Top 5 Robots of the Silver Screen
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- June 27, 2014
By Brock Cooper (doddleNews)
This weekend Optimus Prime once again gets to save the human race from those pesky Decepticons in Transformers: Age of Extinction. Since people began wondering about the future of industry back before Eli Whitney created the cotton gin (the only fact I still remember of U.S. History), robots have captured our imaginations. Below are the top 5 robots that have ever graced the silver screen…excluding the Transformers franchise. Also, this list will not include cyborgs, i.e. no RoboCop or Darth Vader.
SID 6.7
5. SID 6.7 – Virtuosity -- 1995
Long before Russell Crowe was doling out a little Roman justice, he was chasing ex-cop Denzel Washington as a nanomachine created robot called SID 6.7 -- sadistic, intelligent and dangerous. SID was created using the personalities of 150 serial killers to be used as a training program, but he was able to get a nanomachine body and reek a little havoc. He was funny, ruthless and fun at parties. What makes him stand out is that whenever he was damaged, the nanomachines could repair his body using any glass that was available. A super intelligent psychotic self-healing killing machine? AWESOME!
T-1000
4. T-1000 -- Terminator 2: Judgment Day -- 1991
The early 1990s were when computer generated graphics really took off. Soon, everything was computerized, and one of the finest examples of early CGI was Robert Patrick’s T-1000. Made of a metal that could transform (not in an Optimus kind of way) into almost anything that didn’t have complicated parts, he chased John Connors and took a beating from the Governator. The only reason he’s not near the top of the list is because he had the personality of a rock. I like my killing machines snarky with a side of sarcasm.
Wall-E
3. Wall-E -- Wall-E -- 2008
Anyone that hasn’t seen Wall-E must be living under a rock in some technologically phobic fauxtopia. The movie goes 15 minutes without dialog and still we love every second of this trash-compacting robot as he meanders through the wasteland of the world and falls in love with EVE. He even ends up bringing the human race back to Earth. Awww… cute. I do like my killing machines and according to some awesome theories going on out there, Wall-E might be a psychopathic mass murderer that all but brought about the extinction of his robot brethren. Come on, a thinking and feeling artificial intelligence that cannibalizes others to survive? Yeah, sick twisted mind, I know.
C3PO and R2D2 – photo courtesy of scienceforums.com
2. C3PO and R2D2 -- Star Wars?et al
Why did I put two in one? Because one wouldn't be the same without the other. What makes these two great isn’t what they can do, but who they are. They’re not fast and can’t transform, but they are two best friends that would go to the ends of the galaxy for each other, though neither will admit it. Star Wars without these two would have been a good movie, but nothing like the science fiction icon it has become. C3PO and R2D2 are the Felix and Oscar of the science fiction world. While there have been many imitators, none can compare to the originals.
Robby the Robot
1. Robby the Robot -- Forbidden Planet -- 1956
What!? How could I make the dynamic robotic duo number 2? Simple -- Robby the Freaking Robot. Long before there was a Star Wars, Robby the Robot premiered in Forbidden Planet alongside a dramatic Leslie Nielson. Robby has become one of the most beloved robots of all time thanks to his sarcastic dry wit. Believe it or not, but his character was based on Ariel from Shakespeare’s The Tempest. While he became famous from Forbidden Planet, he made other appearances in Lost in Space, The Invisible Boy, Twilight Zone, Columbo, Addams Family, The Man from U.N.C.L.E.?and perhaps my favorite, Mork and Mindy. He now resides in the personal collection of Forbidden Planet lover William Malone.
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