 |
| Bubl copyright O2 |
Is there anyone out there who isn't fascinated by robots? From Robbie the Robot in the movie Forbidden Planet, B-9 from the TV show Lost in Space, Robert the Robot in Fireball XL5, and doubtless others like Robot Archie from Lion comic, we all have our favourites which usually represent our childhood or early teens when we first encountered them.
One robot I love at the moment is the little robot in the O2 ad on TV, and whenever I was walking by the local O2 shop, I'd stop and ask if there was any merchandise of the little fella. "No" was always the answer - until the other day that is, when a nice female assistant reached under the counter and gave me what she said was some kind of Christmas decoration for the shop, supplied by head office for the yuletide festivities back in December.
She also hinted that a more widespread piece of merchandise might be on the cards in the near future, so I'll be keeping an eye on the shop to see if and when it appears. (Scratch that - just checked and O2 have a monthly competition with a toy Bubl [that's his name] as the prize.) In the meantime, robot fans, until there's a Bubl robot to buy from toyshops, weep with envy at my very own O2 robot.
Don't lie, you know you want one, but as you desperately try to suppress your seething jealousy at me having one while you don't, cop a gander at my new robot pal in the pic above. And seeing as we're talking about robots, what's your absolute favourite robot from movies, TV, comics, or wherever robots are to be found? Tell all your fellow Crivvies in our comments section.
Like you I'm fascinated by robots in fiction, but there are many these days who dread and fear the advance of robot tech and imagine a world in which human life is not enhanced by machines. Our fiction is filled with both good and bad robots. 1A taught Magnus that robots following Asimov's laws were good, but many machines in the future Gold Key universe wanted to move beyond those proper limits. It all becomes a metaphor for slavery yet again since that's what "robot" originally implied.
ReplyDeleteRip Off
And robots take many forms, RJ, and fill jobs once performed by humans. I suppose that self-service tills are just another kind of 'robot', which removes the human intermediary between checkout and customer. Where will it all end? Only time will tell, eh?
ReplyDeleteI love the three little robots in 'Silent Running'...aww.
ReplyDeleteAnd C3PO and R2D2.
And the robot in 'Robot' which was Tom Baker's debut Who adventure.
And Maria from the silent sci-fi classic 'Metropolis'.
And Gort from 'The Day The Earth Stood Still'.
Yeah, that was a good robot in Dr. Who, CJ. Was Maria an android or a robot? I think there's meant to be a difference. Gort's a goodie as well - not exactly cute, though.
ReplyDeleteSome more robots that come to mind:
ReplyDeleteThe Kree Sentry
The Sentinels
Machine Man
The Destroyer (from The Mighty Thor)
The Iron Giant
Metal Mickey
H.E.R.B.I.E (from the Fantastic Four)
The Cylons (from Battlestar Galactica)
Box (from Logan's Run)
The robots from the 'Smash' ads
Torgo (from the Fantastic Four)
ROM Spaceknight
The Transformers
The Doombots
Data (from Star Trek: The Next Generation)
The robot mummies from the Dr. Who story 'Pyramids Of Mars'
The Fembots (from The Six Million Dollar Man)
The alien robot Bigfoot (from The Six Million Dollar Man)
The Stepford Wives
Rishi Sunak (he is a robot, isn't he?)
And don't forget the Zeroids, CJ. Is Data a robot? Surely he's an android? (As I said above, I think there's supposed to be a difference.) And I don't think the Destroyer is supposed to be a robot either. I'm sure there are others, but I just can't think of them at the moment.
ReplyDeleteI had to google the Zeroids, Kid, as I'd never heard of them.
ReplyDeleteA few years ago I was reading the novel 'Black Narcissus' by Rumer Godden which was published in 1939. It's about a group of nuns who open a school in the Himalayas and I was amazed when one of the characters used the word "robot" which I didn't realise was in popular usage back then.
I showed a full page ad for Zeroids in my post on DC Special #1, CJ, and you left a comment. Not on the ad, but you must've seen it. Old age kicking in, eh?
ReplyDeleteMy favourite robot was Twiki from the Buck Rogers tv show. Bidi bidi bidi. There was also a kids show called Robert's Robots in the 70s but can't remember much about it. I'm sure I have the first series on dvd somewhere
ReplyDeleteAs a kid Gigantor was my favourite robot character. I used to have a couple of Japanese toy robots when I was a kid and had a hankering to get a new (original) one a few years age, jeeez they cost a small fortune £100s of pound upwards. I got a replicae instead for £15 and it remains one of the few "toys" I have kept.
ReplyDeleteI've actually got a wee Twiki figure I bought about 40-odd years ago, LH, from a shop called Modatoys in one of my old neighbourhoods. Wasn't living there at the time, had moved 10 years before, but was back on a visit. Great wee thing.
ReplyDelete******
I've got a Gigantor articulated figure which I got around 34 years back, McS - bought it on the way back from my dog Zara's private cremation. The toy was sold under its original Japanese name and comes with a small static figure of the kid who controlled the robot. There's a picture of them on the blog somewhere.
Kid, after sending my comment I thought: "I'll bet he's mentioned the Zeroids before and I've forgotten".
ReplyDeleteHow did I miss out Twiki??? He's a classic robot...bidi, bidi, bidi.
And I'll add that robot hawk from Captain Britain.
I'm sure there are other robots floating about at the back of my brain, CJ, but I just can't think which ones they are.
ReplyDeleteK9 from Doctor Who!!!
ReplyDeleteI should've remembered that one - I've got various pieces of K9 merchandise in my collection.
ReplyDeleteWhat about Rosie the robot from the jetsons. I always fancied her as a child
ReplyDeleteI don't recall ever watching The Jetsons, LH, so I know nothing of her. However, she can go on the list if you like.
ReplyDeleteBender from 'Futurama'.
ReplyDeleteI've got a vague impression of who that is, CJ, but I'll have to check to be certain.
ReplyDeleteThe Spider-Slayers.
ReplyDeleteJocasta (from The Avengers).
Is Jocasta a robot or an android, MN? Can anyone think of any more robots?
ReplyDeleteWho's MN?
ReplyDeleteMN is CJ, 'cos I just answered a comment by MN on another post and typed his initials automatically. I'm a worthless wretch and no mistake. The ol' 'brain fog' I'm afraid.
ReplyDeleteI wondered why you keep calling me LH
ReplyDeleteNo, I usually call you AL - it's LH I keep calling LH. I occasionally call you LH 'cos the 'L' throws me off-track when I'm fatigued. (As I have been for a few days.)
ReplyDelete