Try to picture this. Instead of the recent box office smash of the LotR trilogy, someone comes out with a movie called “J.R.R. Tolken’s The Lord of the Rings” in which a hobbit stands against the orcish hordes with his trusty sidekick, the goofy old wizard Gandalf, and a few other minor humans/elves/dwarves that are mostly there for a little flavor. Oh, and he has a ring.

That is pretty much the relationship between I, Robot the movie and the book.

Get some help.

Quit playing the same damn character over and over.

Try acting again.

As for them ripping off Asimov?

I hope they can live with themselves.

Grognards? That is a new one.

I like to think of us as fans. Not rabid fans. Just fans. It is sad to see the work of a great man belittled like this. As previously mentioned this could have been avoided by saying the movie was inspired by I,Robot and giving it a different title.

Paying homage is fine. Ripping off someone’s work is not.

The saddest part about all of this is the way that everyone seems to embrace the fact that NO ONE is trying to come up with anything new. Each story is just a different version of something told before. Now while that might be a generalization it is begining to feel more like a truth.

Glad you liked the movie. Personally I think that Will Smith phones it in and plays the same character everytime. But maybe that is just me.

English is not your first language?

So what?

I speak spanish but you don’t see me going to a spanish board and mucking around. If you want to practice your english that is fine but do not expect to get special treatment. If I wrote in spanish on one of those boards like you wrote in english over here it would be my expectation to catch shit.

Grow up and get over it.

….forgettable.

About as unlike Asimov’s work as you could get. Save your $10/£6 and go buy some groceries instead.

just about sums it all up.

I suggest renting the damn film, it’s an OK flick

Here’s some extra I found amusic, the more I read of this guy’s work
the more I agree :)
http://maddox.xmission.com/c.cgi?u=i_robot

Any other supposed violations of the Three Laws are due to the Four Laws bound Viki exercising her influence over the agressors, or in the case of the film’s robot hero, the built in ability to chose whether to follow the Three Laws or not.

Overall, if you discount the initial few minutes of the film which read like an advertisement for some American shoe company which I’ve never [thankfully!] heard of, you’ll find the film to be substantially deeper and more involving than you’d otherwise expect.

I will readily admit I had plans to boycott the movie based on the trailers alone, but the convincing given to me by my girlfriend has definately paid off.

I honestly can’t see what all the fuss is about. Because of this movie, thousands of people who might never have heard of Asimov’s work will be persuaded to read through at least some of it. Two of the people I saw the movie with have expressed such interest.

Asimov is resting soundly in his grave, I can imagine.

Some people, like me, do not speak English as their native language (actually it is my 3rd language), yet we make an effort and try to share our thinkings about this movie. If you knew more about people or if you tried and get out of your country some day, maybe you’d understand that very intelligent people can write English badly, maybe just because it is not their native language. How many languages can YOU speak? You should be less angry about other people’s lack of grammar and actually RESPECT them and try to understand what they say and what they want to communicate.

Now, onto the movie itself…

I am a big fan of Asimov stories and books, yet I liked the movie. If you actually see the movie, you see that there is no violation at all of the Three Laws. I am not going to give details because I don’t want to reveal the plot, but I encourage people to go and see it.
The problem with this movie is that its trailer only focused on the ‘action’, Matrix-like scenes. That made Sci-fi fans think that the movie was bad. True, I didn’t like the 3 or 4 scenes where the movie is like Matrix, but I guess they are there to please the ‘normal’ spectator.
So the people who started this ‘boycott’ actually thought the movie was bad before actually watching it. That’s called ‘letting your prejudices dominate your mind’.

1) Learn to write English. What are you, 4? I know grade school children that write more concisely than you do.

2) Wholesale raping of an author’s work by a Hollywood megalith is everyone’s concern. Asimov wrote about the 3 Laws. They could have called them operating parameters, rules, etc. They are doing a thinly veiled rip off of a great man’s work and then twisting it horribly to fit their demented screenplay. I for one think it is bad enough when they take a story and tell it poorly. In this case they took a story and rewrote it. The big issue here is them putting his name on something and taking his title. They could have easily put ‘Inspired by the book I, Robot’ in the credits and called it about ANYTHING else. Instead they are trying to build on the reputation of a genius who is unfortunately no longer here to defend himself.

3) I would say that I hope you never have to suffer the same horrible bastardization of your work but after reviewing your short, somewhat incoherent entry I suspect there is no danger of you ever becoming even a romance writer, much less a great writer like Asimov.

‘Nuff said.

2.Asimov has a writing credit. – citation? Is it some thing wrong?
3.It has a character named “Susan Calvin”. – Is it swear word?
4.It prominently features (a version of) The Three Laws. – it’s LAW, if it exists, how do you can explain this in different words?
5.The full trailer features a swarm of robots violently waging war on humanity. – OK, you do not like this film. Is that ALL?
Thanks you about this review.
Very intresting. I need see it!
I think what this is ordinary, but now…

ROBOT DREAMS was written in 1986. I have it in a small collection of stories that was sent to me upon a subscription to Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine in 1990.

Wargames……….

Terminator………..

The Matrix……………

cough cough (RIPOFF)

I have an idea. Why not actually try to write something ORIGINAL?

2) A supercomputer named Viki decides that in order to adequately protect humanity, humanity must be protected from itself. Therefore, Viki arranges for a robot takeover that happens to be quite violent, and involves robots trying to kill Will Smith over and over again, along with other people. Since Viki is trying to do this so that it can stop people from murdering each other, making war, etc., it is supposedly within the realm of the three laws. Hurt a small number of people in a violent takeover, to save a larger number in the long run. However, nothing like this ever happened in any of the robot stories which I have read (the ones in Robot Visions, plus a few others). In The Evitable Conflict, supercomputers manipulated the economy to eliminate threats to their existence, for the sake of protecting humanity. They did not, however, arrange any kind of hostile takeover or human death.

Basically, the movie is a Frankenstein story poorly disguised as an Asimov story.

And instead of robopyschology, Susan Calvin’s job is “to make [the robots] seem more human.” And look sexy in the shower.

PF

Tired of seeing remakes. Tired of people taking the work of others and bastardizing it into some flashy movie in the name of the all mighty buck. The lack of personal responsibility and accountability must stop. I care nothing for the people on this thread who argue back out of ignorance or simply to be argumentative.

This movie is not Asimov’s work. It should have been named something else. It should have been trailered a different way. It was not. The only thing these people have done is GUARANTEE that I for one will not see this movie. Not only because of my issues with them using Asimov’s work and name as they have, but because of Will Smith.

Someone earlier in the tread commented on how he does the same ‘bad assed black cop’ in every movie lately. That is a generalization that is unfortunately true. Any other actor I might have been tempted to give the movie a chance on video. But if I want to see this movie I guess I can just wait for the next time ID4 or MIB comes on cable.

For the love of GOD could someone please write something original for a movie script? Is that too much to ask?

“I, Robot: The Death of Susan Calvin”

Dr. Susan Calvin had no desire to meet with either Hollywood or his grossly obese partner, Megabucks; and the sight of their flashy offices, dazzling with dollar signs and car chase scenes, in no way improved her attitude towards them. Unfortunately, her opinion did not matter in the grand scheme of events, either to the behemoth that was the movie industry or to the individuals who had sold Asimov’s legacy to Megabucks. Legal obligation brought her to their door.

She walked in grimly, the lines of age on her plain face hardening as she cast a stony glance at the poster of a young woman with full lips, shapely legs and a pretty face. Above the poster, in sinuously curving letters made of hundreds of tiny glittering lights, were the words, “Sex Appeal.” Below, in finer print, was her own name: “Susan Calvin.”

She turned her steely eyes to the two men in the room. They were seated behind a long black desk with a littering of action figures, snazzy holographic effects, and dollar-sign lights spread out in from of them. Neither of them had she met before, but she knew them by their descriptions.

Hollywood was the handsome man who had undergone plastic surgery multiple times. His perfectly aligned teeth gleamed blinding white, his chest bulged with steroids, and the trendiest new clothes covered most of his vital areas. Only his eyes marred his otherwise handsome features. Instead of the proverbial windows to the soul, he had huge sockets that gaped, depthless and empty. It was a defect he tried to cover with a pair of designer sunglasses.

Megabucks was a hugely fat man, bulging at the seams, yet strangely attractive to the people around him. Chortling and wheezing, he played with the dollar signs.

“Yessiree, yessiree, the marriage of a science fiction legend and our modern movie-making capabilities will be a truly fortunate event. Fortune-ate. A fortune! Hah hah hah.” The fat man tossed his head and burbled.

Hollywood, noticing Calvin, demanded, “Who are you? Get out of here! This office is no place for frumpy old ladies. We have an important meeting with Dr. Susan Calvin.”

Having already dismissed both men as fools, Calvin did not so much take offense at the remark as regard it as further proof that her opinion was justified. She answered him in a tone of ice: “I am Dr. Susan Calvin.”

“You?” Both men gaped at her. Megabucks cast a quick, worried glance at the portrait on the wall, then back at Calvin.

“This won’t do!” he cried. “This won’t do at all. You’re not even pretty!”

At this point, she would have gotten up and walked out, legal obligation or no, but Hollywood recovered himself and quickly interposed himself between her and the door. “Just a moment, Miss Calvin, just a moment-”

“Step aside.”

“Wait, please, Dr. Calvin,” he said cajolingly, smiling beneath his designer sunglasses. “You are under a legal obligation to be here. We own you, and much of your creator’s work. As much as you may like to, you cannot simply walk out on us. So let us work together. Perhaps, by uniting our forces instead of fighting, we can accomplish something that has never been done before.”

“Great works of art have been destroyed before,” Calvin retorted frostily. “Bad scripts have been written before. Women have been relegated to the roles of sexual objects — mere visual eye-candy for men — throughout the entirety of human history. What do you propose to do that has never been done before, and why do you believe it is something in which I will agree to have any part?”

“The choice is not yours, Dr. Calvin. It’s been made for you, I’m afraid.” Hollywood smiled apologetically, then added, “Let’s look on the bright side. It will make you and your creator famous. Yours will be a familiar face to moviegoers everywhere.”

“Mine will?” she wondered sardonically. But, having no choice but to remain, she took a seat at the black table and stared into the cavernous sockets behind the sunglasses. “What you mean to say is that a beautiful woman with a marketable body will be recognized by moviegoers everywhere, but with my name attached.”

“Let’s not jump to conclusions!” objected Hollywood. “You’re beginning to sound like those Asimovian purists…” He shuddered. “We’ll never please them, but they don’t matter, anyway. Right, Megabucks?”

The fat man chortled. “Right you are, ‘Wood. Right, as always.”

“It will be your face,” Hollywood assured her. “We want to show them Dr. Susan Calvin. But we’ll make you younger.”

And, as he spoke, it happened: the Dr. Calvin facing him became younger. Her surprise was only momentary. She noted his frown with disapproval, observing with wry disgust the concerned look he exchanged with his partner.

“Oh dear… still not pretty,” said Megabucks.

“You’re right… it won’t do.” Hollywood sighed. He brightened. “Well, what does it matter what you really look like? People don’t know, anyway. We’ll put a little makeup on. Hell, we’ll give you a face lift. A body lift. Otherwise, people won’t come to watch the film. Dr. Calvin, fear not – your soul, your basic character, will remain intact, but we must change you superficially in order for your audience to appreciate you.”

She frowned. “I told Peter Bogert once, and will repeat to you: It is a difficult choice sometimes whether to feel revolted at the male sex or merely to dismiss them as contemptible. That your target audience is composed of young males incapable of any level of thought beyond basic sexual instinct is an unfortunate reality that I acknowledge; but I will not pander to it. I am as my creator made me; I refuse to set aside artistic integrity for greed, or humiliate and objectify myself-” But at a nod from Hollywood she was, suddenly, quite beautiful. Her legs were long, the makeup on her face felt heavy, and a hot flush came to her cheeks. Infuriated, the robopsychologist snarled, “You cannot do this! Change me back now, or-”

“Or what, Miss Calvin? We own you; you can’t do anything,” said Hollywood. “Now, be reasonable. It’s only a superficial change. A bit of makeup so that the men you despise will be able to like you. Men are, as you know, fools; sex appeal works wonders on them, and the only way to get them to respect you as a woman is to pander to their desires.”

“You… you…” She was so angry that for a moment she couldn’t speak.

Hollywood pressed on rapidly. “Miss Calvin, calm down and look at the script, will you? Here is what you have to do. We’ll discuss your appearance later, but for now just read. We know you like to make scathing quips at your coworkers, so we’ve thrown in a few. Like, when the detective exclaims in frustration that you’re the dumbest smart person he’s ever met, you reply that he’s the dumbest dumb person you’ve ever met.”

“I thought of that one, myself,” confided Megabucks, and puffed with pride.

Calvin answered disdainfully, “Yes, I see that the script is just full of your style of ‘wit’ – using the definition of that word loosely. I would prefer to say, ‘This is the dumbest script I have ever read–”

“Um, yes, Miss Calvin,” interrupted Hollywood. “But to continue… Now, for the shower scene-”

“Shower scene?” Calvin was aghast.

“Yes.” Hollywood looked at her in quiet surprise. “You’re a woman. You’re hot. I mean, you will be for this film. Of course you have a shower scene.”

Her lips quivered. Her whole body trembled with fury, and the eyes that stared out at him burned with infinite loathing as she set her fists on the desk top. “Mr. Hollywood, you may have legal control over my name, my body, my history – my character itself, now that Megabucks has obtained it for you. But you shall not have my soul. I will not participate in this – not one word, not one gesture will I give you for this travesty of a film. It will be a movie without Susan Calvin. Indeed, without Asimov!”

Hollywood looked thoughtful, and lifted his glasses to appraise her with his soulless eye-sockets. Then he removed a gun from his pocket and pulled the trigger.

The bullet struck Calvin through the heart. She fell back against the wall, her cry unheard outside of the office. Hollywood rose, adjusted his glasses, and dragged her corpse out to be disposed of. When he returned, he smiled at Megabucks.

“She was right. It will be a better film without her. The soul of Susan Calvin isn’t really very marketable. Now let’s take the name and plaster it on a babe!”

Megabucks chuckled. “Right you are, Hollywood.”