Runaway" (Is this right?)

Crow and Tom Servo from the MST3000 Movie.

Seriously, though, seeing R2-D2 as a kid strongly influenced my decision to get a degree in electrical engineering. R2 was the first movie robot that I found believable.

Other robots?, posted 23 Nov 2005 at 16:09 UTC by steve » (Master)

Has anybody seen a definitive list of every movie ever made that featured a robot of some sort? That would be interesting...

My favorites, posted 23 Nov 2005 at 16:09 UTC by The Swirling Brain » (Master)

Robby the robot from the Forbidden Planet movie was my first loved robot that I can remember. Loved the movie too. It was my first real swirling brain type movie. I wish they'd do a remake, eh, but they'd probably ruin it. R2-D2 and C3PO were also my favorites as a kid and probably kicked off my interest in robotics more than any other. The robot from the Lost in Space movie I thought was pretty cool.

I've seen all the robot movies listed except the Metropolis movie. I guess I'm going to have to find it and rent it.

Johnny-5 made it to the list, but that robot never did much for me. It's cute, playful, innocent, and all, and says "I need data" all the time. I guess I should like it more, but it's to me on the same level as Barny the dino.

Gort isn't very interesting to me as it is either. I think it would be cool to make a Day the Earth Stood Still Prequel. They could show how the federation of planets warred and came to put those menacing robots over themselves to keep the peace and THEN find the arrogance to come to Earth and force that so-called peace on us too. It's like it's not real peace, it's forced peace which hangs by a thread until the time someone can figure out how to overcome those tin cans. Doesn't really sound like the utopian bliss they say it is to me. Cool that they can revive dead people tho to keep the peace lip service going.

Westworld deserves a remake too. They started to make one and then backed out. I guess Swartzenegger was gettin too old or political.

A to Z Movie Robots, posted 23 Nov 2005 at 16:11 UTC by The Swirling Brain » (Master)

Steve:

Here's one I like, but it's not really exhaustive:

http://www.btinternet.com/~reg.joy/AtoZ.htm

Movie robots are awsome!, posted 23 Nov 2005 at 16:42 UTC by Botnerd » (Master)

I first liked the robots from Star Wars as a kid but when I was 11 the remake of Lost in Space(1998) really got me interested in robots. When I actually got into robotics I saw movie clips of Metropolis and so I had to buy it and see it because I thought it was cool. And now I think that is the coolest movie ever and Wrotwang rules. He's even cooler than the robot itself in some ways. I have a madscientist alternate ego. Muhhahaha!!!!

Gort vs Gnut, posted 23 Nov 2005 at 17:04 UTC by steve » (Master)

> It's like it's not real peace, it's forced peace
> which hangs by a thread until the time someone
> can figure out how to overcome those tin cans.

You could probably argue that all peace is enforced by miltary power though. Gort was just a slight improvement on the mutual assured destruction theory (since only the aggressor's destruction was assured).

You should read the original short story from which the movie was adapted ("Farewell to the Master" by Harry Bates, Oct 1940 Astounding Science Fiction). It turns out that Gort (called "Gnut" in the original)... well, let's just say it's a very, very different story. It's out of copyright and you can read it online if you're curious.